Japan’s Iwo Jima — One of WWII’s Most Intense Battlefields

Iwo Jima — officially known today by its original name, Iōtō.
It was here, atop Mount Suribachi, that six Marines raised the American flag — a moment captured by photographer Joe Rosenthal, becoming one of the most iconic images in history.

In the far reaches of the western Pacific, more than 1,200 kilometres south of Tokyo, lies a small volcanic island that shaped the course of world history.
Barely 20–29 square kilometres in size, this remote island sits within Japan’s Volcano Islands, a chain known for sulphur‑rich air, unstable ground, and landscapes forged by fire.

At first glance, Iwo Jima appears barren and unremarkable — a low, ashen island dominated by Mount Suribachi, an extinct volcano rising just 169 metres above the sea.
For centuries, it was sparsely inhabited, largely ignored by explorers and empires. Even Japan did not fully settle it until the modern era.

Everything changed in 1945.

During the final months of the Second World War, Iwo Jima became the site of one of the fiercest and most consequential battles in the Pacific.
Its location — almost exactly between Tokyo and the U.S. air base at Guam — made it strategically vital. Control of its airfields meant survival for American bomber crews returning from missions over Japan.

The Japanese garrison, around 21,000–22,000 soldiers, had transformed the island into a fortress.
They carved an extraordinary network of 18 kilometres of tunnels, linking bunkers, command posts, ammunition stores, and hidden firing positions — a subterranean world designed to make invasion almost impossible.

On 19 February 1945, 70,000 U.S. Marines landed on the island’s black volcanic sands.
What followed was 36 days of brutal, close‑quarters combat, fought metre by metre, above ground and below it.
By the end, nearly 18,500 Japanese soldiers and 6,800 Americans had been killed, with tens of thousands more wounded.

But Iwo Jima’s story did not end with the war.

After Japan’s surrender, the island remained under U.S. administration until 1968, when it was formally returned to Japan.
Today, it is home only to a Japan Self‑Defense Forces base.
There are no civilian residents, no towns, no hotels — and access is strictly restricted.

And this is what makes Iwo Jima truly unique among the world’s islands:
It is still an active military zone, not a tourist destination.

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