WWII HISTORY NETWORK


OKINAWA: THE FORGOTTEN BATTLE


A Reexamination of the Japanese Capitulation in 1945

By SCOTT LYONS   

The Battle for Okinawa, long over-shadowed amidst the vast chronicle of the Second World War, was the single-most crucial engagement of the War in the Pacific. This epic struggle, nearest to the home islands of Japan, and the closest among all previous Pacific engagements, became “The Rising Sun’s” last opportunity and hope of stopping the Allied forces from entering the mainland – epitomizing for Japan, the term: “total war.” Japanese citizens – young children, old men, even women – were prepared to fight alongside the remaining two-million Japanese soldiers in the event of an Allied invasion of the home islands. That apocalyptic-like scenario, for either adversary, failed to materialize. Saving hundreds of thousands of lives, some historians even suggest millions,  for both sides from the carnage of war in Japan was the largest land-sea-air battle in history – the Battle for Okinawa.


The Allies achieved victory on Okinawa in June of 1945. Six weeks later Japan surrendered – the war was finally over. But what had transpired between 1 April and Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s surrender message to his people on 15 August? Much had happened – the largest land-air-sea battle in history occurred. Mankind entered the nuclear age forever with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan; the first on Hiroshima (6 August ‘45) and the second on Nagasaki (9 August ’45), both incinerating thousands of Japanese civilians. The Soviet Union renounced its pact of non-aggression (the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact) with Japan and invaded Manchuria on 9 August 1945 – thereby creating the potential for the largest pincer movement in military history – save for the Sea of Japan.




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