Pacific War Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces to attack targets throughout the Philippines and the South China Sea. The Battle of Iwo Jima ("Operation Detachment") in February 1945 was one of the bloodiest battles fought by the Americans in the Pacific War. Iwo Jima is an 8 sq mile (21 km) island situated halfway between Tokyo and the Mariana Islands. Holland Smith, the commander of the invasion force, aimed to capture the island and prevent its use as an early-warning station against air raids on the Japanese Home Islands, and to use it as an emergency landing field. Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi,
30th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) retreat to the Waloe (in now Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary), but US troops have reached Waloe first, resulting in Japanese retreating to the west after a skirmish 27 June 1945. The scattered Japanese forces have largely survived in the mountains of the Central Mindanao until surrender of Japan 15 August 1945. Some detachments (approximately battalion-sized) of the "30th division" guarding airfields of Sarangani Bay on the far south of the island were eliminated in July 1945. Allentown, PA: 1981 30th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) The was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the .