Battle of Iwo Jima
Photo Gallery: Battle of Iwo Jima

The Battle of Iwo Jima (“Operation Detachment”) took place from February 19 to March 26, 1945 when the United States Armed Forces tried to capture the Japanese Empire’s island of Iwo Jima in its entirety. The U.S. wanted to build a base for future attacks on the Japanese main islands.

It was one of the bloodiest battles during World War II–and while the Japanese forces were ultimately defeated, the island provided little strategic value as a staging base.

Scroll through our gallery below.

• Marines in a forward position face Mount Suribachi the day before the patrols gain the top of the mountain and raise flags for all to see. (February 22, 1945). Source: Creative Commons.

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• Iwo Jima during the pre-invasion bombardment--looking north with Mount Suribachi in the foreground. Photographed from an airplane, based on USS Makin Island (CVE-93). Source: Creative Commons.

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• A Marine blasts a Japanese position on Iwo Jima with a flamethrower. Source: Department of Defense.

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• U.S. Navy doctors and corpsmen administer to wounded Marines at an Iwo Jima first aid station. Navy Chaplain Lieutenant John H. Galbreath (right center) is kneeling beside a man who has severe flash burns, received in an artillery battery fifty yards or so away. (February 20, 1945). Source: Creative Commons.

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• Marines of the 5th Division inch their way up a slope on Red Beach No. 1 toward Surbachi Yama as the smoke of the battle drifts about them. Dreyfuss, Iwo Jima. (February 19, 1945). Source: Creative Commons.

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• Smashed by Japanese mortar and shellfire, trapped by Iwo's treacherous black-ash sands, amtracs and other vehicles of war lay knocked out on the black sands of the volcanic fortress. (February-March 1945). Source: Robert M. Warren, Creative Commons.

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• Marines crowd into landing craft headed for Iwo Jima. (February 1945). Source: mca-marines.org.

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• Fourth Division Marines begin an attack from the beach on Iwo Jima, as another boatload of men is disgorged onto the beach by an LCVP. Note the amphibious tractor (LVT) burning in the right center, and men taking cover ashore. (February 19, 1945). Source: Naval History and Heritage Command.

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• The battle lasted from February to March 1945. Here we see sheet metal workers in Iwo Jima examining a wing of a P-51 Mustang damaged by a Japanese mortar shell. Source: Creative Commons.

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• The battle lasted from February to March 1945. Here we see sheet metal workers in Iwo Jima examining a wing of a P-51 Mustang damaged by a Japanese mortar shell. Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• American supplies being landed at Iwo Jima. Source: Creative Commons.

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• Brig. General Ernest Moore and staff officers of the 7th Fighter Command. Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. (March 9, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Morning sick call in a 7th Fighter Command ambulance an Iwo Jima. The Medic is Cpl. Reaford B Williams, W/O Herman J. Diesel is the man being treated. In left background is Cpl Willard S Bennett. At extreme right (wearing glasses) is Cpl. Nolan Patterson. Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Services for men killed during a Banzai attack on 21st Fighter Group, VII Fighter Command, are held in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery. (Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands). (April 1, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Wreckage of a North American P-51 which crashed while landing on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, after returning from a raid over Chichi Jima. The pilot, evidently, lost control of the wheels and the plane ploughed into tents, knocking a truck over and then burst into flames. The pilot died the next day. (April 7, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Shortly after their arrival on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, on an inspection tour, Lt. General Barney M. Giles (center) and Lt. General James Doolittle talk with personnel of the VII Fighter Command. (May 21, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Lt. Ceil Dennis, atop Mount Suribachi on a July evening in 1945, looks out over the 21st Bomber Command installations and the ships anchored near the shore of Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. (July 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• 5th Marine Cemetery. Photo credit: Jerry Schoenbert. Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• One of the first planes to arrive at Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands - North American P-51 "Mustang" - comes in for a landing on the airstrip. (March 6, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Jim Beckwith in "Squirt" of the 47th FS, 15th FG leads a group of P-51's from the 45th FS, 15th FG over Iwo Jima. (March 7, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• After a hot shower at "Ye Olde Iwo Jima Spa", pilots soak for ten minutes in improvised galvanized tubs filled with natural salt and sulfur water from a well on Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. Yes, they are holding beers. Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• This American flag is flying over Mt. Suribachi. Taken After the Battle for Iwo Jima. Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Men of the 386th Air Service Group go over the side of a transport ship into a landing craft which will take them ashore at Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands. (March 6, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• Photo of 78th Fighter Squadron pilots who participated in the Very Long Range (VLR) Escort Mission. This was the first time AAF fighters flew over Japan. (April 7, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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• "The First Flag Raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima," Marines of the 28th Regiment, Fifth Marine Division, hoist the U.S. flag on a piece of pipe. (February 23, 1945). Source: Mark, www.7thfighter.com.

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