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In-Depth Information
the greatest, most massive theater of operaions ever witnessed in human history. And of all the
many batles in this gargantuan Paciic conlict, the Batle of Okinawa was to become the largest
air-sea-land campaign ever undertaken. It's only meaningful comparison is D Day on the beaches of
Normandy one year earlier.
Code-named “Operaion Iceberg” and also known as the “Typhoon of Steel” (
テツの雨
;
tetsu no
ame
(“rain of iron”) or
tetsu no bōfū
(“violent wind of iron”), over 180,000 Allied troops assembled,
landed and defeated a dug-in, entrenched army of 120,000 Japanese. More people died during the
Batle of Okinawa than all those killed by the twin atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Allied
casualies totaled more than 60,000, with 12,000 of those killed. Japanese soldiers killed numbered
110,000. Only about 10,000 surrendered or were taken prisoner. It is esimated that as many as
100,000 Okinawan civilians also perished in the batle. By comparison, Allied and German casualies
at D Day were approximately 10,000 on each side, with only negligible civilian deaths. More ships
were engaged, more aircraft flew, more bombs were dropped, more naval guns were fired and more
kamikaze
(
神風
) boats and aircrat were employed than in any other operaion in the Paciic War or
in the history of war.
The batle was launched on Easter Sunday, April 1st, 1945, under the command of Lieutenant-
General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr, who was to die three days before the end of the invasion, thus
becoming the highest ranking US oicer to be killed by enemy ire during World War II. The batle las-
ted unil June 22nd, a total of 82 days. Other commanders in the conlict read like a “who's who” of
American military history. Major General Roy Geiger, who replaced Buckner after his death, 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 Silwell, best remembered for his service in China and Burma. Naval op-
eraions were commanded by Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Raymond A. Spruance and William F. “Bull”
Halsey. The document ending the Batle of Okinawa was signed on what is now Kadena Air Base on
September 7, 1945. During the course of the batle, two other major events transpired: the death of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12th and the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8th.
The Batle of Okinawa was the bloodiest of the Paciic War. Over 30 Allied ships were sunk and
over 350 were damaged, mostly by
kamikaze
. The fleet lost almost 800 aircraft. Nearly 5,000 Navy
seamen and 8,000 Marines and Army soldiers were killed. Combat stress caused tremendous num-
bers of psychiatric batle faigue. There were more than 26,000 non-batle casualies. The rate of
combat losses was so heavy that there were calls in Congress for an invesigaion into the conduct of
the American military commanders. Japanese losses were horriic. Of an esimated 110,000 fatalities,
over 20,000 were burned alive by lame throwers or entombed in caves. Thousands commited sui-
cide, mostly by blowing themselves up with their own hand grenades. No one really knows how many
innocent civilians were killed. Esimates range from 40,000 to 150,000, anywhere from a quarter to a
third of the island's populaion, many of them pressed into service by the Japanese Army. The Empire
