This handout photo obtained from the National Archives 02 June, 2004, shows six American soldiers raising a flag over the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. (JOSEPH ROSENTHAL / THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES / AFP)

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Iwo Jima, which saw some of the bloodiest fighting of World War Two take place on a small Japanese island 1,200 km south of Tokyo.

Iwo Jima reverted from US to Japanese rule in 1968 and since then has housed about 400 Japanese navy and air force personnel who operate a landing strip

Iwo Jima was the first native Japanese soil to be invaded during the Allied advance. Located halfway between Tokyo and Guam, it was regarded as a strategic outpost. Close to 7,000 US Marines and nearly all of the 21,000 Japanese defenders of the island died during the 36-day battle.

The Japanese troops held the heavily fortified island for more than a month, supported by a network of bunkers and tunnels and hidden artillery positions.

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From Feb. 19, 1945, over 500 warships and 1,000 warplanes from the US navy and army pounded Iwo Jima so heavily that the shelling and bombing changed the shape of the island’s highest point, Mount Suribachi, located at its southern tip.

White phosphorus was used in the pre-invasion bombardment and US troops wielded flame-throwers during the battle.

This file photo taken between Feb and March 1945, shows US Navy Corpsmen and US Marines as they help wounded US Marines to an aid station, on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II. (HO / THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES / AFP)

Mount Suribachi was captured on Feb 23. A photograph of six US marines raising a US flag on the mountain, the second flag-raising that day, was taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal and won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography that year. It later formed the subject for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Iwo Jima reverted from US to Japanese rule in 1968 and since then has housed about 400 Japanese navy and air force personnel who operate a landing strip. The runway is also used for night-landing practice by a Japan-based US aircraft carrier.

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Iwo Jima veteran Frank Willetto (center) attends a ceremony commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, Feb 19, 2010. (JEWEL SAMAD / AFP)

Joint US-Japan memorial services to mark the anniversary of the battle are held every year. In 1994, then Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attended the service, the first time a Japanese emperor had visited the island.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi became the first Japanese prime minister to attend the ceremonies in 2005.