Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, fought from April to June 1945, was one of the largest and bloodiest confrontations in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Following the Allied victory at Iwo Jima, Okinawa was strategically vital as it would serve as a base for the anticipated invasion of the Japanese home islands. Anticipating the invasion, Japanese forces employed a dual strategy of defense and massive suicide attacks, aiming to inflict severe casualties on the Allies to compel a negotiated peace.
American troops landed on Okinawa on April 1, initially facing little resistance, but the situation escalated dramatically with a significant Japanese counterattack on April 6, marking the beginning of intense fighting. The battle saw fierce ground combat, especially around the Shuri-line, a series of fortified defenses. Despite heavy casualties on both sides, American forces gradually broke through Japanese lines, capturing key positions, including Shuri Castle by May 29.
The battle led to staggering losses: approximately 50,000 American casualties and an estimated 100,000 Japanese dead, alongside devastating civilian tolls for the Okinawan population. The campaign not only underscored the brutality of the conflict but also influenced the U.S. decision to use atomic weapons, as the high cost of victory at Okinawa shaped military strategies for concluding the war.
Battle of Okinawa
The Event Last major military campaign of World War II
Date April 1-July 2, 1945
Place Ryukyu Islands, Japan
The largest invasion armada in history met the largest suicide assault in history during the final major battle of World War II. Fierce Japanese resistance in complex fortifications and furious kamikaze attacks failed to stop the Allies, and the desperate Japanese tactics played a role in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan.
After the victory at Iwo Jima, the Allies decided to invade the island of Okinawa, which would then be used as the main base for the final assault on the Japanese main islands. The Japanese knew an invasion of Okinawa was coming and hoped to inflict such grievous losses on the Allies that they would settle for a negotiated peace rather than attempt an invasion of the Japanese homeland. To combat American superiority in men and material, the Japanese devised a twofold strategy: Jikyusen, a defensive war of attrition fought from an intricate complex of strong fortifications, and Kikusi, massive, coordinated suicide attacks, primarily by airplanes.
American troops landed, largely unopposed, near the midpoint of Okinawa on April 1, 1945. The Marines headed east, bisecting the island, and north; the Army headed south. For the first several days, the Americans encountered minimal resistance. The relative calm was broken on April 6, when the Japanese launched the largest suicide assault in history, comprising hundreds of planes and remnants of the Japanese navy that included the largest battleship in the world, the Yamato. The Japanese plan to destroy the American invasion fleet failed—the Yamato was sunk by planes before it reached Okinawa—but ten American ships were sunk in the two-day battle. Japan was to launch nine more Kikusi during the Okinawa campaign.
On April 8, American troops met their first significant ground resistance, as the Marines engaged 2,000 Japanese soldiers dug in on Mount Yaetake on the Motobo Peninsula and Army forces encountered the bulk of Japanese troops entrenched in the outer defenses of a maze of interconnected fortifications known as the Shuri-line. American operations were successful in northern Okinawa as Mount Yaetake was conquered on April 18, and the island of Ie Shima (where noted war correspondent Ernie Pyle died on April 18), a few miles west of Motobo Peninsula, fell a few days later. In southern Okinawa, however, the U.S. offensive was stopped.
Breaking the Shuri-line
From April 8 until early May, a stalemate developed along the Shuri-line defenses. Throughout the month of April, American infantry tried to penetrate the Japanese defenses, with minimal success. On May 3, the Japanese changed strategy and launched a ground attack coordinated with the largest Japanese artillery bombardment of the war and a Kikusi—a decision that was to haunt the Japanese commander, Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima. The attack was a colossal failure, and the loss of several thousand troops, numerous artillery pieces, and irreplaceable ammunition weakened the Shuri-line defenses. U.S. Army infantry, reinforced with Marines from northern Okinawa, countered with an offensive of their own, and by mid-May the flanks of the Shuri-line were beginning to crumble. Ushijima began withdrawing his troops during torrential May rains that turned the battlefield into a sea of mud and corpses, for a last stand in the southernmost region of Okinawa. On May 29, Shuri castle, the cornerstone of Japanese defenses, was captured by U.S. Marines, and the Shuri-line was broken.
By the middle of June, the last of the Japanese defenses were disintegrating. Several thousand Japanese naval troops were annihilated on Oroku Peninsula, and Ushijima’s army was being divided into isolated pockets of resistance. The Americans declared victory on June 21, but fighting over the next several days resulted in approximately 9,000 more Japanese soldiers being killed. Officially, the Okinawa campaign ended on July 2.
Impact
The Japanese exacted a high toll for the Allied victory. American ground casualties were nearly 50,000 men, of whom approximately 12,500 were killed. The American Navy incurred around 10,000 casualties, half of whom died, and lost 36 ships, with another 368 damaged. The naval losses were the highest losses for one campaign in American history. The price Japan paid was steep: an estimated 100,000 dead, approximately 10,000 troops taken prisoner, 16 ships sunk, and the loss of at least 3,000 planes. Okinawans suffered deeply: Thousands of them were conscripted into Japanese forces, and it is estimated that somewhere between 40,000 and 150,000 civilian Okinawans died during the campaign, out of a population of about 450,000.
Memories of Iwo Jima, combined with the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt early in the Okinawa campaign, seemed to diminish the importance of events on Okinawa on the American home front: It was the sands of Iwo Jima, not the mud of Okinawa, that captivated the American public. In the minds of the American military, however, the high price paid to take the island was influential in the decision to use atomic weapons against Japan. The Japanese hoped that a bloody, prolonged war of attrition, combined with waves of suicide assaults, would convince the Allies to proffer favorable peace terms. Instead, the Japanese strategy prompted the Allies to unleash a terrifying weapon that ultimately shortened the war by forcing the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Bibliography
Appleman, Roy E., James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugelar, and John Stevens. Okinawa: The Last Battle. Washington, D.C.: Center for Military History, United States Army, 1948. Comprehensive overview of the Okinawa campaign presented by Army historians.
Reilly, Robin L. Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships: Okinawa, 1945. Drexel Hill, Pa.: Casemate, 2008. A richly illustrated description of Allied tactics to stave off kamikaze attacks.
Sledge, Eugene B. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1966. A stunning portrait of the battle for Okinawa provided by a former Marine in this highly acclaimed memoir.
Sloan, Bill. The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945—The Last Epic Struggle of World War II . New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Eyewitness accounts abound in this masterful retelling of the Okinawa campaign.
Yahara, Hiromichi. The Battle for Okinawa. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995. One of the chief architects of Japanese defenses on Okinawa provides a Japanese perspective on the battle for the island.