Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands and anti-aircraft guns shot down about 37 Japanese aircraft during these raids. After the Marianas began to come under attack, the United States military stepped up its raids on the Japanese-held islands which could be used to launch raids on the B-29 bases. Particular attention was given to Iwo Jima, as it was correctly assumed that the Japanese aircraft which attacked the Marianas were flying from Japan and staging through the island en route to their targets. Following the first raid against Saipan in November, XXI Bomber Command B-29s were dispatched against Iwo Jima's airfields on November 5 and 8.
Smith Volcano Smith Volcano is one of the probably five Pleistocene-to-Holocene volcanic centers on Babuyan Island (also known as Babuyan de Claro Island) with Smith, the youngest volcano on the island. The largest on the island is Babuyan Claro (also known as "Mt. Pangasun"), an active stratovolcano with two well-preserved summit craters in diameter, located in the center of the island. Babuyan Claro is about peak-to-peak southeast of Smith Volcano, which is the north-westernmost summit on the triangular-shaped island. Smith Volcano has erupted six times, the last of which was in 1924. A team of volcanologists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology