It became common for them to shoot at Okinawan houses, as one infantryman wrote: There was some return fire from a few of the houses, but the others were probably occupied by civilians – and we didn't care. "[62] That was not enough for the survivors who said it is important for children today to know what really happened. With Keiju Kobayashi, Yûzô Kayama, Tetsurô Tanba, Tatsuya Nakadai. Hodge launched a new offensive of April 19 with a barrage of 324 guns, the largest ever in the Pacific Ocean Theater. Amtracks from U.S. task force coming ashore on Okinawa, Ryukyus Islands, 1 April 1945. The capture of these two key positions exposed the Japanese around Shuri on both sides. In addition, there were 9,000 IJN troops supported by 1,100 militia, with approximately 4,000 holed up at the underground headquarters on the hillside overlooking the Okinawa Naval Base in the Oroku Peninsula, east of the airfield. The battle was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific, with approximately 160,000 casualties combined: at least 50,000 Allied and 84,166–117,000 Japanese,[21][12]:473–4 including drafted Okinawans wearing Japanese uniforms. As of June 2008, it contains 240,734 names. There was heavy fighting before the area was declared secured on April 21, and became another air base for operations against Japan. The day after Buckner was killed, Brigadier General Easley was killed by Japanese machine gun fire. Diagram of a typical defense system on the face of Iegusugu Pinnacle. [21] When the American forces occupied the island, many Japanese soldiers put on Okinawan clothing to avoid capture, and some Okinawans would come to the Americans' aid by offering to identify these mainland Japanese. Summary: The battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg, took place in April-June 1945. Among the 21 male and female secondary schools that made up these student corps, 2,000 students would die on the battlefield. On June 22 Tenth Army held a flag-arising ceremony to mark the end of organized resistance on Okinawa. Japanese air opposition had been relatively light during the first few days after the landings. [51] American Military Intelligence Corps[52] combat translators such as Teruto Tsubota managed to convince many civilians not to kill themselves. [13][6] 149,425 Okinawans were killed, died by suicide or went missing, roughly half of the estimated pre-war 300,000 local population.[6]. The battle for Okinawa: one Marine’s story; Stumps of rotting teeth. Early claims of Japanese aircraft losses put the total at 7,800,[12]:474 however later examination of Japanese records revealed that Japanese aircraft losses at Okinawa were far below often-repeated US estimates for the campaign. On May 28 Marine patrols found recently abandoned positions west of Shuri. The 4,000 Japanese sailors, including Admiral Ōta, all committed suicide within the hand-built tunnels of the underground naval headquarters on June 13. The staff calculated that superior quality and numbers of weapons gave each US division five or six times the firepower of a Japanese division. [12]:468–71 Colonel Yahara had asked Ushijima for permission to commit suicide, but the general refused his request, saying: "If you die there will be no one left who knows the truth about the battle of Okinawa. The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The operation provided a protected anchorage for the fleet and eliminated the threat from suicide boats. Upon assuming command, Geiger became the only US Marine to command a numbered army of the US Army in combat; he was relieved five days later by General Joseph Stilwell. According to the account of the battle presented in Marine Corps Gazette: More mental health issues arose from the Battle of Okinawa than any other battle in the Pacific during World War II. The Battle of Okinawa began on 1 April, 1945 with the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War. The Battle of Okinawa on Which the Maintenance of the National Polity (Kokutai) Rests. The 9… Although flame tanks cleared many cave defenses, there was no breakthrough, and the XXIV Corps suffered 720 casualties. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers joined the bombardment, which was followed by 650 Navy and Marine planes attacking the Japanese positions with napalm, rockets, bombs, and machine guns. [21][12]:462 Marine Corps officials in Okinawa and Washington have said that they knew of no rapes by American personnel in Okinawa at the end of the war. Ryūkyū Shimpō, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: "There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. Getty Images offers exclusive rights-ready and premium royalty-free analog, HD, and 4K video of the highest quality. This, coupled with thousands of bodies both friend and foe littering the entire island, created a scent you could nearly taste. On 1 April 1945, Americans began landing on a 15 kilometre strip of beach opposite two important Japanese airfields. American forces often lost personnel before clearing the Japanese out from each cave or other hiding place. [12]:149–83, While the 6th Marine Division cleared northern Okinawa, the US Army 96th and 7th Infantry Divisions wheeled south across the narrow waist of Okinawa. This total includes conscripted Okinawan civilians. Bear the temporary shame but endure it. Okinawa Prefecture's estimate is over 100,000 losses,[44]. By May 30 the consensus among Army and Marine intelligence was that the majority of Japanese forces had withdrawn from the Shuri Line. Battle of Okinawa . They expected the Americans to land 6–10 divisions against the Japanese garrison of two and a half divisions. The boat crews were re-formed into three additional infantry battalions.[28]. Find professional Battle Of Okinawa videos and stock footage available for license in film, television, advertising and corporate uses. The U.S. command selected 1 April, 1945 as the date of the attack. MEXT preferred descriptions that just say that civilians received hand grenades from the Japanese military. Ten days of fierce fighting followed. The super battleship Yamato explodes after persistent attacks from US aircraft. In the days before the attack the U.S. forces had already landed some units on Okinawa but it wasn’t in Hagushi Bay, it was some 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the southwest of Hagushi Bay. Okinawa was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. As of 2010, the monument lists 240,931 names, including 149,193 Okinawan civilians, 77,166 Imperial Japanese soldiers, 14,009 American soldiers, and smaller numbers of people from South Korea (365), the United Kingdom (82), North Korea (82) and Taiwan (34).[6]. Several kamikaze attacks caused significant damage, but as the Royal Navy carriers had armoured flight decks, they experienced only a brief interruption to their force's operations.[29][30]. The battle for Okinawa was one of the most desperate of the war . The resolution stated, "It is an undeniable fact that the 'multiple suicides' would not have occurred without the involvement of the Japanese military and any deletion of or revision to (the descriptions) is a denial and distortion of the many testimonies by those people who survived the incidents. "Did Nuclear Weapons Cause Japan to Surrender?". American personnel casualties included thousands of cases of mental breakdown. It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. The first Americans ashore were soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division, who landed in the Kerama Islands (Kerama Retto), 15 mi (24 km) west of Okinawa on 26 March. [22]:40 It was planned that Lieutenant general Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. would report to Vice admiral Richmond K. Turner until the amphibious phase was completed, after which he would report directly to Admiral Raymond A. Spruance. The force withdrew to San Pedro Bay on April 23. "[60] In December 2007, MEXT partially admitted the role of the Japanese military in civilian mass suicides. 1 and about 5 mi (8 km) northwest of Shuri, from what came to be known as Cactus Ridge. Morale was dangerously low by the month of May and the state of discipline on a moral basis had a new low barometer for acceptable behavior. The US cleared the surrounding waters of mines in Operation Zebra, occupied Okinawa, and set up the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, a form of military government, after the battle. [12]:461, The last remnants of Japanese resistance ended on June 21, although some Japanese continued hiding, including the future governor of Okinawa Prefecture, Masahide Ōta. In June 2007, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly adopted a resolution stating, "We strongly call on the (national) government to retract the instruction and to immediately restore the description in the textbooks so the truth of the Battle of Okinawa will be handed down correctly and a tragic war will never happen again. Operation Ten-Go (Ten-gō sakusen) was the attempted attack by a strike force of 10 Japanese surface vessels, led by the Yamato and commanded by Admiral Seiichi Itō. [12]:396, The Japanese retreat, although harassed by artillery fire, was conducted with great skill at night and aided by the monsoon storms. [70] In 2011, one official of the prefectural government told David Hearst of The Guardian: You have the Battle of Britain, in which your airmen protected the British people. The Japanese had prepared their positions well and fought tenaciously. The 2nd Marine Division conducted a demonstration off the Minatoga beaches on the southeastern coast to deceive the Japanese about American intentions and delay movement of reserves from there. The 9th Division was moved to Taiwan before the invasion, resulting in shuffling of Japanese defensive plans. The Americans and their allies sustained 49,151 casualties out of which 12,520 were killed. Six days later on April 13, the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Marine Regiment, reached Hedo Point (Hedo-misaki) at the northernmost tip of the island. [17][18] The Kerama Islands surrounding Okinawa were preemptively captured on March 26, (L-6) by the 77th Infantry Division. Okinawa lay only 540 kilometres from the Japanese mainland and was sought as a forward base for the bombing of Japan as well as a base from which an invasion of the mainland could be launched later in 1945. The Japanese land campaign (mainly defensive) was conducted by the 67,000-strong (77,000 according to some sources) regular 32nd Army and some 9,000 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) troops at Oroku Naval Base (only a few hundred of whom had been trained and equipped for ground combat), supported by 39,000 drafted local Ryukyuan people (including 24,000 hastily drafted rear militia called Boeitai and 15,000 non-uniformed laborers). Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Avengers, Seafires and Fireflies on HMS Implacable warm up their engines before taking off. [12]:130–7, The 27th Infantry Division, which had landed on April 9, took over on the right, along the west coast of Okinawa. The 32nd Army was able to move nearly 30,000 personnel into its last defense line on the Kiyan Peninsula, which ultimately led to the greatest slaughter on Okinawa in the latter stages of the battle, including the deaths of thousands of civilians. The invasion was supported by a fleet consisting of 18 battleships, 27 cruisers, 177 destroyers/destroyer escorts, 39 aircraft carriers (11 fleet carriers, 6 light carriers and 22 escort carriers) and various support and troop transport ships. The Battle of Okinawa, Operation Iceberg, was the largest amphibious assault launched by Allied forces in the Pacific Theatre of operations. Many of the prisoners were native Okinawans who had been pressed into service shortly before the battle, and were less imbued with the Imperial Japanese Army's no-surrender doctrine. According to various estimates, between a tenth and a third of them died during the battle,[32] or between 30,000 and 100,000 people. Japanese soldiers also killed about 1,000 people who spoke in the Okinawan language to suppress spying. The ship was out of action for fifty minutes. Eight days later, hundreds of thousands of soldiers landed on Okina… [12]:265, On May 4, the 32nd Army launched another counteroffensive. Subsidiary landings followed, and the Kerama group was secured over the next five days. Until April 20, British Task Force 57, with 4 large and 6 escort carriers, remained off the Sakishima Islands to protect the southern flank.[12]:97. About half of the Tekketsu Kinnōtai were killed, including in suicide bomb attacks against tanks, and in guerrilla operations. This means presented itself, with the advent of atomic bombs, which worked admirably in convincing the Japanese to sue for peace [unconditionally], without American casualties. The 96th Infantry Division began to encounter fierce resistance in west-central Okinawa from Japanese troops holding fortified positions east of Highway No. The famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle was also killed by Japanese machine gun fire on Ie Shima, a small island just off of northwestern Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa, Operation Iceberg, was the largest amphibious assault launched by Allied forces in the Pacific Theatre of operations. In the north, Colonel Takehido Udo was in command. A total of 7,401 Japanese regulars and 3,400 Okinawan conscripts surrendered or were captured during the battle. Meanwhile, the 77th Infantry Division assaulted Ie Island (Ie Shima), a small island off the western end of the peninsula, on April 16. The Battle of Okinawa stands as the costliest engagement of World War II in the Pacific. "[65] In March 2008, the Osaka Prefecture Court ruled in favor of Ōe, stating, "It can be said the military was deeply involved in the mass suicides." [80], Significant US forces remain garrisoned on Okinawa as the United States Forces Japan, which the Japanese government sees as an important guarantee of regional stability,[81] and Kadena remains the largest US air base in Asia. [23], The British naval contingent accompanied 251 British naval aircraft, and included a British Commonwealth fleet with Australian, New Zealand and Canadian ships and personnel.[24]. The Battle of Okinawa was a victory for the US but resulted in massive casualties on both sides. Some of the other islands that saw major battles in World War II, such as Iwo Jima, were uninhabited or had been evacuated. The Battle of Okinawa was a great battle of World War II. HMS Formidable on fire after a kamikaze attack on May 4. The 98-day battle lasted from March 26 until July 2, 1945. On May 1, the British Pacific Fleet returned to action, subduing the airfields as before, this time with naval bombardment as well as aircraft. "Press rewind: Trump, Tokyo and a welcome back to the 1980s", "Okinawa marks 68th anniversary of bloody WWII battle", "In Okinawa, Talk of Break From Japan Turns Serious", Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945, "The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner", "Japan's Battle of Okinawa, April–June 1945", "footage from the National Archives.By Sgt. The British aircraft carriers included about 25% of the naval aviation used at Okinawa. The Imperial Japanese Army mobilized 1,780 middle school boys aged 14–17 years into front-line-service. Periodic heavy air attacks continued through April. Australian destroyers HMA Ships Quilliam, Queenborough, Quickmatch, Napier, Nepal and Norman served with the 4th and 7th Flotillas of TF.57. [57], There is ongoing disagreement between Okinawa's local government and Japan's national government over the role of the Japanese military in civilian mass suicides during the battle. On August 15, 1945, Admiral Matome Ugaki was killed while part of a kamikaze raid on Iheyajima island. The war was to serve as an example of how deadly the invasion of mainland Japan would be. Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II and took place from April through June 1945. In the naval operations surrounding the battle, both sides lost considerable numbers of ships and aircraft, including the Japanese battleship Yamato. [12]:311–59, By the end of May, monsoon rains which had turned contested hills and roads into a morass exacerbated both the tactical and medical situations. [12]:455–61, On June 18, General Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery fire while monitoring the progress of his troops from a forward observation post. [12]:57, The main landing was made by the XXIV Corps and the III Amphibious Corps on the Hagushi beaches on the western coast of Okinawa on L-Day, April 1. Of Yamato's screening force, the light cruiser Yahagi and 4 of the 8 destroyers were also sunk. [12]:68–74, The 10th Army swept across the south-central part of the island with relative ease, capturing the Kadena and the Yomitan airbases within hours of the landing. On May 24, the Japanese mounted Operation Gi-gou: a company of Giretsu Kuteitai commandos were airlifted in a suicide attack on Yomitan. The Japanese defenses were sited on reverse slopes, where the defenders waited out the artillery barrage and aerial attack in relative safety, emerging from the caves to rain mortar rounds and grenades upon the Americans advancing up the forward slope. It took place on Okinawa Island in the Ryukyu Islands (south of the four big islands of Japan). [16] The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. [12]:283–302, Buckner launched another American attack on May 11. In these preliminary operations, the 77th Infantry Division suffered 27 dead and 81 wounded, while Japanese dead and captured numbered over 650. The Americans wanted to seize the main airfield on Okinawa to … While US intelligence estimated there were 89 planes on Formosa, the Japanese actually had about 700, dismantled or well camouflaged and dispersed into scattered villages and towns; the US Fifth Air Force disputed Navy claims of kamikaze coming from Formosa. The Imperial Japanese Navy lost some 3,700 sailors, including Admiral Itō, at the cost of 10 US aircraft and 12 airmen. [48] Okinawans "were often surprised at the comparatively humane treatment they received from the American enemy". The 32nd Army initially consisted of the 9th, 24th and 62nd Divisions and the 44th Independent Mixed Brigade. [69] The military value of Okinawa "exceeded all hope". The Battle of Okinawa was the Marine Corps’ final battle of World War II. This move sparked widespread protests among Okinawans. Local residents have protested against the size and presence of the base. "[26]:723 Yahara was the most senior officer to have survived the battle on the island, and he later authored a book titled The Battle for Okinawa. The first view of the battlefield was a shock to Sergeant William Manchester of the 2/29th Marines. Because the next major event following the Battle of Okinawa was "the total surrender of Japan," the "effect" of this battle is more difficult to consider. [66], In 2012, Korean-Japanese director Pak Su-nam announced her work on the documentary Nuchigafu (Okinawan for "only if one is alive") collecting living survivors' accounts to show "the truth of history to many people", alleging that "there were two types of orders for 'honorable deaths'—one for residents to kill each other and the other for the military to kill all residents". Four days from the closing of the campaign, Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery fire, which blew lethal slivers of coral into his body, while inspecting his troops at the front line. [19][20] The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of Japanese kamikaze attacks and the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. General John R. Hodge now had three divisions in the line, with the 96th in the middle and the 7th to the east, with each division holding a front of only about 1.5 mi (2.4 km). The Japanese sent Okinawans at gunpoint out to obtain water and supplies for them, which led to civilian casualties. [33][34] The castle, however, was outside the 1st Marine Division's assigned zone and only frantic efforts by the commander and staff of the 77th Infantry Division prevented an American airstrike and artillery bombardment which would have resulted in many casualties due to friendly fire. [12]:105–8, The next American objective was Kakazu Ridge (26°15′32″N 127°44′13″E / 26.259°N 127.737°E / 26.259; 127.737), two hills with a connecting saddle that formed part of Shuri's outer defenses. In these preliminary operations, the 77th Infantry Division suffered 27 dead and 81 wounded, while Japanese dead and captured numbered over 650. However, on April 6, the expected air reaction began with an attack by 400 planes from Kyushu. In addition to conventional hazards, the 77th Infantry Division encountered kamikaze attacks, and even local women armed with spears. For the April 1945 invasion of Okinawa, the Allies assembled the most powerful naval force in history. During the period March 26 – April 30, twenty American ships were sunk and 157 damaged by enemy action. Combat losses were 458, and the other 310 were operational accidents. Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions fought for "Sugar Loaf Hill" (26°13′19″N 127°41′46″E / 26.222°N 127.696°E / 26.222; 127.696). [42], Aircraft losses over the three-month period were 768 US planes, including those bombing the Kyushu airfields launching kamikazes. On the morning of April 1st, US navy ships rained a pre-landing bombardment of 44,825 shells, 33,000 rockets and 22,500 mortar shells plus napalm attacks by carrier planes on the invasion beaches (Tsukiyama 1999). The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄戦, Hepburn: Okinawa-sen), codenamed Operation Iceberg,[15]:17 was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. Okinawa, by contrast, had a large indigenous civilian population; US Army records from the planning phase of the operation make the assumption that Okinawa was home to about 300,000 civilians. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. This time, Ushijima attempted to make amphibious assaults on the coasts behind American lines. The Japanese soldiers hid in fortified caves. Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in proximity to Japan. [32][12]:364–70, From May 24 to 27 the 6th Marine Division cautiously occupied the ruins of Naha, the largest city on the island, finding it largely deserted. On June 23 a mopping-up operation commenced, which concluded on June 30.[12]:471–3. A landing craft, support stands by to pick up survivors. Primary resistance was to be led in the south by Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Isamu Chō and his chief of operations, Colonel Hiromichi Yahara. The Japanese army not only starved the Okinawans but used them as human shields. Some military historians believe that the Okinawa campaign led directly to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as a means of avoiding the planned ground invasion of the Japanese mainland. Rather than be taken prisoner, defenders often chose suicide. This view is explained by Victor Davis Hanson in his book Ripples of Battle: ... because the Japanese on Okinawa ... were so fierce in their defense (even when cut off, and without supplies), and because casualties were so appalling, many American strategists looked for an alternative means to subdue mainland Japan, other than a direct invasion. The Battle of Okinawa, which began 75 years ago, was the last major battle of World War II — and the bloodiest of the Pacific campaign. This is an order from your army Commander. On 1 April 1945, Americans began landing on a 15 kilometre strip of beach opposite two important Japanese airfields. This includes stories of rape after trading sexual favors or even marrying Americans,[56] such as the alleged incident in the village of Katsuyama, where civilians said they had formed a vigilante group to ambush and kill three black American soldiers who they claimed would frequently rape the local girls there. [55] There are, however, numerous credible testimony accounts which note that a large number of rapes were committed by American forces during the battle. [12]:391–2 On May 29 the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines occupied high ground 700 yards (640 m) east of Shuri Castle and reported that the Castle appeared undefended. It also resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies. The protracted length of the campaign under stressful conditions forced Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to take the unprecedented step of relieving the principal naval commanders to rest and recuperate. The effort led the 32nd Army's staff to conclude that the Americans were vulnerable to night infiltration tactics, but that their superior firepower made any offensive Japanese troop concentrations extremely dangerous, and they reverted to their defensive strategy. Troops lived on a field sodden by rain, part garbage dump and part graveyard. [36][37] The most complete tally of deaths during the battle is at the Cornerstone of Peace monument at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, which identifies the names of each individual who died at Okinawa in World War II. Unburied Japanese and American bodies decayed, sank in the mud, and became part of a noxious stew. The results however weren’t as great as the Japanese high command expected. (US torpedo bombers were instructed to aim for only one side to prevent effective counter flooding by the battleship's crew, and to aim for the bow or the stern, where armor was believed to be the thinnest.) Another name used to refer to the Battle of Okinawa was the “typhoon of steel.” The name was a description of the ferocity of the battle. The American advance was inexorable, but resulted in a high number of casualties on both sides. Yet the battle had only begun, for it was now realized that "these were merely outposts," guarding the Shuri Line. The 82-day-long battle lasted from April 1 until June 22, 1945. The island was to be a preview for the invasion of Japan, only 350 miles away. 300,000, This page was last edited on 2 April 2021, at 22:20. The Americans suffered over 75,000 – 82,000 casualties, including non-battle casualties (psychiatric, injuries, illnesses), of whom over 20,195 were dead (12,500 were killed in action, 7,700 died of wounds or non-combat deaths). [14] The Allies destroyed 27 Japanese tanks and 743 artillery pieces (including mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns), some of them eliminated by the naval and air bombardments but most knocked out by American counter-battery fire. The council report stated, "It can be said that from the viewpoint of the Okinawa residents, they were forced into the mass suicides. When the 6th Marine Division arrived, the III Amphibious Corps took over the right flank and the 10th Army assumed control of the battle. The losses might have been greater except for the fact that the Japanese had practically all of their infantry reserves tied up farther south, held there by another feint off the Minatoga beaches by the 2nd Marine Division that coincided with the attack. The Battle of Okinawa, fought with the understanding that Japan’s defeat was inevitable, was the last ground combat between Japan and the US in the Pacific War. 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