Battle of Okinawa

April 1 – June 22, 1945 · Pacific Theater

Phases

1. 1Apr 1 — L-Day: The Silent BeachesApril 1, 1945
2. 2Apr–May — Shuri & the Kamikaze SeaApril 4 – May 21, 1945
3. 3May–Jun 22 — The Last RidgeMay 22 – June 22, 1945

April 1, 1945

The largest amphibious assault of the Pacific war — 183,000 troops, 1,300 ships — lands on Easter Sunday against no resistance at all. The airfields fall by afternoon; men joke about the “Home by Easter” rumor. It is not mercy but doctrine: Ushijima has conceded the beaches and coiled his 32nd Army into the fortified limestone ridges of the south, where American firepower will count least, to bleed the invaders while the kamikazes wreck the fleet offshore.

• ➤Tenth Army — Ashore across the Hagushi beaches — unopposed
• ●Kadena airfield — taken by lunch on L-Day
• ●The real defense — the Shuri Line, miles to the south