Iwo Jima The war of Iwo Jima was one of the most important battles in Word War II. The United States Marine Corps played a huge role in defeating the Japanese. Iwo Jima was a small island that was controlled by Japan. Iwo Jima is only about 4 miles long and half that in width. (John Man 116)But the Island was very strategically important for the U.S. to attack Japan. On February 19th 1945 a massive fleet of U.S. ships gathered off the coast of Iwo Jima. The ships unloaded a total of 30,000 U.S. soldiers. The first to reach the shore were 8,000 marines from the 4th and 5th marine divisions. (Encarta 1) The deployment was led by, Major General, H