Radar Stations

• The Japanese had installed radar stations on Iwo Jima that were used to warn the mainland when American B-29 bombers were passing over the island. The Japanese also launched fighter planes from Iwo Jima to harass the U.S. bombers as they passed over. The U.S. commanders believed Iwo Jima's defenses had to be eliminated if the American war effort against Japan were to succeed with as few casualties as possible.
  
  

Strategic Position

• American forces prepared for an invasion of Japan throughout the Pacific campaign. Given the tenacity with which Japanese soldiers fought, however, American commanders knew any ground invasion would be met with tremendous resistance. A fierce bombing operation was launched to weaken the Japanese defenses as much as possible. They saw Iwo Jima as a spot where American B-29 bombers could land and refuel on trips to and from their targets in Japan.
  
  

Plane Safety

• Taking Iwo Jima disrupted a key Japanese defense plan. Because the Japanese often knew of American bombing operations in advance, its fighters were scrambled in time to attempt to stop the American planes. Once the United States gained control of Iwo Jima, American fighter planes taking off from Iwo Jima served as protective escorts to the bombers. Nearly 1,200 of these escort operations were flown from Iwo Jima.
  
  

Military Blow

• Not only was Iwo Jima Japanese home soil that the army naturally wanted to protect, the Japanese recognized it as strategically important to delay or even weaken any American invasion of the main islands. That invasion seemed inevitable as the American forces moved closer to Japan in 1945. The Japanese commanders saw a long, costly battle in Iwo Jima as a potential way to decrease the amount of American forces available for that invasion.