battle for iwo jima
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Battle for Iwo Jima
BY: Cuautli Verastegui
• America had been interested in bombing Tokyo ever since the Doolittle Raid.
• Americas attempts to bomb Tokyo had been fairly unsuccessful because they could only bomb the city with their B-29 bombers.
• Iwo Jima already had 3 airfield located on the island.
• Iwo Jima’s location would provide a stepping stone for the U.S. to eventually invade the Japanese mainland.
IMPORTANCE
• Iwo Jima is a 8 square mile and was part of Japan’s home soil.
• It was only around 650 miles away from Tokyo.
• It lay around half way between Japan and the American bases on the Marianas islands.
LOCATION
• U.S. bombarded the island for 3 days prior to its invasion of the island which began on February 19, 1945 .
• The island had been heavily fortified, and it contained 1,500 rooms with 16 miles of underground tunnels.
• General Kuribayashi was in command of the Japanese forces.
BATTLE
• The battle had been essentially won by the U.S within 8 days of fighting, but the Japanese would make them fight for every inch of territory.
• By this time U.S. forces had captured the southern, western, and Mt. Suribachi parts of the island.
• Fighting ended on March 26, 1945—a 36 day long invasion.
BATTLE
• There were 26,000 American casualties with nearly 6,800 dead.
• Only 1,083 Japanese survived out of 20,000 Japanese defenders.
• 18 American ships were sunk or badly damaged.
CASUALTIES
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/battleiwojima.htm
http://www.iwojima.com/battle/battlea.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
BIBLOGRAPHY