Thread: The Bloody Hell of Okinawa

Good article on that battle and its influence in convincing Truman to drop the atomic bombs. Just gonna post a few paragraphs and a link if you're into that sort of thing. Pics and a 3 minute narrated video of the action and taking Okinawa.
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More than seventy-five years ago, the final great battle of WWII convinced Allied leaders to drop the atomic bomb on Japan

Marine Private Eugene Sledge watched in stunned horror. Two Japanese soldiers with samurai swords had attacked his unit's position on Okinawa in June 1945 but had been killed before they could cause harm. A fellow Marine with a dazed look on his face approached one of the corpses and repeatedly plunged his rifle into the dead man's head.

"I winced each time it came down with a sickening sound into the gory mass," Sledge later wrote in his memoir of the war. "Brains and blood were splattered all over the Marine's rifle, boondockers, and canvas leggings."

Comrades of the shell-shocked Marine took his arms and led him away to an aid station.

Okinawa was that kind of battle. The island was to be a preview for the invasion of Japan, only 350 miles away. The Americans wanted to seize the main airfield on Okinawa to launch bombers against enemy industrial sites; the Japanese were prepared to fight to the last man to prevent the capture of their home soil.

The Marines and Army endured gruesome casualties—physically and psychologically—as they slugged it out with an enemy bent on a suicidal defense of the small island. The United States suffered death on a staggering scale: 7,500 Marines and soldiers and another 5,000 sailors. Japan sacrificed even more men: at least 110,000 soldiers, many after the battle was lost. An estimated 100,000 civilians also perished, either caught in the crossfire between the two armies or through forced mass suicide.

For President Harry S. Truman, what came next was a fateful decision. He learned about the Manhattan Project in April when he took office after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Before the Battle of Okinawa even ended, on June 22, 1945, Truman had come to the conclusion that he had no choice but to drop the atomic bomb in order to avoid "an Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other."

The Bloody Hell of Okinawa | History | Smithsonian Magazine

As horrible as it was the A bomb stopped the war.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

As horrible as it was the A bomb stopped the war.

Yeah. Reading the article it make me understand what his thinking was in dropping the bombs.

The Atomic Bomb certainly saved an untold number of casualties when you consider what Japan had in store for the American troops when they came ashore.

Originally Posted by FireBrand

The Atomic Bomb certainly saved an untold number of casualties when you consider what Japan had in store for the American troops when they came ashore.

My son loves history and he said that there would be over 1 million American deaths if they invaded Japan.
No president could live with that disaster

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

My son loves history and he said that there would be over 1 million American deaths if they invaded Japan.
No president could live with that disaster

Which is the same reason why the Japanese Empire didn't invade our west coast. They knew the citizens had firearms in every house and children grew up shooting Red Ryder BB Guns. I think it was Chesty Puller USMC that said the Red Ryder killed more Japanese soldiers than any other weapon.

I spent time on Okinawa training. The jungle is a very weird place.

WW2 must have been a hell on earth for all involved. Tokyo was firebombed before the decision to drop the atom bombs was made. The Japanese just showed no willingness whatsoever to give up after firebombing so the next step was A bombs.

Originally Posted by John

I spent time on Okinawa training. The jungle is a very weird place.

WW2 must have been a hell on earth for all involved. Tokyo was firebombed before the decision to drop the atom bombs was made. The Japanese just showed no willingness whatsoever to give up after firebombing so the next step was A bombs.

More died in that firebombing than did in both A-bombs combined. Yet, we hear nothing of it comparably.

Originally Posted by FireBrand

More died in that firebombing than did in both A-bombs combined. Yet, we hear nothing of it comparably.

Yep...my son also mentioned that to me


Many Aussies suffered terribly when captured by the Japanese. The brutality was horrific

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

Yep...my son also mentioned that to me


Many Aussies suffered terribly when captured by the Japanese. The brutality was horrific

War is hell but the Japanese Empire was not about war, they were obsessed with conquest. They had no conscience or conviction with murdering innocent men, women and children. War crimes were frequent and common place.