Battle of Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa
Part of World War II, the Pacific War
A U.S. Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines on Wana Ridge provides covering fire with his Thompson submachine gun, 18 May 1945.
Date 1 April – 22 June 1945 Location Okinawa, Japan 26°30′N 128°00′E / 26.5°N 128°E / 26.5; 128Coordinates: 26°30′N 128°00′E / 26.5°N 128°E / 26.5; 128 Result Allied victory Okinawa occupied by the United States until 1972
Belligerents
Ground Forces:  United States Naval Support: United States  United Kingdom  Canada  New Zealand  Australia	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. † Roy Geiger Joseph Stilwell Chester W. Nimitz Raymond A. Spruance William Halsey, Jr. Sir Bernard Rawlings	Mitsuru Ushijima † Isamu Chō † Minoru Ōta † Seiichi Itō †
Units involved
Ground units: Tenth Army XXIV Corps 7th Infantry Division 27th Infantry Division 77th Infantry Division 96th Infantry Division III Amphibious Corps 1st Marine Division 2nd Marine Division 6th Marine Division Naval units: Fifth Fleet Task Force 50 Task Force 58 Task Force 57 Joint Exp. Force	Ground units: Thirty-Second Army 24th Infantry Division 28th Infantry Division 62nd Infantry Division 44th Mixed Brigade 45th Mixed Brigade 59th Mixed Brigade 60th Mixed Brigade 27th Tank Regiment Naval units: 2nd Fleet Combined Fleet
Strength
541,000 in Tenth Army 183,000 combat troops rising to c.250,000	86,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,000 Okinawan conscripts
Casualties and losses
American Manpower: 20,195 dead 12,520 killed in action 55,162 wounded 26,000 psychiatric casualties Material: 12 destroyers sunk 15 amphibious ships sunk 9 other ships sunk 386 ships damaged 763-768 aircraft 225 tanks	Japanese Manpower: From 77,166 killed to 110,000 killed (U.S. Estimate) More than 7,000 captured Material: 1 battleship sunk 1 light cruiser sunk 5 destroyers sunk 9 other warships sunk 1,430 aircraft lost 27 tanks destroyed 743 artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, and anti-aircraft guns
40,000–150,000 civilians killed out of some est.300,000
Location within Japan

Allied victory

Ground units:
Tenth Army

Naval units:
Fifth Fleet

Ground units:
Thirty-Second Army

Manpower:
20,195 dead

The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄戦, Hepburn: Okinawa-sen^?) (Okinawan: 沖縄戦, translit. Uchinaa ikusa), codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a series of battles fought in the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, centered on the island of Okinawa, and included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War during World War II, the 1 April 1945 invasion of Okinawa itself. The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were planning to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations for the planned invasion of Honshu, the Japanese mainland. The United States created the Tenth Army, a cross-branch force consisting of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th infantry divisions of the U.S. Army with the 1st and 6th divisions of the Marines Corps, to fight on the island. The Tenth was unique in that it had its own tactical air force (joint Army-Marine command), and was also supported by combined naval and amphibious forces.