Okinawa Campaign

Battle of Okinawa
Part of World War II, the Pacific War
A U.S. Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines on Wana Ridge provides covering fire with his Thompson submachine gun, 18 May 1945.
Date 1 April – 22 June 1945 Location Okinawa, Japan 26°30′N 128°00′E / 26.5°N 128°E / 26.5; 128Coordinates: 26°30′N 128°00′E / 26.5°N 128°E / 26.5; 128 Result Allied victory Okinawa occupied by the United States until 1972
Belligerents
Ground Forces:  United States Naval Support: United States  United Kingdom  Canada  New Zealand  Australia	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. † Roy Geiger Joseph Stilwell Chester W. Nimitz Raymond A. Spruance William Halsey, Jr. Sir Bernard Rawlings	Mitsuru Ushijima † Isamu Chō † Minoru Ōta † Seiichi Itō †
Units involved
Ground units: Tenth Army XXIV Corps 7th Infantry Division 27th Infantry Division 77th Infantry Division 96th Infantry Division III Amphibious Corps 1st Marine Division 2nd Marine Division 6th Marine Division Naval units: Fifth Fleet Task Force 50 Task Force 58 Task Force 57 Joint Exp. Force	Ground units: Thirty-Second Army 24th Infantry Division 28th Infantry Division 62nd Infantry Division 44th Mixed Brigade 45th Mixed Brigade 59th Mixed Brigade 60th Mixed Brigade 27th Tank Regiment Naval units: 2nd Fleet Combined Fleet
Strength
541,000 in Tenth Army 183,000 combat troops rising to c.250,000	86,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,000 Okinawan conscripts
Casualties and losses
American Manpower: 20,195 dead 12,520 killed in action 55,162 wounded 26,000 psychiatric casualties Material: 12 destroyers sunk 15 amphibious ships sunk 9 other ships sunk 386 ships damaged 763-768 aircraft 225 tanks	Japanese Manpower: From 77,166 killed to 110,000 killed (U.S. estimate) More than 7,000 captured Material: 1 battleship sunk 1 light cruiser sunk 5 destroyers sunk 9 other warships sunk 1,430 aircraft lost 27 tanks destroyed 743 artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, and anti-aircraft guns
40,000–150,000 civilians killed out of some est.300,000
Location within Japan

Allied victory

Ground units:
Tenth Army

Naval units:
Fifth Fleet

Ground units:
Thirty-Second Army

Manpower:
20,195 dead

The Battle of Okinawa (Japanese: 沖縄戦, Hepburn: Okinawa-sen^?) (Okinawan: 沖縄戦, translit. Uchinaa ikusa), codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a series of battles fought in the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, centered on the island of Okinawa, and included the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War during World War II, the 1 April 1945 invasion of Okinawa itself. The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were planning to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations for the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.