Battle of Okinawa

Iwo Jima was known for one of the most bloody battles in not just the Marine but American history too. The battle began on February 19, 1945 as part of the campaign of the Pacific theatre, and lasted for thirty-six days. Around twenty six-thousand Marines were wounded, which caused Union losses during the battle at Gettysburg. Near the beginning of summer of 1944, American B-29 bombers were ruining the islands. “Iwo Jima proved itself an indispensable asset to the Pacific command.” “Thousands of fighters took off from its runways, and this ‘stepping stone’ served as a staging ground for countless Allied advances.”

​Manchester's Okinawa: The Bloodiest Battle of All is an essay that argues how war is overly romanticized and that Patriotism has decreased over the years due to the reality of war. He composes his argument in four sections, where he explains how the reality of war changes everyone. How in war we are all mirror images of each other, blinded by the censorship of war. Manchester’s thesis revolves around the Romanization of war and the effects it has on everyone due to the reality of it. His essay tries to argue many points but doing so takes away from developing a clear argument, or point he is trying to make. Though I do I agree with his argument his structure to make it a point is disorganized and at times

The fight for control of Iwo Jima lasted thirty eight days. Over that course of time the U.S. lost almost six thousand Marines with another eighteen thousand men wounded. The Japanese however lost around twenty one thousand men. This was the only battle during the war with Japan when the U.S. suffered more casualties than the Japanese. Being one of the bloodiest battles of the war, the taking of Iwo Jima served as a valuable lesson for the upcoming Okinawa campaign. In the weeks following, the battle fell under heavy scrutiny from the press and the public. Many viewed it as an unnecessary fight and loss of

he Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest and fiercest battles of the Second World War in which the US Armed Forces captured the Iwo Jima Island from the Japanese. More than 6800 American servicemen lost their lives in the battle and thus the battle has come to known as the deadliest battle in Marine Corps history. Iwo Jima was an island strategically positioned and highly fortified as its three airfields were used to stage attacks on the US at the Pacific War. It was therefore Americas target to capture the island and use it to stage attacks on Japans mainland and use the airfields as emergency landing strips for the US Navy planes damaged during war. According to The Washington Post a small group gathered on Thursday February 18th

The battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were two of the most important American operations in the Pacific Theatre against the Empire of Japan during World War Two. The goal of the two operations was to secure strategically important islands close to Japan to use for bombing campaigns. The battles for Iwo Jima(February-March 1945) and Okinawa f(April-June 1945) killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and helped to win the war for the United States.

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was the end of Japanese competiveness in the air. This Battle gave way to the United States’ ability to project its military power further into the heart of Japan with little to no resistance from the Japanese Fleet in the form of aerial warfare. It also left the Japanese desperate to find new ways of fighting American naval forces in ways other than the standard convention. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was “not the decisive battle in World War II”7; however, it did help accelerate the United States’ takeover of the auxiliary islands with the destruction of Japanese conventional air warfare.

General Kuribayashi knew all too well the size of the American force that was arrayed against him and also knew that his defeat was virtually assured. However, being an excellent commander, he could not allow his troops to believe this and made morale a high priority by promising victory. He departed from conventional defensive tactics, which normally would have advocated a concentration of forces on the beach. Instead he chose the high ground and based his operations to a large extent on the highest point on the island, __Mt. Suribachi__. He had miles of tunnels dug inside the mountain, which included big artillery pieces that would fire down on the beach. So ingenious were his preparations that he had large steel doors close each time the gun fired so Marines could not fire on the position.

There were 26,000 casualties and 6,800 dead Americans at Iwo Jima, with 20,000 casualties and 1083 dead Japanese. (1. "Battle for Iwo Jima, 1945." The Navy Department Library) At Okinawa there were 65,000 American casualties and 14,000 dead, while the Japanese lost 70,000 soldiers out of the 130,000 stationed on Okinawa. (2. "Battle of Okinawa." History.com) The bloodshed from these two battles gave the Americans a taste of the militaristic Japanese, and that a battle for the homeland of Japan would be astronomically worse. The Japanese were prepared to use any means necessary to stop the Americans because of “Yamato Damashii”, which was a virtue of the samurai that went hand in hand with the Bushido code, and it made the Japanese value the country and the emperor above all else, and that fighting to the death was greater than surrender. and it came in the form of Kamikaze attacks, suicide troops, and guerilla warfare. At Okinawa, 193 kamikaze attacks were launched at the Americans damaging 368 ships and destroying 36. (3. "The Battle of Okinawa." History Learning Site) The Japanese were prepared to sacrifice everything they had to destroy American ships and troops. The Japanese also used their own people to fight against the Americans.

Although Allied troops encountered many Japanese kamikaze planes which destroyed some warships, the Allied Air Force successfully supported their troops on the ground. While the Sixth Army landed more troops on the beach, the I Corps protected them and advanced eastward, and the XIV Corps moved south toward Manila. Because of central Luzon’s geographical features—mostly open plains—the XIV Corps was able to quickly advance toward Manila. Around this time, another amphibious landing of the Eighth Army occurred to the south of Manila. From there, the 11th Airborne Division also advanced on Manila. While the XIV Corps was advancing southward, the I Corps switched to defending their left flank. Meanwhile, General Yamashita had his strongest forces deployed in north Luzon and around the Clark Air Base. However, the Japanese were disorganized because of lack of communications and were not prepared for many US attacks. On their southward journey, when the XIV Corps reached Clark Air Base, they battled for control until it was captured on January 29, which also gave the US more supplies found within the base. Following this, the XIV Corps pushed towards Manila and started the attack on January 31 from the north and south of the city. On February 4th the 11th Airborne Division advanced into the city, but met strong Japanese defences. They pushed through and finished capturing the defences on February 11th, and

Okinawa, Japan was the site of the largest amphibious battle of World War II. The Battle of Okinawa resulted in the death of over 12,000 American and 100,000 Japanese soldiers, which lasted from late March through June 1945. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the main reasons President Harry Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The main reason for the bombing was to put a stop to the American death toll. Approximately two months later on August 6, 1945, the massive nuclear weapon was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb destroyed about four square miles of the city and also caused the death of 65,000 Japanese citizens. Because of this bombing, the Japanese government surrendered a week later.

The date of the battle of midway was June 3,1942 to June 7,1942 the battle lasted a total of 4 days and resulted in thousand of casualties on each side. The island of midway is a small island in the middle of the pacific ocean that was an American Naval base. The officers in charge of the American side were Chester W. Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond Spruance. The Japanese were Isoroku Yamamoto, Nobutake Kondo, and Chuichi Nagumo. The number of American troops at midway was in the thousands with the Japanese following with around the same amount of troops.

The Pacific Campaign was a series of relentless, ongoing amphibious landings and campaigns that took place among several surrounding islands where naval and air power, rather than large and heavy ground forces, were of utmost importance. In the Pacific Campaign, the Japanese primary targets were the United States Navy and US Marine Corps. The United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and other Allied nations also committed many forces. The Second World War was the largest war that America had ever taken part. America first entered the war in 1941 due to a Japanese attack on the naval base, Pearl Harbor. The Japanese eventually surrendered to the Allied forces on September 2, 1945.

According to Okinawa survivor and native Kinya Taira, the Japanese, who controlled the island of Okinawa during World War II “lied to us about the fate that would be facing us if we surrendered to the Allies, so we were confused, utterly paranoid, and just wanted to survive and see our families. We were, essentially, being used by the Imperial Army as body shields, as puppets, forced to go into the most dangerous areas knowing we wouldn’t make it back alive.” (“Okinawans Remember”) Despite the effects of the Battle of Okinawa on the natives of the land and the Allied soldiers who fought in it, this battle was the most crucial in ending World War II efficiently, thus the claim that the Battle of Okinawa was the most important battle in the war against the Japanese during World War II.

The battle of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945 and ended June . It took place over 82 days and fought on the grounds of Ryukyu, Islands of Okinawa.Okinawa was the second most deadliest battle fought in WW2. The battle was a stepping stone for an in invasion to get closer to the mainland, The battle involved the Japanese Army, minimal navy power and American and British navy support, along with Joint services of U.S Army, Marine Corps, and Navy.

World War II consisted of many devastating battles in both the European and the Pacific Theater. The Battle of Okinawa was fought in the Pacific theater. In the beginning of the battle there was little opposition from the Japanese soldiers but as the American troops traveled more inland the more resistance they met. Eventually, the 10th Army came against the fierce challenge of the intricate defense lines the Japanese held up. Many caves and pillboxes in the hills created a formidable challenge for American troops. Slowly though the Allies gained ground and continued to push back the defensive lines of General Ushijima and his troops. The Japanese tried to use kamikaze air and land attacks as successful offensive measures, these