Planning the invasion of the Japanese home islands was a daunting enterprise. With the scope of operations expected to exceed even those of the D-Day landings in Normandy, a nearby staging area was needed to accommodate the unprecedented assemblage of ground, air, and naval forces. Officials settled on Okinawa, a heavily populated island just 350 miles from Japan, where multiple airfields and anchorages were available. The island, however, was another stronghold, fortified with nearly 90,000 Imperial Army and Navy troops and another 20,000 Okinawan militia.
The invasion began in April 1945. US soldiers and Marines met little initial resistance after landing in the center of the island, and easily captured key airfields nearby. As on Peleliu and Iwo Jima, most of the defenders had been withdrawn to the island interior, where they were embedded in stout fortifications and interlocking networks of caves and tunnels.
Marine divisions pivoted to the north, where they encountered little opposition, but a far different story unfolded in the south, where Army forces collided with the teeth of the Japanese defenses. Progress stalled, and reserve elements and Marines no longer needed in the north joined the fray. In torrential rains, the Japanese fought with skill and determination, and the two sides became locked into some of the most savage combat of the war. Much of the skirmishing was in close quarters, where the men grappled with bayonets, entrenching tools, and even their bare hands. The Japanese even resorted to using civilian women and children as human shields, adding to the horrifying carnage.
Two months would pass until US forces managed to secure Okinawa, and the death toll was jarring. An estimated 92,000 Japanese and 120,000 Okinawans were dead, and more than 50,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or missing.
The mind-numbing bloodshed on Okinawa was only a preview of what planners expected with an invasion of the Japanese homeland. The projected human losses on both sides were utterly unfathomable, and the new American president began weighing alternatives to end the war as swiftly as possible.
