Bloody Okinawa The last great battle of World War II

Joseph Wheelan

Book - 2020

"On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool. Waves of Japanese kamikaze and conventional warplanes sank 36 warships, damaged 368 others, and killed nearly 5,000 US seamen. When the slugfest ended after 82 days, more than 125,000 enemy soldiers lay dea...d--along with 7,500 US ground troops. Tragically, more than 100,000 Okinawa civilians perished while trapped between the armies. The brutal campaign persuaded US leaders to drop the atomic bomb instead of invading Japan"--Dust jacket flap.

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Subjects
Published
New York : Hachette Books 2020.
Language
English
Main Author
Joseph Wheelan (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
vii, 419 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 383-396) and index.
ISBN
9780306903229
  • Prologue
  • The enemy's doorstep
  • L-Day
  • The first defensive line
  • The kamikazes
  • Sinking the battleship Yamato
  • The drive north and Ie Shima
  • The April offensive
  • The Shuri line
  • The May mud offensive
  • Red flood tide
  • The Japanese retreat from Shuri
  • The last ditch
  • The Thirty-Second Army collapses
  • The civilian tragedy
  • The battle ends
  • Dénouement
  • Epilogue.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Military historian Wheelan (Midnight in the Pacific) draws on U.S. and Japanese sources to deliver an encyclopedic chronicle of the April 1945 invasion of Okinawa. American forces seeking to establish a launching pad for the invasion of Japan made a "deceptively easy" beach landing, Wheelan writes, because Japanese commanders planned to mount their primary defense in the vicinity of Mount Shuri, where 10,000 soldiers occupied a network of caves and tunnels and the rocky terrain was "anathema to tanks." Wheelan minutely details major battles, including Sugar Loaf Hill and Hacksaw Ridge, in the three-month campaign to take the island, and describes the rituals of kamikaze pilots, the use of native islanders as "human shields" by Japanese troops, and the high incidence of "battle fatigue" among U.S. soldiers and Marines. He cites death tolls of more than 100,000 Japanese troops, 120,000 civilians, and 12,000 Americans, and quotes U.S. Gen. George C. Marshall that the "'bitter experience of Okinawa'" played a significant role in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wheelan mines a wealth of source material to present a 360-degree view of the battle, and maintains a brisk pace. This exhaustive yet accessible account will appeal to WWII history buffs and general readers alike. (Mar.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

Wheelan (Midnight in the Pacific) recounts how Japanese resistance, rain, and mud made the Battle of Okinawa the costliest victory in the Pacific for the United States. Using both American and Japanese primary sources, the book describes how the largest and most powerful American Pacific amphibious force struggled to overcome fierce Japanese resistance. Japan's defense was based on ample troops and artillery, along with coordinated kamikaze attacks. The author conveys how Japanese leaders hoped the resulting casualties would wear down U.S. troops and a war-weary American public, forcing the U.S. to negotiate rather than imposing unconditional surrender. The significant numbers of dead and wounded civilians and servicemen among the U.S. and Japan did, indeed, alarm American leaders about the costs of the war, Whelan argues. However, he counters that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 forced Japan's unconditional surrender. VERDICT Wheelan's detailed, mainstream account of the Battle of Okinawa and its significance in World War II history will especially appeal to fans of military history interested in the Pacific Theater.--Mark Jones, Mercantile Lib., Cincinnati

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