Hourly History

Battle of Okinawa - World War II Hourly History

Battle of Okinawa - World War IIThe Battle of Okinawa was the deadliest campaign of the Pacific during World War II. The Americans had come back from the demoralizing defeat at Pearl Harbor to mount a ferocious attack against the Japanese. To be able to invade Japan, the Americans had to take Okinawa. But the Japanese, determined to defend their homeland and preserve their way of life, would fight to the death against the invaders. As the Army and Marines fought bloody battles to gain Okinawa inch by inch, the Navy was subjected to kamikaze attacks.

Inside you will read about...? Revenge for Pearl Harbor
? Kamikaze: The Divine Wind
? Hell's Own Cesspool
? Fight to the Last Man
? Ernie Pyle
And much more!

For almost three months, the Americans and the Japanese contested one another in a battle of endurance that highlighted the courage of the fighting men of both nations. Ultimately, the Japanese lacked the resources of the Americans, and the Americans claimed the island. But the Americans had learned a deadly lesson from the Battle of Okinawa; if the Japanese fought this hard to protect one island, how much harder would they fight to preserve Japan itself, the last vestige of their empire? To save American lives, military leaders decided that they would utilize another, deadlier weapon to bring the Japanese to their knees. The atom bomb and the nuclear age rose from the ashes of the Japanese defeat at Okinawa.