The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific. This 82-day battle between U.S. forces and Japan was one of the bloodiest fought by the U.S. 10th Army and the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions from early April until mid-June 1945. Okinawa was to be used by the Americans as an air base on their way to approaching Japan, some 350 miles away. It was inhabited by nearly 500,000 civilians. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater, with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 Allied casualties.

Massive amounts of U.S. military personnel and equipment was used against an estimated 155,000 Japanese ground, air and naval troops. Naval support was the Fifth Fleet, under the command of Admiral Raymond Spruance, which included 88 ships. Of those, 11 were fleet carriers, six light carriers, seven battleships and 18 cruisers. Other naval support included 22 escort carriers, 450 aircraft, 170 fire support landing crafts, 57 attack cargo transporters, 123 landing ship tank and support vessels, 10 old battleships, 11 cruisers and 30 destroyers. British Carrier Force supplied 4 carriers, 2 battleships, 5 cruisers and 14 destroyers.

The landings had little opposition, but this led the commander to believe the Japanese had dug themselves in deep and wanted fighting to be on their terms. On April 6, the Japanese air attack began with 400 planes that sank 20 American ships and damaged 157 others. 1,465 kamikaze attacks were responsible for most of the damages. Around the same time, the 1st Marine Division was doing ground sweeps to kill guerrillas that had dug themselves in. The Tenth Army started rounding up civilians and filled eight internment camps. The 6th Marine Division located a powerful Japanese force on the northern part of the island. A four-day battle resulted in heavy Marine causalities of 207 killed, 757 wounded and six missing, all while killing an estimated 2,000 Japanese troops. Intense fighting continued throughout the island. By April 14, nearly 7,000 Japanese had been killed as a result of air strikes, artillery and ground battles, but this was just the beginning of a much larger battle to soon begin.

Meanwhile on the western end of the island, the 77th Marine Division assaulted Le Island, a small island that had enemy strength that included women armed with spears. It was on Le Island that war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed on April 21. Fighting in mountain and wooded terrain proved obstacles for the Americans as the Japanese held the west-central part. The 7th Infantry Division cleared several fortified positions but suffered over 1,500 casualties, while capturing or killing 4,500 Japanese. Late May began the monsoon rains, which caused military vehicles problems with re-supplying and placements of weapons. Ground troops were forced to live in rain-filled trenches among the decaying corpses that could not get buried. The Japanese 32nd Army moved 30,000 soldiers to its last defense on the Kylan Peninsula. It was here that thousands of civilians were killed. As the 6th Marine Division move in on June 4, nearly 4,000 Japanese sailors, including Admiral Ota, all committed suicide within the hand built tunnels. By June 21, nearly all Japanese resistance was over with and soldiers were surrendering by the hundreds. On June 22, 1945, the American flag was officially raised on Okinawa. Also on that morning Japanese General Ushijima and his Chief of Staff Lt. General Cho committed ritual suicide.

Casualties were high on both sides. U.S. losses were 12,500 on the island but thousands died later in hospitals that were not included in this total. Lt. Gen. Simon Buckner was killed by artillery fire on June 19, and a day later Brig. Gen. Claudius Miller was killed by machine gun fire; 768 planes were destroyed and 225 tanks. Naval losses included 368 ships damaged, 4,907 sailors killed and 4,874 sailors wounded. Okinawa brought about more mental health issues than any other battle in the Pacific, due to excessive artillery and mortars with little or no protection. Japanese losses, counting civilians, totaled 110,000 and 16,346 soldiers surrendered or were captured. The Japanese lost 16 combat vessels, 7,830 aircraft, 27 tanks and 743 artillery pieces.

Ninety percent of all the buildings on the island were destroyed. Some military historians believe that Okinawa was the reason to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to prevent more loss of American soldiers in their quest to invade Japan. In 1995, the government of Okinawa erected a memorial monument named the Cornerstone of Peace, that lists all known names of those who died, military, civilian, Japanese and foreign. As of June 2008, the monument contains 240,734 names, all directly or indirectly killed in the Battle of Okinawa.

Rodney Cress is a Vietnam veteran and longtime advocate on veterans issues.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa

http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-operation-iceberg.htm