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KG Erwin -> The Horrors of "The Last Battle"-- Okinawa (6/15/2005 2:53:17 AM)
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I posted this on the Pacific War forum , but thought it beared repeating here.
Doc Flowers mentioned Okinawa in his June 13 weblog: http://www.ww2gyrene.org/weblog.htm
Gene Sledge also mentioned the peculiar horrors of Okinawa in his famous book. This is indeed a campaign that is not completely understood by students of the Pacific War--it was by far the worst, in terms of casualties inflicted and suffered, and offered a terrible portent of the costs an invasion of the other Japanese home islands would entail.
At this time, the USMC divisions involved (the 1st, 2nd and 6th), were already organized under the G-series TOEs, and each posessed an extraordinary amount of firepower.
However, the Japanese had developed their skills of fortification & concealment to a point that nullified much of the indirect fire support the Marines and Army troops had at their disposal. The entrenched Japanese defenders had to be blasted and burnt to death by close assault with demolitions and flame. It is a wonder that anyone could maintain their sanity when faced with such hellish conditions. Sledge reached the breaking point, and knew that invading Kyushu or Honshu would probably cost him his life.
Combine this fanatical defense on the ground with the kamikazes and you've got as close to a hell on earth as ever existed.
Here's some casaulty info from globalsecurity.org:
"More people died during the Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Casualties totaled more than 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing, more than 107,000 Japanese and Okinawan conscripts killed, and perhaps 100,000 Okinawan civilians who perished in the battle.
The battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Thirty-four allied ships and craft of all types had been sunk, mostly by kamikazes, and 368 ships and craft damaged. The fleet had lost 763 aircraft. Total American casualties in the operation numbered over 12,000 killed [including nearly 5,000 Navy dead and almost 8,000 Marine and Army dead] and 36,000 wounded. Navy casualties were tremendous, with a ratio of one killed for one wounded as compared to a one to five ratio for the Marine Corps. Combat stress also caused large numbers of psychiatric casualties, a terrible hemorrhage of front-line strength. There were more than 26,000 non-battle casualties. In the battle of Okinawa, the rate of combat losses due to battle stress, expressed as a percentage of those caused by combat wounds, was 48% [in the Korean War the overall rate was about 20-25%, and in the Yom Kippur War it was about 30%]. American losses at Okinawa were so heavy as to illicite Congressional calls for an investigation into the conduct of the military commanders..."
Let me add that while the war in Europe had ended, the carnage in the Pacific raged unabated. In May-June 1945, the American public was really getting war-weary, and their tolerance for supporting the mounting cost in lives was near its limit.
I recite all this to illustrate the state of mind that lead to the dropping of the atomic bombs, which I firmly believe was the correct decision.
Note: I also relate this info to SPWaW players, for if you want to fight a desperate assault against a determined enemy, use the battle generator and pick a USMC assault against a Japanese defense in say April or May 1945. Choose maximum points, and load up on fire support, rockets, air support, artillery, flame-tanks--in other words, the works. You want to play "blast 'em & burn 'em", 1945 style? Here ya go.
More "corkscrew & blowtorch" scenarios: Dragoon45's new Peleliu scenario, and the classic Iwo Jima large scenario from Wild Bill---this was the one that turned me around, and made me a Gyrene fan for life.
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