battle of okinawa

OPPOSITE US marines pass a dead Japanese soldier on Okinawa; a handful of the third of a million men who fought in the battle. RIGHT A captured Japanese AA gun in Okinawa following the battle.

Military History
118

The Fighting Forces of Okinawa

Alexander Izza reviews the strategy, tactics, weapons, and morale of the opposing forces in the culminating land battle of the Pacific War.

OPPOSITE US marines in Okinawa, June 1945. It proved one of the most gruelling and costly battles of the Pacific War, filling US leaders with grim anxiety about the likely casualties in the event of a landing on the Japanese mainland. ABOVE Major General Mitsuru Ushijima (1887 1945), the Japanese commander on Okinawa during the battle. He committed suicide on the final day. BELOW The USS Idaho shells Japanese positions on Okinawa. The US fleet played a key role in providing heavy artillery support to US ground forces.

Military History
118

Endgame in the Pacific: The Battle of Okinawa, 1 April – 22 June 1945

Marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, Alexander Izza analyses the ferocious last stand of the Japanese Empire.