Battle Of Okinawa example essay topic

Okinawa was the site of the only land battle in Japan during the War. After the capture of Iwo Jima in March 1945, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area, turned his attentions to the island of Okinawa. American forces landed on the Kerala Islands in Okinawa on March 26, 1945, then moved onto the main island of Okinawa on April 1st. Lying just 563 km (350 miles) from the Japanese mainland, it offered excellent harbour, airfield and troop-staging facilities. It was a perfect base from which to launch a major assault on Japan. For that reason it was well defended, with 120,000 troops under General Mitsuru Ushijima.

The Japanese also committed some 10,000 aircraft to defending the island. Unable to rely only on the strength of its soldiers, the Japanese side drafted civilians into a "volunteer corps" and sent them into battle. As a result, a vast number of citizens in the region, including both elderly residents and children, fell victim to the war. Okinawa was the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific campaign and the last major campaign of the Pacific War.

In fact, the number of civilian deaths exceeded the loss of military personnel in this battle. While the residents were fighting for their homes and lives, the Japanese authorities were using the Battle of Okinawa to buy time for what they thought would be the decisive battle of the war, the awaiting battle for mainland Japan. The U.S. Army, landing the main island of Okinawa without bloodshed on 1st April 1945. Reproduced by the courtesy of Gekkan Okinawa (Monthly Journal of Okinawa) More ships were used, more troops put ashore, more supplies transported, more bombs dropped, more naval guns fired against shore targets than any other operation in the Pacific. More people died during the Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Casualties totaled more than, 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing, more than 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan conscripts killed, and possibly 100,000 Okinawan civilians who rotted in the battle.

After a four day bombardment the 1,300-ship invasion forced moved into position off the west coast of Okinawa on 1st April 1945. The landing force, under the leadership of Lieutenant - General Simon Buckner, initially totaled 155,000. However, by the time the battle finished, more than 300,000 soldiers were involved in the fighting. Ushijima decided not to put his men on the coast where they would be subjected to US Naval heavy bombardment. Instead they were positioned at the southern end of the 60-mile long island on the volcanic mountain of Shuri.

This is his tactic that he thought would work better. On the first day 60,000 troops were put ashore against little opposition at Haguushi. The following day two airfields were captured by the Americans. However, when the soldiers reached Shuri they came under heavy fire and suffered heavy casualties. Reinforced by the 3rd Amphibious Corps and the 6th Marine Division the Americans were able to repel a ferocious counter-attack by General Mitsuru Ushijima on the 4th May.

At sea, off Okinawa a 700 plane kamikaze raid on 6th April sunk and damaged 13 US destroyers. The giant battleship, Yamato, lacking sufficient fuel for a return journey, was also sent out on a suicide mission and was sunk on the 7th May. On 11th May, Lieutenant - General Simon Buckner, ordered another offensive on the Shuri defences, and the Japanese were finally forced to withdraw. Buckner was killed on 18th June and three days later his replacement, General Roy Geiger, announced that the island had finally been taken. When it was clear that he had been defeated, Mitsuru Ushijima committed ritual suicide (hara-kiri). He must have been convinced that he had done his duty in service to the Emperor as for the Japanese it is thought of as cowardly and unpatriotic to commit suicide.

The capture of Okinawa cost the Americans 49,000 in casualties of whom 12,520 died. More than 110,000 Japanese were killed on the island. While the island was being prepared for the invasion of Japan, a B-29 Super fortress [picture on next page] bomber dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945. Japan did not surrender immediately and a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. On the 10th August the Japanese surrendered and the Second World War was over. The document ending the battle of Okinawa was signed on what is now the K adena Air Base on the 7th September 1945.

The significance of this battle had a great impact on the Second World War. Once the Americans had been victors of Okinawa they could take over the base and attack mainland Japan. This turned out to be not so difficult and mainly because of the advantages that the Okinawan base gave them. The battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Many innocent Japanese civilians died as they were forced into battle. They fought for their homes and family but were not trained and unfortunately many died.

THE ATOMIC BOMB B-29 A SUPERFORTESS Studs Terkel interviewed John Garcia about his experiences in Okinawa for his book, The Good War (1985) We buried General Ushijima and his men inside a cave. This was the worst part of the war, which I didn't like about Okinawa. They were hiding in caves all the time, women, children, soldiers. We'd get up on the cliff and lower down barrels of gasoline and then shoot at it.

It would explode and just bury them to death. I personally shot one Japanese woman because she was coming across a field at night. We kept dropping leaflets not to cross the field at night because we couldn't tell if they were soldiers. We set up a perimeter. Anything in front, we'd shoot at.

This one night I shot and when it came daylight, it was a woman there and a baby tied to her back. The bullet had all gone through her and out the baby's back. PRIAM PATEL 3 R 1.