The%20Final%20Days

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The Final Days

• OKINAWAThe Last Battle
• The Fire Bombing of Japan

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Events in Time

• US Forces under MacArthur recapture Corregidor
  and Manila-March 45
• 9-10 March 50 Square miles of Tokyo explodes in
  flames as it is firebombed by B-29s and napalm
• 20 March Brits liberate Burma and Mandalay

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Target Okinawa

• 350 miles south of Japan
• Base for operations into China as well as the
  coming invasion of Japan
• Truly Japanese soil and it will be a costly step
  towards victory

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The Battle for Okinawa -ICEBERG
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JAPANESE DEFENSES ON OKINAWA

• General Mitsuru Ushijima centered his defense
  around the historical capital, Shuri Castle
• This provided the Japanese with a heavy defense
  line that could be flanked only from the sea.

• Well Dug in
• Tanks and Artillery
• Roughly 65,000 Japanese Troops was our initial
  estimate, we were way off
• Most troops concentrated in the southern sector
  of the island
• Pinpoint accuracy and home field advantage

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April 1, 1945 The Last Invasion

• US 10th Army invades Okinawa-180,000 men
• Japanese HomelandRyukyu Islands
• The largest sea-land-air battle in history
• Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.

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Japanese Forces

• 130,000 strong 32nd Army
• Shuri Castle (77TH DIV, 1ST BAT, 5TH MARINES)
• Okinawa defenses would be the hardest that the US
  faced during the war
• The Japanese Commanders knew defeat was imminent,
  but wanted to make US pay the HIGHEST POSSIBLE
  PRICE.

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The Battle for the Sea

• The Kamikaze threat was immense
• In the 2 month battle the Japanese flew 1,900
  kamikaze missions, sinking dozens of Allied ships
  and killing more than 5,000 U.S. sailors.

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Operation Ten-Go

• The use of the now defeated Japanese navy as
  suicide bombers
• The Yamoto and her escorts
• Beach themselves fight then die with honor
• Intercepted and destroyed

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87 DAYS TO JAPAN

• March 26, 1945 at Hagushi Bay in west, not the
  south as expected
• These men along with a landing force on April 1,
  headed north to cut the island in half
• By the end of day 1 we had landed 60,000 men
• These men met little resistance early

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• The battle for the northern sector of the island
  culminated in mid April with US Army and Marines
  fighting in twisted and jagged rock areas of the
  island
• But by June 21 the Northern sector was secure

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The Battle for The South

• Centered around the Ancient Shuri Castle the
  battle here was brutal
• 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions battled dug in
  Japanese troops holding fortified positions on
  high ground
• It became desperate hand-to-hand fighting in
  west-central Okinawa along Cactus Ridge, about
  five miles northwest of Shuri.

• Taking 1,500 causalities and killing over 4,500
  Japanese the fighting men realized they were only
  facing an outpost regiment

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Kakazu Ridge

• Japanese well dug in and created free fire kill
  zones
• Sent the Okinawans out at gunpoint to acquire
  water supplies for them
• The advanced stalled and Ushijima goes on the
  offensive
• April 12th his 32 Army hits the US frontline on
  broad frontal assault

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• Japanese attack was heavy, sustained, and well
  organized.
• The repeatedly hit our line and were repulsed
• They believed that we could be taken by night
  attacks
• In the end they fall back to a defensive strategy
• Close air support and superior weapons won the
  day

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• 324 guns, the naval force, 650 aircraft hit the
  Kakazu Ridge the enemy goes underground and waits
• As we ascended they came out and ripped us to
  pieces, we lose 22 tanks and the men are crushed
• Using this victory Ushijima launches an attack of
  his own, his guns in the open are completely
  detroyed

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A WW1 BATTLEFIELD

• Monsoon rains and fighting conditions
• The dead and decaying mixed with the rain to make
  a gory human soup

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SHURI CASTLE

• 1st bat. 5th Marines assault the fortified
  position
• The castle falls, but as with Iwo it is not the
  end
• These men barely escape a friendly death

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It gets worse before its over!!

• Buckners Mistake
• As we mop up the island its defenders turn
• Multiple Banzi charges some numbering over 5000
  men
• Last ditch effort

• Ushijima and his 2nd Cho commit suicide leaving
  his 3rd in command saying "If you die there will
  be no one left who knows the truth about the
  battle of Okinawa. Bear the temporary shame but
  endure it. This is an order from your army
  Commander

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• Kamikazes who will sink 21 American warships and
  badly damage 66 others
• Fighting is so intense that few will survivor
  without wounds

• Americans lost 7,373 men killed and 32,056
  wounded on land
• At sea, the Americans lost 5,000 killed and 4,600
  wounded

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• Japanese lost 107,000 killed and 7,400 men taken
  prisoner
• Another 20,000 dead as a result of American
  tactics whereby Japanese troops were incinerated
  where they fought.
• Many Okinawan citizens indoctrinated with
  Japanese views of Americans chose suicide over
  LIBERATION

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A Citizens end

• Okinawan civilian losses in the campaign were in
  excess of 140,000 in addition, it is estimated
  that more than a third of the surviving civilian
  population was wounded.
• Many commit suicide There are many Okinawans
  who have testified that the Japanese Army
  directed them to commit suicide. There are also
  people who have testified that they were handed
  grenades by Japanese soldiers (to blow themselves
  up)

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Results of Okinawa

• The island was a rotten wound, but with harbors
  and size it was perfect
• The fierce determination of its defenders left no
  doubt the use of the A-bomb would be necessary
• US KIA-7,373 and 32,056 WIA on land, at sea 5,000
  KIA---4,600 WIA
• JAPANESE-107,000 KIA7,400 POW As many as
  150,000 civilian deaths
• As many as 20,000 more KIA for the Japanese many
  incinerated to nothing

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DEATH OF FDR
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APRIL 12, 1945

• FDR DIES AND IS SUCCEDED BY HARRY S. TRUMAN

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OKINAWA IS SECURED BY JUNE 22, 1945

• OPERATION DOWNFALL
• FULL SCALE INVASION OF THE JAPANESE MAINLAND
• 7,000,000 US TROOPS IN YEAR 1
• 13,000,000 BY YEAR 2-3
• CASUALTIES ESTIMATED IN THE MILLIONS FOR US
  FORCES
• IS THERE ANOTHER WAY?

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Downfall, Olympic, Coronet
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• Military leaders did not know was that by the end
  of July the Japanese had been saving all
  aircraft, fuel and pilots in reserve, and had
  been feverishly building new planes for the
  decisive battle for their homeland

• Hidden in mines, railway tunnels, under viaducts
  and in basements of department stores, work was
  being done to construct new planes.

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• The Japanese defenders would be the hard-core of
  the home army.
• All along the invasion beaches, American troops
  would face coastal batteries, anti-landing
  obstacles and a network of heavily fortified
  pillboxes, bunkers, and underground fortresses.

• Some of the Japanese troops would be in American
  uniform, English-speaking Japanese officers were
  assigned to break in on American radio traffic to
  call off artillery fire, to order retreats and to
  further confuse troops.
• Prairie Dog Warfare was a battle for yards, feet
  and sometimes inches.  It was a brutal, deadly
  and dangerous form of combat aimed at an
  underground, heavily fortified, non-retreating
  enemy.

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• In addition to the use of poison gas and
  bacteriological warfare (which the Japanese had
  experimented with), Japan mobilized its
  citizenry.
• One Hundred Million Will Die for the Emperor and
  Nation

• Twenty-eight million Japanese had become a part
  of the National Volunteer Combat Force.  They
  were armed with ancient rifles, lunge mines,
  satchel charges, Molotov cocktails and one-shot
  black powder mortars.  Others were armed with
  swords, long bows, axes and bamboo spears.

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At the early stage of the invasion, 1,000
Japanese and American soldiers would be dying
every hour and it would only get worse.The
island and its people would in the end all have
to die for us to succeed.
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The night hell fell from the sky

• B-29S THE FIREBOMBING OF JAPAN
• Curtis LeMay
• Firebomb every city in Japan
• NAPALM
• Standard Oil and Du Pont

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10,000 ft

• NO GUNS NO GUNNERS2X AS LOADED A REIGN OF FIRE
• "Slaughter bombing"
• SEE HANDOUT
• Population of Tokyo dropped to half as panic
  stricken civilians fled

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POTSDAM CONFERENCE-17 JULY -2 AUGUST 45

• STALIN, ATLEE, AND TRUMAN
• ULTIMATIUM TO JAPAN
• UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF FACE TOTAL DESTRUCTION

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• By June 28 resistance in the Philippines has
  ended
• 5 July Philippines officially liberated
• The night of July 10---us b-29s begin a launch of
  1000 bomber raids on Japan
• 14 July US NAVAL forces begin to bombard Japans
  home islands
• The ends is near and the only question is how
  will it end???

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The Manhattan Project

• Will this end the war???
• Will it destroy us all??
• What will be the costs??
• Will Warfare ever be the same???