The Battle of Okinawa and Kamikaze Tactics

The Battle of Okinawa was the largest battle in the Pacific during WWII on the island of Okinawa (off the coast of Japan) that lasted for almost 2 months between early April and late June of 1945 in which the Americans were trying to invade the island and take it for potentially using it as a staging area for an invasion of Japan while the Japanese used extremely defensive some drastic tactics in order to get an advantage over the Americans. Most of the Japanese military was structured along defense lines near landing beaches that allowed them to "conduct a fierce defense" according to an article by History.com, causing significant bloodshed on both sides of the battle since the strongpoints were almost impossible to destroy without explosives or heavy manpower. This was also a battle in which the Japanese unleashed a new tactic called the kamikaze, in which Japanese pilots would divebomb their planes into American ships and aircraft carriers, taking out thousands of Americans as well as their planes, weapons, and supplies as they wanted to "[determine] that Allied forces perhaps faced their most difficult Pacific campaign" (according to the article) and protect the island. One Japanese kamikaze pilot, Itsanu-San, ended up surviving the war (due to his plane landing in the water) and was interviewed by the BBC as part of their article, "Remembering Japan's kamikaze pilots." He described how, "If Okinawa was invaded, then the American planes would be able to use it as a base to attack the main islands of Japan ... so we young people had to prevent that. In March 1945 it was a normal thing to be a kamikaze pilot. All of us who were asked to volunteer did so." These statements emphasize the significance of kamikaze tactics and how they played a role in WWII, since Japanese propaganda, patriotism, and expectations drove individuals to do whatever they could to "prevent" the Americans from getting an edge over them, including such extreme suicide bombings. And based on a PBS article describing the most disastrous attack on the U.S. Fifth Fleet, these attacks were extremely effective for the Japanese. "Almost 2,000 Japanese pilots [willingly lost] their lives in these attacks. By late June 1945, close to 5,000 U.S. sailors had been killed and 5,000 more wounded by the Japanese suicide pilots. Thirty ships had been sunk and almost 400 others were damaged. The attack on the Fifth Fleet off Okinawa would mark the worst losses of World War II for the U.S. Navy." By referring to these kamikaze attacks as causing "the worst losses" the American Navy had during WWII, the article highlights just how much damage it caused to our sailors, supplies, weapons, and ships, as it was so extreme that no other naval battle involving the US during the war was so chaotic. The US lost thousands of men as well as many of their ships and aircraft carriers that carried supplies and planes, making it extremely hard for the Americans to make up for their losses and take over Okinawa. Yet, the American forces were able to persevere through the kamikaze attacks and extremely effective defensive strategies by destroying their pillboxes and strongpoints, flushing out caves and other areas where Japanese soldiers were hiding, and pushing back their military until they were eventually able to take over the island. Now, as we all know, the Americans didn't up having to use this island to help stage their invasion of Japan due to the use of their atomic bombs, however, it was still very beneficial towards their war efforts as it pushed the Japanese closer to an unconditional surrender which is part of why it was so significant. It was also extremely important because it showed the lengths at which the Japanese would go to in order to defeat the Americans and emphasized many of the hardships both sides faced while trying to gain power in the Pacific since there were such high casualties and losses. This is why overall, I believe the Battle of Okinawa and kamikaze tactics were very important factors in determining the ending of the American war with the Japanese in the Pacific, since there were very high stakes involved for both sides involved in fighting this battle and each country's military ended up paying a significant price to try and gain control over the island.