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No Other Traced Examples.
Very rare pre-invasion composite aerial photo map of Iwo Jima, prepared by the U.S. military to help planners and soldiers better understand what they faced on the island.
Gradations of tone within the image show where multiple flyover photographs were composited into one larger image. This was then overlayed with lettering to call out important features (such as Motoyama Airfield No. 1 & No. 2, and Mount Suribachi "Hot Rocks").
Rarity
The map is evidently very rare; we find no examples listed in OCLC nor in general internet searched. We have never handled it before.
Iwo Jima, whose name translates as "Sulfur Island", was an important midway point between South Pacific bomber bases that were already in the hands of the Allies and the Japanese home islands. 700 miles from Tokyo and 350 from the nearest U.S. airbase, with a central plain suitable for building large runways, American planners viewed it as a valuable target. The battle for the island was among the bloodiest of the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. In total, 6,800 U.S. Marines lost their lives and 26,000 were wounded, while a staggering 18,000 Japanese defenders died.
![[Battle of Berlin] План г. Берлин 1:25000](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/68524.jpg)
