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The Battle of Okinawa , fought on the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands , was the largest amphibious assault during the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was also the largest sea-air-land battle in history, running from April through June 1945. Neither side expected it to be the last major battle of the war, which it was. The Americans were planning Operation Downfall, the invasion of the main islands of Japan, which never happened, due to the Japanese surrender resulting from the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan and the American use of the atomic bomb in August 1945. The battle has been referred to as "Typhoon of Steel" in English, and "tetsu no ame", "tetsu no bofu" by Okinawans, which means "rain of steel" and "violent wind of steel" respectively, referring to the intensity of gunfire that characterized this battle. At some battles, such as Iwo Jima , there had been no civilians, but Okinawa had a large indigenous civilian population, and the civilian losses in the battle were at least 130,000. American losses were 72,000 casualties, of whom 18,900 were killed or missing , over twice the number Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal combined. |
