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June 22, 1945:

Discussion in 'History Forum' started by wpe3bql, Jun 22, 2015.

  1. wpe3bql

    wpe3bql Member

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    Battle of Okinawa Ends

    During World War II, the U. S. 10th Army overcomes the last major pockets of Japanese resistance on Okinawa Island, ending one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The same day, Japanese Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, the commander of Okinawa's defense, committed suicide with a number of Japanese officers and troops rather than surrender.

    On April 1, 1945, the 10th Army, under Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, launched the invasion of Okinawa, a strategic Pacific Island located midway between Japan and Formosa. Possession of Okinawa would give the United States a base large enough for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. There were more than 100,000 Japanese defenders on the island, but most were deeply entrenched in the island's densely forested interior. By the evening of April 1, 60,000 U. S. troops had come safely ashore. However, on April 4, Japanese land resistance stiffened, and at sea kamikaze pilots escalated their deadly suicide attacks on U. S. vessels.

    During the next month, the battle raged on land and sea, with the Japanese troops and fliers making the Americans pay dearly for every strategic area of land and water won. On June 18, with U. S. victory imminent, General Buckner, the hero of Iwo Jima, was killed by Japanese artillery. Three days later, his 10th Army reached the southern coast of the island, and on June 22 Japanese resistance effectively came to an end.

    The Japanese lost 120,000 troops in the defense of Okinawa, while the Americans suffered 12,500 dead and 35,000 wounded. Of the 36 Allied ships lost, most were destroyed by the 2,000 or so Japanese pilots who gave up their lives in kamikaze missions. With the capture of Okinawa, the Allies prepared for the invasion of Japan, a military operation predicted to be far bloodier than the 1944 Allied invasion of Western Europe. The plan called for invading the southern island of Kyushu in November 1945, and the main Japanese island of Honshu in March 1946. In July, however, the United States successfully tested am atomic bomb and after dropping two of these devastating weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, Japan surrendered.

    SOURCE: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-okinawa ends/
     
  2. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    I don't believe General Buckner had anything much to do with Iwo Jima, except as the cpommander of the 10th army, which included III Amphibious Corps U.S. Marines.

    I don't believe he ever set foot on the island and certainly did nothing heroic there.
     
    #2 carpro, Jun 23, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 23, 2015
  3. wpe3bql

    wpe3bql Member

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    FWIW, I was merely copying word-for-word the article cited in the source.

    OF COURSE WE ALL KNOW THAT "THE HISTORY CHANNEL(S)" IS/ARE ALWAYS 110+% CORRECT IN ABSOLUTELY EVERY MINOR DETAIL THAT APPEARS ON THEIR PROGRAMS!! :thumbs::thumbs: :BangHead:

    Upon further checking, Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner ("JR" [BTW]) probably did not do very much (if anything at all) in the "Guadalcanal Campaign(s)."

    OTOH, he DID have something to do with the efforts to oust the Japanese from the only US territories that Japan actually occupied during WW2.

    He was in a command position to "free" the Alaskan Aleutian Islands (Attu & Kiska) from their Japanese occupants when the Battle of Dutch Harbor occurred in 1943.
     
  4. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    I know. I just couldn't let it go. Nearly 7000 Marines died on Iwo. 9 U.S. Army personnel(probably fliers) died there.

    There were plenty of heroes. Buckner just wasn't one of them.

    Okinawa was a bloody campaign faught by both soldiers and Marines. The Navy was hammered as well. When Buckner was killed in action , General Geiger USMC took command of 10th Army. First time in history for a Marine to command an Army.

    The bloodiness of the Okinawa Campaign was a major reason for Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb.

    The Okinawa campaign has a truly important place in history. Thanks for bringing it up.
     
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