Iwo Jima
by Staff EditorTable of Contents
- Location
- Before the Attack
- The Battle
Location:
Located 700 miles south of Tokyo, Iwo Jima is one of Japan's Volcano Islands and a part of the larger Ogasawara Islands. Measuring a mere eight square miles, it was the tiny host to one of the largest battles in the Pacific Campaign. Fought in February and March of 1945 between U.S. and Japanese forces, the battle ultimately resulted in the United States gaining control of the island and of its strategic airfields. It also produced one of the war's most enduring images when victorious U.S. forces raised the American flag on the island in the wake of the victory.
Before the Attack:
After the American devastation of the Japanese in the Caroline Islands and the subsequent seizure of the Marshall Islands in February 1944, Japanese military strategists needed to reassess their situation in the area. U.S. forces were poised to continue blazing their way through the Carolines and the neighboring Marianas and the only way to offset the advance was to begin establishing additional defenses that ran the length of the islands heading north from the Carolines to the Marianas and on to the Ogasawaras.
After securing the Marshalls, the U.S. also began sending military reinforcements to Iwo Jima to the tune of nearly 5,000 men. After losing the Marianas to the U.S. in the summer of 1944, the Japanese were more determined than ever to hold on to the Ogasawaras, as they knew that losing these islands to the U.S. would greatly increase the chances of it launching an air raid on Japanese home islands. Any raid on the home islands would severely reduce war production and all but kill civilian morale.
By this point, Japanese naval strength was significantly weakened, as was aircraft fortitude, making the planning of any kind of defense of the Ogasawaras very difficult. Given this, Japan was forced to resort to using delay tactics.
The Japanese managed to hold off U.S. forces until the beginning of 1945, when they got word of an impending invasion by the Allies. The plan was for the Allies to attack the Japanese city of Okinawa in the spring, leaving the Japanese military with a two-month hole to fill. In the wake of this extra time, Japan decided to mount an invasion of Iwo Jima in what they dubbed Operation Detachment.
In preparation for the attack, Japan began sending vast numbers of soldiers and materials to Iwo Jima in an effort to turn it into a fortress capable of withstanding any type of attack.
American forces began steadily bombarding the island through a daily series of air attacks in December of 1944 By the time they actually invaded in February of 1945, Japanese troops on Iwo Jima numbered close to 23,000 army and navy personnel.
The Battle:
At 2 a.m. on February 19, 1945, battleship guns signaled the beginning of the American invasion. Pretty soon, 100 bombers descended on the island and were quickly followed by navy guns and the more than 30,000 U.S. troops who had been planning and preparing for the invasion for the better part of a year. An additional 40,000 were en route to the island as the opening shots of the battle rang out.
American Marines faced heavy fire from the Japanese forces surrounding Mount Suribachi on the southern tip of the island. By evening they had succeeded in surrounding it despite the heavy defenses and unfriendly terrain for which they were not prepared. By February 23, they had reached the top of the mountain and famously raised an American flag on the summit.
With the mountain secure and considerable troop backup on its way, the invasion continued with the capture of the airfields and the rest of Iwo Jima. True to form, most Japanese soldiers preferred to die than to be taken prisoner. Of the more than 21,000 defenders on the island, less than one percent (approximately 200 men) were taken in as POWs.
The Allies suffered more than 26,000 casualties, nearly 7,000 of them fatal. Of all the Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. veterans after WWII, nearly a quarter of them went to men who had fought in Iwo Jima.
