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It was reported that this bloody land battle in Iwo Jima Island had caused very high casualties to the US Marines as they attacked the island above ground and the Japanese Imperial soldiers were well entrenched inside the caves.

2007-07-31 17:30:55 · 6 answers · asked by dodadz 4 in Politics & Government Military

6 answers

When Iwo Jima fell, the main islands of Japan were within bomber range. The Allies already had air superiority in the Pacific, and the loss of Iwo Jima meant that Japan had lost its last chance to win the war. The Japanese knew that, and this is the reason why they fought so desperately--even when it was clear that they had no chance of victory of even survival.

2007-07-31 17:36:19 · answer #1 · answered by Pagan Dan 6 · 4 1

Iwo Jima was the perfect place for an airbase for the US military to operate from since their bombers to hit any target in Japan from Iwo Jima. The previous answers said that the Japanese fought so desperately to hold it because they knew if they lost it they lost the war. This is true in a way but not accurate. The real answer why they fought till the death is because of an honor system they have called Bushido(The way of the warrior) For the Japanese soldier honor was more important that his life and any act of cowardice was look down upon thats why losses of the Japanese were significantly more than the US troops since a vast number of Japanese soldiers they would run into machine gun fire and not use military tactics very well considering them acts of cowardice and dishonorable. If you look at the lay out of Iwo Jima the Japanese had a major advantage over the US troops since they were entrenched into the island itself but due to their honor system they went on the offensive a lot of times and lost not only their advantage of cover, a lot of troops and valuable equipment but they also made themselves very vulnerable to bombardments from US Navy Battleships. So the reason why Iwo Jima is such a big thing is because it shows how their pride in their honor caused their downfall.

2007-07-31 17:50:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

The B29 bombers that attacked Japan flew out of the Marianas. Iwo Jima gave us an emergency airfield, half way between Japan and the Marianas, for the planes that were damaged and could not make it back to their base. It also gave us a base for fighters to escort the bombers to Japan.
Though the lives lost in taking Iwo Jima was terrible, for every Marine that was killed 5 airman lived.

2007-08-01 13:23:02 · answer #3 · answered by Tin Can Sailor 7 · 0 0

Once the Marines secured the island it gave the Air Force a strategic advantage for bombing missions on mainland Japan. There were air fields on Iwo Jima that we needed in order to accomplish this mission.

2007-07-31 17:36:48 · answer #4 · answered by rollmanjmg 4 · 3 0

superb. it is probable the conflict that i think of of because of the fact the main recognized in the time of that warfare, to no longer take something from the ecu and African campaigns. This conflict and that image of those 5 Marines and a million Corpsman elevating previous Glory on Mt Surabachi became the warfare in our prefer and interior the top, hundreds of Amercian Servicemember's lives have been stored with the aid of those superb Marines taking that little piece of crap island. God Bless them. what proportion individuals today additionally be attentive to what Iwo Jima is?

2016-10-19 08:28:10 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

It allowed our forces to set up an air base on the island for easy and safe access for our bombers raiding Japan. On the other hand I believe that our casualties would've been drastically reduced if we simply isolated the Japanese forces dug in in one section of the island. We already had the airfield. The Japanese were dug in but could no longer launch an attack. We would've just starved them to death.

2007-07-31 17:46:57 · answer #6 · answered by Don S 5 · 1 1

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