| Battle Of Okinawa |
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The Battle of Okinawa, fought on the Japan ese island of Okinawa , was the largest Amphibious Assault during the Pacific Campaigns of World War II .The planning for the amphibious assault and ensuing battle was codenamed '''Operation Iceberg''' by the Allies. It lasted from late March through June 1945 . The battle has been referred to as the "Typhoon of Steel" in English, and ''tetsu no ame'' ("rain of steel") or ''tetsu no bōfū'' ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of gunfire involved, and sheer numbers of Allied ships and armoured vehicles that assaulted the island. Okinawa had a large civilian population, of whom at least 150,000 were killed during the battle, while the Japanese army attempted to defend the island. The Allies were planning to use Okinawa as a staging ground for Operation Downfall , the invasion of the Japanese mainland; however, after the Atomic Bombings Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki in August 1945 and the Soviet Union 's declaration of war on Japan, Japan Surrendered and World War II ended. JAPANESE PREPARATIONS Realizing that he could never defend the entire island, General Mitsuru Ushijima centered his defense around the historical capital, Shuri Castle , a medieval fortress of the ancient Ryukyuan kings, and the steep ridges on which it was built. This provided the Japanese with a heavy defense line that could be Flanked only from the sea. For the first time in the Pacific War, the Japanese had ample time to dig elaborate fortifications, much as they had on Iwo Jima , and they also had large numbers of tanks and artillery pieces. This relative abundance of Materiel —matched with thousands of troops and the knowledge of three years fighting the U.S.—ensured that the Okinawa defenses would be the hardest that the U.S. faced during the war. Ushijima knew the Allies could not be stopped, but he wanted to make them pay for every yard of advance. ORDER OF BATTLE Land The U.S. land campaign was controlled by the Tenth Army , commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. The army had two Corps under its command, III Amphibious Corps under Major General Roy Geiger , consisting of 1st and 6th Marine Divisions, and XXIV Corps under Major General John R. Hodge , consisting of the 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions. The 2nd Marine Division was an afloat reserve, and Tenth Army also controlled the 27th , earmarked as a garrison, and 77th Infantry Divisions. In all, Tenth Army contained 102,000 Army , 88,000 Marine Corps , and 18,000 Navy personnel. The Japanese land campaign (mainly defensive) was conducted by the 77,000 strong Japanese Thirty-Second Army . It initially consisted of the 9th, 24th, and 62nd Divisions, and the 44th Independent Mixed Brigade. The 9th Division was moved to Taiwan prior to the invasion, resulting in shuffling of Japanese Defensive plans. Primary resistance was to be led in the south by Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima , his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Isamu Cho and his chief of operations, Colonel Hiromichi Yahara . Yahara advocated a defensive strategy, whilst Cho advocated an offensive one. In the north, Colonel Takehido Udo was in command. Sea U.S. Navy The , 18 Battleship s, and 200 Destroyer s. The U.S. Navy sustained greater casualties in this operation than in any other battle of the war. British Commonwealth Although Allied land forces were comprised entirely of US units, the British Pacific Fleet (BPF; known to the U.S. Navy as Task Force 57) provided about 20% of Allied naval air power. The fleet was a combined British Commonwealth carrier group with British , Canadian , New Zealand and Australia n ships and personnel. Their mission was to neutralize Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands . NAVAL BATTLE '' burns after being hit by two '' Kamikaze '' in 30 seconds]] The British Pacific Fleet was assigned the task of neutralizing the Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands , which it did successfully from March 26 until April 10 . On April 10 , its attention was shifted to airfields on northern Formosa . The force withdrew to San Pedro Bay on April 23 . Although by then a commonplace event for the U.S. Navy, this was the longest time that a Royal Naval fleet of that size had been maintained at sea.
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