[astounded]

You are referring to Okinawa? Okinawa was a tough battle, but I think per capita and per square mile, Iwo Jima was more hellish than Okinawa, at least on land. The types of battle wounds and casualties caused by large-caliber weaponry were of a kind never seen in the war. The Japanese tactic of waiting until the Marines had crowded the LZs and then opening up with artillery was devastating. But, the kamikazes made Okinawa hell on water for the Navy.

[Big Digger]

In all of WW II, one seventh of all US Navy casualties came at the battle for Okinawa.

[canalabamian]

Yes, I am referring to Okinawa. 12,000 US dead between 1 April and 22 June. Largely forgotten as a battle, I think because it was sandwiched between Iwo and Hiroshima. It is usually accepted that the high toll during the Oki campaign is THE reason Truman decided to use Fat Man and Little Boy. With a few exceptions the IJA/IJN had decided to use attrition to bleed the US white. This strategy caused some conflict within the Japanese command on Okinawa. Sort of contrary to the Bushido code. As for the Navy, I believe they lost more souls during the Okinawa campaign than in all other Pacific actions put together. Sledge's book, "With the Old Breed" and Feifer's, "The Battle of Okinawa" put it into pretty good perspective from a Marine mortar man's and an operational point of view respectively. IMO.