Battle of Okinawa

What Happened

The Battle of Okinawa began on 1 April 1945 with the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific Theater of World War II. The Kerama Islands, a small chain west of Okinawa, had already been captured on 26 March 1945 by the U.S. Army 77th Infantry Division, clearing the way for the main invasion. The battle on Okinawa itself lasted 82 days, from 1 April until 22 June 1945.

The United States assembled the Tenth Army, a combined force of the U.S. Army 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th Infantry Divisions alongside the 1st, 2nd, and 6th Marine Divisions. The Tenth Army was unusual in that it possessed its own Tactical Air Force under a joint Army-Marine command, supported by combined naval and amphibious forces. Opposing them was the Japanese Thirty-Second Army under Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, a mixed force of regular army troops, naval infantry, and conscripted local Okinawans. Roughly 100,000 Japanese troops were on Okinawa when the invasion began.

The fighting was defined by its ferocity. Japanese kamikaze attacks struck Allied vessels in sustained waves, and the battle became the longest continuous carrier campaign of the Second World War. The Japanese battleship Yamato was sunk during the naval operations surrounding the battle. By the time organized resistance ended on 22 June 1945, the battle had produced some 50,000 Allied casualties and around 100,000 Japanese casualties, including local Okinawans pressed into the Japanese Army.

Background

By early 1945, the Allies had spent years island-hopping across the Pacific, capturing islands to build airfields and supply lines for the eventual invasion of Japan. Okinawa, located roughly 340 miles (550 km) from the Japanese home islands, was a strategic prize. The Allies planned to use Kadena Air Base on the island as a staging point for Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of Japan itself.

The Japanese defensive strategy on Okinawa was built around Ushijima's Thirty-Second Army, which used the island's rugged terrain to create fortified positions. The battle included several named engagements, including the Battle of Kakazu, the Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill, and the Battle in the Hills of Kuniyoshi. The Japanese also launched Operation Kikusui, a series of massed kamikaze attacks, and Operation Ten-Go, the final sortie of the battleship Yamato. The Kyushu Air Battle and the Bombing of Okinawa were part of the broader air campaign around the island.

The battle was part of the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign, a larger series of operations that included the capture of Iwo Jima earlier in 1945. Okinawa was the last major island battle before the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Why It Mattered

Okinawa was the bloodiest and fiercest battle in the Pacific Ocean Theatre. The intensity of the fighting, the scale of kamikaze attacks, and the volume of Allied ships and armored vehicles gave the battle its nickname, the "typhoon of steel." Local authorities recorded at least 149,425 Okinawan people killed, dead by coerced suicide, or missing during the battle.

After the fighting ended, Okinawa gave the Allies a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in close proximity to Japan. These facilities were intended to support Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. The battle also demonstrated the cost of defeating the Japanese military in close combat, shaping Allied planning for the final phase of the war.

The human toll extended beyond the military. Okinawan civilians were conscripted into the Japanese Army, and many died in the crossfire or were coerced into suicide by Japanese forces. The battle remains a deeply painful chapter in Okinawan history, distinct from the mainland Japanese experience of the war.

The Name in Japanese

The Japanese name for the battle is 沖縄戦, read as おきなわせん in kana, and romanized as Okinawa-sen.

The word breaks down as follows:

• 沖 (おき, oki) — "open sea" or "offshore." This character carries the sense of the sea beyond the coast.
• 縄 (なわ, nawa) — "rope." The combination 沖縄 (Okinawa) is the name of the island chain itself; the characters together suggest a rope stretched across the open sea, a poetic rendering of the island archipelago.
• 戦 (せん, sen) — "war" or "battle." This is the same character used in compounds like 戦争 (sensō, "war") and appears in the names of other battles, such as 太平洋戦争 (Taiheiyō Sensō, "Pacific War").

So 沖縄戦 literally means "Okinawa Battle" or "Battle of Okinawa." The reading おきなわせん uses the kun'yomi (native Japanese reading) for both 沖 and 縄, while 戦 uses its on'yomi (Chinese-derived reading) of sen. The term is the standard Japanese designation for the battle, used in history textbooks and official records.

Key Figures

Mitsuru Ushijima was the Japanese Lieutenant General commanding the Thirty-Second Army on Okinawa. He led the defense of the island until the final collapse of organized resistance in June 1945.

Minoru Ōta was a Japanese naval officer who commanded the naval forces defending Okinawa. He was among the senior Japanese commanders on the island.

Isamu Chō served as Ushijima's chief of staff and was a vocal advocate of aggressive offensive action against the American landing forces.

Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. commanded the U.S. Tenth Army during the battle. He was killed in action on Okinawa, making him the highest-ranking American general to die in combat during World War II.

Roy Geiger was a U.S. Marine Corps general who took command of the Tenth Army after Buckner's death, becoming the only Marine to command a field army in the war.

Joseph Stilwell arrived late in the battle to assume command of the Tenth Army after Geiger, overseeing the final mopping-up operations.

William Halsey Jr. commanded the U.S. naval forces supporting the invasion, including the carrier groups that fought off Japanese air attacks.

Claudius Miller Easley was a U.S. Army general who commanded the 96th Infantry Division during the battle.

The Allied forces included not only the United States but also the United Kingdom and New Zealand, which contributed naval units to the campaign.