In this year of reflection on the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, too often our Western gaze falls solely on events in Europe. We rightly mourn those who died in the final, catastrophic battles in Nazi Germany and celebrate the final end of war in Europe on VE Day. But when the guns fell silent in Europe, the desperate fight between the Allies and the Japanese raged on. In Crucible of Hell, Saul David takes the reader on a journey to Okinawa, ‘the last great battle of the Second World War’.
This small island in the Pacific was a pivotal final step in the planned invasion of Japan. From 1 April to 22 June, it would witness a bloodbath matched only by the worst days on the Eastern Front. The clash claimed roughly 12,000 American lives (the bloodiest US battle in the Pacific), 90,000 Japanese, and somewhere in the region of 100,000 Okinawan civilians. It was this unimaginable slaughter, David argues, that should give Okinawa a significant place in our collective understanding of the final chapter of the Second World War.
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