Iwo Jima is a small volcanic island about 750 miles south-southeast of Tokyo. The island had two operating airfields from which flew Japanese fighters and bombers. From late 1944 to early 1945, the Japanese stationed fighters and bombers on Iwo Jima. Their mission was to intercept the U.S. B-29s bombing Japan and to conduct night bombing raids on the Mariana airfields to disrupt U.S. bombing operations. Japanese bombers conducted about nine significant raids against the Marianas. The night raids were small in scale,  typically 5 to 20 Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers. The raids never seriously curtailed B-29 missions as U.S. forces had ample construction battalions to repair damage quickly. The Japanese air raids from Iwo Jima on the Marianas were annoying but not decisive. Their main effect was psychological and tactical, not strategic.

The island lay virtually under the direct flight path to Tokyo of B-29 bombers operating out of Saipan and Tinian allied airfields. The direct distance was 1,350 miles but in order to avoid Iwo Jima’s fighters, the flight route was 1,700 miles one way. Despite the route, the island served as an early warning station for Japanese mainland defense.

The strategic reason for invading and taking Iwo Jima was to eliminate the early warning capability, the fighter intercepts on the bombers, the nuisance bombing raids on B-29 bases, shorten the route to/from the Japanese home islands for the “finicky” B-29s, and provide an emergency diversion landing site for returning B-29 bombers. This last feature came into use during the intense fighting on Iwo Jima and by war’s end was responsible for saving ~2,400 US Army Air Force pilots and flight crews.

In yesterday’s long post I attempted to bring together naval fleet, air and Marine Corps-Army amphibious efforts up to the end of 1944 and into early 1945. In earlier posts, we considered key engagements and their impact on the shape and prosecution of the war: Saipan (strategic importance and civil deaths) and a post, Battles that Changed War Strategy (Biak, Peliliu, and the air battles at Philippine Sea and Formosa) which pointed to the changing tactics and objectives of Japan as the war approached the home islands. The implications of all this was hinted at in the post Ketsu-Go outlining the strategic and tactical defense of the home islands. By the autumn of 1944 all roads led to the Philippines – from both MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific command and Nimitz’s Central Pacific command.

The Philippine Islands have their own unique history with the United States as friend and foe, but by 1941 it was home to a large number of Americans, American Corporations, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur who served as commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East. Manila had been his home since 1924.

Manila was known as the “Pearl of the Orient.” It was an international city that was the nexus of Filipino, Spanish, American and Asian cultures. In addition, the city’s population included Chinese, Japanese, Germans, British, Indians, and small groups from most European countries. The city was a center for universities and colleges, convents, monasteries and churches, and their accompanying treasures – including art, literature, and especially architecture – dated to the founding of the city. 

A reader mentioned that they were surprised that as a former naval officer I had not offered more coverage on the operations of the US Navy during the War in the Pacific. While it was perhaps inevitable given my goals for this series, nonetheless let me recount some of the major fleet actions and operations from Pearl Harbor until late 1944. Fair warning: it is a longer than average post.

It is important to remember that the first 12 months of the war in the Pacific was focused on stopping the advancing Japanese forces in the Southwest Pacific – especially stopping them from cutting off Australia and New Zealand from communications and supply lines to the US Pacific Forces. This led to a series of major naval battles in 1942 and 1943 miles away from Tokyo and from Pearl Harbor. Battles that were extremely critical to the war effort, yet unless you are interested in naval history, they are battles that are likely unknown to you. They were either surface-v-surface action and on several occasions aircraft carrier-v-carrier battles. Some of the key engagements are listed below.

Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942): The first naval battle fought almost entirely by aircraft carriers, the Battle of the Coral Sea checked a major Japanese offensive towards Australia/New Zealand, specifically an invasion of Port Morsby. The naval battle was fought in an area south east of New Guinea and south of the Solomon Islands. Because of the battle, the invasion convoy turned back, and the operation was cancelled. This was the first major Japanese offensive in the Pacific to be stopped. But it came at the cost of the fleet carrier USS Lexington and a fleet oil tanker – two assets we could ill afford to lose at that point in the war. The Japanese lost one aircraft carrier with a second one heavily damaged. Both of these carriers were expected to be part of the Battle of Midway. Their presence may well have changed the result of that engagement.