The Battle of Okinawa

     The Battle of Okinawa, which began as The Invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945 and lasted for 82 days, was the longest and the bloodiest military operation of World War Two.  If you ask an average American what was the biggest military operation of World War Two, no doubt the answer will be the Normandy Invasion, the D-Day!  There is no denying that the Normandy Invasion played a key role in defeating Nazi Germany.  But the invasion launched by the combined U.S., British, and British Commonwealth forces paled in comparison to the size of Soviet forces fighting on the eastern front.  The bulk of the German army was on the eastern front and the Soviets had been fighting the Germans since Germany's invasion of Russia several years earlier.  However, there is no denying that the allied invasion of Normandy played a key part in the victory over Nazi Germany, and the contribution and sacrifices made by those brave fighting men will forever be honored and remembered.
     On June 6, 1944, 73,000 U.S. troops and 83,000 British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand troops invaded Normandy, a total of 156,000 ground forces.  There were also smaller Free French and Polish Brigades, but the total of ground forces did not exceed 160,000 men. It took them about 44 days to reach their final objectives of the initial invasion, that of capturing the town of Cherbourg on June 26 and Caen on July 21.  With the capture of Caen, the Normandy Invasion was over and allies had firmly established foothold in France.  In the process the allies suffered about 10,000 casualties.
     The Battle of Okinawa was fought for almost twice as long, 82 days, from April 1 until June 21, 1945 when Okinawa was finally under U.S. control.  The Invasion of Okinawa on land was conducted exclusively by U.S. troops, 102,000 Army, 88,000 Marines, and 18,000 Navy (SeaBees) for a total of slightly over 200,000 U.S. ground personnel.  That's almost three times more U.S. personnel and about 50,000 more than the total allied ground force for the Normandy Invasion.  The U.S. forces faced roughly 100,000 firmly entrenched Japanese troops, of which about 25,000 were non-combat work battalions made up of native Okinawans, Koreans, and Formosans.  The Japanese combatants were about 75,000.  It was by far the bloodiest, and costliest in human lives of all battles during World War Two.  The U.S. casualties numbered over 65,000, over 80,000 including non-combat injuries and illness.  The U.S. death toll was over 12,000, the highest number was suffered by Navy personnel. almost 4,907 deaths from kamikaze attacks!  Army had 4,675 deaths and Marines 2,938 deaths.  Over 12,000 deaths in the space of 82 days!  There were more U.S. deaths on Okinawa than total casualties in Normandy.
     The Japanese suffered about 70,000 deaths, and the Okinawan civilian casualties were horrendous, around 150,000 according to Okinawan census.  When you consider that the population of Okinawa at the time was around 300,000, that means at least 1/3 of the population was wiped out!  There were horrible atrocities committed on both sides, but mostly by the Japanese who treated the Okinawan population very cruelly and harshly.  All of this information is documented in the Okinawan War Museum on Okinawa, it isn't something that was just made up.  Most of the information was provided by Japanese scholars who had done extensive research.
     There are no shortages of Hollywood movies about the D-Day, the Normandy Invasion.  The epic movie The Longest Day made in the 1960s with just about who's who in Hollywood certainly made everyone aware of the Normandy Invasion!  More recently Tom Hanks made the movie Saving Private Ryan and the TV blockbuster The Band of Brothers, all involving the Normandy Invasion.  Strangely enough, there has not been a single movie of note that was about the Battle of Okinawa.  There were movies that included some mention of Okinawa or a comedy, such as the Tea House of the August Moon, which is really the aftermath of the war.  But nothing about the biggest and bloodiest battle of World War Two.  I find that kind of strange, don't you?