2. LOCATION OF IWO JIMA
Iwo Jima is a tiny volcanic island that lays
some 660 miles south of Tokyo, Japan's
Capital
It is 8 sq. miles small which is 1/3 the size of
Manhattan Island.
3. REASONS FOR THE BATTLE
Americans found the island a much needed
landing pad. Saipan was the closest American
occupied island from Tokyo. It is about 1300
miles from Tokyo, which meant a B-29 bomber
took a 16 hour round trip only to find itself
minutes from running out of fuel. The island
would provide fuel for bombers, and would be a
resort for damaged planes.
Iwo Jima served as an emergency landing site
for more than 2,200 B-29 bombers, saving the
lives of 24,000 U.S. airmen through the course
of the war.
4. JAPAN'S UNITED STATES
Fight battle entirely from Send more forces to Iwo
beneath the ground. They Jima the any other battle.
dug 1,500 rooms into the Weaken Japanese forces
rock. These were with 2 months of bombing
connected with 16 miles of and 3 days of shelling
tunnels. before the amphibious
“No Japanese survivors." attack.
They planned not to
survive.
Each soldier was to kill 10
Americans before they
themselves were killed.
BATTLE STRATEGIES
5. THE FIGHT
The battle was fought by 70,000 American
Marines under the command of Lieutenant-
General Holland ‘Howling Mad’ Smith and
20,000 soldiers under the command of
Lieutenant-General Kuribayashi.
The battle lasted 36 days and resulted in
25,851 American casualties of these, 6,825
were killed. Of the 22,000 Japanese
defenders, only 216 survived to be captured
by US Marines.
6. PRE BATTLE – “SOFTENING UP “
On the 7th of June, 1944, the U.S. began routine
strikes on Iwo Jima.
Strikes included bombing runs from B-29 bombers
as well as 3 days of shelling from 6 American naval
ships.
7. LANDING ON THE BEACHES
At 8:30am February
19, the order, "Land
the Landing Force,"
sent Marines of the
4th and 5th divisions
towards the deadly
beaches Green, Red,
Yellow and Blue.
Heavy fire made it
impossible to land
men in an orderly
manner. Confusion
reigned on the
beaches.
8. FLAG RAISING
The flag-raising atop Mt. Suribachi took place on
February 23, 1945.
