Operation Iceberg; the Battle for Okinawa
Yesterday marked 73 years after the start of Operation Iceberg, the battle for Okinawa, the last push towards the Japanese mainland. 180,000 American soldiers and Marines, along with their British, Canadian, New Zealand, and Australian allies assaulted the island defended by 77,000 Japanese troops and their local Okinawan militia that fielded 20,000 souls.
12,000 Americans were killed in the battle that lasted 84 days. There were about 50,000 overall US casualties.
Only 7000 Japanese were captured while the rest fought to their death, including their commander, Ushijima and his chief of staff who committed seppuku on June 22.
The Okinawans were told that they would be raped and killed by the Americans, so many of them jumped after they threw their families from cliffs into the sea. 150,000 Okinawan died in the battle.
12 US destroyers were sunk and 386 ships were damaged and 768 aircraft were lost. The Japanese lost 1,430 aircraft and 16 ships.
Seven Americans were awarded Medals of Honor including Desmond Doss, the conscientious objector who saved seventy five of his comrades. We lost Ernie Pyle, the famous war correspondent, during the Battle for Okinawa.
The massive losses on Okinawa are said to influence President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war with Japan and to avoid an invasion.
Category: We Remember
The sacrifices made for us, that we may enjoy Liberty.
God rest them well. Never forgotten.
I remember as a very young Marine going to the navel HQ in Naha. they were literally in caves dug by hand that were in the center of the mountain. i remember the tour guide pointing out the pock marks in the ceiling from where the CO armed and then detonated two hand grenades above the heads of his troops so they would not have been captured and i though to me self, better them then me. it took me a while to understand that the beaches we were swimming at ( white beach in Kin) was not named for its sharp, gravely sand but that it was at one point a landing beach. i tried to see how you could assault inland from there and i just didn’t see how it could be done.
this is an amazing book on the subject:
OKINAWA: THE LAST BATTLE
by Roy E. Appleman, James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, and John Stevens
https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/okinawa/index.htm
Thx for the link Sgt Fon, I will let my 94 year old Marine buddy know about it. He fought with the 1st MARDIV from Guadalcanal to Oki and was even assigned to disarm something like 2 million Japs in China within 90 days after the battle. He was one of few scout/snipers to make it. I think he said there was 213ish scout/snipers in the 1st MARDIV and only 13 survived, and he’s the last one alive today. I guess there is a bottle of rare scotch in a case at San Francisco to be opened by the last Marine from that Division and there is a tight group of Marines in Arizona that will drink it with him if he’s the last. He’s still in great shape and his memory is outstanding for his age.
Semper Fi!
Included below is the link to Hyperwar’s html version of the U.S. Marine Corps Official WWII History, Vol V, dealing with the Okinawa Campaign
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/V/index.html
I can do you one better. Here is the US Army website for all of the Green Books in PDF:
https://history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/collect/usaww2.html
And here is the Government Publishers website where you can buy your very own reprint of the original (if you, like me, like physical books and the fold out maps):
https://bookstore.gpo.gov/search/products?keywords=okinawa&=Apply
I already did a search for Okinawa.
Pictures I took at the Japanese Naval Underground:
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipNvj-XYVXYgprMa36Y_-0yXjy6RN9a7bh_otmwT
Father-In-Law was a GM/SC2 on the USS Idaho (BB-42) for the Battle of Okinawa.
RIP Frank and all your comrades in arms. Each you did your duty when called upon.
Pen and ink change required.
Insert “of” between Each and you.
Mea Culpa.
The USS OKINAWA LPH 3 was named after the battle of Okinawa which lost the greatest amount of ships at the time so like the worst and deadliest hurricanes this country has had, the named hurricanes are not used anymore and it is my opinion that it is why there is not another USS OKINAWA, the name being retired.
I remember reading “With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa” by Eugene Sledge when I was young and it being my first real exposure to what that battle was like. Also, a friendly reminder, that the first name for CPL Doss was Desmond.
I read Robert Lecke’s Helmet for my Pillow recently and Eugene Sledge’s book is on my list next.
I read both books for the first time about 40 or so years ago. was in a military history book club. Many well written histories of WWII and Korea.
May God bless and remember them all!
They should teach this stuff in school like when I was a kid.
The sheer scale of these battles is really hard to fully comprehend. Just look at the number of aircraft lost by the Japanese. Today having an air force of 1,430 planes would make a country the fifth largest by number of military planes.
They lost, in one battle, enough aircraft to fill out more than a third of our current USAF aircraft.
Long ago, my Mother’s jeweler was a P51 pilot at Okie. His comment was that the bad guys still had a lot of good pilots, because he got shot down. That was after the Battle of Britain, flying for Ord Wingate’s Air Commandos, and walking out of the Burma jungle (a long walk he said) after he got shot down and captured. Never would say how he escaped, but I have his silk escape map framed downstairs.
If you haven’t seen the movie concerning Desmond Doss’ heroics in saving the lives of 75 Americans, I strongly recommend you do so. Truman caught a lot of flack from many due to his decision to use atomic weapons to make Japan submit, but, not surprisingly, little of that criticism comes from the military personnel who would have been utilized in the attack on Japan. Okinawa has many accessible caves. I explored some of them when I was there nearly 50 years ago. It was actually living history to walk among the sites and imagine what happened there. See Desmond Doss’ movie … you won’t be disappointed one bit.
I was at Hanza 93-96. One of my favorite duty stations. Still work with some of my shipmates from there 22 years later ;-).
You should read the book “Line of Departure: Tarawa.” It’s readily available, sometimes for under a dollar. It describes the first major battle of the Gilbert Islands Campaign. The attack was planned by a staff officer, USMC Colonel Shoup. When the Commander, 2nd marines was relieved after a nervous breakdown, Shoup was given command and ordered to execute his own plan. That alone is remarkable. The Japanese boasted “One million men could not take Tarawa in 100 years.” The Marines did it in 4 days. But between the US (over 1,000) and the Japanese dead, over 6,000 bodies were left on an island that covered 291 acres.
Do the math. That’s 6,000 dead over an island equal to no more than 220 NFL football fields.
Imagine looking down on an NFL football field. In that space, on average, were 27 dead men.
Add the wounded, and those who died off shore and in the air, it must have been truly hell on earth.
We do well to call them “The Greatest Generation.”
[Colonel Shoup was awarded the Medal of Honor, and went on to become General Shoup (4 stars) and Commandant of the Marine Corps.]
The book again: “Line of Departure: Tarawa” by Martin Russ.
Here is a link to my Picasa Web Albums archive. You won’t need a Google account like you do with photos.google.com.
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181?source=pwa
Lots of random stuff in there, but if you don’t want to search for the Okinawa stuff (the albums aren’t in any order that I can detect) here are some individual albums (but not all)
►Random Oki Stuff
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipMKViitoBuD1C4qAZMKhy00piq2Ag5Q74Qu_uV7
►Shikinaen and Tamaudon – World Hertigae sites on Okinawa
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipMS9aw3W4CGKxBYeKN6hBaCOmp4Cww5W26UdbLZ
►More Random Okinawa Pics
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipMz4oPMeAdo8fQpWaU2MZe-xEvbMKCyO8vUuTnC
►Cessna 172 tour of Okinawa
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipN6hyef4GumAMZZba-YSOyu7pKOPn3JkXlbGuNl
►Okinawa Trip (before I was stationed there)
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipN86VEYGQdytDEIgva-eBOoIQz6MTC0orgLpeaZ
►Kakazu Ridge, Mabuni Hill and other Okinawan Memorials
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipNeeWRoYL5UawOl3IrQgHvlisDrOSj-RbyhUcy8
►Japanese Naval Underground visit – July 2012
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipNvj-XYVXYgprMa36Y_-0yXjy6RN9a7bh_otmwT
►Okinawa Castles and other interesting places
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipOgv6Jn5CyH7zQl8sYBt_QKLLOAPoXPvGFLmLiW
►Tsushima Maru Monument
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipP_t-FFhVHiepT-tn5WFDmoA1NbXYbQuOCO4hiQ
►Tomori Stone Lion
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/104745627018165888181/album/AF1QipPpv6ONV-wBAx_LSzjmBnrqyLpgzZjNHejem55d