



Okinawa Campaign

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePre-invasion Operations

ww2dbaseOn 25 Mar 1945, American forces landed on the islands of Kerama Retto, 15 miles west of Okinawa, Japan. On 31 Mar, the island of Kamiyama was occupied as the American naval vessels bombarded Okinawa relentlessly.

ww2dbaseLanding at Okinawa

1 Apr-21 Jun 1945

ww2dbaseOperation Iceberg struck the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands on the date of the Easter holiday in 1945. Okinawa was a relatively large island, 60 miles long and eight miles wide; it was the largest of the Ryukyu Archipelago situated between Taiwan and Japan. Immediately to its west was the small island of Ie Shima. Before the landing operation started, Allied bombers softened Okinawa of its defenses and morale, which resulted in the destruction of over 80% of the city of Naha and the sinking of over 65 boats. Admiral Richmond Turner, veteran commander of amphibious forces, delivered landing forces, with ships of the British Pacific Fleet among his vanguard. The amphibious vehicles landed the 96th and 7th Army Divisions on the left flank, and the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions were delivered on the right. Once on land, the combined forces of Chester Nimitz's Marines and Douglas MacArthur's soldiers, the first time their men fought side-by-side, were placed under the command of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. The landing was not resisted, much to the surprise of the landers. There were no coastal guns, no mortars, and no machine guns; it was a scene very much unlike the previous landings elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Deep in the island, however, the 110,000-strong Japanese garrison led by Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, augmented by 20,000 volunteer Okinawan militiamen, awaited. The only reason they held back was because they were waiting under orders for the completion of Operation Ten'ichigo (see below).

ww2dbaseThe Americans' immediate objectives were the Yontan and Kadena airfields, and they were very quickly taken. Yontan was so quickly taken that a Japanese pilot actually made a successful landing, got out of his fighter, and ordered loudly for a full tank of gas before he realized the men around his plane were Americans; he was gunned down before he could reach for his pistol. The two airfields were declared secure by 20 Apr. In northern Okinawa, the Motobu Peninsula was entrenched by two battalions under the command of Takehiko Udo, who inflicted 1,304 casualties among the American invaders before letting his positions become overrun by Americans. Southern Okinawa proved to be much more difficult. Near the Machinato Line, 300,000 people, Japanese, American, and Okinawan civilians, concentrated in a small area. When Marine veteran and historian William Manchester arrived at the scene, he thought that it was "what Verdun and Passchendaele must have looked like", comparing the great battle scene to the grotesque trench warfare battlegrounds of WW1. The complex of Sugar Loaf Hill, Horseshoe Ridge, and Half Moon Hill was one of the most fiercely contested regions in the entire battle. With each hill covering the other two, the Japanese had connected the three hills with hidden galleries and set up interlocking fields of fire by machine gun and various types of artillery. At Half Moon Hill, veteran Eugene Sledge recalled:

Everywhere lay Japanese corpses killed in the heavy fighting. Infantry equipment of every type, U.S. and Japanese, was scattered about. helmets, rifles, BARs, packs, cartridge belts, canteens, shoes, ammo boxes, shell cases, machine-gun ammo belts, all were strewn around us up to and all over Half Moon.

ww2dbaseA small distance in the east was Shuri Hill, which provided machine gun fire to the entire complex as well. It was a death trap for the American Marines who were given the task to assault it, but the Marines took on the task dutifully. Horrendous casualties were incurred on both sides, with at times entire assaults cut down to a handful of survivors. Sugar Loaf Hill had changed hands 14 times before it was finally taken by the Americans.

ww2dbaseAt noon on 7 May, the Americans celebrated Victory in Europe Day with a "terrific, thundering artillery and naval gunfire barrage that went swishing, roaring, and rumbling toward the Japanese."

ww2dbaseMany front line fighters at Okinawa recalled a gross infestation of maggots, fueled by the dead bodies strewn around the battlegrounds. "If a [U.S.] Marine slipped and slid down the back slope of the muddy ridge," Sledge recalled, referring to a slop where many Japanese dead lay buried in shallow graves,

he was apt to reach the bottom vomiting. I saw more than one man lose his footing and slip and slide all the way to the bottom only to stand up horror-stricken as he watched in disbelief while fat maggots tumbled out of his muddy dungaree pockets, cartridge belt, legging lacings, and the like.

ww2dbaseThroughout the entire Japanese campaign at Okinawa, Ushijima knew there was little chance of winning, especially after Operation Ten'ichigo failed. His only hope was to discourage the Americans with the kind of high casualty rate he had delivered against the invaders so that they would back away from invading the Japanese home islands.

ww2dbaseFollowing the retreat from Shuri, the Japanese defenders formed a final defensive line along the ridges between Kunishi Ridge, Yuza-Dake, and Yaeju-Dake, from west to east. The Japanese dug in to caves and gun emplacements on the hard coral surface, setting up excellent gun positions on high ground, covering the northern approaches that were open with rice paddies and grasslands. On 12 Jun, the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment of the US 1st Marine Division attacked Kunishi Ridge before dawn, capturing a portion of the hill but quickly became isolated as the Japanese fought from beneath them; only under the cover of tanks could supplies be delivered to the mountain top and the wounded be evacuated. On 14 Jun, 1st Marine Regiment of the US 1st Marine Division and the men of the 1st Marine Battalion attacked Kunishi Ridge and Yuza-Dake, respectively. The hills were not secured for several days, with terrible losses on both sides.

ww2dbaseThe island fell on 21 Jun. Some of the Japanese troops that survived past the American declaration of Okinawa being secure fought on ferociously. During "mop-up" operations, 8,975 Japanese were killed. During the fighting, General Buckner was killed by a ricocheting artillery shell while he toured the front lines, making him the highest ranking American to die during the war. Alongside Buckner, 7,613 Americans fell, and 31,807 were wounded in action. Non-combat American casualties reached 26,221, largely attributed to the heavy concentration of Japanese artillery at Okinawa and the fanatical fighting spirit of the Okinawan defenders. On the Japanese side, 107,539 dead were counted by the Americans, though the actual deaths were almost certainly higher as at least 20,000 were sealed in caves either by American action or Japanese suicide. Only 7,455 Japanese surrendered. Approximately 42,000 Okinawan civilians were killed during the battle.

ww2dbaseOperation Ten'ichigo (Ten-Go)

6-7 Apr 1945

ww2dbaseThe Operation Ten'ichigo, also known as Operation Ten-Go, was a massive coordinated naval suicide attack led by the battleship Yamato, under the command of Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito. The fleet reached Kabuto Jima on 28 Mar 1945, then sailed for Ube. Ito strongly objected this mission, claiming three major weaknesses with the planning. First, a total absence of air cover at this phase of war when American aircraft controlled air meant the ship would be detected right away; secondly, a mission by ten ships would be overwhelmed by the sixty enemy ships before they could do any damage; finally, Ito argued the daylight timing for the battle was terrible (he preferred a night-time engagement). Nevertheless, Ito was overruled by his superiors, and he accepted his duty as the task force's commander. He radioed an inspiring message to all of his men that noted "[t]he fate of the homeland rests on this operation."

ww2dbaseThe operation's ultimate goal was to sail the ten ships into the American fleet and do as much damage with their guns as possible, especially with the massive 18-inch guns of the Yamato. If they were not able to do so, they were to beach themselves at various beaches of Okinawa and become shore batteries, and the sailors would then disembark to become infantry. Finally, if that failed, she then was to draw as much fire from American aircraft as possible so that the concurrent Operation Kikusui would confront less resistance from the air.

ww2dbaseAlthough this was meant to be a one-way cruise, contrary to popular belief the ships actually had enough fuel to make a return trip. This fact, however, was concealed from the officers and sailors, therefore the theory of the ships having only enough fuel for a single trip is commonly accepted.

ww2dbaseJapanese Navy veteran Kazuhiro Fukumoto recalled:

On March 25 of Showa 20 [1945], we got an order from the headquarters of the combined fleet to prepare for attack.... I totally believed the Yamato was unsinkable. I figured people could get struck by bullets and die, but it never crossed my mind that I might die because of the Yamato sinking. I also thought that the chances of being struck by a bullet were pretty slim, so I had a fairly carefree feeling. I didn't know the specifics of the mission, so I didn't feel particularly burdened.

ww2dbaseBattleship Yamato, light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers left the ports at Ube on 6 Apr 1945 at 0600 and stopped for ten hours at Tokuyama to receive fuel and unload non-essentials. As the crew gathered the night before the attack for a final feast, Fukumoto realized the mission must be a desperate one as he witnessed officers showing atypical kindness to the crewmen, helping with cleanup and joined in conversation with them. Almost immediately out of port, they were spotted by American submarines and reconnaissance planes. When day broke on 7 Apr, American commander Marc Mitscher ordered his carriers to launch nearly 300 aircraft to attack the Japanese task force. Admiral Raymond Spruance ordered six battleships to sail behind the air attack in case any Japanese ships would get through the fighter screen. The Japanese detected the American aerial force at 1130, and the battle started at about 1220. Anti-aircraft guns were the Japanese's only air defense aside from the minuscule force of five land-based fighters that turned out to help, which was swiped aside within moments. American aircraft sank Yahagi immediately, and hit Yamato with bombs and torpedoes. Yamato was seriously damaged within 15 minutes of the battle, recalled Naoyoshi Ishida who served aboard the Yamato as an officer at the time.

The machine guns were firing everywhere. It was like a net of bullets, so it wasn't so easy for the planes to bomb us. I wanted to throw a stone at them, they were so close. I could see the American pilots with my naked eyes. It's true what they say in books-that the American pilots were also very brave. They would come out of the clouds and fire at us. I was just dodging the bullets as they ricocheted off the metal. People were falling on the deck, hit by the shrapnel.

ww2dbaseWithin and hour, three destroyers were sunk, but the Japanese fleet sailed on. After a painful slow listing to port, the Yamato finally capsized at 1420 on 7 Apr, two hours after receiving the first hit. A moment later, she exploded twice as the shells from the primary and secondary magazines fell off their shelves and detonated. The loss of the ship took the lives of 2,488 men; only 279 survived. "I thought we wouldn't be able to win, but I didn't expect us to go down so easily", said Ishida. The price paid by the Americans for taking down the world's largest battleship was merely ten aircraft and twelve lives.

ww2dbase"Bravery? Recklessness?" Asked Ensign Mitsuru Yoshida regarding the decision to launch this mission; he was a radar officer who survived the sinking.

ww2dbaseOperation Kikusui

6 Apr-22 Jun 1945

ww2dbaseTokko ("special attack") aircraft caused much frustration and destruction for the Allies. Five American carriers were damaged (three had to return to the US for repairs); the British fared better as their carriers, the prime tokko target, were armored and not easily penetrated. The Okinawa campaign saw a concerted special attack mission, Operation Kikusui ("Floating Chrysanthemum"), calling for 860 naval and 605 army aircraft to strike the Allied forces between 6 Apr and 21 Jun. The warrior Kusunoki Masashige conducted a brave but futile defense in the Battle of Minatogawa in 1336, and in the final moment before defeat, he committed ritual suicide rather than allowing himself to become captured; he had since become a legend in Japanese history, and his emblem, a floating chrysanthemum, became the inspiration for the 1945 defense of Japan. Operation Kikusui, launched in 10 waves between Apr and Jun 1945, involved about 800 Navy and 600 Army aircraft. Special attacks caused over 30 American vessels of various sizes sunk and 368 damaged, killing over 5,000 sailors with as many wounded during the campaign for Okinawa. It was the most substantial loss the US Navy had ever seen in the Pacific War, and it demoralized the sailors. However, there was only so much suicide aircraft could do. Like previous campaigns, successful tokko missions only allowed Japan to become victims of her own success as the number of pilots and aircraft dwindled.

ww2dbaseConclusion of the Campaign

ww2dbaseThe loss of the battleship Yamato, which bore Japan's mystical name, was so shameful that Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso resigned on the same day as the ship's sinking.

ww2dbaseFor its strategic location, the occupying American forces remained in Okinawa after the war. It remained under American control until 15 May 1972 when it was finally returned to Japan, though the American military bases there are active until this day.

ww2dbaseSources:

Rikihei Inoguchi and Tadashi Nakajima, The Divine Wind

William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness

Yoshida Mitsuru, Requiem for Battleship Yamato

Eugene Sledge, With the Old Breed

Dan van der Vat, The Pacific Campaign

Steven Zaloga, Kamikaze



Last Major Update: Sep 2007

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