The of Battle of Okinawa Ended

Seventy-two years ago on June 21, 1945, the fierce fighting that had been going on for eighty-two days came to a halt.  It was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific, and Winston Churchill’s cable to President Truman acknowledged that this lengthy and epic battle for Okinawa would be remembered as “among the most intense and famous of military history.” It indeed took its toll on both sides with 7,613 American casualties on land and another 4,907 killed in the air or from kamikaze attacks. A total of thirty-six American warships were also sunk. The Japanese suffered even greater losses as more than 70,000 troops and 80,000 civilians were killed in the battle. The two Japanese commanders, Major General Isamu Cho and Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima committed seppuku, a ceremonial suicide on that day.