OKINAWA
KEY COUNTRIES/PEOPLE:
- Began on April 1, 1945 and ended on June 22nd, 1945
- The Allied forces invaded the Okinawa island.
- This battle was the last and bloodiest battle of the Pacific War.
- There were almost 100,000 civilian casualties because Okinawa was a densely populated.
- The battle in Okinawa was one part of a three-point plan that America had created in order to win the war
- Japanese men were stationed in a series of secure fortifications. This way, the Americans would have to attack the Japanese in a many of frontal assaults.
- There were a large amount of kamikazes who were meant to cause such serious casualties on the Americans so they would retreat.
Image from: http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-okinawa-operation-iceberg.htm
LOCATION:
The island of Okinawa is the largest of the Ryukyus islands in southern Japan.
Image from: http://sillysoft.net/lux/maps/Okinawa%201945
EVENTS/SIGNIFICANCE:
- Okinawa was a very strategic location for America because it contained four airfields on the that America needed to control.
- Kamikaze planes attacked the American fleet in order to try eliminating some of the army before they reached land.
- The US began fighting on land on March 26.
- On April 4th the XIV Corps ran into the Machinato line, stopping the advance of the Americans in south Okinawa. The Americans broke through the Machinato line on April 24th.
- A Japanese counterattack on May 3rd failed.
- Out of the 193 kamikaze plane attacks launched against the American fleet, 169 were destroyed. Those planes that got through did caused a great deal of damage especially to America’s carrier fleet that did not have armoured flight decks
- 7,373 American men were killed and 32,056 were wounded on land.
- Before even reaching land, the Americans lost 5,000 men and 4,600 were wounded at sea.
- Japan lost 107,000 men while 7,400 were taken prisoner.
- America had 36 ships that sunk, while another 368 ships were damaged. 763 aircraft were destroyed.
- The Japanese ended up with 16 sunken ships and over 4,000 lost aircrafts.
- Afterwards, Okinawa became a key military asset for the Allies due to the fact that it provided a key fleet anchorage and troop staging areas.
- Okinawa also gave the Allies airfields that were only 350 miles from Japan.
Image from: http://nisei.hawaii.edu/object/io_1149316185200.html
VICTORY?
US won! (Allies)
CITES USED FOR INFORMATION:
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_okinawa.htm
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/battle-of-okinawa.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battle_of_okinawa.htm
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/battle-of-okinawa.htm