BBC History UK 04.2020

GETTY IMAGES/ MAP ILLUSTRATION: PAUL HEWITT, BATTLEFIELD DESIGN

and passageways inside the hills that allowed the defenders to move safely to each point of attack.

Stiffening opposition Blissfully unaware of the Japanese strategy, Buckner’s men made rapid progress during the first few days of the campaign, cutting the island in two and brushing aside light enemy forces. By 4 April, Buckner’s US 10th Army held a slice of Okinawa 15 miles long and from three to ten miles wide. The beachhead included two airfields and beaches that, in the words of the official history of the Okina- wa campaign, “could take immense tonnage from the cargo ships, and sufficient space for dumps and installations that were rapidly b ei ng bu i lt ”. But, as the US Army’s XXIV Corps moved south towards the main Japanese defences, the opposition stiffened. The first line was the Kakazu hill mass, which boasted formidable defensive features, including a deep moat, a hill studded with natural and man-made positions and a cluster of thick-walled buildings. A four-day assault began on 9 April, but failed to break through the storm of Japanese artillery, mortar and

Smoking out the enemy US Marines watch a barrage of phosphorous shells explode among Japanese positions, May

The defenders were holed up in a
network of interconnected caves, almost
impervious to bombs and shells

WHEN A SOVIET SUB

SANK THE WILHELM ,

THE VAST MAJORITY

OF ITS 10,600

PASSENGERS WERE

DROWNED

ALLIED

Troop numbers 540,000, including navy, air and army (of whom 183,000 American ground troops took part in the initial assault)

Casualties 12,520 dead, 37,000 wounded and 26,000 ‘non-battle’ casualties

Other losses 458 planes and 36 ships (with a further 368 damaged)

KEY COMMANDERS Navy Admiral Raymond A Spruance (left), commanding the US Fifth Fleet

Air force Not applicable, as they had no independent air force

Ground forces Lieutenant General Simon B Buckner Jr, commanding the US 10th Army (killed by enemy shellfire on 18 June)

JAPANESE

110,000, including navy, air and army

100,000 dead and 7,400 PoWs (mostly Okinawans)

4,155 planes and 16 ships (with a further four damaged)

Vice Admiral Seiichi Itō, commanding the ‘Ten-go’ task force. He went down with the battleship Yamato on 7 April 1945

Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, commanding the Fifth Air Fleet – killed in a kamikaze attack on 15 August

Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima (left), commanding the Japa- nese 32nd Army. He killed himself with his chief of staff in the early hours of 22 June

HELL’S OWN CESSPOOL

The brutal struggle for Okinawa in figures

Battle dates 1 April–22 June 1945

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GETTY IMAGES/ MAP ILLUSTRATION: PAUL HEWITT, BATTLEFIELD DESIGN

andpassagewaysinsidethehillsthat allowedthedefenderstomovesafelyto eachpointofattack.

Stiffeningopposition BlissfullyunawareoftheJapanesestrategy, Buckner’smenmaderapidprogressduring the first few days of the campaign, cutting the island in two and brushing aside light enemy forces. By 4 April, Buckner’s US 10th Army held a slice of Okinawa 15 miles long and from three to ten miles wide. The beachhead included two airfields and beaches that, in the words of the official history of the Okina- wa campaign, “could take immense tonnage from the cargo ships, and sufficient space for dumps and installations that were rapidly b ei ng bu i lt ”. But, as the US Army’s XXIV Corps moved south towards the main Japanese defences, the opposition stiffened. The first line was the Kakazu hill mass, which boasted formidable defensive features, including a deep moat, a hill studded with natural and man-made positions and a cluster of thick-walled buildings. A four-day assault began on 9 April, but failed to break through the storm of Japanese artillery, mortar and