Okinawa

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Okinawa
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The battle of Okinawa opened up on April 1st,
1945 with an American force of 458 ships landing
193,852 troops What followed were 82 days of some
of the bloodiest fighting the war had seen.
Although the initial landings were virtually
unopposed when the troops advanced south they hit
a series of mutually supporting defensive lines
overlooked by concealed machine gun nests,
mortars and artillery. The intensity with which
the defenders fought which included many tunnels
and underground areas.
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Okinawa Battle Map
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The fleet covering the Okinawa operation was
itself attacked by at least 2,000 Kamikaze
(pilots who would fly bomb laden aircraft
directly into ships) resulting in 475 direct hits
or damaging near misses on US naval vessels. 45
ships were sunk, mostly destroyers but 15
battleships, 12 carriers, and 16 escort carriers
were also hit, many knocked out of the war. Such
was the crisis that 2,000 B-29 sorties were
directed at the airfields where Kamikaze planes
were flying from.
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107,539 Japanese troops, Okinawa military
personnel and civilians died or committed suicide
defending the island with thousands more wounded.
The toll for Americans forces was the highest of
any battle in the Pacific with 12,520 dead and a
further 36,631 wounded (7,613 soldiers and
Marines killed and 31,807 wounded, with a further
26,000 "non-combat" casualties plus 4,907
shipboard personnel killed and 4,824 wounded,
mainly from Kamikaze attacks.) Many saw this as a
bloody preview of the coming invasion of Japan.
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The EndBy Cadet Querini