The Battle of Iwo Jima was a very important battle in the War for the Pacific. The Japanese controlled the island of Iwo Jima and the U.S. wanted it. The island was fairly small. It was only four miles long and totaled only eight square miles. On the southern end of Iwo Jima there was an inactive volcano called Mount Suribachi. All over the island the Japanese had dug a series of tunnels and trenches. They practically lived underground. The Americans plan of attack was to land on the beaches and one force of Americans would attack Mount Suribachi. After that they would receive reinforcements and move to take over the rest of the island. The Japanese plan of attack was simple, defend the island to the last man.
The attack started on February 19, 1945. Every gun on the American ships opened up on the island. One hundred bombers then attacked the island followed by more naval bombardment. After the last naval bombardment the marines went ashore. At first they had an easy landing because the Japanese plan was to let the beach get as full as possible and then open fire on them. When the beach was full the Japanese opened up. The marines took heavy casualties. Machine gun fire, mortars, and artillery rained down on the marines. They did not really gain a foothold on the island until tanks and armored units started arriving. The marines were advancing but only inch by inch.
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The fighting in Iwo Jima was very fierce. The tunnels that the Japanese had dug were causing the marines a lot of trouble. The landing of more armor and the continual support of artillery from the navy ships helped the marines get to the base of Mount Suribachi. The marines encountered small resistance taking the mountain. On February 23 an American flag was raised on Mount Suribachi. This is were the famous photograph of the five men raising the flag comes from.
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Although the Japanese had lost Mount Suribachi they still had control of the North end of the island. The fighting there was just as hard as before. The terrain also was very rocky which slowed down the advance. On March, 16 the island was announced as secure but there were still pockets of Japanese on the island. These pockets of Japanese soldiers were cleared out and the island was in the hands of the Marines but for a heavy price. About 6,800 marines were killed and another 20,000 wounded. Almost all of the 22,000 Japanese that defended the island were dead. Iwo Jima was the only battle in the Pacific were American casualties outnumbered the Japanese. The 28th regiment of the 5th Marine Division lost 2,800 men out of 3,400. It was a very bloody battle.
