Okinawa

  To these considerations must be added the convictions of many high-ranking naval and air commanders—none of them members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—that Japan could be bombed, shelled, and blockaded into submission. This is probably true, but can never be proved. At best such a policy would indubitably have saved many American lives, even though it would almost certainly have caused horrible and unimaginable suffering in Japan. Because it would have taken so much longer, it would have given the insatiably land-hungry Stalin the opportunity to enter the war for a much longer period than his actual six-day contribution, and thus cloak him in the customary mane of the lion roaring for his “rightful” share of the spoils. Hiroshima, then, did save Japan from the brutal and selfish policies of her War Lords determined that the nation must die like a dutiful Samurai. But Nagasaki was absolutely unnecessary, coming only three days after Hiroshima and thus too close to influence any decision. Probably it was dropped to show Japan that the United States possessed more than one bomb—actually it had only two—and presumably could produce many more.

  From all this speculation only two probabilities seem to emerge: one, that Japan was already beaten and would have surrendered before the monster Operation Olympic invasion began three months later; two, that Harry Truman dropped both bombs as much to frighten Stalin as to finish off Japan.

  Where, then, does this leave Okinawa?

  A corollary of the myth of the atomic bombs is the other though less widespread misconception of Okinawa as an unnecessary battle. Here is one more instance of that cart-before-the-horse thinking common to those facile minds so well described by Aristotle: “Contemplating little, they have no difficulty deciding.” The Battle for Okinawa was begun on April 1, 1945, more than 4 months before the bombing of Hiroshima and 3½ months before the first bomb was exploded at Alamogordo. The Americans wanted Okinawa for a staging area only 375 miles from Kyushu, the Japanese hoped through its kamikaze corps either to cripple or destroy the enemy sea power that had brought the Americans so close to Japan proper.

  Because Imperial General Headquarters had not the slightest suspicion that the Americans were close to producing an atomic bomb, General Ushijima and his Thirty-second Army expected to defend Okinawa with conventional weapons, while General Buckner intended to seize the Great Loo Choo with the same instruments of war. Not until just before Hiroshima were Fleet Admiral Nimitz and General of the Armies MacArthur—the officers who would command the invasion of Japan—informed that their country now possessed atomic weapons. By then, of course, Okinawa had fallen—and when it did, it so shocked Emperor Hirohito that he could echo what Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano, his personal naval advisor, had cried when he learned of the loss of Saipan: “Hell is on us!”

  Until Okinawa, Hirohito had been an accomplice of the War Lords; if not a willing one, then, in the words of MacArthur, who came to know him better than any other Westerner: “a figurehead, but not quite a stooge.” After its fall, he was ready to challenge them, and the atomic bombs gave him that opportunity.

  So Okinawa was indeed decisive, for if the Japanese had won in this biggest battle of the Pacific War, the hold of the War Lords upon the nation of Nippon would have been so strengthened that even the influence of Hirohito could not have persuaded the Imperial Conference to accept the Allied surrender offer. Thus, the war would have been prolonged—hopelessly for Japan, of course—and only the production and use of more atomic bombs would have avoided that titanic clash of arms upon the Tokyo Plain.

  Index

  Abele

  Ainu

  Amamiya, Tatsumi

  ambush tactics

  ammunition, supplying of

  Anderson, Beauford “Snuffy”

  Anthony

  Ara Point

  Archer, Robert

  Ariga, Kosaku

  Arima, Masafumi

  Aristotle

  Arkansas

  Army Air Forces (POA)

  Army Ground Forces (POA)

  Arnold, Archibald

  Arnold, H. H. “Hap”

  Asa River

  Asashimo

  Asato River

  Astoria

  atomic bombs

  dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  Australia

  Axtell, George

  B-29 bombers (Superfortresses)

  Bache

  Badoglio, Pietro

  baka (Oka; Cherry Blossom) bombs

  Banzai charges

  Barry

  Bates

  Beary, D. G.

  Belman, Dave

  Bennington

  Biak

  Bimbo Butai (Poor Detachment)

  Birmingham

  Biscansin, Al

  Blakelock, David

  Boeitai

  Bonin Islands

  Borneo

  Bourne, R. F.

  Bradford, William

  Bradford Force

  Bradley, James

  Bradley, Omar

  Braine

  Brocade Banner affair

  Bruce, Andrew

  Buckner, Simon Bolivar, Jr.

  death of

  Minatoga landing rejected by

  surrender appeal of

  Tenth Army and

  Turner and

  Buckner, Simon Bolivar, Sr.

  Buckner Bay (Nakagusuku Bay)

  Buddhism

  Bulge, Battle of the

  Bunker Hill

  Burma

  Bush

  Bush, Richard

  Bush, Robert

  Bushido see also Samurai

  Canberra

  Cary, Donald

  Cassidy, John

  Catholicism

  Catmon Hill

  Cernawsky, Anthony

  Cherry Blossom (Oka; baka) bombs

  Cherry Society (Sakura-kai)

  Chicago

  China, Okinawa and

  Cho, Isamu

  Buckner’s surrender appeal and

  character of

  in conspiracy plots

  counter-attack plans of

  farewell dinner of

  kamikaze and

  suicide of

  Chocolate Drop

  Christianity

  Clark, Joseph “Jocko”

  Colhoun

  Collins, “Lightning Joe”

  Colorado

  Comfort

  Conical Hill

  Connor, John

  Cook, Paul

  “corkscrew and blowtorch” tactics

  Coronet, Operation

  Courtney, Henry

  Curran, Bill

  Curtis

  Daily, William

  daimyos

  Dakeshi Ridge

  Dakeshi Town

  Dale, Guy

  Davison, R. E.

  del Valle, Pedro

  Detroit

  Deyo, Morton

  Dick Hill

  Divine Wind, see kamikaze

  Doniphan, Dennis

  Doss, Desmond

  Douw, Volckert

  Dovel, David

  Drexler

  Dusenbury, Julius

  Dutch East Indies

  Easley, Claudius

  death of

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.

  El Dorado

  Elliott

  Enterprise(“Big E”)

  Essex

  Evans

  Fardy, John

  Finn, John

  Finn, Mickey

  “firebase psychosis”

  Fitz, Hal

  flamethrowers

  Flattop Hill

  Floating Chrysanthemums (kikusui)

  Ford, Leo

  Formosa (Taiwan)

  Foster, William

  Four Sitting Ducks, Battle of (Battle of Savo Island)

  Francis Xavier, Saint

  Franklin

  Fraught, Harold

  Frozen Guns, Battle of the

  Fuelling, J. L.

  fuel oil

  Fujioka, Takeo
r />   gasoline, aviation

  Gehres, Leslie

  Geiger, Roy

  Geneva Convention

  George F. Elliott

  Germany, Nazi

  Golar, Donald “Rusty”

  Gonsalves, Harold

  Grant, Ulysses S.

  Griner, George

  Griswold, Oswald

  Guadalcanal

  conditions on

  Guam

  Guerard, John

  Gusukuma

  habus

  Hackleback

  Hadley

  Haggard

  Hagushi Anchorage

  Hagushi Beaches

  Half-Moon Hill

  Halloran, Michael “Screamin’ Mike”

  Halsey, William “Bull”

  Halyburton, William

  Hamakaze

  Hamilton, Stephen

  Hancock

  Hansen, Dale

  Hara, Munetatsu

  hara-kiri (seppuku)

  of Ushijima and Cho

  Harmon, Millard

  Hartline, Franklin

  Hauge, Louis

  Hawaii

  Pearl Harbor

  Hazelwood

  Heavenly Operation (Ten-Go)

  Hinsdale

  Hirohito, Emperor

  Hiroshima, atomic bombing of

  Hitler, Adolf

  Hobbs Victory

  Hodge, John

  Bradford Force formed by

  hurricane attack of

  May and

  as tactical chief

  Hokkaido

  Holms, John

  Honshu

  Hornbeck, Kenneth

  Horseshoe Hill

  Hugh W. Hadley

  Iceberg Operation, planning of

  Ichiki Detachment

  Ie Shima

  India

  Indochina

  Isherwood

  Ishikawa Isthmus

  Isokaze

  Item Pocket

  Ito, Seichi

  Iwa

  Iwo Jima

  battle of

  flag-raising at

  Japan, Japanese

  Ainu people in

  Catholic missionaries and

  defeats not reported by

  Geneva Convention ignored by

  history of

  imperial family in

  isolation of

  Meiji Restoration in

  poor communication among

  religions in

  Samurai culture in

  Western influences in

  Jones, Jim

  Jurka, Stephen

  Kadena Airfield

  Kai, Tomai

  Kakazu Ridge

  kamikaze (Divine Wind) (suicide bombers)

  American attacks on bases of

  baka

  Comfort bombed by

  farewell ceremonies for

  kikusui

  mandatory duty and

  success rates of

  Yamato

  kamikaze (Divine Wind) (typhoon)

  Kanoya Airfield

  Kasumo

  Kelly, Don

  Kelly, Gerard

  Kerama Islands

  Khan, Genghis

  Khan, Kublai

  Kidd

  Kikai Jima

  kikusui (Floating Chrysanthemums)

  Kikusui 2

  Kikusui 4

  Kikusui 7

  Kikusui 8

  Kikusui 9,

  Kikusui 10

  Kimmel, Husband

  King, Ernest

  Kinser, Elbert

  Kiyamu Peninsula

  Klingman, Robert

  Knox, Frank

  Kobe

  Kokobu Airfield

  Kulak, Victor

  Kunishi Ridge

  Kwantung Army

  Kyushu

  L day (Landing Day; Love Day)

  Le May, Curtis

  Lester, Fred

  Leyte

  Liscome Bay

  Little

  Logan Victory

  logistics

  Lowry

  Luce

  Luzon

  Mabie, Howard

  MacArthur, Douglas

  McCarthy, James

  MacDonnell, Theodore

  McDonough, John

  Machinato Airfield

  Machinato Inlet

  McMillan, George

  McTureous, Robert

  Magellan, Ferdinand

  Mahoney, James

  Makin

  Malaya

  Manchuria

  Manert L. Abele

  Manila

  Marianas Turkey Shoot

  May, Edwin “Eddy”

  death of

  May, Martin

  Meagher, John

  Meiji Restoration

  Mezado Ridge

  Midway, Battle of

  Mikawa, Gunichi

  Minatoga Beaches

  Missouri

  Mitchell, Willard “Captain Hoss”

  Mitscher, Marc

  Morison, Samuel Eliot

  Morrison

  mortars

  Moskala, Edward

  Motobu Peninsula

  Mount Suribachi

  Mount Yaetake

  mud

  Mulcahy, Francis

  Mullaney, Baron

  Murphy. L.

  Murphy, George

  Musashi

  Nagano, Osami

  Nagasaki, atomic bombing of

  Nagomo, Chuichi

  Nagoya

  Naha

  Nakagusuku Bay (Buckner Bay)

  Nakamuta, Tetsuo

  Naoyuki, Kuzume

  napalm

  Napoleon I, Emperor of France

  Naval Operations, U.S.

  Navy Medical Corps

  New Guinea

  New York

  New York Herald-Tribune

  Nimitz, Chester

  Nippon, see Japan, Japanese

  Nishibaru

  Nishibayashi, Kosuke

  Nist, Cecil

  Nolan, Daniel

  Normandy, invasion of

  O’Brien, Lawrence

  O’Callahan, Joseph

  oil

  Oka (Cherry Blossom; baka) bombs

  Okinawa

  China and

  history of

  Japan’s annexation of

  mud in

  rain in

  religions in

  roads in

  Okinawa Group

  Old Breed, The (McMillan)

  Olympic, Operation

  O’Neill, Owen

  Onishi, Takejiro

  Operation Coronet

  Operation Iceberg, planning of

  Operation Olympic

  Ormoc

  Oroku Peninsula

  Osaka

  Ota, Minoru

  Ouki

  Ouki Hill

  Ozawa, Jisaburu

  Pacific Ocean Area (POA)

  Palaus

  Parker, E. B.

  Patton, George

  Pearl Harbor

  Peleliu

  Perry, Matthew

  Philippines

  kamikaze in

  Leyte

  Luzon

  Philippine Sea, Battle of

  Pittsburgh

  Poor Detachment (Bimbo Butai)

  Putnam, W. H.

  Pyle, Ernie

  Quincy

  Radio Tokyo

  rain

  refueling

  Reusser, Kenneth

  Rocky Crags

  Roosevelt, Franklin Delano

  death of

  Royster, Jack

  Rupertus, William

  Russia

  Ryan, Bernard

  Ryan, V. R.

  Ryukyu Islands

  Saigo, Takamori

  Saipan

  Sakura-kai(Cherry Society)

  Salvaggio, Jack

  Samurai

  Bushido,code of

  Sangamon

&nbs
p; Santa Fe

  Savo Island, Battle of (Battle of the Four Sitting Ducks)

  Schoeff, Ernest

  Schwab, Albert

  Seaman, J. B.

  seppuku (hara-kiri)

  of Ushijima and Cho

  Shapley, Alan

  Shea

  Sheetz, Joseph

  Shelburne, Charles

  Shepherd, Lemuel

  Shibasaki, Keiji

  Shikoku

  Shinto

  Shirigaku

  shoguns

  Shuri

  Shuri Castle

  Shuri Heights

  Shuri Ridge

  Singapore

  Skyline Ridge

  slow assault tactics

  Smith, Aubrey

  Smith, Howland M. “Howlin’ Mad”

  Smith, Ralph

  Soballe, Victor

  Solch, Joseph

  Solomon Islands

  Soviet Union

  Spruance, Raymond

  Stalin, Joseph

  Stare, Edward

  Sterner, Cyril

  Stormes

  Strawberry Hill

  Sturgeon

  Sugahara, Michio

  Sugar Loaf Hill

  suicide bombers, see kamikaze

  Sumatra

  Superfortresses (B-29 bombers)

  supplies

  Suribachi, Mount

  Sutten, Stanley

  Suzuki, Kantaro

  Swallow

  Taiwan (Formosa)

  Takeda, Fujio

  Taluga

  Tanabaru

  Tarawa

  Task Force Fifty-eight (TF 58), In

  Franklin

  Task Force Thirty-eight (TF 38), In

  Taylor, Joe

  Ten-Go (Heavenly Operation)

  Tennessee

  Thailand

  Thought Police

  Tojo, Hideki

  Tokyo

  Tokyo Plain

  Tombstone Ridge

  Tooker, Adin

  Toyama Maru

  Toyoda, Soemu

  Truman, Harry S.

  Turner, Richmond Kelly

  Udo, Kensuke

  Udo, Takehiko

  Ugaki, Matome

  Uhlmann

  “Umi Yukaba,”

  Urasoe-Mura Escarpment

  Ushijima, Mitsuru

  American victory and

  character of

  Conical Hill and

  exaggerated battle reports of

  farewell dinner of