This book is written examining the battle of Okinawa mainly from the Japanese side of things. The book has numerous photos and makes for very interesting reading, although there are a couple of latter chapters that are too repetitive of material earlier in the book.
Some of the most interesting points the book makes:
All males on Okinawa who were from 18 to 45 were essentially drafted to help the Japanese Army. This totaled some 39,000 men. 1500 senior boys in the middle schools were put onto the front lines, and 600 of the girls were given training as nurses.
In the very late stage of the fight, some Japanese soldiers went on a raping rampage of the civilian population, including killing children who they felt made too much noise.
The Japanese military had about 100,000 men on the island. Around 7400 were taken prisoner, and the rest were killed during the battle. Around 6,300 Americans were killed during the battle.
The book also talks about how the fighting on Okinawa led some U.S. strategists to reconsider the pending invasion of Kyushu. It also discusses the effect of the kamikaze units.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
