Posted on 04/01/2025 4:38:00 AM PDT by DFG
“In the waters around Okinawa, the Japanese launched the largest kamikaze, or suicide, attack of the war. Japanese planes rammed into Allied ships, sinking 26 and severely damaging 168. Almost 40% of the U.S. casualties during the battle were sailors lost in these attacks. “
Dad was on the Maryland, trying to shoot down the kamikaze who flew low over his head to impact the top of the #3 turret, killing 12 Sailors and Marines.
Yes and no. As long as China can take Taiwan, casualties are not a concern.
The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast:
Operation ICEBERG-The Invasion of Okinawa Part 1 with Jon Parshall - Episode 418
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPMv6V0yFlc&list=PLvwPt9MhP599qIpTF0WCuRsNtye6hGb2j&index=21
Spent a couple of months there working at Kadena Air base- fascinating island. Can’t imagine how grueling combat must have been there.
My son was TDY to Kadena, last year. He rather liked it.
What a bloodbath it was - moreso for the Japanese than for us but still.... As with most wars, the bloodiest battles usually come at the very end. Of course, no one knew if the bomb would work or even be available at the time of Okinawa.
bttt
Camp Buckner at West Point named for him I believe.
The part that a lot of people miss in regard to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is the incredible scale of sea lift that would have to be applied. The last major amphibious invasion of that scale was Inchon. That’s more than 70 years ago.
Getting the troops across great distances of water is a skill set that is owned, right now, by one nation: The US.
Now, add in the advances in anti-ship missile defense and the idea of a sea borne invasion of Taiwan becomes less and less realistic.
**The Japanese military suffered even more, losing almost their entire force, including many who committed suicide. Around the same number of Okinawan civilians were killed or committed suicide.**
As I recall about 5,000 Okinawans were killed by the Japanese themselves due to ‘military necessity’. In short they were ‘in the way’, meaning the Japanese caste system didn’t think too much of them.
“Unauthorized...” is a terrific series.
Imagine the casualties that would have occurred had the Allies been forced to invade the mainland by conventional means.
Mine was an antitank gunner with the 27th ID. He was right on the front during the banzai attack on Saipan and was uninjured. On Okinawa, his sector was supposedly cleared when he was grazed in the head by a sniper. We were blessed with a generation of heroes, just when we needed them.
Yes we were.
And very few even knew there could be such a thing.
The large casualty count at Okinawa, the prospect of a million casualties invading Japan and war weariness made the decision to use the atomic bomb a rational choice. Critics of the use of the atomic bomb have no empathy for the young men who would have been killed if it had not been used.
My Dad was there.
US Navy Ship USS DADE. Since he was a photographer, I grew up looking at pictures of the actual battle.
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