Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands 1945. While the attacks on Iwo Jima damaged the island's airfields, the Japanese managed to keep at least one of them operational at all times, and none were closed for more than a single day. The need to repair damage to the airfields forced the Japanese garrison on Iwo Jima to divert labor from building defensive positions, however. The combination of heavy losses over Saipan and damage to the airfields on Iwo Jima caused the Japanese to break off their attacks against the Marianas on 2 January. Few Japanese aircraft visited Iwo Jima starting in January, and due to their
Horror in the East and I still suffer today." By the spring of 1945, the Japanese empire had been pulled apart. Now the Imperial Japanese Army ordered a heroic stand to be made on Okinawa, less than from Tokyo. The Americans expected the Japanese to defend the beaches on Okinawa but on 1 April 1945 when 50000 American troops came ashore they found their arrival virtually unopposed. "But" more than 80000 Japanese troops were dug into the fabric of the island interior, some in concrete pill boxes underneath the trees. In Okinawa, as the Americans pushed to the south of the island there were