[PogySailor]

Thus ended the campaign to capture Okinawa, which now became a giant air and naval base destined to play a major role in the planned invasion of Japan. British observers spoke of the Battle for Okinawa as "... the most audacious and complex enterprise ... yet undertaken by the American Amphibious Forces... more ships were used, more troops put ashore, more supplies transported, more bombs dropped, more naval guns fired against shore targets" than any other operation in the Pacific.

But not without a severe price for both sides. Thirty-four allied ships and craft of all types had been sunk, mostly by kamikazes, and 368 ships and craft damaged. The fleet had lost 763 aircraft. Over 4,900 sailors and 3,443 Marines were killed or missing in action and 4,824 Sailors and 16,017 Marines were wounded, making this the naval services' most costly campaign of World War II. Army casualties were 7,613 killed or missing and 31,807 wounded or injured. There were also more than 26,000 non-battle casualties.

Japanese losses were enormous: 107,539 killed and 23,764 sealed in caves or buried by the Japanese themselves; 10,755 captured or surrendered. On both sides, nearly 170,000 died, over half were civilians. The Japanese lost 7,830 aircraft and 16 combat ships.

Campaign for Okinawa

This ONE campaign that lasted from mid-March 1944 to July 2, 1944 cost us 1000 times more than the last year in Iraq. I can't even imagine how todays media would have reported this.

[faithincowboys]

Well, just imagine them creating the conditons to where the Battan Death march would be the Baltimore Death March. We would have lost and America would have been on the ashheap of history. Do you think Germany and Japan would have paid to rebuild us? I don't think so!!!