Okinawa

Closer to Japan, and even more heavily defended than Iwo Jima, were the Ryukyu Islands. On the principal island, Okinawa, 65 miles (105 km) long, the Japanese had a garrison of 120,000. The Japanese responded to air and naval bombardment with kamikaze, or suicide, air attacks that sank 33 ships and damaged 368. Some 3,400 Japanese planes were shot down, and 800 were destroyed on the ground. The Americans lost 1,000 planes.

Landings by a corps of the 10th Army and a corps of Marines on April 1 were little resisted, but heavy fighting developed during an advance toward Naha and Shuri. This resistance was not overcome until the middle of June, and then fanatical resistance continued in the southern tip of the island until June 22. Four days before the end of the fighting, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, commanding the 10th Army, was killed in action. He was succeeded by General Stilwell. American casualties totaled 49,151, while the Japanese had 109,629 killed and 7,871 captured. Heavy air attacks on the Japanese home islands were launched between July 10 and July 17.