thedrifter
06-25-05, 07:00 AM
June 27, 2005
The Lore of the Corps
U.S. assault on Okinawa was lengthy, savage fight
By Keith A. Milks
Special to the Times
In late March 1945, as Allied forces in Europe put the final squeeze on Nazi Germany, the largest amphibious operation of the Pacific war was about to get underway.
On the 480-square-mile island of Okinawa, about 150,000 Japanese soldiers hunkered down to defend one of Japan’s last Pacific bastions.
Meanwhile, 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers, hundreds of support ships and 365 amphibious assault ships of Adm. Raymond Spruance’s 5th Fleet converged on the island fortress carrying the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions and the Army’s 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions.
The invasion of Okinawa began April 1 with a massive pre-landing bombardment by American ships and aircraft.
In the first day of the invasion, the United States dumped more than 3,800 tons of shells, rockets and bombs on the island’s entrenched defenders. Under this umbrella of steel and fire, the four American divisions splashed ashore virtually unopposed, putting nearly 60,000 troops on the island the first day.
Instead of defending Okinawa from the beaches, the Japanese commander introduced a defense in depth throughout the island’s interior. Over the invasion’s first several days, the Marines and sailors pushed inland with great success, but on April 6 ran into the first line of concentrated enemy positions.
For the next three months, the Marines and sailors threw themselves against the enemy’s lines over harsh terrain and in heavy rains.
The deceptively lighthearted names of many of Okinawa’s battlegrounds, including Sugar Loaf, Chocolate Drop, Strawberry and Sugar Hills, masked a brutal reality in which American troops dug out the fanatical Japanese defenders with flamethrowers and bayonets. Untold thousands of the island’s defenders were sealed in caves where they chose to make their last stand.
On June 16, the Japanese commander, Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, committed suicide in his bunker. Despite this loss, the Japanese continued to fight. Major fighting was declared over on June 21, but die-hard defenders held out past the final cease-fire document that was signed Sept. 7, long after Japan itself surrendered.
The human and material cost of the battle for Okinawa was staggering. An estimated 130,000 Japanese defenders and their Okinawan conscripts were killed, and another 11,000 captured. The loss among Okinawa’s civilian population is difficult to pinpoint, but ranges from 42,000 to 140,000. Sixteen Japanese ships were sunk and more than 7,800 aircraft shot down. American casualties included 12,000 killed and 36,000 wounded, while 34 ships were sunk, 763 aircraft lost and about 375 ships damaged.
The savage Okinawan campaign, evidenced clearly by the fanaticism of its island defenders and the kamikaze pilots who descended on the fleet, provided a dire prediction of the type of fighting that would await American forces if they advanced on the Japanese mainland and probably factored heavily in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The writer is a gunnery sergeant stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He can be reached at kambtp@aol.com.
Ellie
The Lore of the Corps
U.S. assault on Okinawa was lengthy, savage fight
By Keith A. Milks
Special to the Times
In late March 1945, as Allied forces in Europe put the final squeeze on Nazi Germany, the largest amphibious operation of the Pacific war was about to get underway.
On the 480-square-mile island of Okinawa, about 150,000 Japanese soldiers hunkered down to defend one of Japan’s last Pacific bastions.
Meanwhile, 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers, hundreds of support ships and 365 amphibious assault ships of Adm. Raymond Spruance’s 5th Fleet converged on the island fortress carrying the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions and the Army’s 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions.
The invasion of Okinawa began April 1 with a massive pre-landing bombardment by American ships and aircraft.
In the first day of the invasion, the United States dumped more than 3,800 tons of shells, rockets and bombs on the island’s entrenched defenders. Under this umbrella of steel and fire, the four American divisions splashed ashore virtually unopposed, putting nearly 60,000 troops on the island the first day.
Instead of defending Okinawa from the beaches, the Japanese commander introduced a defense in depth throughout the island’s interior. Over the invasion’s first several days, the Marines and sailors pushed inland with great success, but on April 6 ran into the first line of concentrated enemy positions.
For the next three months, the Marines and sailors threw themselves against the enemy’s lines over harsh terrain and in heavy rains.
The deceptively lighthearted names of many of Okinawa’s battlegrounds, including Sugar Loaf, Chocolate Drop, Strawberry and Sugar Hills, masked a brutal reality in which American troops dug out the fanatical Japanese defenders with flamethrowers and bayonets. Untold thousands of the island’s defenders were sealed in caves where they chose to make their last stand.
On June 16, the Japanese commander, Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, committed suicide in his bunker. Despite this loss, the Japanese continued to fight. Major fighting was declared over on June 21, but die-hard defenders held out past the final cease-fire document that was signed Sept. 7, long after Japan itself surrendered.
The human and material cost of the battle for Okinawa was staggering. An estimated 130,000 Japanese defenders and their Okinawan conscripts were killed, and another 11,000 captured. The loss among Okinawa’s civilian population is difficult to pinpoint, but ranges from 42,000 to 140,000. Sixteen Japanese ships were sunk and more than 7,800 aircraft shot down. American casualties included 12,000 killed and 36,000 wounded, while 34 ships were sunk, 763 aircraft lost and about 375 ships damaged.
The savage Okinawan campaign, evidenced clearly by the fanaticism of its island defenders and the kamikaze pilots who descended on the fleet, provided a dire prediction of the type of fighting that would await American forces if they advanced on the Japanese mainland and probably factored heavily in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The writer is a gunnery sergeant stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He can be reached at kambtp@aol.com.
Ellie