Bloody Okinawa

Author : Joseph Wheelan
Publisher : Hachette Books
Page : 432 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2020-03-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9780306903212

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Bloody Okinawa by Joseph Wheelan Pdf

A stirring narrative of World War II's final major battle—the Pacific war's largest, bloodiest, most savagely fought campaign—the last of its kind. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool. Waves of Japanese kamikaze and conventional warplanes sank 36 warships, damaged 368 others, and killed nearly 5,000 US seamen. When the slugfest ended after 82 days, more than 125,000 enemy soldiers lay dead—along with 7,500 US ground troops. Tragically, more than 100,000 Okinawa civilians perished while trapped between the armies. The brutal campaign persuaded US leaders to drop the atomic bomb instead of invading Japan. Utilizing accounts by US combatants and Japanese sources, author Joseph Wheelan endows this riveting story of the war's last great battle with a compelling human dimension.

Author : Everest Media,
Publisher : Everest Media LLC
Page : 65 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2022-07-22T22:59:00Z
Category : History
ISBN : 9798822546431

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Summary of Joseph Wheelan's Bloody Okinawa by Everest Media, Pdf

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The American military leaders were debating what should come next after the capture of the Mariana Islands in 1944. Should American forces attack Luzon, the largest Philippine island, or invade Formosa. They decided to invade Luzon. #2 The American military had grown by leaps and bounds in just three years, and was now a world-striding giant wielding astonishing power. Japan was unsure of the Allies’ intentions, and had vacillated between preparing for landings on Formosa and Okinawa. #3 The US government began interviewing scholars and specialists about the history, culture, politics, and economics of the Ryukyu Islands in 1944, anticipating an invasion in the future. Okinawa was the most populous island to be invaded during the Pacific war by the Allies. #4 The native religion was a synthesis of indigenous Okinawa religions and Shintoism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The islanders were stoical and easygoing people known for their courtesy and gentleness. They were racially distinct from the Japanese, and were regarded as second-class Japanese citizens.

Author : George Feifer
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin
Page : 680 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015046812973

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Tennozan by George Feifer Pdf

Tennozan offers a remarkable account of the battle of Okinawa, the largest land-sea-air engagement in history. It examines the disastrous collision of three disparate cultures--American, Japanese, and Okinawan--and provides the context for understanding the decision to drop the atomic bomb. 41 photographs.

Author : Colonel Hiromichi Yahara
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 1997-03-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9781620455883

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The Battle for Okinawa by Colonel Hiromichi Yahara Pdf

Critical acclaim for The Battle for Okinawa "An indispensable account of the fighting and of Okinawa's role in the Japanese defense of the home islands." --The Wall Street Journal "A fascinating, highly intelligent glance behind the Japanese lines." --Kirkus Reviews "The most interesting of the 'last battle of the war' books." --The Washington Post "A fascinating insider's view of the Japanese command." --Dallas Morning News COLONEL HIROMICHI YAHARA was the senior staff officer of the 32nd Japanese Army at Okinawa. A Military Book Club Main Selection

Author : Saul David
Publisher : Hachette Books
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2020-05-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9780316534659

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Crucible of Hell by Saul David Pdf

From the award-winning historian, Saul David, the riveting narrative of the heroic US troops, bonded by the brotherhood and sacrifice of war, who overcame enormous casualties to pull off the toughest invasion of WWII's Pacific Theater -- and the Japanese forces who fought with tragic desperation to stop them. With Allied forces sweeping across Europe and into Germany in the spring of 1945, one enormous challenge threatened to derail America's audacious drive to win the world back from the Nazis: Japan, the empire that had extended its reach southward across the Pacific and was renowned for the fanaticism and brutality of its fighters, who refused to surrender, even when faced with insurmountable odds. Taking down Japan would require an unrelenting attack to break its national spirit, and launching such an attack on the island empire meant building an operations base just off its shores on the island of Okinawa. The amphibious operation to capture Okinawa was the largest of the Pacific War and the greatest air-land-sea battle in history, mobilizing 183,000 troops from Seattle, Leyte in the Philippines, and ports around the world. The campaign lasted for 83 blood-soaked days, as the fighting plumbed depths of savagery. One veteran, struggling to make sense of what he had witnessed, referred to the fighting as the "crucible of Hell." Okinawan civilians died in the tens of thousands: some were mistaken for soldiers by American troops; but as the US Marines spearheading the invasion drove further onto the island and Japanese defeat seemed inevitable, many more civilians took their own lives, some even murdering their own families. In just under three months, the world had changed irrevocably: President Franklin D. Roosevelt died; the war in Europe ended; America's appetite for an invasion of Japan had waned, spurring President Truman to use other means -- ultimately atomic bombs -- to end the war; and more than 250,000 servicemen and civilians on or near the island of Okinawa had lost their lives. Drawing on archival research in the US, Japan, and the UK, and the original accounts of those who survived, Crucible of Hell tells the vivid, heart-rending story of the battle that changed not just the course of WWII, but the course of war, forever.

Author : R. E. Appleman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 1964
Category : World War, 1939-1945
ISBN : OCLC:1344451548

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Okinawa by R. E. Appleman Pdf

Author : George Feifer
Publisher : Lyons Press
Page : 528 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2020-03
Category : History
ISBN : 1493048759

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Battle of Okinawa by George Feifer Pdf

This book provides an unforgettable picture of men at war and also the context for understanding one of the most ominous events of the 20th century: the decision to drop the atomic bomb.

Author : D. Kirk
Publisher : Springer
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2013-10-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781137379092

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Okinawa and Jeju: Bases of Discontent by D. Kirk Pdf

This book investigates for the first time the parallels between two island appendages of much larger governments - Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island prefecture, in ferment over historic US bases; Jeju embroiled over a new South Korean naval base. The people of Okinawa and Jeju share a common fear of bloody conflict again erupting around them and suspect their governments would sacrifice their interests in a much larger war in a fight for regional control between the US, Japan, and China.

Author : Waldo Heinrichs,Marc Gallicchio
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2017-05-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780190616762

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Implacable Foes by Waldo Heinrichs,Marc Gallicchio Pdf

On May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe Day-shortened to "V.E. Day"-brought with it the demise of Nazi Germany. But for the Allies, the war was only half-won. Exhausted but exuberant American soldiers, ready to return home, were sent to join the fighting in the Pacific, which by the spring and summer of 1945 had turned into a gruelling campaign of bloody attrition against an enemy determined to fight to the last man. Germany had surrendered unconditionally. The Japanese would clearly make the conditions of victory extraordinarily high. In the United States, Americans clamored for their troops to come home and for a return to a peacetime economy. Politics intruded upon military policy while a new and untested president struggled to strategize among a military command that was often mired in rivalry. The task of defeating the Japanese seemed nearly unsurmountable, even while plans to invade the home islands were being drawn. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall warned of the toll that "the agony of enduring battle" would likely take. General Douglas MacArthur clashed with Marshall and Admiral Nimitz over the most effective way to defeat the increasingly resilient Japanese combatants. In the midst of this division, the Army began a program of partial demobilization of troops in Europe, which depleted units at a time when they most needed experienced soldiers. In this context of military emergency, the fearsome projections of the human cost of invading the Japanese homeland, and weakening social and political will, victory was salvaged by means of a horrific new weapon. As one Army staff officer admitted, "The capitulation of Hirohito saved our necks." In Implacable Foes, award-winning historians Waldo Heinrichs (a veteran of both theatres of war in World War II) and Marc Gallicchio bring to life the final year of World War Two in the Pacific right up to the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, evoking not only Japanese policies of desperate defense, but the sometimes rancorous debates on the home front. They deliver a gripping and provocative narrative that challenges the decision-making of U.S. leaders and delineates the consequences of prioritizing the European front. The result is a masterly work of military history that evaluates the nearly insurmountable trials associated with waging global war and the sacrifices necessary to succeed.

Author : Yunshin Hong
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2020-03-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789004419513

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“Comfort Stations” as Remembered by Okinawans during World War II by Yunshin Hong Pdf

Okinawa, the only Japanese prefecture invaded by US forces in 1945, was forced to accommodate 146 “military comfort stations” from 1941–45. How did Okinawans view these intrusive spaces and their impact on regional society? Interviews, survivor testimonies, and archival documents show that the Japanese army manipulated comfort stations to isolate local communities, facilitate “spy hunts,” and foster a fear of rape by Americans that induced many Okinawans to choose death over survival. The politics of sex pursued by the US occupation (1945–72) perpetuated that fear of rape into the postwar era. This study of war, sexual violence, and postcolonial memory sees the comfort stations as discursive spaces of remembrance where differing war experiences can be articulated, exchanged, and mutually reassessed. Winner of the 2017 Best Publication Award of the Year by the Okinawa Times.

Author : Arnold G. Fisch
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 1988
Category : Government publications
ISBN : UIUC:30112105160920

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Military Government in the Ryukyu Islands, 1945-1950 by Arnold G. Fisch Pdf

Military government on Okinawa from the first stages of planning until the transition toward a civil administration.

Author : Joseph Wheelan
Publisher : Da Capo Press
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9780306822070

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Bloody Spring by Joseph Wheelan Pdf

For forty crucial days they fought a bloody struggle. When it was over, the Civil War's tide had turned. In the spring of 1864, Virginia remained unbroken, its armies having repelled Northern armies for more than two years. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had defeated the campaigns of four Union generals, and Lee's veterans were confident they could crush the Union offensive this spring, too. But their adversary in 1864 was a different kind of Union commander -- Ulysses S. Grant. The new Union general-in-chief had never lost a major battle while leading armies in the West. A quiet, rumpled man of simple tastes and a bulldog's determination, Grant would lead the Army of the Potomac in its quest to destroy Lee's army. During six weeks in May and June 1864, Grant's army campaigned as no Union army ever had. During nearly continual combat operations, the Army of the Potomac battered its way through Virginia, skirting Richmond and crossing the James River on one of the longest pontoon bridges ever built. No campaign in North American history was as bloody as the Overland Campaign. When it ended outside Petersburg, more than 100,000 men had been killed, wounded, or captured on battlefields in the Wilderness, near Spotsylvania Court House, and at Cold Harbor. Although Grant's casualties were nearly twice Lee's, the Union could replace its losses. The Confederacy could not. Lee's army continued to fight brilliant defensive battles, but it never mounted another major offensive. Grant's spring 1864 campaign had tipped the scales permanently in the Union's favor. The war's denouement came less than a year later with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Author : Steven Casey
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2021-04-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9780190053659

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The War Beat, Pacific by Steven Casey Pdf

The definitive history of American war reporting in the Pacific theater of World War II, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After almost two years slogging with infantrymen through North Africa, Italy, and France, Ernie Pyle immediately realized he was ill-prepared for covering the Pacific War. As Pyle and other war correspondents discovered, the climate, the logistics, and the sheer scope of the Pacific theater had no parallel in the war America was fighting in Europe. From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The War Beat, Pacific provides the first comprehensive account of how a group of highly courageous correspondents covered America's war against Japan, what they witnessed, what they were allowed to publish, and how their reports shaped the home front's perception of some of the most pivotal battles in American military history. In a dramatic and fast-paced narrative based on a wealth of previously untapped primary sources, Casey takes us from MacArthur's doomed defense on the Philippines and the navy's overly strict censorship policy at the time of Midway, through the bloody battles on Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Tarawa, Saipan, Leyte and Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, detailing the cooperation, as well as conflict, between the media and the military, as they grappled with the enduring problem of limiting a free press during a period of extreme crisis. The War Beat, Pacific shows how foreign correspondents ran up against practical challenges and risked their lives to get stories in a theater that was far more challenging than the war against Nazi Germany, while the US government blocked news of the war against Japan and tried to focus the home front on Hitler and his atrocities.

Author : James H. Hallas
Publisher : US Naval Institute Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 159114356X

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Killing Ground on Okinawa by James H. Hallas Pdf

A key point in the Japanese defensive line on Okinawa in May 1945, Sugar Loaf Hill was the site of a tenacious seven-day battle that inflicted heavy casualties on the U.S. Marines attacking the hill. In this emotionally compelling account of the fierce fight, James H. Hallas chronicles the extraordinary courage and tactical skills of the 6th Marine Division's junior officers and enlisted men as they captured a network of sophisticated Japanese defenses on Sugar Loaf while under heavy artillery fire from surrounding hills. To give human dimensions to the story, the author draws on his many interviews with participants and skillfully weaves together their individual stories of the sustained close-quarter fighting that claimed more than 2,000 Marine casualties. Pushed to their physical and moral limits during eleven attempts to capture the fifty-foot-high 300-yard-long hill, the Marines' proved their uncommon valor to be a common virtue, and this detailed record of their courage and commitment assures them a permanent place in history.

Author : Sam Daugherty
Publisher : AuthorHouse
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2003-03-06
Category : Military engineers
ISBN : 9781403352460

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On Hostile Shores by Sam Daugherty Pdf

Nada, one of thirteen nutria brought to Avery Island (not an island, but a salt dome) by E. A. McIlhenny (Mr. Ned) for experimental stock breeding purposes, is the runt of the group and is blind in one eye. During a hurricane, the nutria pen topples over, and Nada and her friends escape. Nada runs under Mr. Ned's house, but the others run off in different directions. The next day, Nada sets off to find her friends. Nada's search takes her to four other salt domes. She finds each of her friends, but they have been influenced by the life on the salt domes and have become very different in their behavior. Nada wants her friends to return to live together on Avery Island where they can teach the young all of the nutria traditions. But she fails. Nada finds her way into a rice paddy where Gertrude Gallinule attacks her. She escapes. With the help of Lawrence Lizard, her friends come to visit and cheer her up. An egret comes to tell of strange goings on at Jefferson Island and that all the nutria must go there immediately because Lothario's family is in danger. Nada saves Lothario's wives and children who are trapped under the Joseph Jefferson House that is collapsing. When the nutria see how Nada risks her life for them, they are ashamed of their behavior and agree to stay together on Avery Island where they live happily ever after. This book is aimed at 8-12 year olds, but its serious moral nature will appeal to all ages.