Japanese resistance on Okinawa was finally crushed this day in 1945, less than three months after US troops landed there as the last stepping-stone before the planned assault on Japan’s main islands in World War II.
The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The Kerama Islands surrounding Okinawa were preemptively captured on March 26 by the 77th Infantry Division. The 98-day battle lasted from March 26 until July 2, 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were planning to use Kadena Air Base on the large island of Okinawa as a base for Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, 340 miles (550 km) away.
The battle, referred to as the ‘typhoon of steel’ due to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of Japanese kamikaze attacks, and the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armoured vehicles that assaulted the island, was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific, with approximately 160,000 casualties combined: at least 50,000 Allied and 84,166–117,000 Japanese, including drafted Okinawans wearing Japanese uniforms. Around 149,425 Okinawans were killed, died by suicide, or went missing, roughly half of the estimated pre-war 300,000 local population.
In the naval operations surrounding the battle, both sides lost considerable numbers of ships and aircraft, including the Japanese battleship Yamato. After the battle, Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in proximity to Japan in preparation for a planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.
– britannica.com/Wikipedia