The American loss rate was 35 percent of the force, totaling 49,151 casualties. When the guns fell silent, more than 240,000 people had lost their lives in the campaign for Okinawa. Operation Iceberg cost the Americans more than any other campaign in the Pacific War, a reflection of a well prepared, capable, and fanatical enemy defending difficult terrain. Navy’s awesome guns added to the stunning violence of American firepower, as some 600,000 rounds slammed into the Okinawan terrain in support of the ground operations.Ĭasualties are another indicator of the fierce fight that occurred on Okinawa. 30 caliber machine gun rounds, tossed 367,000 hand grenades, and fired 25,600 rifle grenades. In the frenetic fighting, XXIV Corps troops dropped some 521,000 projectiles down 60-mm mortar tubes, expended nine million rifle bullets, burned through 16 million. The Americans and Japanese engaged each other on numerous hillsides and came face-to-face in caves, trenches, bunkers, and pillboxes. “When friendly forces fire one round, at least ten rounds are guaranteed to come back.” Operation Iceberg used up twice the amount of materiel needed in the Marianas and three times that of the battle on Iwo Jima.Ĭombat was violent and usually at close quarters. “I am really surprised at the amount of ammunition that the enemy has,” a Japanese soldier confided to his diary in late April. The Tenth Army fired 1.1 million 105-mm howitzer rounds during the battle, in the process creating some of the largest artillery barrages of the war. A back-and-forth artillery duel between the Americans and the Japanese rocked Okinawa day and night. The battle’s brutal character can be seen in the amount of ammunition expended. During the campaign 34 ships were lost, of which 26 had been the victims of suicide attacks. In terrifying suicidal attacks, Japanese aircraft continually harassed the fleet arrayed to support the Pacific Theater’s largest amphibious assault. With the rain finally slackening and facing a much-weakened force toward the end of May, however, the final 10 miles to the southern tip of the island required only four weeks of effort.įighting offshore was similarly vicious. The Tenth Army advanced only four miles in the first 7 weeks of the battle. While the terrain and Japanese created challenging obstacles to victory, the heat and unceasing torrential rain for much of the month of May further hampered US operations. Each yard gained by the Americans was paid for in blood against the dug-in enemy. The result was some of the most ferocious fighting of the Pacific Theater.ĭespite their numerical inferiority, the Japanese were excellent defensive fighters. After landing on the west side of the island, the Tenth Army pushed directly south into the teeth of the enemy’s prepared defenses toward the Japanese headquarters at Shuri, and even beyond once overwhelming pressure forced the enemy to reposition further south. Built into and on top of ridges, hills, and escarpments, these lines transformed the terrain itself into a fortress. Successive east-west defensive belts stretched across the island. Between them, fighting in the Aleutians and on Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Guam, and Leyte had hammered them into tough outfits before they arrived in the Ryukyu Islands for the toughest campaign of all.īefore the American invasion, the Japanese constructed an intricate system of formidable positions across southern Okinawa. Army’s XXIV Corps was comprised of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th Infantry Divisions. Even the 6th Marine Division, formed relatively late in the war, had a core of veterans around which to build.Īlongside the Marine, the U.S. The III Amphibious Corps’ 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions were hardened by fighting on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian. The majority of the Tenth Army was comprised of some of the most battle-tested American troops in the Pacific. Operation Iceberg on Okinawa, the last major battle of the war, was a combined operation of unprecedented scale, a savage climax for a combat theater marked by years of unrelenting savagery. For three months, US military forces engaged in merciless fighting for control of 640 square miles of the Ryukyu Islands, only 340 miles from mainland Japan. The road to that point had been long and bloody, a plodding march from the landing beaches on April 1 to the southern tip of the mainland. On June 22, 1945, the American flag rose into the quiet blue sky above Tenth Army’s headquarters as a band played the “Star Spangled Banner,” a somber observation of US victory on Okinawa. The National WWII Museum, Gift of Dylan Utley, Accession #2012.019.782 Top image: At the 1st Marine Division cemetery, a Marine kneels at the grave of a friend lost on Okinawa.
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