Battle Of Iwo Jima

Battle of Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima was located on Japanese soil, 650 miles away from Tokyo. The U.S. and Japan wanted this island. Iwo Jima was important to the U.S. because it was halfway between the American and Japanese bomber bases in the Marianas. The island was home to three airfields that were in perfect locations for a fighter-escort station. It was also a good location for injured planes to land.

The strategy taken by the Japanese was very unique in three ways. The first is that the Japanese didn't fight above ground the fought the battle from under the Americans. 1,500 rooms were carved into the rock; 16 miles of tunnel connected them. They also called for "no Japanese survivors." They planned on being killed. The last unique thing about their strategy was that every Japanese soldier was expected to get 10 American kills before they were killed.

During the air invasion on Iwo Jima put on by the American air forces the pilots put together the longest offensive aerial attack of the war. The Japanese underground tunnels and rooms went untouched. There were 21,000 Japanese soldiers waiting underground for the American soldiers to invade. 110,000 Marines were sent to Iwo Jima, this was more than any other battle. It took 40 days for 880 ships to reach Iwo Jima from Hawaii. In the Pacific War, this was the largest invasion.

In Iwo Jima there were more Medal of Honors given to the U.S. Marines than in any other battle in U.S. history. There were 25,851 U.S. casualties in 36 days of fighting. 1 out of every 3 soldiers were killed or wounded. There were 6,825 boys that were killed for the U.S. All 22,000 Japanese soldiers were killed.

The actions taken by the Marines gave a vital link in the chain of bomber bases for the U.S.