The Williams College history professor suggests that Japan was not reckless in waging war against the Allies. In Japanese Military Strategy in the Pacific War: Was Defeat Inevitable? James B. Certainly most citizens of the Western world would react that way. Finally, under relentless assault by the Tenth Army, Shuri Castle fell on May 29, and US Marines seized the airfield at Naha through an amphibious assault commencing June 4, 1945.If I were to say that Japan had a formula (and a viable one at that) for victory in World War II, what sort of reaction would I get? Perhaps most people would be dismissive, wondering how I could be suffering from such a delusion at this late date. These defenses, and sporadic Japanese counterattacks, held up the American advance.
#JAPANESE VICTORY MARCH SERIES#
The Japanese anchored their defenses at historic Shuri Castle, supported by a series of well-defended high ridges. While US Marines overcame Japanese defenses in northern Okinawa by April 18, opposition in the south proved formidable. Like the bloodshed on Iwo Jima, Okinawa’s savagery suggested a terrible death toll could follow in the anticipated invasion of Japan’s home islands. A vicious land, sea, and air battle raged for nearly three months. Heavy rains and rugged terrain impeded easy movement, and natural defense positions covered the island. Savage fighting erupted at the island’s southern end. After a largely unopposed initial advance, US forces soon encountered a network of Japanese inland defenses. On April 1, 1945, more than 60,000 soldiers and US Marines of the US Tenth Army stormed ashore at Okinawa, in the final island battle before an anticipated invasion of mainland Japan. Although most in the 20,000-strong Japanese garrison were draftees, they refused to surrender, fighting tenaciously until only a few hundred remained alive to be taken prisoner. The US landing forces suffered 6,821 killed and 19,217 wounded. The battles included “The Meat Grinder,” where nearly 850 Marines died capturing a Japanese stronghold, and “Bloody Gorge,” where Japanese defenders made their final stand. US Marines immortalized the bloodiest battles on Iwo Jima with names depicting the brutal combat. This deadly isolationist web of defenses exacted a terrible toll.
The general placed weapons to rain deadly fire on the beaches, but concentrated his forces in the northern part of the island within underground bunkers and gun positions linked by miles of tunnels. Instead, he planned a long and costly defensive battle to shake American resolve to continue the war and invade the Japanese mainland.
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese commander on Iwo Jima, recognized that he could not defeat an American landing. The bloodbath horrified Allied military planners and American citizens, who feared a far greater slaughter during an invasion of Japan’s home islands.
The Japanese had to be rooted out of caves and other strongholds in merciless close-quarter assaults. But for more than five weeks, Japanese forces mounted a fierce defense. When US Marine divisions invaded on February 19, 1945, planners expected a brief campaign. On Iwo Jima, site of a strategic air base located between the Mariana Islands and Japan, the Japanese carved out a network of underground fortifications aimed at turning the small volcanic island into a death trap for invading US Marines.