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- American forces invaded the island in febuary 19, 1945, and the ensuing battle of iwo jima lasted for five weeks.
- The battle of iwo jima was an epic campaign between U.S. marines and the imperial army of japan in 1945.
- In some of the bloodiest fighting of world war II, its belived that all but 200 or so of the 21,000 japanese forces on the island were killed, as were almost 7,000 marines.
- Located 750 miles off the coast of japan, the island of iwo jima had three air fields that could serve as a staging facility for a potential invasion of main land japan
- However, the lack of immediate response was simply part of Kuribayashi’s plan.
- As the Marines struggled forward, the Japanese laid in wait. The Americans assumed the pre-attack bombardment had been effective, and had crippled the enemy’s defenses on the island.
- With the Americans struggling to get foothold on the beach's son iwo jima litterly and figeritly Kuribayashi’s artillery positions in the mountains above opened fire, stalling the advancing Marines and inflicting significant casualties.
- Despite a banzai charge by dozens of Japanese soldiers as dusk fell, however, the Marines were eventually able to move in past the beach and seize part of one Iwo Jima’s airfields—the stated mission of the invasion.
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