The United States created the Tenth Army, a cross-branch force consisting of the U.S. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were planning to use Kadena Air Base on the large island of Okinawa as a base for Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, 340 mi (550 km) away. The 82-day battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. The Kerama Islands surrounding Okinawa were preemptively captured on 26 March by the 77th Infantry Division. The initial invasion of Okinawa on 1 April 1945 was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The Battle of Okinawa ( Japanese: 沖縄戦, Hepburn: Okinawa-sen), codenamed Operation Iceberg, : 17 was a battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. estimate) ħ43–1,712 artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, mortars and anti-aircraft guns : 91–92Ĥ0,000–150,000 civilians killed Non-battle casualties : 33,000 (psychiatric, injuries, illnesses) Materiel:

Navy: 4,907 sailors killed and 4,824 wounded ~183,000 combat troops rising to ~250,000 : 567Īmerican personnel: ~50,000 combat casualties, includes 12,500 killed and missing, 36,122 wounded (excludes the several thousand soldiers who died after the battle indirectly, from their wounds)

Us navy deaths in the pacific war