Battle of Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa
Part of World War II, the Pacific War
A Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines on Wana Ridge provides covering fire with his Thompson submachine gun, May, 1945
Date April 1, 1945 – June 22, 1945 Location Okinawa, Japan Result Allied victory
Fighting parties
United States United Kingdom Canada Australia New Zealand	Empire of Japan
Commanders
Simon B. Buckner  † Roy Geiger Joseph Stilwell Chester W. Nimitz Raymond A. Spruance Bruce Fraser	Mitsuru Ushijima  † Isamu Chō  † Hiromichi Yahara # Minoru Ota  † Keizō Komura
Strength
183,000	117,000
Casualties and losses
12,513 killed 38,916 wounded, 33,096 non-combat losses	About 95,000 killed 7,400–10,755 captured
Estimated 42,000–150,000 civilians killed

The Battle of Okinawa was a great battle of World War II. It took place on the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands (south of the four big islands of Japan). The battle was between the military forces of the Empire of Japan and the Allies. It was the second biggest amphibious battle (from sea to land) of World War II, after the Battle of Normandy. It was also one of the longest battles in history, from April to June, 1945. The Allies won the battle and occupied Okinawa. Today, Okinawa is Japanese territory, but there are still American military bases there.

Nobody thought it was to be the last great battle of the war, but it was. The Americans were planning Operation Downfall, the invasion of the four great islands of Japan. This never happened, because the Japanese surrendered after the American use of the atomic bomb in August 1945 (first in Hiroshima, and a second time in Nagasaki) and the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan.

The battle has been called "Typhoon of Steel" in English, and "tetsu no ame," "tetsu no bōfū" by the people of Okinawa, which mean "rain of steel" and "violent wind of steel", because of the very heavy firing of guns and bombs at this battle.

At some battles, such as Iwo Jima, there had been no civilians, but Okinawa had a lot of civilian population. The civilians dead or injured in the battle were at least 150,000. American deaths were 18,900 killed or missing and 53,000 injured, more than double of the soldiers killed at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal put together. Several thousand soldiers who died from wounds and other causes, after the battle had finished, are not included. About a third of the civilian population of the island were killed. There were about 100,000 Japanese soldiers killed and 7,000 captured. Some of the soldiers committed seppuku or simply blew themselves up with grenades. Some of the civilians, convinced by Japanese propaganda that the Americans were barbarians who did terrible things to prisoners, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture.

In 1945, Winston Churchill called the battle "among the most intense and famous in military history."

Other websites

• WW2DB: Okinawa Campaign
• US military on the Battle of Okinawa
• New Zealand account with reference to Operation Iceberg
• USS Gilbert Islands CVE 107. 1945 {at Okinawa}
• United States Army in World War II The War in the Pacific Okinawa: The Last Battle
• Global Security history of Battle of Okinawa particular combat fatigue figures
• History Online about Battle of Okinawa particular force strengths and casualties on both sides