Iwo Jima Research Paper

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On September 15 1944 the battle of Peleliu was fought between the United states and imperial Japan. General Douglas MacArthur wanted to return to the Philippines to keep good on his promise to liberate that country but a general with the name Chester W. Nimitz wanted to capture Formosa and Okinawa as these islands would help plant a strong base of operations for the US to conduct further operations. President Franklin Roosevelt later met with the two commanders and discussed their plans this led to FDR telling them to capture Peleliu located in Palau islands this would give the allies a strategic advantage because it would secure their right flank. The allied commanders involved with this operation where, Major General William Rupertus and …show more content…

Iwo Jima was only 10 square miles in size. The battle of Iwo Jima took place in February 19th 1945 the reasoning behind this operation was Iwo Jima was close enough to japan that the allied b-29 bombers would be able to arm and refuel there and the bombers would be able to have fighter escorts that would be able to protect the bombers to the bombing area and back without having to go all the way back to the Marianas. The island of Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and naval troops the troops would use a complex and intricate network of tunnels that led all around the island these tunnels where used for storage of food ammunition weapons and wounded the tunnels where very difficult to seek out and destroy as they were very hidden. The Japanese changed their strategy for defending their islands before they would be in tree lines right on the beech to halt the allies immediately but due to the allied naval capabilities they where heavily bombarded which led to an easy clean up for the landing forces. Japanese commanders changed it up and had their troops focus more inland which led the landing forces inland into kill zones and ambush sites as the landing forces would think the island was abandoned. When Marine forces arrived to Iwo Jima landing on the south side of the island they were at ease as there was not fighting immediately due to the 6,800 tons of bombs and 22,000 shells that where fired prior to the landing the marines advanced inland but where then immediately bogged down my Japanese machine gun fire artillery and spider holes. Spider holes are holes dug up by infantry and are then covered with leaves and shrubbery to then pop up behind the marines and open fire. This new strategy by japan was purely an attrition fight the marines won this though with heavy losses. After the initial

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