Remembering World War II’s last major battle
As we commemorate Memorial Day, and pause to reflect on this weekend of remembrance, we should consider the dwindling numbers of our World War II veterans.We should acknowledge their heroic efforts and the personal sacrifices that resulted from their commitment. We should also recognize a battle that was raging 73 years ago this month, the Battle of Okinawa.
This last battle of the war was the first Allied incursion on Japanese soil, and was not only the bloodiest of the Pacific theater but exhibited some of the most brutal and horrific fighting and battle conditions of the war. This invasion was the first step in what was to be the initial phase before the eventual invasion of the Japanese home islands.
The island of Okinawa was populated by nearly half a million civilians and 155,000 Japanese troops. The strategic plan of the Japanese leadership included concentrating troops in sectors in order to channel the advancing U.S. troops and maximize casualties.
The northern part of the island was defended by one division while the more challenging terrain in the south was defended by three divisions and specialized brigades. This area contained four heavily fortified sectors, providing maximum tactical advantage of the rough terrain. The dense emplacement of artillery and mortars provided the highest concentration of fire the Japanese used in the Pacific War.
The battle plan employed by Japanese commanders allowed U.S. troops to move inland and to then defend every crag-ladened hill, ridgeline and ravine as our forces advanced. In contrast to previous island battles such as Tarawa and Iwo Jima where landing beaches were heavily contested, this was a new strategy. Seemingly every ridge and hill contained natural caves and promontories; artillery was positioned behind steel doors and machine gun emplacements pointed down the fingers and draws of the hills.
As the battle commenced on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, two Marine divisions and a regiment landed on the central and eastern part of the island and attacked on a northerly axis. Two Army divisions wheeled south across the narrow waist of Okinawa. The Army’s 96th Division encountered fierce resistance from enemy troops and moved slowly. The Army’s 27th Division landed on April 9th on the right flank and commenced a push south.
Increasing the difficulty of movement in the steep terrain, the spring monsoon rains commenced in early April. The troops became mired in mud and flooded roads making resupply and evacuation of the wounded extremely difficult.
As Marine Corps regiments deployed to assist the Army divisions, they encountered fanatical resistance from the Japanese defenders. In the largest “banzai” attack of the war, 2,500 Japanese were killed during an engagement that devolved into hand-to-hand combat. Five divisions were fighting south by southwest, encountering formidable defenses in places forever embedded in the memories of the brave souls doing the fighting and now infamous in military lore.
Places such as Sugar Loaf Hill, where 1,600 Marines were killed and 7,400 wounded; Hacksaw Ridge, immortalized on screen while telling the story of Medal of Honor recipient Desmond Doss; and the formidable Shuri Line, where the Japanese planned their last defense across a series of ridgeline strong points. Fighting was brutal and intense in this area, rendering casualty counts inaccurate.
Not to be forgotten, was the intense combat offshore, as Japanese ships and kamikaze planes attacked U.S. Navy ships mercilessly for weeks. There were 36 U.S. ships sunk and another 380 damaged, with over one thousand Japanese pilots meeting fiery deaths. The morbid toll of the battle, which ended June 22, was over 5,000 Navy sailors, 4,600 Army soldiers and 3,200 Marines, with wounded exceeding 40,000.
The Battle for Okinawa had more cases of combat fatigue and mental breakdown than any other battle in the Pacific War, as thousands were taken off the line, simply unable to continue. Japanese losses ran as high as 140,000 killed and over 100,000 civilians perished in the crossfire of this hell.
Denoting the widespread ferocity and valor exhibited in this campaign, 24 Medals of Honor were awarded (14 posthumously), including Tennessean Elbert L. Kinser. My friend and Memphis native William Phillips, a participant of this campaign, recently passed.
As we reflect this solemn weekend, we should pause to remember the sacrifice of so many on the bloodied rocky dirt of Okinawa.
Cobb Hammond is a financial adviser at Hammond Financial. He writes on military history.