When the U.S. began to invade Iwo Jima they bombed the island heavily. However, the mass bombings had little effect due to the fact that the Japanese lived in and fought from underground tunnels. In fact, "They fought the battle entirely from beneath the ground"(Iwo Jima - Japan's Iwo Jima strategy). The United States sent 110,000 Marines to the island in the largest armada invasion in the pacific war. Even with all these soldiers the battle was not won easily. "Japanese strategy called for no Japanese survivors. They planned not to survive. Another part of their strategy was for each soldier to kill 10 Americans before they themselves are killed" (Iwo Jima - Japan's Iwo Jima strategy). Needless to say the Japanese were not going to back down. It was difficult to land on the beach because The hidden Japanese gunmen could pick them off with ease before they had time to dig holes in the sand. Japan also had gunners on Mt. Suribachi focusing all their fire on the landing beaches. The battle was very hard fought and intense, "Historians described U.S. forces' attack against the Japanese defense as "throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete" (Iwo Jima - The Land Battle). In the end there were 25,851 American casualties and just about all of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers were killed.
The flag raising on Mt. Suribachi
http://www.iwojima.com/raising/lflage2.gif
