Loss of Okinawa
Blood soaked Okinawa for 82 days before American flags flew in June 1945. Japan sacrificed over 100,000 soldiers in desperate defense. Worse, about 150,000 civilians perished—many in mass suicides prompted by Japanese propaganda warning of American atrocities. Okinawa’s fall placed Allied bombers just 340 miles from southern Japan. The island’s fierce battle convinced American planners that invading the mainland would cost up to a million casualties, and Japan knew it too.
