Okinawa

Purpose of the Battle

• The capture of Okinawa was part of a three-point plan the Americans had for winning the war in the Far East.

•Alongside, the territorial re-conquest of land in the Far East, the Americans wished to destroy what was left of Japan’s merchant fleet and use airstrips in the region to launch bombing raids on Japan’s industrial heartland.

Location of the Battle

• The Battle took place on an island in the Pacific, Okinawa Japan.

Important Persons

• American Commanders:

Admiral Chester Nimitz

Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance

Visual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcIAgtmrDyk

Results of the Battle

• Japanese human losses were enormous: 107,539 soldiers killed and 23,764 sealed in caves or buried by the Japanese themselves; 10,755 captured or surrendered. The Japanese lost 7,830 aircraft and 16 combat ships. Since many Okinawan residents fled to caves where they subsequently were entombed the precise number of civilian casualties will probably never be known, but the lowest estimate is 42,000 killed. Somewhere between one-tenth and one-fourth of the civilian population perished, though by some estimates the battle of Okinawa killed almost a third of the civilian population.