Battle of Okinawa
The Bloodiest Battle in the Pacific
Lieutenant-General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.
He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations and he also commanded the defense in Alaska for the beginning of the war. After that he was promoted to command the Tenth Army which conducted Operation Iceberg and assaulted the island of Okinawa. On the final days of Okinawa Simon Buckner was killed by enemy artillery fire. Simon was promoted to a full four-star general by the Special Act of Congress on July 19, 1954.
Event Information
The Assault on Okinawa
Most of the battles in the Pacific took place on this island.
When?
Sunday, Apr 1, 1945, 12:00 AM
Where?
Okinawa, Japan
Timeline
April 1st- Battle for Okinawa Begins.
April 7th- The strongest battleship The IJN Yamato has been sunk!
May 24th- The capital of Okinawa has been taken.
June 17th- The Japanese are split into three groups and must fend for themselves.
July 2nd- America has completely taken the Island of Okinawa.
The marines and the victory flag
U.S. tanks burn the land to kill off Japanese survivors
Reinforcements landing on the beach
Background Info
The Battle of Okinawa started on April 1st 1945. The Americans goal was to destroy what was left of the merchant ships and to destroy the industry in Japan. The leader of this attack was Lieutenant-General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. Many Americans were not ready for the tactics use on them. The Japanese used Guerilla warfare to get up close. Since they believed that dying brought honor to their country they used a tactics called kamikazes. The Japanese used this tactic when they knew that they were going to die, so they charged their planes straight into our ship to try to sink them. The battle ended when Americans stood victorious on July 2nd 1945. The Americans lost over 7,000 men and had over 32,000 wounded. The Japanese lost over107,000 men due to their risky and dangerous tactics. 7,400 Japanense men were captured, and were released a couple years later.