Great video.  Thanks for posting.   Looks like we have lots of arm chair Patton/MacArthur's in this thread.   I understand Secretary Mattis is hiring.

Yeah Ya Rite....

Needed Iwo for fighter escorts and crippled bombers returning to Sipan.

Given that strategic bombing is a waste with conventional munitions the expenditure of lives to secure bases for them can’t be justified.

Naval blockade. Just like actually worked.

I cite mines to give supporters of strategic bombers some reason to agree.

Although that figure you posted doesn’t measure the denial of areas.

I always assume that the reason for taking Iwo was multi-factored. The Admiralty obviously pinned certain islands on a map as "vital" to the war in the Pacific. Peleliu and Midway were also tagged as being somewhat useless. We had 6mo of defeats after entering the war, and battles were vital to keep up the morale. I would question how many casualties they would have allowed to take some of these islands, regardless of benefits offered by its capture.

Then you have the draw of Imperial Navy ships that an invasion would have. We all know that these islands could be skipped without supplies and men from a Navy drop, so this was another draw for attacking islands IMO. We had to destroy the Imperial Navy, and it was a formidable task. They offered a lifeline to all Japanese troops outside of the mainland, as well as a significant threat to all of our holdings in the Pacific. Don't forget that the West and East coasts were always "at the ready" for an invasion and it was believed to be a real threat at that time (Aleutian Islands as ex.)

Regardless of who had the island before, taking "savage" held land would help the war effort, so there is an obvious propaganda edge to it. Taking an island in "Tojo's backyard" is a huge morale boost and shows some sort of closure to the war, both to the US pop and the Japanese.

Finally, you have the option of a supply storage and concentration point for the upcoming invasion of the mainland. It is not efficient to sail supplies across the ocean as they are needed and a collection point would have been needed. Remember, the invasion would have included more supplies and men than D-day. Fighter support would have been needed for ground forces, and this would allow shorter range land based planes to help the mainland invasion.

I don't feel bad for the Japs during that war. They committed atrocities on civilians and soldiers alike and had no respect for the "rules of war". I could go on about their actions during the war. All of that to say: after years of war, being stuck on an island compared to Hell, living underground and in mud, parasites, etc, as well as starvation and dehydration....imagine being on that island during the air and naval bombardment, knowing you were about to either be killed or have to kill yourself. There was absolutely ZERO options off that island as a Japanese soldier.

Where those "frogmen" at the 4:15 mark?  Looked like they went out with nothing more than a knife!

Aerial delivered mines were the most efficient ship killers in the Pacific.

Those were mines delivered from B-29s.

And replace what crews?

The Navy were running CSAR in flying boats and subs, but it was still a hope against hope.

Bombers were a waste anyway.

Beat Mac's version of WWI in the Jungle by a damn sight, and actually caused the Japanese surrender.

Fighter escorts into the Home Islands for SEAD and the destruction of the Japanese radar and SIGINT facility at Iwo.

You needed to get a direct hit to be effective, and the bunkers were very well camouflaged.  They were generally invisible.
The best way to knock out the positions was through the aperture, and that really, as in WWI, required tank support.
Iwo's Sulfuric sand wasn't great for tanks, either, but with Japanese AT being really weak, the sherman was in its element.

The Bombers, no? The "go it alone" USAAF/USAF operational planning 5 rings of bullshit model? Yes.

Taking out their supply routes, and their supply cashes was a huge objective.

It was also very difficult for the Japanese to react logically to our advances.  Their doctrine mandated they counter attack...  we kind of used that to our advantage

Taking Iwo Jima was incredibly demoralizing to the Japanese. It was supposed to be the staging point for the US land invasion of Japan.  Thank God that never had to happen.