391 a 807 20 US soldiers unload supplies during the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945 Code talkers played a vital role in the success of this
CHAPTS IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE The Navajo code talkers were far from home Most of them had never left the Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States before joining the US Marines At boot camp in California they had learned they were to be part of a special secret team They used their native language Navajo to develop a code for transmitting messages The US military hoped the enemy would not be able to decipher this unusual code Now in February 1945 they were part of a force ready to attack Iwo Jima On a map Iwo Jima is a tiny speck of an island in the Pacific Ocean Its total area is only about eight square miles 21 sq km Yet it would be the site of one of the most important battles of World War II Japan controlled Iwo Jima at the beginning of 1945 The island is approximately 760 miles 1 220 km south of Japan making it an important strategic site for both the Axis and the Allied forces
SOVIET UNION MONGOLIA MANCHURIA KOREA JAPAN TOKYO CHINA NAGASAKI BONIN ISLANDS OKINAWA IWO IMA BURMA PHILIPPINES MARIANA ISLANDS THAILAND FRENCH INDOCHINA SAIPAN GUAM BRUNE IALAYSIA BORNEO NEW GUINEA The tiny island of Iwo Jima became an important strategic base for Allied troops during World War
The Axis forces included Japan Germany and Italy while the Allied forces included the United Kingdom the United States IWO JIMA SULFUR ISLAND the Soviet Union China and France World Iwo Jima means sulfur island The name comes War II had begun in 1939 when Germany from the sulfur smell similar to the odor of invaded Poland Alliances formed quickly rotten eggs which permeates the island The on both sides of the conflict though the battle for Iwo Jima began on February 19 1945 United States would not join the war until and lasted more than a month The battle which the United States won resulted in the deaths late in 1941 of approximately 21 000 Japanese troops and The United States held the Mariana 6 800 US troops Iwo Jima was managed by the Islands farther south It used B 29 bomber United States from 1945 until 1968 when it was planes to make raids on Japan from the returned to Japan Japan officially changed the name of the island to its Japanese form loto in Marianas These long distance planes could 2007 The island is still widely known as Iwo Jima make the 3 000 mile 4 800 km journey It is currently a Japanese military base and can in 16 hours However the US planes had be visited only with military permission Many to pass near Iwo Jima Japanese fighter of the Japanese who died in the battle are sti planes called zeros could take off from entombed in the catacombs on Iwo Jima Iwo Jima to intercept the B 29s and attempt to shoot them down Many of the crippled bombers crashed into the sea If the United States could capture Iwo Jima it would stop the attacks from Japanese Zeros The United States could take over the island as a base This would put medium range bombers close enough to attack Japan In addition short distance US fighter planes could accompany the heavy bombers flying to
