This battle was the largest amphibibous campaign in the Pacific during WWII and was also the bloodiest. This battle took place close to mainland Japan so the fighting was especially fierce. I believe as do many others this battle was the catalyst for the decision to use the nuclear bomb to attack Japan rather than conventional forces. The losses during this battle were well over 350,000 which were more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. President Truman knew after this battle that if he attacked ths Japanese mainland the results would be devastating. We could never sustain a prolonged battle on the Japanese mainland.

The battle lasted 82 days and was also called Typhoon of Steel because of the large amount of ordinance and manpower used and because of the ferocity of the battle. There were many civilian casualties in this battle because Okinawa had a large civilian population. Many of the civilian deaths were from mass suicides. The Japanese soldiers told them that if they were captured they would be tortured by the American troops.

During the battle there were over 1,900 kamikaze attacks by the Japanese and ninety percent of the structures on the Island were destroyed. Virtually all of the foilage of the Island was destroyed during this conflict.

This battle was beneficial to the US because it gave us a staging area for other operations near Japan. We maintain a garrison on Okinawa to this present day.