The Battle of Okinawa Analysis

Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan ("Battle of Okinawa," 1996). The Battle of Okinawa remembered more for its iconic photograph of US Marines raising the US flag on Okinawa more so than any other war or battle ever fought. Okinawa the largest of the Ryukus islands played a major role in the American forces overall strategic efforts to advance to the mainland’s of Japan. Because it was the last major battle of WWII, the battle of Okinawa used lessons learned and TTP’s from all previous

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.

Slowly but surely the American soldiers made progress and secured some of the airfields because by the beginning of March, two thirds of the island was captured by American soldiers because they had a strong Marine base and were able to push the Japanese back.

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.

The American forces plan consisted of a “divide and conquer” methodology. The U.S. focused on landing its assault force expediently and quickly and securing Mt. Suribachi and dominant high ground of the island. The Americans expected victory in less than a week. Their forces consisted of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were to land on the eastern beaches the 4th on the right and the 5th on the left. The 3rd Marines would either land on the eastern beaches or assume a defensive role, which ever was called (Planning for the Battle of Iwo Jima, n.d.).

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

"Midway thrust the warlords back on their heels, caused their ambitious plans..........to be canceled, and forced on them an unexpected, unwelcome, defensive role". -Samuel Elliot Morison, the United States Navy's official historian of World War II, on the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The danger of Japanese power in the Pacific lingered over the heads of the Americans and endangered the safety of their homeland in the years from 1903 to 1942. That power lasted until the Japanese made the mistake of attacking the island of Midway in the second great carrier battle of the war. At 4:30 in the morning on June 4, 1942, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Midway in an attempt to destroy their aircraft carriers that escaped Pearl

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.

In spite of this declaration, the 5th Marine Division was still fighting to capture Kuribayashi’s final stronghold at the northwest tip of the island. On March 21st, they destroyed the Japanese command post and three days later closed the remaining tunnel entrances in the area. It appeared that the island was fully secure, 300 Japanese launched a final attack near Airfield No. 2 in the middle of the island on the night of March 25th. This force was ultimately contained and defeated by a mixed group of Army pilots, Seabees, engineers, and

In the beginning of war, Japanese victory in Pacific terrified West Cost Americans. Partial victory for Americans appeared when Japanese capital Tokyo was bombed. It was less of a material loss but huge in terms of psychological attack. It was followed by the Battle of Coral Sea in May 1942 and after that the decisive Battle of Midway Island took place. U.S. aircraft carriers destroyed three out of four Japanese carriers that sabotaged their further plans of invasion and they adopted a defensive strategy.

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.