7.+Iwo+Jima+and+Okinawa

 [] Kim Stover  After the allies had a victory in the Philippines and we freed the Prisoners of war we wanted to continue with taking over Japan. Our next goal was to take of the island Iwo Jima. The United States wanted to use this island as a base for heavily loaded bombers so they could reach Japan. Iwo Jima was very small only 4.5 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. Iwo Jima means Sulfur Island in Japanese. The Japanese knew that this island was very important to us and were determined to keep it to themselves. There were about 20,700 Japanese troops defending the island. They built strong defensive positions on the island, such as tunnels and caves. For two months straight we would fly over Iwo Jima and have bombing attacks on them. They were not very effective. They actually were helpful to the Japanese because it allowed them to find more hiding spots on the island. It was harder for us American soldiers to move inward to the land because the areas had been bombed so heavily. The first day we landed was on February 19th 1945. “ The Marines took heavy casualties, as the American bombings had not been effective.” (TheBattle) More than 6000 marines died. Only 200 Japanese survived. Americans took over the island of Iwo Jima. There was still one island in our way. We wanted the island of Okinawa. In April 1945 we decided to invade the island. The marines invaded Okinawa. “ Okinawa was the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific campaign and the last major campaign of the Pacific War.” (BattleOf) We battled about 155,000 Japanese warriors. “ To those Japanese who thought the war was winnable, Okinawa was the last chance. ”(Operation) The Japanese used more than 1,900 kamikaze attacks on the Allies during this battle. They sunk 30 ships and damaged more than 300. They killed almost 5,000 of our men in the sea. The battle of Okinawa was a much harder task than the battle of Iwo Jima. Sadly 7,600 of my fellow soldiers had died at the end of this fight. However 110,000 lives of the Japanese were taken. Two of the Japanese generals chose suicide over the embarrassment of surrender. The allies had won Okinawa and Iwo Jima now. Although we lost many soldiers during this battle we gained two important islands.

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Works Cited   ":The Battle of Iwo Jima::." __::History Learning Site::__. 19 Mar. 2009 [].   "Battle of Okinawa." __GlobalSecurity.org - Reliable Security Information__. 19 Mar. 2009 [].  "Battle of Okinawa: Operation Iceberg » HistoryNet." __HistoryNet - From the World’s Largest History Magazine Publisher__. <span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #262a2c; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: ES-MX;">19 Mar. 2009 <http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-operation-iceberg.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: ES-MX;">