Letters from Iwo Jima

The following guns were used in the movie Letters from Iwo Jima:

Letters from iwo Jima(2006)

Imperial Japanese Army and Navy Weapons

The following guns were used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy Contents

M1911 Handgun

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) had an original Colt M1911 pistol offered by an American Officer when he was in the United States. By the end of the movie, he killed himself with this weapon. Then, a U.S. Marine found the pistol and took it. On a side note, the 1911 model in this movie had an ivory grip.

Original Colt M1911 (dated 1913) - .45 acp

M1911 pistol in Kuribayashi's waist holster.

An American officer offers a M1911 pistol in a box to Kuribayashi at a dinner party during his time in the United States.

Kuribayashi's M1911 pistol taken by a Marine lieutenant.

Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun

Many Japanese soldiers in bunkers and caves can be seen with Type 92 Heavy Machine Guns.

File:800px-Japanese Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun.jpg

Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun.

Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun in a japanese bunker (front).

Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun in a japanese bunker (side).

A Japanese gunner fires a Nambu Type 92 at Marines on the beach.

Another gunner fires a Nambu Type 92 from Mt. Suribachi.

Type 99 Arisaka Rifle

Most of the Imperial Japanese soldiers in the movie are equipped with Type 99 Arisaka Rifles.

Arisaka Type 99 battle rifle - 7.7x58mm

Type 99 rifle of Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya).

Type 99 rifle of Lieutnant Okubo (Eijiro Ozaki).

Type 94 pistol

Shimizu (Ryo Kase) and other Japanese soldiers had a Type 94 pistol.

File:JapaneseType94.jpg

Japanese Type 94 Pistol

Nambu Type 14 Pistol

Several other Japanese troops can be seen with Nambu Type 14 Pistols.

Nambu Type 14 Pistol chambered for 8mm Nambu Pistol Ammunition

Baby Nambu

Captain Tanida (Takumi Bando) used a Baby Nambu pistol to kill himself.

Type 99 Light Machine Gun

Type 99 Light Machine Guns can be seen used by many Japanese soldiers in bunkers and caves.

Type 99 Light Machine Gun (7.7x58mm Arisaka)

A Japanese soldier aims his Type 99.

United States Marine Corps Weapons

The following guns were used by the United States Marine Corps

M1 Garand

Many marines were equipped with M1 Garands. (some of them were used with M1 bayonets). When Shimizu (Ryo Kase) surrender, a marine, using his M1 Garand rifle, executed him and an another japanese POW. In the final scene, when Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) was surrounded by marines, most of them used M1 Garand rifles.

M1 Garand semiautomatic Rifle with leather M1917 sling - 30.06

A Marine fires at a Japanese POW

M1 Carbine

In the last scene, the U.S. Marine lieutenant who took the M1911 pistol of General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) had a M1 Carbine.

World War Two Era M1 Carbine, with Dark Walnut Stock, 'L' peep sight and no bayonet lug - correct for most of WW2, shown with khaki sling and oiler and a period Magazine pouch for buttstock

The lieutenant holds his M1 Carbine

M2 Flamethrower

Sam (Lucas Elliott) had a M2 Flamethrower until he was captured. During the landing, two japanese soldiers have been burnt by a M2 Flamethrower.

M2-2 Flamethrower

File:Flamethrower.jpg

M2A1-7 Flamethrower

Lindberg burns a bunker.

Sam with his flamethrower.

M1919 Browning

During the night assault led by the Navy Lieutnant Ito, American troops used M1919A4 Browning machine guns to counter the japanese charge.

Browning M1919 .30-06 on M2 tripod

A marine fires at Kuribayashi and his men

M1903A1 Springfield

Near the end of the movie, when Lieutenant Fujita was going to cut General Kuribayashi's (Ken Watanabe) head off (Kuribayashi asked him to),--- he was suddenly shot. Then, far away, we see a Marine sniper operating a bolt. We cannot see the rifle, but it is pretty sure that it is a M1903A1 Springfield since it was the mainly used bolt action sniper rifle by the Marines (and other US forces) during World War II.

Springfield M1903A1 Transitional (pre-WW2) issue - .30-06

A source from ISS (which supplied the weapons for the film) has confirmed that the rifle was an M1903A1 Springfield fitted with a 7.8x (8x) Unertl scope, and that the Marine sniper using the weapon was one of the film's technical advisors, Master Sergeant Tom Minder.

See Also

• Flags of our Fathers