Battle+of+Okinawa


 * Progress of the Battle:** The battle in itself, was part of the american 3 point plan to win the war in the Far East. The battle started out with a large number of kamikaze pilots enflicting damage on the American naval fleet which landed on the north side of the island, which caused considerable damage. When they reached the coast, they faced very little oposition in taking the northern part of Okinawa. As they progressed, 3 days later, they reached the Machinato line of the Japanese. It was breached after about a month, but soon ran into the Shuri Line which greatly slowed the advance of the Americans. This greatly damaged the American fleet. Military leader Ushijima ordered a counter-attack, but was quite unsuccessful. Nearly a month later, the blockade at the Shuri Line was told to move back. But the Japanese resistance stood firm. By then it was May 24th. And the Japanese resistance finally crumbled in mid-June.



** Fast Facts: ** The very last battle of WW2 was fought on the Ryukyu islands of Okinawa. Lasted 82 days from early April to mid June. The Allies planned to take over the 4 major air bases on Okinawa. The invasion started in the north and worked its way south. It was considered the most intense engagement of the war, thus earning it the nickname typhoon of steel. The casualties were high for both sides as the Allies had 65,000 casualties, while the Japanese suffered 100,000. The American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the moment when Japan was forced to surrender just weeks after Okinawa.

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**Japanese air and sea attacks:** On April 6, 400 Japanese attack planes flew out from Kyushu to launch "kamikaze" attacks on the American invasion forces and hundreds of American warships, troopships, supply vessels and landing craft offshore from the beachheads, inflicted heavy damage. They met the U.S Navy though on their attack trip this resulted in the Japanese losing 300 planes. Following the Japanese planes were fleets of Japanese battleships. The Americans started direct bombing, sending torpedoes, sinking the the pride of the Japanese Navy the "Yamato", the cruiser called "Yahagi" and 3 destroyers and destroying the rest of the Japanese Navy.

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