Iwo Jima flag raising

Iwo Jima map

Marine advances uphill

 
Iwo Jima U.S. flag
on Mt. Suribachi

"...This will be the bloodiest fight in Marine Corps history. We'll catch seven kinds of hell on the beaches, and that will be just the beginning. The fighting will be fierce, and the casualties will be awful, but my Marines will take the damned island." 
>> Lieutenant General Holland M. "Howlin'Mad" Smith concerning the upcoming battle on Iwo Jima

Marines inch up
Iwo Jima beach

37 mm guns fire on
the entrenched enemy

American Sherman
tank at Iwo Jima

Inland on Iwo Jima

American soldier
with kitten

'Miss Spit-Fire'
flamethrower pinup

Captured Japanese flag

Foxhole near
Motoyama airstrip

27th Marines briefing

The Battle of the Iwo Jima:

The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought between the United States and Imperial Japan during February and March of 1945, during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. As a result of the battle, the United States gained control of the island and the airfields located there. The battle is famous for the raising of the US flag by American troops on Mt. Suribachi.

Japan suffered a heavy loss; about 21,000 Japanese troops were entrenched on the island, and only 200 survived. The fighting was intense and the American troops captured the highest point, Mount Suribachi, while losing 6,821 men. The U.S. was obviously gaining ground in the Pacific theater at this point in the war, and the victory at Iwo Jima was another step towards the main islands of Japan. (The island was quite valuable as a base for aircraft.) For the Japanese, it was a loss of ground and a sign of impending defeat.

Sources:

1) National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
   www.npswapa.org

2) Wikipedia.com
   www.wikipedia.com