Battle of Iwo Jima

In February 1945 US Marines landed on Iwo Jima, a small volcanic island barely eight square kilometres in size, to seize its airfields as a base for the bombing of Japan. They expected a short fight; instead they met a Japanese garrison dug into a labyrinth of tunnels, bunkers and caves, ordered to fight to the death. The fighting was among the bloodiest of the Pacific war: the Americans suffered more than 26,000 casualties, including nearly 7,000 dead, while almost the entire Japanese garrison of some 21,000 was killed. The iconic photograph of the flag being raised on Mount Suribachi became one of the defining images of the war. Iwo Jima capture cost far more than its strategic value warranted, and it foreshadowed the even greater carnage that would come on Okinawa and the feared invasion of Japan itself. Its capture also gave the Americans emergency airfields for damaged B-29 bombers returning from Japan, saving thousands of aircrew.