If you’re asking when did Iwo Jima happen, you're probably looking for a specific date to plug into a history paper or settle a bet. Here is the short answer: The Battle of Iwo Jima began on the morning of February 19, 1945, and was officially declared over on March 26, 1945.
That’s five weeks. Five weeks of some of the most concentrated violence in human history.
But dates are weird. They don't really tell you that when those Marines hit the volcanic sand on that Monday morning, they expected the whole thing to be wrapped up in maybe five days. Instead, it turned into a meat grinder that lasted thirty-six days. It's one of those moments in World War II where the timeline feels stretched, mostly because the Japanese defenders had spent a year turning a sulfurous rock into an underground fortress.
The Cold Start in February 1945
Why February? By early 1945, the United States was "island hopping" its way toward the Japanese mainland. They needed a place for B-29 bombers to land if they got beat up over Tokyo. Iwo Jima was perfectly, or maybe tragically, positioned halfway between the Marianas and Japan.
The bombardment started way before the actual landing. For months, the Seventh Air Force dropped ton after ton of explosives. For three days straight before the troops landed, Navy ships sat offshore and hammered the island with everything they had.
It did almost nothing.
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General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese commander, had told his men to stop fighting on the beaches. He knew he couldn't win. His goal was just to kill as many Americans as possible to stall the inevitable. He had 11 miles of tunnels. When the Americans landed on February 19, the island looked dead. Then, the sand started "breathing" fire.
Breaking Down the Five-Week Timeline
People often get confused about the timing because of that famous photo. You know the one—the flag raising on Mount Suribachi.
Joe Rosenthal took that iconic picture on February 23, 1945. That was only the fourth day of the battle. If you just saw the photo, you'd think the battle was won right then and there. It wasn't. In fact, most of the dying happened after the flag went up.
The Grimmer Reality of March
By the time March rolled around, the Marines were moving inches at a time. They called the northern part of the island the "Meat Grinder." It was a mess of rocky ridges, hidden pillboxes, and caves that had to be cleared with flamethrowers and satchel charges.
The dates matter because they show the desperation. By March 4, the first B-29 actually landed on the island while the fighting was still raging just a few miles away. By March 16, the island was declared "secure," but that was basically a PR move. The fighting didn't stop.
The "end" of the battle is officially March 26, 1945. That night, the remaining Japanese forces launched a final, desperate banzai charge. They didn't scream; they just crawled into the American camp and started slashing. It was chaos. When the sun came up, the organized resistance was finally, truly gone.
Why the Timing Changed Everything
If Iwo Jima had happened six months earlier or six months later, the world might look different.
Because it happened in early 1945, it directly influenced the decision to use atomic bombs later that summer. Military planners looked at the casualty rates—nearly 7,000 Marines dead and 20,000 wounded on a tiny island—and they panicked. They did the math for an invasion of the Japanese home islands and realized the numbers would be millions.
It's also worth noting that the battle happened concurrently with the firebombing of Tokyo (March 9-10). While Marines were bleeding in the sulfur, the air war was reaching its peak.
Surprising Facts About the Duration
- The Navy stayed longer than planned. Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner originally thought it would be a quick strike. The fleet ended up sitting ducks for kamikaze attacks for weeks.
- The "end" wasn't the end. Two Japanese soldiers, Yamakage Kufuku and Matsudo Linsoki, didn't actually surrender until 1949. They lived in the caves for four years after the war ended, eating stolen C-rations.
- The casualty rate was lopsided. Almost the entire Japanese garrison of 21,000 men died. Only about 216 were captured initially.
How to Commemorate the History Today
If you’re looking to truly understand the timeline, don’t just look at a calendar.
- Visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps. They have a dedicated exhibit that walks through the days of the battle with actual artifacts from the black sand beaches.
- Read "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley. It’s the gold standard for understanding the timeline of the flag raisers versus the actual timeline of the combat.
- Check the Congressional Medal of Honor records. Of all the Medals of Honor awarded to Marines in WWII, over a quarter were earned on this one island during these five weeks.
- Watch "Letters from Iwo Jima." It gives the perspective of Kuribayashi’s men and explains why the battle lasted so much longer than the Americans anticipated.
The dates February 19 to March 26, 1945, represent more than just a box on a timeline. They represent the moment the United States realized exactly how high the price of victory in the Pacific was going to be. Knowing when did Iwo Jima happen is the first step, but understanding the grueling weeks between those dates is where the real history lives.
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Take a moment to look at the casualty counts versus the square mileage of the island. Iwo Jima is only about eight square miles. That is roughly a third of the size of Manhattan. Imagine the entire firepower of two nations concentrated on a piece of land that small for over a month. It's almost impossible to wrap your head around, but that's what happened in the spring of 1945.