Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa was a vicious military encounter between the invading US forces and the Imperial Japanese Army. Known as Operation Iceberg, it took place on the Japanese island of Okinawa from March 26 to July 2, 1945, during World War II. This American victory over the Japanese brought the Allies onto the entry gate threshold to Japan mainland as it was the last step of the island-hopping campaign of the Pacific Theater, which had begun with the Guadalcanal Campaign on August 7, 1942.

Opposing Forces

For the invasion of the island of Okinawa, the United States employed two corps; the III Amphibious Corps, which was under the command of Roy Stanley Geiger, and the US Army's XXIV Corps, led by Claudius Miller Easley. The III Amphibious Corps was composed of the 1st, 2nd, and 6th Marine Division, while the XXIV Corps consisted of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th Infantry Division. They were under the overall command of Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., US Tenth Army. The commander of the US Navy's Task Force 57 that supported the invasion was Admiral Raymond A. Spruance.

The defending forces of Okinawa consisted of 24th, 28th, and the 62th Infantry Division, reinforced by the 27th Tank Regiment, which were parts of the Imperial Japanese 32nd Army. The supreme commander of these units were Mitsuru Ushijima, who would commit suicide at the end of the battle. Meanwhile, the Japanese naval forces were led by Admiral Minoru Ota.

Summary

The Battle of Okinawa began on the morning of March 26, 1945, when the men of the 77th Infantry Division landed on the Shima island, northwest of Okinawa. However, the invasion of Okinawa proper started on April 1st, when the 2nd Marine Division set foot on the Minatoga beaches on the southern shores of the island. Meanwhile, the 1st and 6th Marine Division (III Amphibious Corps) and the US Army's XXIV Corps 7th and 96th Infantry Division landed on the beaches north of Hagushi, in the southwestern shores in the following days.

The 2nd Marine Div.'s landing was a faint attack to divert Japanese resources to the south of the island. The 1st and 6th Marine Division would advance northwards, while the units of the XXIV Corps would push southwards. Although they did not encounter much resistance when they landed, the further they went inland, the stiffer the Japanese resistance became. Although they received naval gun fire and air raid support, the Japanese soldiers fought fiercely as they raked the open field with their machine guns set up in pillboxes and holes in the hillsides.

The fight on the Motobu peninsula between the 6th Marine Div. and the Imperial Japanese forces was vicious. Here, the Americans resorted to flamethrowers, explosives, and incendiary bombing raids carried out F4U Corsair aircraft to be able to ferret them out of their holes. By mid May, ferocious fighting also took place in the south, around Sugar Loaf Hill and Horseshoe Hill, when US Army troops, with elements of the 6th Marine Division, advanced on the Shuri Line. However, the US forces persevered and, by July 2, the last pockets of Japanese resistance on Okinawa had been mopped up. The campaign had been long and gory, due to the Japanese counteroffensives.

Men of the 6th Marine Div. landing on the beaches of Okinawa.

Below, map of Okinawa, showing the landing beaches of Operation Iceberg.

US Marines watching a tank flamethrower attacking a hill side occupied by Japanese

While the US Marines fought on Okinawa, the US Navy carriers and battleships, which provided fire support to the Allied troops, were ferociously attacked by Japanese kamikazes. (video)