Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a significant military engagement during World War II, taking place from February 19 to March 26, 1945. The small island, known as Iōtō in Japanese, is located roughly 660 nautical miles south of Tokyo and was strategically important for both Japanese and American forces due to its airfields. The United States aimed to capture Iwo Jima to secure a base for long-range bombers and escort fighters to support missions against Japan. The battle commenced with a naval bombardment followed by a landing of U.S. Marines, who faced fierce resistance from Japanese troops led by Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who employed an innovative defense strategy featuring an extensive network of tunnels and bunkers.
As the battle progressed, American forces raised an iconic flag on Mount Suribachi, a moment immortalized in a famous photograph that became symbolic of American resilience. Despite initial expectations for a swift victory, the fight turned into a grueling month-long ordeal, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. The U.S. suffered over 6,000 soldiers killed and nearly 20,000 wounded, while approximately 20,000 Japanese troops lost their lives, with only a few hundred surviving to surrender. The aftermath of the battle led to the U.S. occupation of Iwo Jima until its return to Japan in 1968, leaving a lasting legacy that has been explored in various cultural representations, including films depicting the perspectives of both American and Japanese soldiers.
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Event Battle for and seizure of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima by the United States during World War II
Date February 19-March 26, 1945
Place Iwo Jima, Ogasawara Islands, Pacific Ocean
The Battle of Iwo Jima was the first American attack on the Japanese home islands. By winning this battle, the United States acquired an emergency landing and refueling site for Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and escort airplanes at the midpoint between Tokyo and the Mariana Islands, which include Guam, Saipan, and Tinian.
Iwo Jima, also known formally as Iōtō (a different pronunciation of the same Japanese characters for the island’s name), means “sulfur island” in Japanese. As the name indicates, this small island, whose entire area is about one-third the size of Manhattan, has heavy deposits of sulfur, and sulfur mining was a major occupation on the island prior to World War II. Despite the severe living environment, Iwo Jima was strategically important for Japan because of its landscape and location. The relatively flat landscape was suitable for building runaways: The island had two airfields, and a third was under construction at the time of the battle. Located 660 nautical miles south of Tokyo and 700 nautical miles north of Guam, Iwo Jima provided an air base for Japanese fighter planes to attack American aircraft coming from the Mariana Islands to the main islands of Japan. Warning from the radar station on Iwo Jima allowed several additional hours for Japanese air defenses to prepare for coming attacks.
The seizure of Iwo Jima was geographically crucial for the United States, as it would provide a base for escort fighters to support long-range bombers, the B-29 Superfortresses, on missions to Japan. In October, 1944, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz ordered Lieutenant General Holland Smith to undertake the invasion of Iwo Jima, known as Operation Detachment. On February 19, 1945, the first wave of Marines landed on the beach of Iwo Jima after a bombardment by the U.S. Navy. On February 23, the Marines reached the summit of Mount Suribachi, the 545-foot volcanic mountain at the south end of the island, and an American flag was raised by five Marines and one Navy corpsman. A photograph of this event by Joe Rosenthal, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, was used as a symbol of the seventh war-bond campaign and won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize in news photography.
Although the United States estimated completion of the mission in five days, it lasted more than a month because of a unique strategy undertaken by Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who was in charge of the defense of Iwo Jima. Unlike typical Japanese strategy to defend against landings of opponents on the beach, Kuribayashi ordered more than ten miles of tunnels to be built throughout the island, connecting more than 1,500 underground bunkers. Some of the Japanese heavy artillery was hidden, not visible from the sea. Although the network of tunnels was never fully completed, it still worked effectively: American soldiers had to fight against “invisible” enemies who hid underground.
Impact
The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the most brutal ones for both the United States and Japan. American troops suffered nearly 20,000 wounded, more than 6,000 killed in action, and thousands of victims of battle fatigue. Approximately 20,000 Japanese died during the battle, and only a few hundred survived as prisoners. Clint Eastwood’s film Flags ofOur Fathers (2006) portrays the lives of six men who raised the flag at Mount Suribachi, and the same director’s Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) portrays the battle from the viewpoint of Japanese soldiers. Iwo Jima was occupied by the United States until June, 1968, when the island was returned to Japan.
Bibliography
Bradley, James, with Ron Powers. Flags of Our Fathers. New York: Bantam Books, 2006.
Burrell, Robert S. The Ghosts of Iwo Jima. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 2006.
Ross, Bill D. Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor. New York: Random House, 1986.