TheBattle of Okinawa (Japanese:沖縄戦,Hepburn:Okinawa-sen), codenamedOperation Iceberg,^[27]: 17 was a major battle of thePacific War fought on the island ofOkinawa byUnited States Army andUnited States Marine Corps forces against theImperial Japanese Army.^[28][29] The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945 was the largestamphibious assault in the Pacific Theater ofWorld War II.^[30][31] TheKerama Islands surrounding Okinawa were preemptively captured on March 26 by the77th Infantry Division. The 82-day battle on Okinawa itself lasted from April 1, 1945 until June 22, 1945. After a long campaign ofisland hopping, theAllies were planning to useKadena Air Base on the island as a staging point forOperation Downfall, the planned invasion of theJapanese home islands, 340 mi (550 km) away.

Battle of Okinawa
Part of theVolcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign of thePacific Theater (World War II)
1st Marine Regiment during fighting at Wana Ridge during the Battle of Okinawa, May 1945
Date 1 April – 22 June 1945[1] (2 months and 3 weeks)[2] Location Okinawa Island andPrefecture,Ryukyu Islands, Japan 26°30′N128°00′E / 26.5°N 128°E /26.5; 128 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Ground forces:  United States Naval forces:  United States  United Kingdom  Australia  New Zealand  Canada	Japan
Commanders and leaders
COMPACFLT: Chester W. Nimitz Tenth Army: Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. † Joseph Stilwell Roy Geiger John R. Hodge Fifth Fleet: Raymond A. Spruance Richmond K. Turner Bernard Rawlings Marc Mitscher	Combined Fleet: Soemu Toyoda Minoru Ōta † 32nd Army: Mitsuru Ushijima † Isamu Chō † Hiromichi Yahara (POW) Special Attack Force: Seiichi Itō †
Units involved
Ground units: Tenth Army III Amphibious Corps 1st Marine Division 2nd Marine Division 6th Marine Division XXIV Corps 7th Infantry Division 27th Infantry Division 77th Infantry Division 96th Infantry Division Naval units: Fifth Fleet Task Force 50 Task Force 58 Task Force 57 Joint Exp. Force	Ground units: 32nd Army 24th Infantry Division 28th Infantry Division 62nd Infantry Division 44thMixed Brigade 45th Mixed Brigade 59th Mixed Brigade 60th Mixed Brigade 27th Tank Regiment Naval units: Combined Fleet 2nd Fleet
Strength
United States Navy 7fleet carriers, 6light carriers, 18escort carriers, 8fast battleships, 10 oldbattleships, 14heavy cruisers, 17light cruisers, 132destroyers, 45destroyer escorts Royal Navy 5fleet carriers 6escort carriers 2fast battleships 4light cruisers 12destroyers 251carrier based aircraft Royal Australian Navy 4destroyers Royal New Zealand Navy 2light cruisers Royal Canadian Navy 1light cruiser [3] Ground forces ~541,000 in Tenth Army ~183,000 combat troops[4] rising to ~250,000[5]: 567	Imperial Japanese Navy 1battleship 1light cruiser 8destroyers 1815 aircraft (of which 1050 werekamikazes) [6][7] Imperial Japanese Army Air Service 850kamikazes [7] Ground forces ~76,000+ Japanese soldiers ~40,000+Okinawan conscripts andboeitai[8]
Casualties and losses
American personnel: Battle casualties: ~50,000, including ~12,500 dead[9][10] Army: 19,929[a] Navy: 10,007 at Okinawa,[b] 1,294 on USSFranklin[c] Marines: 19,460[d] Non-battle casualties: 26,211 to 33,096 (all causes)[17] British personnel: Battle casualties: 119 killed 83 wounded 228 aircraft lost 4fleet carriers damaged in kamikaze strikes[3] Total casualties: ~76,000 to 84,000 Materiel: 375 tanks destroyed[18] 13 destroyers sunk 15 amphibious ships sunk 8 other ships sunk 386 ships damaged 763 aircraft lost[5]: 573 [19]: 473	Japanese personnel: Battle & non-battle casualties: 94,136 soldiers and sailors dead (all causes)[e] 4,037 dead fromYamato task force[21] 7,401 captured (by 30 June)[22][f] Total casualties: ~105,000 to 110,000 Materiel: 1 battleship sunk 1 light cruiser sunk 5 destroyers sunk 9 other warships sunk 1,430 aircraft lost[23] 27 tanks destroyed 743–1,712 artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, mortars and anti-aircraft guns lost[19]: 91–92
40,000–150,000 civilians dead[24][25][g]
class=notpageimage| Location within Japan Show map of Japan Battle of Okinawa (Pacific Ocean) Show map of Pacific Ocean

The United States created theTenth Army, a cross-branch force consisting of the U.S. Army7th,27th, 77th and96th Infantry Divisions with the1st,2nd, and6th Marine Divisions, to seize the island. The Tenth Army was unique because it had its ownTactical Air Force (joint Army-Marine command) and was supported by combined naval and amphibious forces. Opposing the Allied forces on the ground was the Japanese Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima'sThirty-Second Army, a mixed force consisting of regular army troops, naval infantry and conscripted local Okinawans. Total Japanese troop strength on the island was about 100,000 at the onset of the invasion. The Battle of Okinawa was the single longest sustained carrier campaign of the Second World War.^[32]

The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, known in Japanese as "tetsu no bōfū".^[33][34] The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of Japanesekamikaze attacks and the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle was the bloodiest and fiercest in the Pacific Ocean Theatre, with some 50,000 Allied and around 100,000 Japanese casualties,^{[35][19]: 473–474} also including localOkinawans conscripted into the Japanese Army.^[24] According to local authorities, at least 149,425 Okinawan people were killed, died bycoerced suicide or went missing.^[36]

In the naval operations surrounding the battle, both sides lost considerable numbers of ships and aircraft, including the Japanese battleshipYamato. After the battle, Okinawa provided the victorious Allies with a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in close proximity to Japan as they planned to invade the Japanese home islands.

In all, the US Army had over 103,000 soldiers (of these, 38,000+ were non-divisionalartillery, combat support and HQ troops, with another 9,000 service troops),^[37]: 39 over 88,000 Marines and 18,000 Navy personnel (mostlySeabees and medical personnel).^[37]: 40 At the start of the Battle of Okinawa, theUS Tenth Army had 182,821 personnel under its command.^[37]: 40 It was planned thatLieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. would report toVice Admiral Richmond K. Turner until the amphibious phase was completed, after which he would report directly toAdmiral Raymond A. Spruance. Total aircraft provided by the US Navy, Marine and Army Air Force exceeded 3,000 over the course of the battle, including fighters, attack aircraft, scout planes, bombers and dive-bombers. The invasion was supported by a fleet consisting of 18battleships, 27cruisers, 177destroyers/destroyer escorts, 39aircraft carriers (11fleet carriers, 6light carriers and 22escort carriers) and various support and trooptransport ships.^[38]

The British naval contingent accompanied 251 British naval aircraft and included aBritish Commonwealth fleet withAustralian,New Zealand andCanadian ships and personnel.^[39]

The Japanese land campaign (mainly defensive) was conducted by the 67,000-strong (77,000 according to some sources)regular32nd Army and some 9,000Imperial Japanese Navy troops at Oroku Naval Base (only a few hundred of whom had been trained and equipped for ground combat), supported by 39,000drafted localRyukyuan people (including 24,000 hastily draftedrearmilitia calledBoeitai and 15,000 non-uniformed laborers). The Japanese had usedkamikaze tactics since theBattle of Leyte Gulf, but now for the first time they became a major institutionalized aspect of the Japanese defensive strategy. Between the American landing on 1 April and 25 May, seven majorkamikaze attacks were attempted, involving more than 1,500 planes.

The 32nd Army initially consisted of the9th,24th and62nd Divisions and the 44th Independent Mixed Brigade. The 9th Division was moved to Taiwan before the invasion, resulting in shuffling of Japanese defensive plans. Primary resistance was to be led in the south by Lieutenant GeneralMitsuru Ushijima, hischief of staff, Lieutenant GeneralIsamu Chō and his chief of operations, ColonelHiromichi Yahara. Yahara advocated a defensivestrategy, whilst Chō advocated anoffensive one.

In the north, Colonel Takehido Udo was in command. The naval troops were led byRear AdmiralMinoru Ōta. They expected the Americans to land 6–10divisions against the Japanese garrison of two and a half divisions. The staff calculated that superior quality and numbers of weapons gave each US division five or six times thefirepower of a Japanese division. To this, would be added the Americans' abundant naval and air firepower.

On Okinawa, theImperial Japanese Army mobilized 1,780 schoolboys aged 14–17 years intofront line service as anIron and Blood Imperial Corps (Japanese:鉄血勤皇隊,romanized: Tekketsu Kinnōtai), while femaleHimeyuri students were organized into a nursing unit.^[35] This mobilization was conducted by an ordinance of the Ministry of the Army, not by law. The ordinances mobilized the students as volunteer soldiers for form's sake; in reality, the military authorities ordered schools to force almost all students to "volunteer" as soldiers; sometimes they counterfeited the necessary documents. About half of theTekketsu Kinnōtai were killed, including in suicide bomb attacks against tanks and inguerrilla operations.

Among the 21 male and female secondary schools that made up these student corps, 2,000 students died on the battlefield. Even with the female students acting mainly as nurses to Japanese soldiers, they were still exposed to the harsh conditions of war.^[40]

There was a hypnotic fascination to the sight so alien to our Western philosophy. We watched each plungingkamikaze with the detached horror of one witnessing a terrible spectacle rather than as the intended victim. We forgot self for the moment as we groped hopelessly for the thought of that other man up there.

— Vice AdmiralC.R. Brown, US Navy^[41]: 711

The US Navy'sTask Force 58, deployed to the east of Okinawa with a picket group of 6 to 8 destroyers, kept 13 carriers (7 fleet carriers and 6 light carriers) on duty from 23 March to 27 April and a smaller number thereafter. Until 27 April, a minimum of 14 and up to 18 escort carriers were in the area at all times. Until 20 April, British Task Force 57, with 4 large and 6 escort carriers, remained off theSakishima Islands to protect the southern flank.^[19]: 97

The protracted length of the campaign under stressful conditions forced AdmiralChester W. Nimitz to take the unprecedented step of relieving the principal naval commanders to rest and recuperate. Following the practice of changing the fleet designation with the change of commanders, US naval forces began the campaign as theUS 5th Fleet under Admiral Spruance, but ended it as the3rd Fleet under Admiral Halsey.

Japanese air opposition had been relatively light during the first few days after the landings. However, on 6 April the expected air reaction began with an attack by 400 planes fromKyushu. Periodic heavy air attacks continued through April.^[42] During the period of 26 March to 30 April, 20 American ships were sunk and 157 damaged by enemy action. By 30 April the Japanese had lost more than 1,100 planes to Allied naval forces alone.^[19]: 102

Between 6 April and 22 June, the Japanese flew 1,465kamikaze aircraft in large-scale attacks from Kyushu, 185 individualkamikazesorties from Kyushu, and 250 individualkamikaze sorties fromTaiwan, then calledFormosa. While US intelligence estimated there were 89 planes on Formosa, the Japanese actually had about 700, dismantled or well camouflaged and dispersed into scattered villages and towns; the USFifth Air Force disputed Navy claims ofkamikaze coming from Formosa.^{[43][clarification needed]}

The ships lost were smaller vessels, particularly the destroyers of theradar pickets, as well asdestroyer escorts and landing ships. While no major Allied warships were lost, several fleet carriers were severely damaged. Land-basedShin'yō-class suicide motorboats were also used in the Japanesesuicide attacks, although Ushijima had disbanded the majority of the suicide boat battalions before the battle because of expected low effectiveness against a superior enemy. The boat crews were re-formed into three additional infantry battalions.^[44]

•  
  The super battleshipYamato explodes after persistent attacks from US aircraft.
•  
  American aircraft carrierUSS Bunker Hill burns after being hit by twokamikaze planes within 30 seconds.

Operation Ten-Go (Ten-gō sakusen) was the attempted attack by a strike force of ten Japanese surface vessels, led byYamato and commanded byAdmiral Seiichi Itō. This small task force had been ordered to fight through enemy naval forces, then beachYamato and fight from shore, using her guns ascoastal artillery and her crew as naval infantry. TheTen-Go force was spotted by submarines shortly after it left the Japanese home waters and was intercepted by US carrier aircraft.

Under attack from more than 300 aircraft over a two-hour span, the world's largest battleship sank on 7 April 1945 after a one-sided battle, long before she could reach Okinawa. (UStorpedo bombers were instructed to aim for only one side to prevent effective counter flooding by the battleship's crew, and to aim for the bow or the stern where armor was believed to be the thinnest.) OfYamato's screening force, the light cruiserYahagi and four of the eight destroyers were also sunk. The Imperial Japanese Navy lost some 3,700 sailors, including Admiral Itō, at the cost of ten US aircraft and twelve airmen.

TheBritish Pacific Fleet, taking part as Task Force 57, was assigned the task of neutralizing the Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands, which it did successfully from March 26 to April 10. On April 10, its attention was shifted to airfields in northern Formosa. The force withdrew toSan Pedro Bay on April 23. On May 1, the British Pacific Fleet returned to action, subduing the airfields as before, this time withnaval bombardment as well as aircraft (they only used aircraft during their first mission of destroying airfields in the Sakishima Islands).^[45] Severalkamikaze attacks caused significant damage, but as the Royal Navy carriers had armoredflight decks, they experienced only a brief interruption to their force's operations.^[46][47]

•  
  Royal Navy Fleet Air ArmAvengers,Seafires andFireflies onHMS Implacable warm up their engines before taking off.
•  
  HMS Formidable on fire after akamikaze attack on May 4. The ship was out of action for fifty minutes.

The land battle took place over about 81 days beginning on 1 April 1945. The first Americans ashore were soldiers of the77th Infantry Division who landed in theKerama Islands, 15 mi (24 km) west of Okinawa on 26 March. Subsidiary landings followed, and the Kerama group was secured over the next five days. In these preliminary operations, the 77th Infantry Division suffered 27 dead and 81 wounded, while the Japanese dead and captured numbered over 650. On March 28, 1945, 394 civilians onTokashiki island were forced by Japanese soldiers to kill themselves after the landing of US troops.^[48][49] The operation provided a protected anchorage for the fleet and eliminated the threat from suicide boats.^{[19]: 50–60}

On 31 March, Marines of theAmphibious Reconnaissance Battalion landed without opposition on Keise Shima, four islets just 8 mi (13 km) west of the Okinawan capital ofNaha. A group of155 mm (6.1 in) "Long Tom" artillery pieces went ashore on the islets to cover operations on Okinawa.^[19]: 57

The main landing was made by theXXIV Corps and theIII Amphibious Corps on theHagushi beaches on the western coast of Okinawa on 1 April. The2nd Marine Division conducted ademonstration off the Minatoga beaches on the southeastern coast to deceive the Japanese about American intentions and delay movement ofreserves from there.^{[19]: 68–74}

Tenth Army swept across the south-central part of the island with relative ease, capturing theKadena and theYomitan airbases within hours of the landing.^{[27]: 67–69 [19]: 74–75} In light of the weak opposition, General Buckner decided to proceed immediately with Phase II of his plan, the seizure of northern Okinawa. The6th Marine Division headed up theIshikawa Isthmus and by 7 April had sealed off theMotobu Peninsula.^{[19]: 138–141}

Six days later on 13 April, the 2nd Battalion,22nd Marine Regiment, reachedHedo Point at the northernmost tip of the island. By this point, the bulk of the Japanese forces in the north (codenamedUdo Force) were cornered on the Motobu Peninsula. The terrain was mountainous and wooded, with the Japanese defenses concentrated onMount Yaedake, a twisted mass of rocky ridges and ravines on the center of the peninsula. There was heavy fighting before the Marines finally cleared Yaedake on 18 April.^{[19]: 141–148} However, this was not the end of ground combat in northern Okinawa. On 24 May, the Japanese mounted Operation Gi-gou: a company ofGiretsu Kuteitai commandos were airlifted in a suicide attack on Yomitan. They destroyed 70,000 US gallons (260,000 L) of fuel and nine planes before being killed by the defenders, who lost two men.

Meanwhile, the 77th Infantry Division assaultedIe Shima, a small island off the western end of the peninsula, on 16 April. In addition to conventional hazards, the 77th Infantry Division encounteredkamikaze attacks and even local women armed with spears. There was heavy fighting before the area was declared secured on 21 April and became another airbase for operations against Japan.^{[19]: 149–183}

While the 6th Marine Division cleared northern Okinawa, the US Army96th and7th Infantry Divisions wheeled south across the narrow isthmus of Okinawa. The 96th Infantry Division began to encounter fierce resistance in west-central Okinawa from Japanese troops holding fortified positions east of Highway No. 1 and about 5 mi (8 km) northwest ofShuri, from what came to be known asCactus Ridge.^{[19]: 104–105} The 7th Infantry Division encountered similarly fierce Japanese opposition from a rocky pinnacle located about 1,000 yd (910 m) southwest of Arakachi (later dubbed "The Pinnacle"). By the night of 8 April, American troops had cleared these and several other strongly fortified positions. They suffered over 1,500 battle casualties in the process while killing or capturing about 4,500 Japanese. Yet the battle had only begun, for it was realized that "these were merely outposts," guarding the Shuri Line.^{[19]: 105–108}

The next American objective wasKakazu Ridge (26°15′32″N127°44′13″E / 26.259°N 127.737°E /26.259; 127.737)(seeja:嘉数の戦い), two hills with a connecting saddle that formed part of Shuri's outer defenses. The Japanese had prepared their positions well and fought tenaciously. The Japanese soldiers hid in fortified caves. American forces often lost personnel before clearing the Japanese out from each cave or other hiding place. The Japanese sent out Okinawans at gunpoint to obtain water and supplies for them, which led to civilian casualties. The American advance was inexorable but resulted in a high number of casualties on both sides.^{[19]: 110–125} Meanwhile American forces also faced heavy resistance at the Maeda Ridge, also known as Hacksaw Ridge (seeja:前田の戦い).

As the American assault against Kakazu Ridge stalled, Lieutenant General Ushijima—influenced by General Chō—decided to take the offensive. On the evening of 12 April, the 32nd Army attacked American positions across the entire front. The Japanese attack was heavy, sustained, and well organized. After fierceclose combat, the attackers retreated, only to repeat their offensive the following night. A final assault on 14 April was again repulsed. The effort led the 32nd Army's staff to conclude that the Americans were vulnerable to nightinfiltration tactics but that their superior firepower made any offensive Japanese troop concentrations extremely dangerous, and they reverted to their defensive strategy.^{[19]: 130–137}

The27th Infantry Division, which had landed on 9 April, took over on the right, along the west coast of Okinawa. GeneralJohn R. Hodge now had three divisions in the line, with the 96th in the middle and the 7th to the east, with each division holding a front of only about 1.5 mi (2.4 km). Hodge launched a new offensive on 19 April with a barrage of 324 guns, the largest ever in thePacific Ocean Theater. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers joined the bombardment, which was followed by 650 Navy and Marine planes attacking the Japanese positions withnapalm, rockets, bombs, and machine guns. The Japanese defenses were sited onreverse slopes, where the defenders waited out the artillery barrage and aerial attack in relative safety, emerging from the caves to rainmortar rounds and grenades upon the Americans advancing up the forward slope.^{[19]: 184–194}

A tank assault to achievebreakthrough byoutflanking Kakazu Ridge failed to link up with its infantry support attempting to cross the ridge and therefore failed with the loss of 22 tanks. Althoughflame tanks cleared many cave defenses, there was no breakthrough, and the XXIV Corps suffered 720 casualties. The losses might have been greater except for the fact that the Japanese had practically all of their infantry reserves tied up farther south, held there by anotherfeint off the Minatoga beaches by the 2nd Marine Division that coincided with the attack.^{[19]: 196–207}

At the end of April, after Army forces had pushed through the Machinato defensive line,^[50] the1st Marine Division relieved the 27th Infantry Division and the 77th Infantry Division relieved the 96th. When the 6th Marine Division arrived, the III Amphibious Corps took over the right flank and Tenth Army assumed control of the battle.^[19]: 265

On 4 May, the 32nd Army launched anothercounter-offensive. This time, Ushijima attempted to make amphibious assaults on the coasts behind American lines. To support his offensive, the Japanese artillery moved into the open. By doing so, they were able to fire 13,000 rounds in support, but effective Americancounter-battery fire destroyed dozens of Japanese artillery pieces. The attack failed.^{[19]: 283–302}

Buckner launched another American attack on 11 May. Ten days of fierce fighting followed. On 13 May, troops of the 96th Infantry Division and763rd Tank Battalion captured Conical Hill (26°13′N127°45′E / 26.21°N 127.75°E /26.21; 127.75). Rising 476 ft (145 m) above theYonabaru coastal plain, this feature was the eastern anchor of the main Japanese defenses and was defended by about 1,000 Japanese. Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions fought for "Sugar Loaf Hill" (26°13′19″N127°41′46″E / 26.222°N 127.696°E /26.222; 127.696). The capture of these two key positions exposed the Japanese around Shuri on both sides. Buckner hoped to envelop Shuri and trap the main Japanese defending force.^{[19]: 311–359}

By the end of May, monsoon rains which had turned contested hills and roads into a morass exacerbated both thetactical and medical situations. The ground advance began to resemble aWorld War I battlefield, as troops became mired in mud, and flooded roads greatly inhibited evacuation of wounded to the rear. Troops lived on a field sodden by rain, part garbage dump and part graveyard. Unburied Japanese and American bodies decayed, sank in the mud and became part of a noxious stew. Anyone sliding down the greasy slopes could easily find their pockets full of maggots at the end of the journey.^{[19]: 364–370}

From 24 to 27 May the 6th Marine Division cautiously occupied the ruins of Naha, the largest city on the island, finding it largely deserted.^{[19]: 372–377}

On 26 May aerial observers saw large troop movements just below Shuri. On 28 May Marine patrols found recently abandoned positions west of Shuri. By 30 May the consensus among Army and Marine intelligence was that the majority of Japanese forces had withdrawn from the Shuri Line.^{[19]: 391–392} On 29 May the1st Battalion,5th Marines (1/5 Marines) occupied high ground 700 yards (640 m) east ofShuri Castle and reported that the castle appeared undefended. At 10:15 Company A, 1/5 Marines occupied the castle.^{[19]: 395–496}

Shuri Castle had been shelled by the battleshipUSS Mississippi for three days before this advance.^[51] The 32nd Army withdrew to the south and thus the Marines had an easy task of securing Shuri Castle.^[51][52] The castle, however, was outside the 1st Marine Division's assigned zone, and only frantic efforts by the commander and staff of the 77th Infantry Division prevented an Americanairstrike and artillery bombardment which would have resulted in manyfriendly fire casualties.^[19]: 396

On 29 May aConfederate flag was raised over Shuri Castle,^[53] before being removed and replaced by a US flag three days later on orders of General Buckner.^[54]

The Japanese retreat, although harassed by artillery fire, was conducted with great skill at night and aided by the monsoon storms. The 32nd Army was able to move nearly 30,000 personnel into its last defense line on the Kiyan Peninsula, which ultimately led to the greatest slaughter on Okinawa in the latter stages of the battle, including the deaths of thousands of civilians. In addition, there were 9,000 IJN troops supported by 1,100 militia, with approximately 4,000 holed up at the underground headquarters on the hillside overlooking the Okinawa Naval Base in the Oroku Peninsula, east of the airfield.^{[19]: 392–394}

On 4 June, elements of the 6th Marine Division launched an amphibious assault on the peninsula. The 4,000 Japanese sailors, including Admiral Ōta, all committed suicide within thehand-built tunnels of the underground naval headquarters on 13 June.^{[19]: 427–434} By 17 June, the remnants of Ushijima's shattered 32nd Army were pushed into a small pocket in the far south of the island to the southeast ofItoman.^{[19]: 455–4661}

On 18 June, General Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery fire while monitoring the progress of his troops from a forward observation post. Buckner was replaced byMajor General Roy Geiger. Upon assuming command, Geiger became the only US Marine to command a numbered army of the US Army in combat; he was relieved five days later by GeneralJoseph Stilwell. On 19 June, Brigadier GeneralClaudius Miller Easley, the commander of the 96th Infantry Division, was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire, also while checking on the progress of his troops at the front.^[19]: 461

The last remnants of Japanese resistance ended on 21 June, although some Japanese continued hiding, including the future governor ofOkinawa Prefecture,Masahide Ōta.^[55] Ushijima and Chō committed suicide byseppuku in their command headquarters on Hill 89 in the closing hours of the battle.^{[19]: 468–471} Colonel Yahara had asked Ushijima for permission to commit suicide, but the general refused his request, saying: "If you die there will be no one left who knows the truth about the battle of Okinawa. Bear the temporary shame but endure it. This is an order from your army commander."^[41]: 723 Yahara was the most senior officer to have survived the battle on the island, and he later authored a book titledThe Battle for Okinawa. On 22 June Tenth Army held a flag-raising ceremony to mark the end of organized resistance on Okinawa. On 23 June a mopping-up operation commenced, which concluded on 30 June.^{[19]: 471–473}

On 15 August 1945, AdmiralMatome Ugaki was killed while part of a kamikaze raid onIheyajima island. The official surrender ceremony was held on 7 September, near the Kadena Airfield.

The Battle of Okinawa was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War.^[56][57] The most complete tally of deaths during the battle is at theCornerstone of Peace monument at theOkinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, which identifies the names of each individual who died at Okinawa in World War II. As of 2023, the monument lists 242,046 names, including 149,634 Okinawans, 77,823 Imperial Japanese soldiers, 14,010 Americans,^[36] and smaller numbers of people fromSouth Korea (381), the United Kingdom (82), North Korea (82) and Taiwan (34).^[36]

The numbers correspond to recorded deaths during the Battle of Okinawa from the time of the American landings in the Kerama Islands on 26 March 1945 to the signing of theJapanese surrender on 2 September 1945, in addition to all Okinawan casualties in the Pacific War in the 15 years from theManchurian Incident, along with those who died in Okinawa from war-related events in the year before the battle and the year after the surrender.^[58] 234,183 names were inscribed by the time of unveiling, and new names are added as necessary.^[59][60][61] 40,000 of the Okinawan civilians killed had been drafted or impressed by the Japanese army and are often counted as combat deaths.

The Americans suffered some 48,000 casualties, not including some 33,000 non-battle casualties (psychiatric, injuries, illnesses), of whom over 12,000 were killed or missing. Killed in action were 4,907 Navy, 4,675 Army, and 2,938 Marine Corps personnel; when excluding naval losses at sea and losses on the surrounding islands (such as Ie Shima), 6,316 killed and over 30,000 wounded occurred on Okinawa proper.^[17] Other authors such asJohn Keegan have come up with higher numbers.^[62] The battle caused more than twice the number of American casualties than both theGuadalcanal Campaign andBattle of Iwo Jima combined, with the Japanese kamikaze effort causing theAmerican Navy to suffer more casualties than any previous engagement in the Atlantic or Pacific.^[63]

The most famous American casualty was Lieutenant General Buckner, whose decision to attack the Japanese defenses head-on, although extremely costly in American lives, was ultimately successful. Four days from the closing of the campaign, Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery fire, which blew lethal slivers of coral into his body, while inspecting his troops at the front line. He was the highest-ranking US officer to be killed by enemy fire during the Second World War. The day after Buckner was killed, Brigadier General Easley was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire. War correspondentErnie Pyle was also killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on Ie Shima, a small island just off of northwestern Okinawa.^[64]

Aircraft losses over the three-month period were 768 US planes, including those bombing the Kyushu airfields launchingkamikazes. Combat losses were 458, and the other 310 were operational accidents. At sea, 368 Allied ships—including 120 amphibious craft—were damaged while another 36—including 15 amphibious ships and 12 destroyers—were sunk during the Okinawa campaign. The US Navy's dead exceeded its wounded, with 4,907 killed and 4,874 wounded, primarily fromkamikaze attacks.^[65]

American personnel casualties included thousands of cases of mental breakdown. According to the account of the battle presented inMarine Corps Gazette:

More mental health issues arose from the Battle of Okinawa than any other battle in the Pacific during World War II. The constant bombardment from artillery and mortars coupled with the high casualty rates led to a great deal of personnel coming down withcombat fatigue. Additionally, the rains caused mud that prevented tanks from moving and tracks from pulling out the dead, forcing Marines (who pride themselves on burying their dead in a proper and honorable manner) to leave their comrades where they lay. This, coupled with thousands of bodies both friend and foe littering the entire island, created a scent you could nearly taste.Morale was dangerously low by May and the state of discipline on a moral basis had a new low barometer for acceptable behavior. The ruthless atrocities by the Japanese throughout the war had already brought on an altered behavior (deemed so by traditional standards) by many Americans resulting inthe desecration of Japanese remains, but the Japanese tactic of using the Okinawan people ashuman shields brought about a new aspect of terror and torment to the psychological capacity of the Americans.^[24]

Medal of Honor recipients from Okinawa are:
Marine Corps

• Richard E. Bush – 16 April
• Henry A. Courtney Jr. – 14–15 May (posth.Tooltip Posthumous award)
• James L. Day – 14–17 May
• John P. Fardy – 7 May (posth.)
• William A. Foster – 2 May (posth.)
• Harold Gonsalves – 15 April (posth.)
• Dale M. Hansen – 7 May (posth.)
• Louis J. Hauge Jr. – 14 May (posth.)
• Elbert L. Kinser – 4 May (posth.)
• Robert M. McTureous Jr. – 7 June (posth.)
• Albert E. Schwab – 7 May (posth.)

Army

• Beauford T. Anderson – 13 April
• Clarence B. Craft – 31 May
• Desmond Doss – 29 April – 21 May
• Martin O. May – 19–21 April (posth.)
• Seymour W. Terry – 11 May
• John W. Meagher – 19 June
• Edward J. Moskala – 9 April (posth.)
• Joseph E. Muller – 15–16 May (posth.)
• Alejandro R. Ruiz – 28 April

Navy

• Robert Eugene Bush – 2 May
• William D. Halyburton Jr. – 10 May (posth.)
• Fred F. Lester – 8 June (posth.)
• Richard M. McCool Jr. – 10–11 June

The following table lists the Allied naval vessels that received damage or were sunk in the Battle of Okinawa between 19 March – 30 July 1945. The table lists a total of 147 damaged ships, five of which were damaged by enemy suicide boats and another five by mines. During the naval battle, which started before the amphibious landings on Okinawa on 1 April,USS Franklin suffered over 800 killed and missing andUSS Bunker Hill suffered 396 killed and missing. These were thefirst and third largest loss of life on damaged or sunken American aircraft carriers during World War II. USSFranklin (hit by two bombs in a level bombing attack by aD4YSuisei (Judy) on 19 March 1945) and USSBunker Hill were the only two aircraft carriers that sustained very severe damage from Japanese attacks and as a result were the only aircraft carriers in theEssex class that did not experience any active service after the end of World War II. One source estimated that total Japanese sorties during the entire Okinawa campaign exceeded 3,700, with a large percentage beingkamikaze attacks, and that the attackers damaged slightly more than 200 Allied vessels, with 4,900 naval officers and seamen killed and roughly 4,824 wounded or missing.^[66] USSThorton was damaged as the result of a collision with another US ship.

The Japanese air attacks were so intense that Fifth Fleet commander Admiral Spruance's flagships were struck two separate times (USS Indianapolis was hit in March and had to retire for repairs which forced him to transfer toUSS New Mexico which was also hit in May).Fast Carrier Task Force commander Vice AdmiralMarc Mitscher and his chief of staff CommodoreArleigh Burke were yards away from getting killed or wounded bykamikazes on his flagship USSBunker Hill, which killed three of Mitscher's staff officers and eleven of his enlisted staff members and also destroyed his flag cabin along with all of his uniforms, personal papers, and possessions. Just three days later Mitscher's new flagshipUSS Enterprise was also struck by akamikaze forcing him to have to change his flagship yet again. Both fleet carriers were knocked out for the rest of the war.^[67]

*  sunk or had to be scuttled due to irreparable damage. Of those sunk, the majority were relatively smaller ships; these included destroyers of around 300–450 feet. A few small cargo ships were also sunk, several containing munitions which caught fire.

#  scrapped or decommissioned as a result of damage.

The US military estimates that 110,071 Japanese soldiers were killed during the battle. This total includes conscripted Okinawan civilians.

A total of 7,401 Japanese regulars and 3,400 Okinawan conscripts surrendered or were captured during the battle of Okinawa. Additional Japanese and renegade Okinawans were captured or surrendered over the next few months, bringing the total to 16,346.^[19]: 489 This was the first battle in the Pacific War in which thousands of Japanese soldiers surrendered or were captured. Many of the prisoners were native Okinawans who had been pressed into service shortly before the battle and were less imbued with the Imperial Japanese Army's no-surrender doctrine.^[35] When the American forces occupied the island, many Japanese soldiers put on Okinawan clothing to avoid capture, and some Okinawans would come to the Americans' aid by offering to identify these mainland Japanese.

The Japanese lost 16 combat vessels, including the super battleshipYamato. Early claims of Japanese aircraft losses put the total at 7,800,^[19]: 474 however later examination of Japanese records revealed that Japanese aircraft losses at Okinawa were far below often-repeated US estimates for the campaign.^[23] The number of conventional and kamikaze aircraft actually lost or expended by the 3rd, 5th, and 10th Air Fleets, combined with about 500 lost or expended by the Imperial Army at Okinawa, was roughly 1,430.^[23] The Allies destroyed 27 Japanese tanks and 743 artillery pieces (including mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns), some of them eliminated by the naval and air bombardments but most knocked out by American counter-battery fire.

Some of the other islands that saw major battles in World War II, such asIwo Jima, were uninhabited or had been evacuated. Okinawa, by contrast, had a large indigenous civilian population; US Army records from the planning phase of the operation made the assumption that Okinawa was home to about 300,000 civilians. The official US Tenth Army count for the 82-day campaign is a total of 142,058 recovered enemy bodies (including those civilianspressed into service by the Imperial Japanese Army), with the deduction made that about 42,000 were non-uniformed civilians who had been killed in the crossfire. Okinawa Prefecture's estimate is over 100,000 losses.^[89]

During the battle, American forces found it difficult to distinguish civilians from soldiers. It became common for them to shoot at Okinawan houses, as one infantryman wrote:

There was some return fire from a few of the houses, but the others were probably occupied by civilians—and we didn't care. It was a terrible thing not to distinguish between the enemy and women and children. Americans always had great compassion, especially for children. Now we fired indiscriminately.^[90]

In its history of the war, the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum^[89] presents Okinawa as being caught between Japan and the United States. During the battle, the Imperial Japanese Army showed indifference to Okinawans' safety, and its soldiers used civilians as human shields or outright killed them. The Japanese military also confiscated food from the Okinawans and executed those who hid it, leading to mass starvation, and forced civilians out of their shelters. Japanese soldiers also killed about 1,000 people who spoke in theOkinawan language to suppress spying.^[91] The museum writes that "some were blown apart by [artillery] shells, some finding themselves in a hopeless situation were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, some succumbed tomalaria, while others fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops."^[89]

With the impending Japanese defeat, civilians often committedmass suicide, urged on by the Japanese soldiers who told locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping.Ryūkyū Shimpō, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: "There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" to blow themselves up.^[92] Thousands of civilians, having been induced byJapanese propaganda to believe that American soldiers werebarbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture at the hands of the Americans. Some of them threw themselves and their family members from the southern cliffs where the Peace Museum now resides.^[93]

Okinawans "were often surprised at the comparatively humane treatment they received from the American enemy".^[94][95]Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power byMark Selden states that the Americans "did not pursue a policy of torture, rape, and murder of civilians as Japanese military officials had warned".^[96] AmericanMilitary Intelligence Corps^[97] combat translators such asTeruto Tsubota managed to convince many civilians not to kill themselves.^[98] Survivors of the mass suicides blamed also the indoctrination of their education system of the time, in which the Okinawans were taught to become "more Japanese than the Japanese" and were expected to prove it.^[99]

Witnesses and historians claim that American and Japanese soldiers raped Okinawan women during the battle. Rape by Japanese troops reportedly "became common" in June, after it became clear that the Imperial Japanese Army had been defeated.^{[35][19]: 462} Marine Corps officials in Okinawa and Washington have said that they knew of no rapes by American personnel in Okinawa at the end of the war.^[100] There are, however, numerous credible testimony accounts which note that a large number ofrapes were committed by American forces during the battle. This includes stories of rape after trading sexual favors or even marrying Americans,^[101] such as the alleged incident in the village of Katsuyama, where civilians said they had formed a vigilante group toambush and kill three black American soldiers who they claimed would frequently rape the local girls there.^[102]

There is ongoing disagreement between Okinawa's local government and Japan's national government over the role of the Japanese military in civilian mass suicides during the battle. In March 2007, the nationalMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) advised textbook publishers to reword descriptions that the embattled Imperial Japanese Army forced civilians to kill themselves in the war to avoid being taken prisoner. MEXT preferred descriptions that just say that civilians received hand grenades from the Japanese military. This move sparked widespread protests among Okinawans. In June 2007, theOkinawa Prefectural Assembly adopted a resolution stating, "We strongly call on the (national) government to retract the instruction and to immediately restore the description in the textbooks so the truth of the Battle of Okinawa will be handed down correctly and a tragic war will never happen again."^[103][104]

On 29 September 2007, about 110,000 people held the biggest political rally in the history of Okinawa to demand that MEXT retract its order to textbook publishers regarding revising the account of the civilian suicides. The resolution states, "It is an undeniable fact that the 'multiple suicides' would not have occurred without the involvement of the Japanese military and any deletion of orrevision to (the descriptions) is a denial and distortion of the many testimonies by those people who survived the incidents."^[105] In December 2007, MEXT partially admitted the role of the Japanese military in civilian mass suicides.^[106] The ministry's Textbook Authorization Council allowed the publishers to reinstate the reference that civilians "were forced into mass suicides by the Japanese military", on condition it is placed in sufficient context. The council report states, "It can be said that from the viewpoint of the Okinawa residents, they were forced into the mass suicides."^[107] That was not enough for the survivors who said it is important for children today to know what really happened.^[108]

The Nobel Prize-winning authorKenzaburō Ōe wrote a booklet that states that the mass suicide order was given by the military during the battle.^[109] He was sued by revisionists, including a wartime commander during the battle, who disputed this and wanted to stop publication of the booklet. At a court hearing, Ōe testified "Mass suicides were forced on Okinawa islanders under Japan's hierarchical social structure that ran through the state of Japan, the Japanese armed forces and local garrisons."^[110] In March 2008, theOsaka Prefecture Court ruled in favor of Ōe, stating, "It can be said the military was deeply involved in the mass suicides." The court recognized the military's involvement in the mass suicides andmurder-suicides, citing the testimony about the distribution of grenades for suicide by soldiers and the fact that mass suicides were not recorded on islands where the military was not stationed.^[111]

In 2012, Korean-Japanese director Pak Su-nam announced her work on the documentaryNuchigafu (Okinawan for "only if one is alive") collecting living survivors' accounts to show "the truth of history to many people", alleging that "there were two types of orders for 'honorable deaths'—one for residents to kill each other and the other for the military to kill all residents".^[112] In March 2013, Japanese textbook publisher Shimizu Shoin was permitted by MEXT to publish the statements that "Orders from Japanese soldiers led to Okinawans committing group suicide" and "The [Japanese] army caused many tragedies in Okinawa, killing local civilians and forcing them to commit mass suicide."^[113]

Military historian and journalistHanson W. Baldwin stated about scale and ferocity of the battle, especially for American forces, that:^[114]

The battle for Okinawa can be described only in the grim superlatives of war. In size, scope and ferocity, it dwarfed theBattle of Britain. Never before had there been, probably never again will there be, such a vicious sprawling struggle of planes against planes, of ships against planes. Never before, in so short a space, had the Navy lost so many ships; never before in land fighting had so much American blood been shed in so short a time in so small an area: probably never before in any three months of the war had the enemy suffered so hugely, and the final toll of American casualties was the highest experienced in any campaign against the Japanese. There have been larger land battles, more protracted air campaigns, but Okinawa was the largest combined operation, a “no quarter” struggle fought on, under and over the sea and land.

According to historianGeorge Feifer, Okinawa was the "site of the largest land-sea-air battle in history" and that the battle was the "last major one before the start of theatomic age".^[115] At least 90% of the buildings on the island were destroyed, along with countless historical documents, artifacts, and cultural treasures, and the tropical landscape was turned into "a vast field of mud, lead, decay and maggots".^[116] The military value of Okinawa was significant, as Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in proximity to Japan. The US cleared the surrounding waters of mines inOperation Zebra, occupied Okinawa, and set up theUnited States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, a form of military government, after the battle.^[117] In 2011, one official of the prefectural government told David Hearst ofThe Guardian:

You have theBattle of Britain, in which your airmen protected the British people. We had the Battle of Okinawa, in which the exact opposite happened. The Japanese army not only starved the Okinawans but used them as human shields. That dark history is still present today – and Japan and the US should study it before they decide what to do with next.^[118]

Because the next major event following the Battle of Okinawa was the total surrender of Japan, the effect of this battle is more difficult to consider. BecauseJapan surrendered when it did, the anticipated series of battles and the invasion of the Japanese homeland never occurred, and all military strategies on both sides which presupposed this apparently-inevitable next development were immediately rendered moot.

Some military historians believe that the Okinawa campaign led directly to theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as a means of avoiding theplanned ground invasion of the Japanese mainland. This view is explained byVictor Davis Hanson in his bookRipples of Battle:

... because the Japanese on Okinawa ... were so fierce in their defense (even when cut off and without supplies), and because casualties were so appalling, many American strategists looked for an alternative means to subdue mainland Japan, other than a direct invasion. This means presented itself, with the advent of atomic bombs, which worked admirably in convincing the Japanese to sue for peace [unconditionally], without American casualties.

Meanwhile, many parties continue todebate the broader question of "why Japan surrendered", attributing the surrender to a number of possible reasons including: the atomic bombings,^{[119][120][121]} theSoviet invasion of Manchuria,^[122][123] and Japan's depleted resources.^{[124][page needed][125]}

In 1995, the Okinawa government erected a memorial monument named the Cornerstone of Peace in Mabuni, the site of the last fighting in southeastern Okinawa.^[126] The memorial lists all the known names of those who died in the battle, civilian and military, Japanese and foreign. As of 2024, the monument lists 242,225 names.^[127][128]

Significant US forces remain garrisoned on Okinawa as theUnited States Forces Japan, which the Japanese government sees as an important guarantee of regional stability,^[129] and Kadena remains the largest US air base in Asia. Local residents have long protested against the size and presence of the base.^[130]

• Himeyuri students
• Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots
• History of the Ryukyus
• Josef R. Sheetz
• Rape during the occupation of Japan
• Suicide in Japan
• Okinawa Memorial Day
• Naval Base Okinawa
• Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
• Camp Hansen
• Torii Station
• Camp Schwab
• Camp Foster
• Camp Kinser
• Giretsu Kuteitai
• Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum

  This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Army Center of Military History.

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• A film clip"footage from the National Archives.By Sgt. Rhodes" is available for viewing at theInternet Archive
• A film clip"Landings On Okinawa, 1945/04/09 (1945)" is available for viewing at theInternet Archive
• A film clip"Argentine Admitted To World Parley, 1945/05/03 (1945)" is available for viewing at theInternet Archive
• A film clip"Final Days of Struggle in Okinawa, 1945/07/05 (1945)" is available for viewing at theInternet Archive
• US military on the Battle of OkinawaArchived 26 September 2009 at theWayback Machine
• New Zealand account with reference to Operation Iceberg
• Cornerstone of Peace
• Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum
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• Oral history interview with Albert D'Amico, a Navy Veteran who was aboard LST 278 during the landing at OkinawaArchived 12 December 2012 atarchive.today from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University
• Booknotes interview with Robert Leckie onOkinawa: The Last Battle of World War II, September 3, 1995.