Seventy-five years and one week ago today, the free world stopped to celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany.
But 75 years ago today, the Second World War was well and truly back on.
Of course, the war never stopped simply because the world was celebrating a great victory over Adolf Hitler’s hordes. On Okinawa, the battle continued to rage. And across the Western Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Navy remained in action against Imperial Japan’s Navy. Because while the war’s outcome was all but certain at this point, timing meant everything.
The relentless stubbornness of Japanese forces facing up against the allies was causing heavy casualties. It was expected that a very bloody invasion of the Japanese home islands would be necessary to secure final victory. So in a desperate effort to force Japan’s early surrender and soften up its defenses in advance of that invasion, Japanese cities were leveled. Many hundreds of thousands died as a result of firebombing and explosives raids.
Yet, on this particular May 15, 75 years ago, the most potent proof of the war’s continuation was found on Okinawa. Having invaded the Japanese island in early April, Marine and Army formations were battling hard against intransigent Japanese defenders. Taking Okinawa would give U.S. bombers and invasion forces a short hop to the home islands. Okinawa would also be critical to maintaining supply lines once that invasion got underway.
But the cost to take this territorial prize would be dear.
A history of the battle, Okinawa: The Last Battle, testifies to that truth. It records how, by the end of this day 75 years ago, the Army’s 305th Infantry Regiment was reduced to 25% strength. But May 15, 1945, also saw the 6th Marine Division fighting to hold ground on the strategic Sugar Loaf Hill. My grandfather’s Second Battalion 22nd Marine Regiment was in the heart of that fight. The book records how, “Mortar fire and infiltration steadily cut down the small force, until at dawn on 15th May the position on Sugar Loaf was held by only one officer and nineteen exhausted men.” And when “the 2nd Battalion, 22d Marines, was withdrawn from the action; it had suffered 400 casualties during the preceding three days.” Approximately half of its total strength.
Such noble service wasn’t given simply on land. Aircraft flew relentless supporting missions for troops on the ground. And off shore, the Navy battled against increasingly desperate Japanese Kamikaze attacks. The crew of the USS Hugh W. Hadley was awarded a presidential unit citation for extraordinary heroism in action, but their ship was so badly damaged on May 11 that it would not fight again. On May 18, the USS Longshaw was sunk with 86 sailors lost, after running aground near the island and being attacked by Japanese ground emplacements it could no longer evade.
Okinawa wouldn’t be won until mid-June. By then, 12,500 Americans had been killed in action.
And even that wasn’t the end. The Battle of Borneo was yet to come in June. And had it not been for the atomic bomb, the invasion of Japan might have taken tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands more of the already wearied American, British, and Australian forces.
