Okinawa 1945

A concise, thoroughly illustrated guide into the island battle that would end World War II

The battle of Okinawa was the last battle fought in the Pacific War. The bitterness of the fighting on Okinawa helped persuade the US that an assault on the Japanese mainland would result in massive US casualties and led directly to the dropping of the atomic bomb. This book describes the events.The final preliminary to the invasion of the Japanese mainland was possession of the Ryukyu island group, midway between Formosa and Kyushu, the southernmost island of the Japanese homeland. The target of Operation 'Iceberg' was Okinawa, the largest island in the group. This book details the largest and most complicated amphibious expedition undertaken in the Pacific, when Admiral Spruance's Fifth Fleet lifted Lt. Gen. S.B. Buckner's Tenth Army, the XXIV Corps under Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge and III Marine Amphibious Corps (Maj. Gen R.S. Geiger). Defending Okinawa was the Japanese 32nd army of 130,000 men under Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima.