Introduction
Hills and Airfields
This exhibit and museum were created during an introductory seminar on the Asia-Pacific War, taught at Wake Forest University during the spring semester 2002.
The material and opinions are those of their respective authors and do not represent the views of the University or the Department of History.
The hills and airfields were the next objectives after taking Mt. Suribachi, and this would prove to be the most difficult portion of the battle for the Americans. The airfields were needed as they were the sole purpose for the entire battle. The U.S. had to secure them so damaged bombers could land on return runs from bombing Japan and so the U.S. could send the bombers on shorter missions (being that Iwo Jima is only 650 miles from Japan). The airfields are pictured on the maps above and below and are on the middle and north-central parts of the island.
The airfields would not have posed too much of a problem for the marines had it not been for the surrounding hills in the area. These hills were given numbers and 362A and 382 were where the most intense fighting occured. This intense fighting was because these were no ordinary hills; they were completely dug out and made into gigantic blockhouses by the Japanese. There were hard-to-see entrances everywhere and this absence of front lines made the fight deadly and very hard to fight as a coodinated force. The hills around these larger hills were given names to describe the intense fighting there such as Turkey Knob, Meat Grinder, and The Amphitheater.
Once the major fighting was done and the airfields cleared, the end was in sight.
This exhibit was researched and designed by Brad Smith.