Iwo Jima

So many lives sacrificed...and one of the most famous photos of all time.

I really am not an expert so I will make the assumption that Japan's navy at that point would have been challenged to support Iwo Jima. The Japanese had a few aircraft carriers left and perhaps 100 naval planes. I don't know the count of the American naval planes but assume it is in the several hundreds at minimum. The aircraft carriers in conjunction with naval aviation is generally how the Japanese and American fleets fought each other. For these reasons, I think we could have bypassed Iwo Jima and let if wither on the vine due to the lack of logistics support from the fleet.

The Pacific became Japan's Russia. Before the war the the Japanese army wanted a huge footprint in the Pacific. The Navy balked at the idea due to its forced role to support many islands. However, the Japanese army won out.