Iwo Jima, a tiny island of volcanic ash, was one of the most strategic military locations in the Western Pacific. Located only 750 miles (1,200 km) from Tokyo, it was to be an invaluable refueling base and emergency landing field for American heavy bombers going to or returning from Japan. The Japanese turned Iwo Jima into a fortress, defended by twenty-three thousand handpicked solders. For seventy-four consecutive days, the Allies bombarded the island before thirty thousand U.S. Marines went ashore on February 19, 1945. After some of the war's bloodiest fighting, the Marines reached the peak of Mount Suribachi on February 23 and secured the island by mid-March. The Japanese lost twenty thousand men, with only two hundred Japanese taken prisoner.