Okinawa was the culminating campaign of the Pacific war. The island, 794 square miles, was located some 400 miles below southern Kyushu, on the threshold of the Japanese homeland. U.S. planners intended to use Okinawa as the principal base from which the invasion of the home islands (beginning with Kyushu in November 1945) would be launched.

The Japanese recognized the last-ditch importance of Okinawa and defended it with more than 100,000 troops belonging to the Thirty-second Japanese Army under General Ushijima Mitsuru. The bulk of these forces were deployed behind the Naha-Shuri-Yonabaru Line, a well-fortified entrenchment extending across the island's southern fifth. Here Ushijima intended to make an absolute stand, holding the invaders while kamikaze forces destroyed the Fifth U.S. Fleet under Raymond Spruance, which was assigned to cover the invasion.

The invasion was under the overall command of Admiral Chester Nimitz, and the assault troops--the Tenth U.S. Army under Simon Buckner Jr.--were transported under the command of Admiral Richmond Turner.

The initial assault came on March 26, 1945, when the 77th Infantry Division (Andrew Bruce) captured the Kerama and Keise Islands, off the southwestern coast of Okinawa. Six days after this, on April 1, the U.S. Marines, III Amphibious Corps (Roy Geiger), landed on Okinawa's western shore. The 6th Marine Division (Lemuel Shepherd) was on the left of the assault and the 1st Marine Division (Pedro del Valle) on the right, while the 2nd Marine Division (Thomas Watson) made a decoy landing on the southern tip of Okinawa. Simultaneously, Tenth Army formed the right (south) wing of the initial assault, with XXIV Corps (John Hodge), 7th Infantry Division (Archibald Arnold), and 96th Infantry Division (James Bradley) deployed left to right. . .

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