Okinawa April 1 - July 2, 1945

In March, 1945, the last of the great amphibious operations of the War was being planned. Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Islands, was considered part of the Japanese Home Islands. Its proximity to Japan meant that it could not be bypassed.

Unlike other island invasions, the operation in Okinawa would be targeting a large land mass. The battle was the last chance to stop an invasion of the home islands; 100,000 Japanese soldiers were on Okinawa, and 2000 kamikaze aircraft were standing by. The battleship Yamato was readied for a one-way mission to beach itself on Okinawa and use its 18-inch guns as static artillery.

Lt. General Mitsuro Ushijima and Lt. General Isamu Cho exhorted their men to kill ten of the enemy before they died, or one tank. The civilians on Okinawa, like on Saipan, were indoctrinated to believe that the Americans would kill everyone on the island. This would be a very bloody invasion.

The Americans embarked 1,500 ships, the largest Pacific War fleet ever assembled. They embarked 500,000 men from all services. The British sent 22 ships, including fast carriers.

On April 1, 1945, the first waves landed and within four days had achieved most of their major objectives. The counterattack came in the form of devastating kamikaze attacks, 1900 by July, sinking or damaging 263 ships. The Americans were forced to sacrifice destroyers as picket ships to provide advance warning. The British carriers fared better, their armored decks providing better protection then the American wooden ones.

On April 6, 1945, American carrier aircraft located Yamato and her escort of one cruiser and eight destroyers before they reached Okinawa. Hit by five bombs and ten torpedoes, she rolled over on April 7 and sank. Most of her crew of 2700 were killed.

In a running battle that lasted until July 2, the Japanese lost over 107,000 military and civilian casualties on land and 4,000 sailors at sea. American forces lost 6800 Army, Navy and Marines on Okinawa and the surrounding islands, and another 5000 men at sea. Wounded totaled over 35,000.

There was nothing to stand between the Allied armies and the Japanese Home Islands. Both sides prepared for a major invasion. As the European war ended, the Allies prepared to transfer their armies from Europe to the Pacific. This invasion was halted by the atomic bomb.

Internal Links

Iwo Jima

Imperial Japanese Navy

United States Navy

 

Internet Links

Battle of Okinawa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

General Simon Buckner, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mitsuru Ushijima - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ghosts of Okinawa

USS BUSH-RECOLLECTIONS
Crew recollections page of the USS BUSH (DD529). Site provides an example of life aboard a World War II Fletcher class destroyer. Photos, deck logs, action reports, glossary, poetry and recollections are accessible. Good historical reference material.

warofourfathers.com
www.warofourfathers.com WW II, Pearl Harbor, Eastman Kodak & Enola Gay. Guadalcanal, Truk Lagoon, Iwo Jima, Tinian Peleliu, Jimmy Doolittle, Senator John McCain & Stephen E. Ambrose.

Pacific Campaign, Okinawa 1945

Battle of Okinawa

Japan's Battle of Okinawa
Combined Arms Research Library.

BBC ON THIS DAY | 21 | 1945: US troops take Okinawa
The Japanese island of Okinawa falls to the Americans after a long and bloody battle.

Military History Online- Battle of Okinawa
An in-depth study of the Battle of Okinawa

BBC - WW2 People's War - Dad's Letter from Okinawa 1945
My dad, Charles Hladky, was on the AOG-36 Ontonagon which was a Mattawee Class Gasoline Tanker. This is an ...

1945: Okinawa Is Taken : IN OUR PAGES: 100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO
OKINAWA - Troops of the 10th Army, exploiting their easy landing on the west coast beaches of this island assured themselves of one of the most stunning victories of the war yesterday [April 2] by seizing the interior heights essential to the Japanese as

Typhoon "Louise" The 9 October 1945 Storm at Okinawa.

HyperWar: Okinawa, The Final Battle: Contents
World War II: Pacific Theater of Operations: The Central Pacific drive culminates in the conqest of the Ryukyus (Okinawa) in the spring of 1945.

Bibliography From Amazon.com

 

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