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The Battle of Okinawa, fought on the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu
Islands (south of the four big islands of Japan) was the largest amphibious
assault during the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was the largest
sea-land-air battle in history, running from April through June, 1945.
No one on either side expected it to be the last major battle of the war,
which it was. The Americans were planning Operation Downfall, the invasion
of the main islands, which never happened due to the controversial decision
to use the atomic bomb. The reference by Feifer (below) has much to say of
Okinawa and how it influenced the end of the war — and the decision to use
"The Bomb."
At some battles such as Iwo Jima, there had been no civilians, but
Okinawa had a large indigenous civilian population, and the civilian loss in
the Typhoon of Steel was at least 130,000. American losses were were over
72,000 casualties, of whom 12,000 were killed or missing, over twice Iwo
Jima and Guadalcanal combined. About a quarter of the civilian, and Japanese
and American populations about the island in spring 1945 were killed. There
were about 100,000 Japanese killed or captured; many preferred suicide to
the disgrace of capture.
There is an area in southern Okinawa called Suicide Cliffs. The natural
beauty is spectacular; this writer has been there. The history is
unpleasant. And hardly anyone in America knows it exists, or anything else
about Okinawa.
The battle has landed in a strange black hole, as far as the United
States in concerned. The war was over (or nearly over at the outset) in
Europe; the end in Japan was in sight, and American's were returning to
peacetime pursuits; president Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12,
the end of an era. The horrific carnage often draws blank stares from
Americans.
Everybody's heard of Iwo Jima, an eight square mile dot where nearly
seven thousand Americans and twenty-one thousand Japanese died. It was never
even a major base. Okinawa could have swallowed the island and the battle.
Okinawa was to become an unsinkable aircraft carrier. There was competent
leadership on both sides; in particular the tricky Japanese leadership
greatly increased the carnage.
The American land campaign was controlled by 10th Army, commanded by
Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. The army had two corps under
its command, III Amphibious Corps, consisting of 1st and 6th Marine
Divisions, with 2nd Marine Division as an afloat reserve, and XXIV Corps,
consisting of the 7th, 27th, 77th and 96th Infantry Divisions. At the very
end of the campaign, Buckner was killed by ricocheting shell fragments,
becoming one of the most senior US casualties in the entire war.
The Japanese land campaign (mainly defensive) was led in the south by
General Mitsuru Ushijima. He committed suicide at the end. In the
less-talked-about north of Okinawa, General Takehido Udo commanded.
United States submarines had by late 1944 wreaked havoc on Japanese
shipping. The bound-for-Okinawa troop ship Toyama Maru was sunk by the
U.S.S. Sturgeon at a loss of about 5,600 nine months before that land
campaign; these Japanese deaths (the Sturgeon escaped despite being pummeled
by depth charges) are usually not even figured in battle losses.
Before this battle, an evacuation ship called Tsushima-maru was sunk by a
U.S. submarine and 1,484 women and children died, as Feifer (references)
points out, ... ten times the toll of New York's Triangle Shirtwaist fire,
which had horrified American in 1911.
On October 10, 1944, Okinawa gained a dubious shorthand for disaster —
the numerals 10-10. Waves of bombers pummeled the nearly-defenseless island,
causing untold wreckage on land; over 80% of Naha was destroyed and more
than 65 boats were sunk. Japanese anti-aircraft technology was not up to the
nimble American planes.
Shortly before the battle, the Japanese warship the Yamato, the mightiest
warship ever built, was sunk by American air power on her trip to Okinawa.
Widespread rumors that the ship was only given enough fuel for a one-way
trip are false; Feifer debunks this (references).
The Japanese had a plan to beach the Yamato on Okinawa's shore and use it
as a land battery. Not that it would have done them much good on land.
The Americans swept across the thin part of the south-central part of the
island with relative ease (for World War Two), soon taking the lightly-held
north, though there was fierce fighting at Yae-dake Mountain and taking
Kadena Air Base, Yomitan Air Base; at present writing (August, 2003) Kadena
remains the largest American air base in Asia, and its runways can handle
big planes.
The Japanese were to dearly regret losing Kadena and Yomitan air bases,
and gave them up with little fight. The entire north fell on April 20.
Few Americans encountered the feared Habu snake, soon discarding their
cumbersome leggings. Far worse awaited them in the south. The north was
warm-up.
For truly detailed information on the south and detailed discussions of
bloodbaths like Sugar Loaf Hill, one must consult deeper references.
Fighting in the south was hardest, the skillful Japanese soldiers hiding in
caves, but the American advance was inexorable. The island fell on about
June 21, though some Japanese continued fighting, including the future
governor of Okinawa prefecture, Masahide Ota.
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