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.
Attack on Kure (March 1945) series of raids on airfields which took place on 16 and 17 February 1945, in which the American aviators claimed to have destroyed 341 Japanese aircraft in the air and 190 on the ground for the loss of 80 of their own to all causes. The second raid had been made against airfields in the Tokyo region on 25 February, in which the Americans claimed 46 Japanese aircraft while losing 16. After this attack, Task Force 58 returned to its base at Ulithi atoll to rest and prepare for further operations. By this stage of the war, the IJN was