Volcano Islands or central mountain) on Iwo Jima; and two settlements on Kita Iwo Jima: Ishino-mura ("Ishino village"; Ishino is a surname) and Nishi-mura ("West village"). The municipal administration office was located in Higashi until 1940, when the municipality was integrated into the administration of Ogasawara, Tokyo. Iwo Jima was the site of the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II, and the island group came under the United States administration. The Volcano Islands were returned to Japanese administration in 1968. Volcano Islands The or are a group of three Japanese islands south of the Bonin Islands that belong to the
Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. These islands were needed to provide bases for USAAF Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers to attack the Japanese home islands. Construction of the large air bases needed to support B-29s began on Saipan in June 1944, before the end of the Battle of Saipan, and work on air fields on Tinian and Guam commenced in July and August respectively. The B-29s of the XXI Bomber Command began to arrive at Saipan starting on October 12, and the 73rd Bombardment Wing began flying warm-up missions against Japanese-held islands in the Pacific on October