Battle+of+Okinawa

The **Battle of Okinawa,** otherwise known as "Operation Iceberg", lasted from April 1 - June 21, 1945, the United States and the United Kingdom against the Empire of Japan.

The combatants who participated from both factions were approximated to be 300,000. From the Allied Factions, 12,513 were killed, 38,916 were wounded, and suffered 33,096 non-combat losses. The Japanese experienced about 100,000 killed and about 7,400 - 10,755 captured. Overall, approximately 42,000 - 150,000 civilians were killed on Okinawa.
 * Combatants and Casualties**


 * Leaders of Armies in Battle**


 * Maps**

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The victors of the Battle of Okinawa were the Allied forces, who then proceeded to construct a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas and airfields in such proximity to Japan. The U.S. forces aided in Operation Zebra, otherwise the naval mine clearing op in the waters of Okinawa. The U.S. then occupied Okinawa for a brief ammount of time.=====


 * Significance to both factions**

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The significance of the battle had huge benefits to the Allied forces, as many war historians believed that the battle prompted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski which caused Japan to surrender just weeks after the fighting ended on Okinawa.=====

On April 1st, Battle of Okinawa begins. Tenth Army lands on Higashi beach L-Day. Yomitan Airstrip is secured while Japanese planes are still trying to land. On April 4th, XXIV Corps of the Tenth Army makes first contact with Japanese defensive fortifications in southern Okinawa heavy fighting. April 6th: **400 Kamikaze planes make an all-out effort against Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, shipping and beach heads; two destroyers, two ammunition ships, a mine sweeper and an LST are sunk; other vessels are damaged.** On April 20th, the III Marine Amphibious Corps finishes taking northern Okinawa; and leaves Japanese soldiers hiding in the hills for more than twenty years.
 * Chronology**

On May 11th, kamikaze crashes into the aircraft carrier **Bunker Hill** //more than three hundred killed and Destroyer// **Hadley** //is heavily damaged by successive attacks.// May 21st: Marines take Sugar Loaf Hill, which guards the entrance to Shuri and headquarters of the Japanese 32nd Army near Naha. May 24, Marines enter Naha, Capital of Okinawa; largest city ever taken by the Marines up to that point in time.

On June 10th, Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, Jr., commanding Tenth Army, offers surrender terms to Lt. Gen. Ushijima Mitsuru, commander of 32nd Army. Americans never receive a response and step up their assault. June 15, the coordinated Japanese resistance ends; effective death of command and control of the 32nd Army. On June 18th, Japanese artillery barrage kills General Buckner. Maj. Gen. Roy Geiger (United States Marine Corps) assumes command of Tenth Army; the first Marine officer to command a field army in combat. On June 21st, Maj. Gen. Roy Geiger announces **Okinawa Island secured**.

On July 2nd, mop-up campaign finished. **Stilwell announces Ryukyus campaign terminated.**

On August 6th, the Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima. August 8th, Okinawa-based B-24s, B-25s, A-26s, P-51s, and P-47s carry out numerous strikes against targets on Kyushu Island, Japan; targets include the USA and Tsuiki Airfields, communications and transport targets all over Kyushu, shipping between Kyushu and Korea, and targets of opportunity in the Ryukyu Islands, on the China coast, and on Formosa. **On August 9th,** **the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki.** **August 10:** **Japan still refuses to Surrender.** In Japan on August 11th, **Okinawa-based** B-24s, B-25s, A-26s, A-20s, and fighters flying about 530 sorties cause extensive destruction to shipping and shore installations in the Inland Sea, in the Tsushima area, and of communications, transportation, and other targets throughout Kyushu Island. On August 14th, Heavy Bombing Campaign one hours drive from the Imperial Palace; and heavy sorties of B-29 fleets and fighters devastate rail and munitions centers Japan. Twentieth Air Force: **752 B-29s fly seven missions against Japan without loss**. These are the last B-29 missions against Japan in WWII. **Before the last B-29s return, President Harry S Truman announces the unconditional surrender of Japan.** **Immediately thereafter, the 11th Airborne Division leaves the Philippine Islands by air for Okinawa, where it goes on standby as the initial occupation force for Japan.**

Finally, on September 7th, **all offensive action against Japan ends**. **General of the Army Douglas MacArthur is notified that he is Supreme Commander for Allied powers.** **Japan announces acceptance of allied unconditional surrender terms.** On September 2nd, surrender ceremonies held on **USS Missouri** in Tokyo Bay. September 7th: Japanese forces in the Ryukyus officially surrender at Kadena Air Base (location later renamed Stilwell Park).

//(right) The photos to the right are, from left to right, a 6th Division Marine demolitions crew destroy a Japanese cave, two American Sherman tanks knocked out by Japanese artillery, and a Marine squad passing through a destroyed village as they view a dead Japanese soldier.// //(below) The photos below are, from left to right, American soldiers of the 77th Division listen to the radio reports of V-E Day on 1945 May 8th and the U.S.S. Idaho battleship fires shell at Okinawa.//

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