The capture of the Philippine archipelago and the island of Iwo Jima did not solve one of the main problems for the American command - the creation of the necessary conditions for the invasion of Japan. This required systematic, long-term air and artillery support for the troops, which was possible only if there were a sufficient number of naval and air bases near the invasion area.

The US Chiefs of Staff planned to strike at the Ryukyu Islands. and above all on the island of Okinawa. Capturing it ensured dominance in the East China Sea and access to the near approaches to Japan. Additional bases built here would make it possible to strengthen the naval blockade and air bombardment, create conditions favorable for the “advance on Kyushu” and “the decisive invasion of the industrial center of Japan through the Tokyo plain (159) . Thus, Okinawa was seen as a springboard for the deployment of military operations on the territory of Japan proper.

The Ryukyu Archipelago, which includes Okinawa, stretches in a 1200-kilometer arc between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan, occupying a convenient position on the main Japanese communication line going to Singapore and Indonesia. Okinawa is almost equidistant (about 600 km) from the southern tip of Kyushu, the mainland, and Taiwan. The area of ​​Okinawa (1254 sq. km) made it possible to concentrate a large number of troops and equipment here, and large fleet forces in numerous bays.

The population of the island totaled 445 thousand people. The capital of Okinawa - Naha was both the main city and port of the entire archipelago. There were 5 airfields on the island.

After the fall of Iwo Jima, the Japanese headquarters, having assessed the situation, came to the conclusion that Taiwan and Okinawa would become the next targets for capture. On March 20, 1945, Order No. 513 "The General Program of Combat Operations" was issued, which noted the importance of the struggle for Okinawa.

Exactly one year before the American invasion, on April 1, 1944, the 32nd Army was formed to defend the island. Land, sea and air forces arrived here throughout the year. The army, commanded by General M. Ushijima, included the 24th and 62nd Infantry Divisions. 44th separate mixed brigade, tank regiment (90 medium and light tanks), as well as separate artillery and mortar units. By the beginning of the operation, the strength of the 32nd Army reached 77,000 soldiers and officers. The commander of the army was subordinate to the personnel of the naval base (about 10 thousand people). 7-10 thousand local residents performed various work for the army, carried out guard duty, etc. During the battles, the Japanese command replenished army units by mobilizing the population (160) .

The navy stationed in Okinawa included a detachment of torpedo boats, a group of midget submarines, coastal defense batteries and anti-aircraft units. In addition, in the bays of Okinawa and neighboring islands, seven special detachments of boats ("blue") were secretly located - up to 700 units in total. Each such boat was operated by a suicide bomber and carried two depth charges designed to be dropped in close proximity to anchored American ships or transports (161) .

The 5th Air Fleet was supposed to provide the 32nd Army from the air - 250 aircraft. It was also supposed to use aviation from the island of Taiwan - 420 aircraft (8th air division - 200 and kamikaze units - 220), from the metropolis - 550 (6th air army - 220, kamikaze - 330) and several hundred military aircraft. - navy. Special hopes were placed on the "kamikaze", which was assigned a decisive role in the defeat of the American landing forces (162) . The supporting formations of the fleet, as well as the main part of the naval and army aviation, intended to strike at the invasion forces, were subordinate to Admiral Toyoda, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

The anti-amphibious barriers on Okinawa consisted of wooden piles hammered at the border of coral reefs and minefields placed on landing-accessible sections of the coast. Insignificant antiamphibious barriers on the coast were created only in the southern regions of the island. This was explained by the fact that General Ushijima did not have sufficient forces to protect the entire island, therefore, in its northern part, he placed only a few separate garrisons. He concentrated most of his troops in the southern regions, which he intended to stubbornly defend.

The basis of the defense consisted of three lines: forward, main and rear with a total depth of 7 - 8 km. The main line passed through the settlements of Naha, Shuri, Yonabaru, which were strongholds with all-round defense, consisting of pillboxes, ditches, minefields and barbed wire. Separate nodes of resistance covered each other and had cut-off positions. To protect the personnel, shelters with a developed system of artificial and natural underground passages and caves in solid calcareous soil were intended. Objects, even the main airfields, located to the north of the line of fortifications, did not have any means of protection. In the event of the capture of airfields, the Japanese were preparing to conduct artillery fire on them and thereby prevent American aircraft from being based on them.

In order to prevent the enemy from opening the fire system of the main line and weakening the defense with air strikes and naval artillery, it was forbidden to shoot even at large concentrations of landing troops as long as they had freedom of maneuver. This instruction applied to the artillery of the 32nd Army and coastal defense.

The Japanese high command entrusted the fight against the American invasion fleet to kamikaze formations and special detachments of boats. With their help, it expected to destroy large ships, deprive the landing force of aviation and artillery support, inflict significant damage on it and drag out the struggle for the island as much as possible.

The disadvantage of the Japanese plan was that the initiative was completely given into the hands of the enemy. The defending side decided not to conduct artillery and aviation counter-training against the landing forces during their deployment and reloading troops from transports to landing craft. Little attention was paid to the organization of interaction between the 32nd Army and the supporting air and naval forces.

The start of the operation to capture Okinawa ("Iceberg"), which the American command intended to start on March 1, had to be postponed for a month due to unexpectedly protracted fighting on Iwo Jima. The idea of ​​the operation was to suppress enemy aircraft on the islands of Kyushu, Ryukyu and Taiwan, and to weaken the defense of Okinawa even before the invasion; when landing, cover the landing force from the sea and air, and during the offensive into the interior of the island, provide direct support to the troops.

A few days before the start of the landing, it was planned to capture the islands of Kerama, located 27 km from Okinawa, and Keise - 10 km, in order to create stocks of equipment, weapons and food there, and also install artillery on the Keise islands. Subsequently, it was supposed to take possession of other small islands to the east and north of Okinawa.

It was also planned to inflict systematic air strikes on the southeastern tip of the island in order to disorient the enemy, and to land in the western part, north and south of the Khagusi settlement. The main argument in favor of this area was the almost complete absence of antiamphibious defense and the presence of two airfields (Yontan and Kadena) near, which ensured the rapid deployment of tactical aviation. The troops were planned to land at a high pace, in two echelons with the immediate task of occupying a bridgehead that would allow the deployment of superior forces. In the early days, airfields were considered the most important objects of capture.

The first echelon of the landing force, consisting of four divisions, was tasked with capturing a bridgehead up to 10 km along the front and 5 km in depth, sufficient for the landing of the rest of the forces, unloading military equipment and materiel. In the future, it was planned to conduct an offensive simultaneously in three directions: two reinforced infantry divisions, located in the center of the grouping, were to move east to cut the enemy defenses into two parts; the troops concentrated on the flanks of these divisions, with the support of naval artillery, were to defeat the Japanese forces in the northern and southern parts of the island.

The main principle that the American staffs adhered to when planning the operation remained unchanged - the creation of a significant numerical superiority over the enemy.

It was decided to land on the island the 10th Army under the command of General S. Buckner, reinforced with artillery, engineering and other units. In total, he had at his disposal up to 183 thousand people - four infantry and three divisions of the marine corps with attached units and subunits.

Considering the significant size of the island, its proximity to the naval bases and airfields of Japan itself, the American command allocated larger fleet and air forces to capture it than in other landing operations in the Pacific Ocean. In total, more than 1,500 warships, landing and auxiliary ships, including 59 attack and escort aircraft carriers, 22 battleships, 36 cruisers and more than 140 squadron and escort destroyers took part in the battles for Okinawa. The total number of personnel of the ground forces, navy and marines was about 550 thousand people (163).

In addition to ensuring the transfer of troops and the defense of landing units at the transition, the fleet received other tasks: artillery and aviation training on Okinawa and nearby islands, the destruction of anti-amphibious barriers in the water, on the coast and fortifications in the depths of the island, suppression of enemy aircraft on the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Kyushu , the destruction of his ships, the defense of the landing area.

The air danger at the crossing by sea and in the area of ​​operation was recognized as the main one, therefore, large aviation forces were allocated to cover the troops. Carrier aviation was to operate in three groups. The 58th operational formation (919 aircraft) was tasked with suppressing enemy aircraft at airfields north of Okinawa to Kyushu inclusive. The 57th task force (244 aircraft) was supposed to destroy enemy aircraft on the islands of Sakishima and Taiwan. Aviation escort aircraft carriers (564 aircraft) was intended to support the operations of troops in Okinawa. The main task of shore-based aviation, including strategic aviation (over 700 aircraft), was systematic strikes against defensive installations on Okinawa and airfields on the island of Kyushu (164) .

Reconnaissance, the blockade of the island, the destruction of enemy warships and the rescue of the crews of downed aircraft were assigned to submarines. Six or seven submarines operated on the approaches to the islands of Honshu and Kyushu. One of them watched the Kii Strait, and two watched the Bungo Strait (165).

The involvement of almost the entire 5th Fleet of Admiral R. Spruance required a clear organization of command and control of forces and assets in the operation. Most of them were included in the 51st operational formation (commander Admiral R. Turner), which included artillery support units for landing, minesweepers and others. The 57th British (Admiral G. Rawlings) and the 58th American (Admiral M. Mitcher) aircraft carrier formations, as well as formations of strategic and army aviation, and submarines interacted with them. The general management of the operation was carried out by the Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral C. Nimitz.

Prior to the invasion, all forces were in the central and southwestern parts of the Pacific Ocean: on the islands of Ulithi, Guadalcanal, Leyte, Saipan, Espiritu Sapto and others.

In accordance with the organization adopted, the commander of the 10th Army, after the landing, was to lead it and ensure the defense of the bridgehead and water area within a radius of 40 km (166) .

Particular attention was paid to aerial reconnaissance. Due to the large distance of air bases, only B-29 aircraft could fly it. They carried out the first aerial photography as early as September 29, 1944. Subsequently, reconnaissance of this area was carried out at least once a month by aircraft of strategic or aircraft carrier aviation. A week before the start of the landings, reconnaissance aircraft appeared over the island daily. As a result, the area, areas and landing points, directions of demonstrative actions were chosen, and part of the enemy's fortifications was discovered.

An important place in the preparation of the operation was occupied by questions of logistics. To supply the formations of the fleet, a special supply service was intended - the "floating rear". It included 6 escort aircraft carriers, 1 light cruiser, 35 squadron and escort destroyers, 64 tankers for various purposes, 44 transports with ammunition, food, uniforms, household property, as well as floating workshops, docks and other special purpose ships (167).

The most detailed plan was the delivery of landing troops. For the transportation of the division, taking into account the corps and army units, transport divisions were created, consisting of 5 military and 2 cargo transports each (168).

The training of the troops of the 10th Army for the upcoming landing, the development of interaction with aviation and the fleet took place in their places of concentration: on the Solomon, Mariana Islands and on Leyte Island - in areas close in physical and geographical conditions to the western coast of Okinawa. In the process of practicing the landing battle, special importance was attached to the approach of amphibious waves on strictly scheduled dates, as well as to the technique of overcoming coastal barriers. The general exercises of the 3rd landing corps took place on March 2-7, and the 24th corps on March 14-19, that is, just before boarding transports and ships. Support aircraft and artillery ships took part in the exercises. Some formations, including the 58th aircraft carrier, arrived immediately after the end of hostilities on Iwo Jima and did not need special training.

The passage of ships and vessels from the concentration areas to Okinawa was carried out in groups, each of which was subdivided into detachments. The 58th aircraft carrier formation was the first to leave, in the second group - minesweepers with security, in the third - landing detachments to occupy the Kerama Islands, in the fourth - artillery support detachments, in the fifth - the main landing force.

On March 18-19, the 58th formation delivered massive strikes against enemy air and naval bases on the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and in the western part of Honshu. Relying on the great superiority in ships and aviation, the formation approached the coast of Japan at a distance of up to 75 km, which made it easier for Japanese aviation to search for and retaliate.

To repel the attack, the Japanese threw 193 naval aircraft. They damaged 5 American aircraft carriers and shot down 116 aircraft, losing 161 aircraft (169) in the process.

In the period leading up to the landings, the 20th Bomber Command attacked the airfields of Taiwan, and the aviation of the 21st Bomber Command conducted reconnaissance of Okinawa, mined the approaches to Japanese bases and bombarded the airfields of Japan proper. On March 23, aviation of the 58th formation and escort aircraft carriers began massive bombardments of defensive structures and airfields in Okinawa, having made 3,000 sorties before the start of the operation.

On March 24, a unit of artillery support and cover consisting of 10 battleships arrived in the area of ​​operation. 13 cruisers, 32 squadron and escort destroyers, which began systematic shelling of the fortifications of the island and covering the trawling approaches to the landing sites. In the week preceding the landing, the ships fired 40.4 thousand shells on the island with a caliber of 127 - 406 mm (170) .

From March 26 to March 29, units of the US 77th Infantry Division, with the support of heavy ships and aircraft carrier aircraft, occupied all eight Kerama Islands, defended by small detachments of Japanese troops with a total of 975 people. In the battles with them, the Americans lost 155 people killed and missing. On March 31, without any opposition, the Keise Islands were occupied.

Already during the operation on April 21, troops landed on the island of Ie, where there was a large airfield. On April 23, the island was occupied. During March 24 - 31, 75 minesweepers swept the water area of ​​about 6.5 thousand square meters. km, neutralizing 257 mines (171).

The preliminary measures of the Americans to ensure the landing (trawling, shelling, the actions of subversive teams and the landing of auxiliary landing forces) did not meet with opposition from the enemy coastal artillery. Not a single coastal battery opened fire on American ships in the period leading up to the landings. This was not done even when minesweeping was carried out. Only individual planes, piloted by suicide pilots, broke through the barriers of American fighters and struck at ships. As a result, several ships from the artillery support and cover formations were damaged, but by March 29, Japanese aviation on Okinawa was almost completely destroyed.

Carrying out measures to ensure the landing of troops, the Americans at the same time sought to direct the enemy's attention to a false area in the southern part of the island.

At dawn on April 1, 1945, US ships concentrated their fire on the landing sites, firing over 44.8 thousand shells with a caliber of 127-406 mm, 33 thousand rockets and 22.5 thousand mines on the silent coast. Under cover of fire, troops were transferred from transports to landing craft. Prior to the invasion in the main direction (near Hagusi), the Americans began demonstrative actions in the Mipatogawa area, where they also conducted artillery and aviation training.

Four divisions operated in the main direction - two infantry and two marines. Two regiments were allocated to the forward detachments from each division, which landed on a front of 9 km. After the first wave of amphibious tanks in 5-7 waves at intervals from 1 to 5 minutes, armored amphibians with troops rushed to the shore. All waves of forward detachments marched in front formation and stretched out to a depth of almost 20 km. The passage of the landing to the coast was covered by 138 aircraft.

The forward detachments of the landing force met with practically no resistance. The first echelon completely disembarked by 4 p.m., and by nightfall, about 50 thousand people, a large number of tanks and artillery, had already concentrated on the coast. Three hours after the start of the landing, the Yontan and Kadena airfields were occupied without any opposition, and by the end of the first day of the operation, the landing force occupied an area up to 14 km along the front and 5 km in depth. Losses, mostly non-combat, amounted to 28 killed, 27 missing and 104 wounded.

Three days later, landing troops crossed the island from west to east. The advance was carried out without the support of aviation and artillery of ships, which was not necessary. The offensive was hampered only by the poor condition of the roads (172).

The American troops did not meet opposition from the enemy fleet either. Special detachments of boats suffered heavy losses during the preliminary strikes by American aircraft: about 350 of them were destroyed or captured on the Kerama Islands. Two groups of Japanese submarines also did not succeed, as they operated without the support of aviation and surface ships (173) .

A breakthrough by Japanese surface ships, which was timed to coincide with the end of massive attacks by kamikaze aircraft, could pose a certain threat to the landing force. Of the available warships, the Japanese command could only single out a detachment consisting of the largest battleship Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers, which received the task immediately after the air strike to attack and destroy the remaining landing craft and enemy ships operating in the landing area. At the same time, the fuel supply on the Yamato was sufficient only for the transition to the island of Okinawa. On April 6, two hours after leaving the Tokuyama base on the island of Honshu, the Japanese detachment discovered two American submarines in the Bungo Strait, they reported this to the command of the 5th Fleet. The next morning, a reconnaissance aircraft spotted Japanese ships moving without air cover. Soon they were attacked one by one by three groups of aircraft (386 units) of the 58th aircraft carrier formation. The Yamato was hit by 10 torpedoes and 5 medium-caliber bombs. After some time, it capsized and sank. A cruiser and four destroyers were also sunk. The Americans lost 10 aircraft from enemy anti-aircraft fire.

The Japanese command understood that without air cover, a detachment of ships would not be able to succeed. But, as the former Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, Toyoda, stated after the war, refusing to send ships would be contrary to the traditions of the imperial fleet. This blind admiration for tradition led to a senseless sacrifice by ships and the death of 2498 people only on the Yamato and more than 1200 from the crews of the cruiser and destroyers (174) .

On the night of April 8, Japanese troops launched a counterattack in the area of ​​airfields captured by the Americans, but were not successful. Their advance was halted by heavy artillery and mortar fire. The attackers suffered heavy losses and withdrew to their former positions.

At first, the offensive of the American troops on the island was developed successfully and with insignificant losses. By April 12, the landing of all echelons and rear areas of the landing force was completed, and the number of troops reached 183 thousand people. But when the main line of defense was broken through, the advance of some formations of the 10th Army "slowed down so much that it would be more expedient to measure it not in meters, but in centimeters" (175) . The attackers methodically gnawed through the enemy defenses, using a large number of aircraft, artillery and flamethrowers. From the flanks, the offensive was supported by up to six battleships, a large number of cruisers, destroyers, gunboats and artillery barges armed with rocket artillery. The ships fired from 2 to 7 thousand large-caliber shells on the island per day.

The Japanese troops skillfully applied themselves to the terrain, skillfully used cut-off positions and, allowing the enemy to be drawn in the desired direction, opened heavy fire from the flanks and front. The struggle took on a stubborn positional character. Due to serious losses, the American command repeatedly regrouped, replenished and replaced units. Each of the operating divisions was given two divisions of corps artillery.

The fight against Japanese aviation was especially difficult. During April 6 - June 22, "kamikaze" made 10 massive raids on the formations of the American fleet operating off Okinawa. Almost every raid involved 110 - 185, and in one even 355 aircraft. The total number of Japanese aircraft sorties, including kamikaze sorties, conventional dive bombers, torpedo bombers and escort fighters, exceeded 5,500.

The Americans had to rebuild the air defense of the area. Ships equipped with radar installations (usually they were destroyers) created two rings around the landing area with radii of 55 and 130 km. Each air defense ship was covered by 4 to 12 fighters. Having found enemy planes, the guidance post called fighters and aimed them at air targets. In this case, single aircraft, as a rule, were destroyed. And only when attacked by a group of several dozen aircraft did some of them manage to break through to the objects of attack. Due to the heavy workload of personnel on the ships of the radar patrol, their change was carried out every three days.

A "barrier patrol" of fighters and bombers operated 200 km north of Okinawa. He blocked the airfields on the islands of Tokuposima and Kikaigashima, which were used as intermediate (the main ones were on Kyushu) for kamikaze aircraft.

The fight against "kamikaze" was carried out not only by aircraft carriers, but also by strategic aviation. In April, aircraft from the 21st Bomber Command made 1,212 sorties against kamikaze airfields on the island of Kyushu, which reduced their activity. This was partly due to the fact that as the fighting on Okinawa faded, the Japanese command reduced the sorties of aircraft with suicide pilots in order to save them for the decisive battle on the territory of the metropolis (176) .

During the battles on Okinawa, the American fleet was faced with the task of fighting enemy sabotage landings. The Japanese made several attempts to land sabotage groups from the sea, but none of them were successful. On the night of May 25, the enemy landed an airborne sabotage assault force on the airfields of Yontan and Kadena. Of the 5 aircraft, 4 were shot down, the rest managed to land and land 10 saboteurs, who destroyed and damaged 33 American aircraft and burned about 25 tons of aviation gasoline.

After a month and a half of fighting, on the night of May 14, American troops wedged into the main defense zone, located 15 km from the landing area. By this time, not only the landing force was on the island, but also all the reinforcements and rear of the 10th Army. During the fighting from May 15 to May 31, the Americans captured the main strongholds of the main defense line - Naha, Shuri and Yonabaru.

On June 4, American troops, supported by ships and powerful field artillery from the front line, landed a tactical assault force in the rear of the Japanese troops, consisting of two regiments of marines. After that, the pace of advance increased. On June 21, on the 82nd day of the operation, the enemy stopped organized resistance. On July 2, the end of hostilities in the Ryukyu Islands was officially announced, although individual groups of the Japanese did not lay down their arms for a long time (177) .

The last and largest amphibious operation of the American armed forces was Operation Iceberg. Its main result was the conquest of advantageous positions on the outskirts of Japan. The Allies got the opportunity to redeploy naval forces, bomber and fighter aircraft here. Back in early May 1945, fighter and bomber units were relocated from the southwestern regions of the Pacific Ocean to Okinawa and nearby islands. The advanced naval and air bases on the Ryukyu Islands enabled the American Pacific Fleet and Air Force to keep the cities of Japan under continuous influence.

In terms of scale, Operation Iceberg was second only to Operation Overlord (in Normandy). It was characterized by the creation of a great superiority in forces; a long and persistent struggle for air supremacy and the weakening of the enemy's defenses until the landing; the most continuous assistance of the fleet to the troops; special organization of the air defense system and a huge expenditure of material resources. The supply service, the “floating rear”, played a large role in the operation, without which such long-term operations of large masses of ships at a considerable distance from the bases would have been impossible. The transportation of troops and equipment was provided by 458 transports and landing craft with a total displacement of 824.6 thousand tons (178).

The conditions for the beginning of the operation were very favorable for the American armed forces: the Japanese command actually refused to repulse the landing from land.

The air defense system developed by the Americans operated relatively reliably due to the stereotyped tactics of enemy aviation, and above all "kamikaze". Among the aircraft operated by suicide bombers, there were many obsolete ones, including training ones, with poorly trained pilots. Many of these aircraft could barely keep a straight course. The leading aircraft took them to the objects of attack, since other pilots did not know how to navigate over the sea. When the leader was destroyed, the entire group disintegrated, lost orientation and usually died without finding a target.

The Japanese command did not organize response actions quickly enough. Massed strikes by the 58th aircraft carrier formation, which began on March 23, were regarded as strikes on the retreat after the completion of the bombing of airfields and bases on the territory of Japan proper. The landing on the Kerama Islands was mistaken for an ordinary sabotage. Only on March 25, after the concentration of huge invasion forces in the Okinawa region, did the Japanese command give the order to launch Operation Ten.

Despite the overwhelming superiority in forces, it took about three months for the American forces to take possession of the island, defended by isolated Japanese forces. The operation took much longer than expected. MacArthur admitted that this was the most difficult battle of the entire Pacific War, in which both sides suffered heavy losses in men and ships.

The losses of the American armed forces amounted to 49.1 thousand people, of which 12.5 thousand were killed and missing. 33 ships and auxiliaries were sunk and 370 damaged (most as a result of air attacks). Aviation lost more than 1 thousand aircraft.

During the battles for Okinawa, 100 thousand soldiers and officers of the army, navy and aviation of Japan were killed and 7.8 thousand captured, over 4200 aircraft were lost, 16 ships and vessels were sunk, including a battleship, a light cruiser and 4 destroyer

Battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg- an operation to capture the Japanese island of Okinawa by US troops with the support of the American and British fleets. The battle was the penultimate amphibious landing operation in the Pacific theater of operations, and at the same time the last significant battle of World War II before the Soviet–Japanese War. The fighting went on for 82 days and ended only on June 23.

In English, the battle was called "Steel Typhoon", in Japanese - "Tetsu no ame" (jap. 鉄の雨, "Steel rain"). The reason for such names was the severity of the battles, the intensity of artillery shelling and the impressive number of allied ships and armored vehicles that stormed the island. The battle is one of the bloodiest of the entire war on the Pacific front: the Japanese lost more than 100,000 soldiers; over 12,000 Allied soldiers (mostly US) were killed and over 38,000 were wounded. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, injured or attempted suicide. About a third of the civilian population died as a result of the invasion.

The main goal of the operation was to capture a large island, located only 544 km from the main territory of Japan. After a long campaign to successively seize the strategically important Pacific Islands (Eng. island hopping), the Allies began to approach Japan. Okinawa was to serve as a springboard for the planned invasion of the main islands of the Japanese archipelago. Although Okinawa was hastily equipped as a base for air operations, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, unexpected for the Japanese, led to the surrender of Japan just a few weeks after the end of the fighting on the island and the planned invasion was never carried out.

balance of power

Ground troops

The US ground forces involved in the operation consisted of the 10th Army under the command of General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. Under the command of the army were two corps: the 3rd Corps, under the command of Major General Roy Geiger, consisted of the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions, and the 24th Corps of Major General John Hodge included the 7th and 96 I infantry divisions. The US 2nd Marine Division remained in reserve, at sea, in constant readiness. She never had to go into battle. In addition, the 27th and 77th Infantry Divisions were under the command of the 10th Army. In total, 10th Army commanded 102,000 U.S. Army, 88,000 Marine Corps, and 18,000 U.S. Navy personnel.

The Japanese forces (mostly defensive) were represented by the regular 32nd Army, consisting of 67,000 (according to other sources - 77,000) soldiers, as well as from 9,000 sailors of the imperial navy, who were at the Oroku naval base (only a few hundreds of them were trained and equipped for war on land). In addition, 39,000 local residents were assigned to help the army (among them, 24,000 hastily called up local militia - "Boeitai" and 15,000 workers who did not wear any uniform). Additionally, 1,500 schoolchildren were organized to help the fighting in the so-called Iron and Blood Volunteer Forces, and about 600 high school girls were gathered in a medical unit called Himeyuri.

Initially, the 32nd Army consisted of the 9th, 24th and 62nd divisions and a separate 44th mixed brigade, however, due to a change in defense plans by the Japanese command, the 9th division was transferred to Taiwan before the allied invasion . The main defensive force was in the south of the island under the command of Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Isamu Cho, and Chief of Operations, Colonel Hiromichi Yahara. Yahara was a supporter of a defensive strategy, Cho preferred an offensive strategy. In the north of the island, Colonel Takehido Udo commanded the defense. The naval personnel were commanded by Rear Admiral Minoru Ota.

The Americans were expected to land six to ten divisions against a Japanese garrison of two and a half divisions. The headquarters also calculated that the superior quality and abundance of weapons would give each American division a sixfold superiority in firepower over each Japanese division. To this it was worth adding the power of the American Navy and the US Air Force.

Fleet

US Navy

Most of the fighters and small dive bombers were based on American aircraft carriers. Beginning with the battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese began to use the tactics of kamikaze pilots, but for the first time they became the main part of the defense. Between the American landings on April 1 and May 25, Japanese kamikazes carried out seven major attacks involving more than 1,500 aircraft. The allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa consisted of 1,600 ships. Among them are 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 32 cruisers and 200 destroyers. In this operation, the US Navy suffered the greatest losses - more than in all other battles of the Second World War.

Fleet of the British Commonwealth

Despite the fact that the Allied ground forces off the coast of Okinawa consisted entirely of American formations, the British Pacific Fleet provided the Americans with more than a quarter of all naval aviation used by the Allies in the operation (450 aircraft). The Royal Navy's force off the coast of Okinawa consisted of many ships, including 50 warships, of which 17 were aircraft carriers. Due to the structural features and reinforced armor of the lower deck, British aircraft carriers could carry fewer aircraft, however, such ships were more resistant to kamikaze attacks than their American counterparts. Although all aircraft carriers were provided by the British Navy, the ships (and their crews) accompanying them belonged not only to the Royal Navy, but also to the Canadian, New Zealand and Australian navies. The task of these ships was to neutralize the Japanese airfields on the Sakishima Islands, as well as the defense of aircraft carriers from kamikaze attacks.

Battle at sea

The British Pacific Fleet was ordered to neutralize Japanese airfields on the Sakishima Islands. On March 26, the fleet began to carry out the order and on April 10 successfully completed it. On April 10, the fleet's attention was switched to airfields in northern Taiwan. On April 23, the fleet withdrew to San Pedro Bay off the coast of the Philippines. Although such a length of voyage was in the order of things for an American fleet, for an English flotilla of this size this proved to be the longest voyage.

In the battles for Okinawa, 48% of the soldiers were shell-shocked, about 14,000 were demobilized due to nervous breakdowns. The number of US Navy personnel who died in the battle exceeded the number of wounded and amounted to 4,907 people. 4,874 people were injured. Most of the victims and injured were victims of kamikaze attacks.

General Buckner's decision to attack the Japanese fortifications frontally, although it cost many soldiers' lives, was ultimately successful. Four days before the end of the entire operation, Buckner himself was killed by artillery fire while visiting his front line troops. The next day, another general, Brigadier General Claudius M. Easley, was killed by machine gun fire.

For all days of fighting, 368 Allied ships (including landing craft) were damaged, another 36 (including 15 landing ships and 12 destroyers) were sunk. The Japanese sank 16 ships, including the huge battleship Yamato. In the battles on the island itself, the Americans lost 225 tanks and many LVT(A)5 tracked vehicles. The Japanese lost 27 tanks and 743 artillery pieces (including mortars, anti-tank guns and air defense guns), most of the equipment was destroyed by allied naval fire and aerial bombardment.

The losses of the Japanese side amounted to about 107,000 soldiers killed, 7,400 people were captured. Some soldiers committed seppuku or simply blew themselves up with a grenade. In addition, about 20,000 people were burned by American flamethrowers in their cave fortifications.

For the first time in the entire war, Japanese military personnel began to surrender by the thousands. Many of them were native Okinawans, hastily drafted into the army before the battle. These residents were much less imbued with the spirit of the Japanese military doctrine, calling not to surrender in any case (until 1879, Okinawa was a sovereign state, whose inhabitants did not consider themselves Japanese and spoke a special, albeit close to Japanese, language).

When the American troops occupied the island, many Japanese dressed in native civilian clothes to avoid capture. The Okinawans offered the Americans a simple method for identifying Japanese in hiding: because of the great difference between Japanese and Okinawan, the Japanese did not understand when they were spoken to in the latter. The Okinawans, in the presence of the Americans, began to give the inhabitants of settlements simple instructions in their own language. Those who did not understand the instructions were the Japanese hiding from captivity.

Civilian casualties

During many battles on the Pacific front (such as, for example, the Battle of Iwo Jima), the local population was not involved in hostilities, but there were a large number of local residents on Okinawa, and the Japanese decided to involve them in the defense of the island. As a result, according to various estimates, from 1/10 to 1/3 of all the inhabitants of the island died in the battle. The number of deaths by various experts is estimated from 42,000 to 150,000 people (according to data from Okinawa Prefecture - more than 100,000 people). US Army officials spoke of a final figure of 142,058 civilians, including those who were forcibly drafted into service by the Japanese army.

According to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Museum, the inhabitants of the island were sandwiched between two belligerents - the United States and Japan. In 1945, the Japanese army showed complete indifference to the fate and safety of the island and its inhabitants, and Japanese soldiers used the local population as a "human shield" against American attacks. The soldiers of the imperial army took away food from the inhabitants of the island, thereby causing starvation among the population and forcing people to leave their shelters. About 1,000 people were killed by Japanese soldiers for speaking the local dialect - in this way the authorities fought against espionage. The museum says that some [residents] died from shell explosions, some, having fallen into a hopeless situation, were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, others from malaria, and still others fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops". Rape of local women was practiced by both sides of the conflict. Rape by Japanese soldiers became especially frequent in June, when it became clear that the Japanese army had been defeated.

With the victory of the American troops approaching, mass suicides became a frequent occurrence among civilians. Japanese propaganda played a significant role in this - the soldiers of the imperial army convinced the population that in case of victory, the Americans would kill and rape the inhabitants of the island. "Ryukyu Shimpo", one of Okinawa's two major newspapers, wrote in: " There are many Okinawans who have testified that they were encouraged by the Japanese army to commit suicide. Many recalled how the soldiers handed out hand grenades to them (in order to blow themselves up).» Some residents, believing that the Americans were barbarians who had committed terrible atrocities, killed themselves and their families in order to avoid captivity. Some of those people jumped and threw their family members off the rocks. On one of those rocks is now the Museum of the World.

However, despite all the propaganda and persuasion of the Japanese military, most civilians did not commit suicide. Immediately after the Americans captured the island, the Okinawans " were often surprised by the relatively humane treatment they received from the American enemy.» In addition, Teruto Tsubota, a military translator serving in the US military intelligence, convinced hundreds of people not to kill themselves and thereby saved their lives.

Effects

90% of the buildings on the island were completely destroyed, the tropical landscape with its lush vegetation " was turned into a vast field of dirt, lead and rot».

The capture of the island from a military point of view" exceeded all expectations”: with the capture of Okinawa, the Allied fleet and army received a military base, American aviation received airfields in the immediate vicinity of the main part of Japan. After the battle, in July 1945, during Operation Zebra, the coastal waters were cleared of mines, and on the captured island, the "US Civil Administration in the Ryukyu Islands" was established, in fact, a military government that existed on the island until May 15, 1972. Until now, a significant number of American troops are based on the island, and the Kaden base is the largest US military base in Asia.

Suicide order controversy

To this day, there is disagreement between the government of modern Japan and the regional government of Okinawa over the role of Japanese troops in spreading mass suicides among Okinawans during the course of the battle. In March, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology advised textbook publishers to rewrite passages in books that said Japanese troops forced Okinawans to commit suicide to avoid being captured by the Americans. The ministry wanted it to be written that civilians received hand grenades from soldiers of the imperial army.

This measure was widely protested by the people of Okinawan. In 2007, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly passed a resolution saying the following: We call on the [Japanese] government to renounce this instruction and immediately return the [former] description in textbooks so that the truth about the Battle of Okinawa is presented correctly and the terrible war does not start again.».

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An excerpt characterizing the Battle of Okinawa

Arriving in Moscow after her meeting with Rostov, Princess Marya found there her nephew with a tutor and a letter from Prince Andrei, who prescribed them their route to Voronezh, to Aunt Malvintseva. Worries about moving, anxiety about her brother, the arrangement of life in a new house, new faces, the upbringing of her nephew - all this drowned out in the soul of Princess Marya that feeling of temptation that tormented her during her illness and after the death of her father, and especially after meeting with Rostov. She was sad. The impression of the loss of her father, united in her soul with the death of Russia, now, after a month that had passed since then in the conditions of a quiet life, was felt more and more strongly by her. She was anxious: the thought of the dangers to which her brother, the only close person left to her, was exposed, tormented her incessantly. She was preoccupied with the education of her nephew, for whom she felt constantly inadequate; but in the depths of her soul there was agreement with herself, which flowed from the consciousness that she crushed in herself the personal dreams and hopes that had risen, connected with the appearance of Rostov.
When the next day after her evening, the governor's wife came to Malvintseva and, after talking with her aunt about her plans (having made a reservation that, although under the present circumstances it is impossible to even think about formal matchmaking, it is still possible to bring young people together, let them get to know each other ), and when, having received the approval of her aunt, the governor’s wife under Princess Marya spoke about Rostov, praising him and telling how he blushed at the mention of the princess, Princess Marya experienced a feeling that was not joyful, but painful: her inner consent no longer existed, and again Desires, doubts, reproaches and hopes arose.
In those two days that passed from the time of this news to the visit to Rostov, Princess Marya did not stop thinking about how she should behave in relation to Rostov. Now she decided that she would not go out into the drawing room when he arrived at his aunt's, that it was indecent for her, in her deep mourning, to receive guests; then she thought it would be rude after what he had done to her; then it occurred to her that her aunt and the governor's wife had some kind of views on her and Rostov (their looks and words sometimes seemed to confirm this assumption); then she said to herself that only she, with her depravity, could think this about them: they could not help but remember that in her position, when she had not yet taken off her pleresis, such a matchmaking would be insulting both to her and the memory of her father. Assuming that she would come out to him, Princess Marya thought up the words that he would say to her and which she would say to him; and sometimes these words seemed to her undeservedly cold, sometimes having too much significance. Most of all, when meeting with him, she was afraid for embarrassment, which, she felt, should have taken possession of her and betrayed her as soon as she saw him.
But when, on Sunday after mass, the footman reported in the drawing room that Count Rostov had arrived, the princess did not show embarrassment; only a slight blush came to her cheeks, and her eyes lit up with a new, radiant light.
Have you seen him, auntie? said Princess Mary in a calm voice, not knowing herself how she could be so outwardly calm and natural.
When Rostov entered the room, the princess lowered her head for a moment, as if giving time to the guest to greet her aunt, and then, at the very moment that Nikolai turned to her, she raised her head and met his gaze with shining eyes. With a movement full of dignity and grace, she rose with a joyful smile, extended her thin, tender hand to him, and spoke in a voice in which for the first time new, feminine chest sounds sounded. M lle Bourienne, who was in the drawing room, looked at Princess Mary with perplexed surprise. The most skillful coquette, she herself could not have maneuvered better when meeting a person who needed to please.
“Either black suits her so much, or she really got so prettier, and I didn’t notice. And most importantly - this tact and grace! m lle Bourienne thought.
If Princess Mary had been able to think at that moment, she would have been even more surprised than m lle Bourienne at the change that had taken place in her. From the moment she saw that sweet, beloved face, some new force of life took possession of her and compelled her, against her will, to speak and act. Her face, from the time Rostov entered, suddenly changed. Suddenly, on the walls of a painted and carved lantern, that complex, skillful artistic work, which previously seemed rough, dark and meaningless, appears with unexpected striking beauty, when the light inside is lit: so suddenly the face of Princess Marya was transformed. For the first time, all that pure spiritual inner work by which she had lived until now came out. All her inner work, dissatisfied with herself, her suffering, striving for good, humility, love, self-sacrifice - all this now shone in those radiant eyes, in a thin smile, in every line of her tender face.
Rostov saw all this as clearly as if he had known her all her life. He felt that the creature that was before him was completely different, better than all those he had met up to now, and better, most importantly, than himself.
The conversation was the simplest and most insignificant. They talked about the war, involuntarily, like everyone else, exaggerating their sadness about this event, they talked about the last meeting, and Nikolai tried to divert the conversation to another subject, they talked about the good governor, about the relatives of Nikolai and Princess Mary.
Princess Mary did not speak of her brother, diverting the conversation to another subject as soon as her aunt spoke of Andrei. It was evident that she could talk about the misfortunes of Russia in a pretense, but her brother was a subject too close to her heart, and she did not want and could not talk lightly about him. Nikolai noticed this, as he generally, with penetrating observation unusual for him, noticed all the shades of Princess Marya's character, which all only confirmed his conviction that she was a very special and extraordinary creature. Nikolai, just like Princess Marya, blushed and was embarrassed when they told him about the princess and even when he thought about her, but in her presence he felt completely free and said not at all what he was preparing, but what instantaneously and always incidentally occurred to him.
During the short visit of Nicholas, as always, where there are children, in a moment of silence, Nicholas resorted to the little son of Prince Andrei, caressing him and asking if he wants to be a hussar? He took the boy in his arms, began to twirl him merrily, and looked round at Princess Mary. A touched, happy and timid look followed her beloved boy in the arms of a loved one. Nikolai noticed this look too and, as if understanding its meaning, blushed with pleasure and began to kiss the boy good-naturedly and cheerfully.
Princess Mary did not leave on the occasion of mourning, and Nikolai did not consider it decent to visit them; but the governor's wife nevertheless continued her business of matchmaking and, having conveyed to Nikolai the flattering things that Princess Marya had said about him, and vice versa, insisted that Rostov explain himself to Princess Marya. For this explanation, she arranged a meeting between young people at the bishop's before Mass.
Although Rostov told the governor's wife that he would not have any explanation with Princess Marya, he promised to come.
Just as in Tilsit Rostov did not allow himself to doubt whether that which is recognized by all as good is good, so now, after a short but sincere struggle between trying to arrange one's life according to one's own mind and humble submission to circumstances, he chose the latter and left himself to the power that he (he felt) irresistibly attracted somewhere. He knew that by promising Sonya to express his feelings to Princess Marya, it would be what he called meanness. And he knew that he would never do meanness. But he also knew (and not what he knew, but in the depths of his soul he felt) that, now surrendering himself to the power of circumstances and the people who guided him, he not only did nothing wrong, but did something very, very important, such something he had never done before in his life.
After his meeting with Princess Mary, although outwardly his way of life remained the same, all his former pleasures lost their charm for him, and he often thought of Princess Mary; but he never thought of her in the same way as he, without exception, thought of all the young ladies he met in the world, not in the way that he had long and once enthusiastically thought about Sonya. He thought of all the young ladies, like almost any honest young man, as a future wife, tried on in his imagination for them all the conditions of married life: a white hood, a wife behind a samovar, a wife’s carriage, children, maman and papa, their relationship with her etc., etc., and these visions of the future gave him pleasure; but when he thought of Princess Marya, on whom he was wooed, he could never imagine anything of the future married life. If he tried, then everything came out clumsy and false. He just got scared.

Terrible news about the Battle of Borodino, about our losses in killed and wounded, and even more terrible news about the loss of Moscow, were received in Voronezh in mid-September. Princess Mary, having learned only from the newspapers about her brother’s wound and having no definite information about him, was about to go in search of Prince Andrei, as Nikolai heard (he himself did not see her).
Having received the news of the Battle of Borodino and the abandonment of Moscow, Rostov not only experienced despair, anger or revenge and similar feelings, but he suddenly became bored, annoyed in Voronezh, everything was somehow ashamed and awkward. All the talk he heard seemed feigned to him; he did not know how to judge all this, and felt that only in the regiment would everything become clear to him again. He was in a hurry to complete the purchase of horses and often unfairly got into a temper with his servant and sergeant major.
A few days before the departure of Rostov, a prayer service was scheduled in the cathedral on the occasion of the victory won by the Russian troops, and Nikolai went to mass. He stood somewhat behind the governor and, with official gravity, thinking about a wide variety of subjects, survived the service. When the prayer was over, the governor's wife called him to her.
Have you seen the princess? she said, pointing her head at the lady in black standing behind the kliros.
Nikolai immediately recognized Princess Marya, not so much by her profile, which was visible from under her hat, but by that feeling of caution, fear and pity that immediately seized him. Princess Mary, obviously immersed in her own thoughts, was making her last crosses before leaving the church.
Nikolai looked at her face in surprise. It was the same face that he had seen before, the same was in him the general expression of subtle, inner, spiritual work; but now it was completely differently illuminated. A touching expression of sadness, prayer and hope was on him. As before with Nikolai in her presence, he, without waiting for the advice of the governor's wife, to approach her, without asking himself whether it would be good, decent or not, his appeal to her here in church, approached her and said that he had heard about her grief and sympathizes with him with all her heart. As soon as she heard his voice, suddenly a bright light lit up in her face, illuminating at the same time both her sadness and joy.
“I wanted to tell you one thing, princess,” said Rostov, “that if Prince Andrei Nikolayevich had not been alive, then, as a regimental commander, this would have been announced in the newspapers now.
The princess looked at him, not understanding his words, but rejoicing at the expression of sympathetic suffering that was in his face.
“And I know so many examples that a shrapnel wound (in the newspapers it says a grenade) is either fatal right now, or, on the contrary, very light,” Nikolai said. “We have to hope for the best, and I’m sure…”
Princess Mary interrupted him.
“Oh, that would be so awful…” she began, and without finishing from excitement, with a graceful movement (like everything she did in his presence), bowing her head and looking gratefully at him, she went after her aunt.
On the evening of that day, Nikolai did not go anywhere to visit and stayed at home in order to settle some accounts with the horse sellers. When he finished his business, it was already late to go somewhere, but it was still early to go to bed, and Nikolai walked up and down the room alone for a long time, pondering his life, which rarely happened to him.
Princess Mary made a good impression on him near Smolensk. The fact that he met her then in such special circumstances, and the fact that it was precisely her at one time that his mother pointed out to him as a rich party, made him pay special attention to her. In Voronezh, during his visit, the impression was not only pleasant, but strong. Nikolai was struck by the special, moral beauty that he noticed in her this time. However, he was about to leave, and it never occurred to him to regret that, leaving Voronezh, he was deprived of the opportunity to see the princess. But the current meeting with Princess Mary in the church (Nikolai felt this) sank deeper into his heart than he foresaw it, and deeper than he wished for his peace of mind. This pale, thin, sad face, this radiant look, these quiet, graceful movements, and most importantly, this deep and tender sadness, expressed in all her features, disturbed him and demanded his participation. In men, Rostov could not stand to see the expression of a higher, spiritual life (that's why he did not like Prince Andrei), he contemptuously called it philosophy, daydreaming; but in Princess Mary, it was in this sadness, which showed the whole depth of this spiritual world alien to Nicholas, that he felt an irresistible attraction.
“A wonderful girl must be! That's the angel! he said to himself. “Why am I not free, why did I hurry with Sonya?” And involuntarily he imagined a comparison between the two: poverty in one and wealth in the other of those spiritual gifts that Nicholas did not have and which therefore he valued so highly. He tried to imagine what it would be like if he were free. How would he propose to her and she would become his wife? No, he couldn't imagine it. He felt terrified, and no clear images presented themselves to him. With Sonya, he had long ago formed a future picture for himself, and all this was simple and clear, precisely because it was all invented, and he knew everything that was in Sonya; but with Princess Mary it was impossible to imagine a future life, because he did not understand her, but only loved her.
Dreams about Sonya had something cheerful, toy in them. But thinking about Princess Mary was always difficult and a little scary.
How she prayed! he remembered. It was evident that her whole soul was in prayer. Yes, this is the prayer that moves mountains, and I am sure that her prayer will be fulfilled. Why don't I pray for what I need? he remembered. - What I need? Freedom, denouement with Sonya. She spoke the truth,” he recalled the words of the governor’s wife, “except for misfortune, nothing will come of the fact that I marry her. Confusion, woe maman... things... confusion, terrible confusion! Yes, I don't like her. Yes, I don't like it as much as I should. My God! get me out of this terrible, hopeless situation! He suddenly began to pray. - Yes, prayer will move a mountain, but you have to believe and not pray like Natasha and I prayed as children that snow would turn into sugar, and ran out into the yard to try whether sugar was made from snow. No, but I’m not praying about trifles now, ”he said, putting the receiver in the corner and, folding his hands, standing in front of the image. And, touched by the memory of Princess Marya, he began to pray in a way he had not prayed for a long time. Tears were in his eyes and in his throat when Lavrushka entered the door with some papers.
- Fool! what do you climb when you are not asked! - said Nikolai, quickly changing position.
“From the governor,” Lavrushka said in a sleepy voice, “the courier has arrived, a letter for you.
- Well, okay, thanks, go!
Nicholas took two letters. One was from the mother, the other from Sonya. He recognized them by their handwriting and opened Sonya's first letter. Before he had time to read a few lines, his face turned pale and his eyes opened in fear and joy.
- No, it can't be! he said aloud. Unable to sit still, he is with a letter in his hands, reading it. began to walk around the room. He ran through the letter, then read it once, twice, and, raising his shoulders and spreading his arms, he stopped in the middle of the room with his mouth open and his eyes fixed. What he had just prayed for, with the assurance that God would grant his prayer, was fulfilled; but Nicholas was surprised by this as if it were something extraordinary, and as if he had never expected it, and as if the very fact that it happened so quickly proved that it did not come from the god he asked, but by mere chance.
The seemingly unresolvable knot that tied Rostov's freedom was resolved by this unexpected (as it seemed to Nikolai), unprovoked letter from Sonya. She wrote that the last unfortunate circumstances, the loss of almost all the property of the Rostovs in Moscow, and the countess's repeated wishes that Nikolai would marry Princess Bolkonskaya, and his silence and coldness lately - all this together made her decide to renounce him. promises and give him complete freedom.
“It was too hard for me to think that I could be the cause of grief or discord in the family that did me good,” she wrote, “and my love has one goal in the happiness of those whom I love; and therefore I beg you, Nicolas, to consider yourself free and to know that in spite of everything, no one can love you more than your Sonya.
Both letters were from Trinity. The other letter was from the Countess. This letter described the last days in Moscow, the departure, the fire and the death of the entire state. In this letter, by the way, the countess wrote that Prince Andrei, among the wounded, was traveling with them. His position was very dangerous, but now the doctor says there is more hope. Sonya and Natasha, as nurses, look after him.
With this letter, the next day, Nikolai went to Princess Marya. Neither Nikolai nor Princess Marya said a word about what the words could mean: "Natasha is courting him"; but thanks to this letter, Nikolai suddenly became close to the princess in an almost family relationship.
The next day, Rostov accompanied Princess Marya to Yaroslavl and a few days later he himself left for the regiment.

Sonya's letter to Nicholas, which was the fulfillment of his prayer, was written from the Trinity. That's what caused it. The thought of Nicholas marrying a rich bride occupied the old countess more and more. She knew that Sonya was the main obstacle to this. And Sonya's life of late, especially after the letter from Nikolai, who described his meeting in Bogucharovo with Princess Marya, became harder and harder in the countess's house. The countess did not miss a single opportunity for an insulting or cruel allusion to Sonya.
But a few days before leaving Moscow, moved and agitated by everything that was happening, the countess, calling Sonya to her, instead of reproaches and demands, with tears turned to her with a plea that she, sacrificing herself, would pay for everything, what was done for her was to cut off her ties with Nikolai.
“I will not be at peace until you make this promise to me.
Sonya burst into tears hysterically, answered through her sobs that she would do everything that she was ready for anything, but she did not make a direct promise and in her soul could not decide what was demanded of her. It was necessary to sacrifice oneself for the happiness of the family that nurtured and raised her. Sacrificing herself for the happiness of others was Sonya's habit. Her position in the house was such that only on the path of sacrifice could she show her virtues, and she was used to and loved to sacrifice herself. But before that, in all acts of self-sacrifice, she was joyfully aware that, by sacrificing herself, she thereby raises her price in the eyes of herself and others and becomes more worthy of Nicolas, whom she loved most in life; but now her sacrifice had to consist in giving up what for her was the whole reward of sacrifice, the whole meaning of life. And for the first time in her life she felt bitterness towards those people who did her good in order to torture her more painfully; she felt envious of Natasha, who had never experienced anything like this, never needed sacrifices and forced others to sacrifice herself and still loved by everyone. And for the first time, Sonya felt how out of her quiet, pure love for Nicolas a passionate feeling suddenly began to grow, which stood above both rules, and virtue, and religion; and under the influence of this feeling, Sonya involuntarily, having learned secrecy by her dependent life, answered the countess in general indefinite words, avoided conversations with her and decided to wait for a meeting with Nikolai so that in this meeting she would not free, but, on the contrary, forever connect herself with him .
The troubles and horror of the last days of the Rostovs' stay in Moscow drowned out the gloomy thoughts that weighed on her in Sonya. She was glad to find salvation from them in practical activities. But when she found out about the presence of Prince Andrei in their house, despite all the sincere pity that she felt for him and for Natasha, a joyful and superstitious feeling that God did not want her to be separated from Nicolas, seized her. She knew that Natasha loved one Prince Andrei and did not stop loving him. She knew that now, brought together in such terrible conditions, they would fall in love again, and that then Nicholas, due to the relationship that would be between them, would not be able to marry Princess Mary. Despite all the horror of everything that happened in the last days and during the first days of the journey, this feeling, this consciousness of Providence intervening in her personal affairs, pleased Sonya.
In the Trinity Lavra, the Rostovs made the first day of their trip.
In the hotel of the Lavra, the Rostovs were assigned three large rooms, one of which was occupied by Prince Andrei. The wounded man was much better that day. Natasha sat with him. The Count and Countess were sitting in the next room, conversing respectfully with the rector, who had visited his old acquaintances and investors. Sonya was sitting right there, and she was tormented by curiosity about what Prince Andrei and Natasha were talking about. She listened to the sound of their voices through the door. The door to Prince Andrei's room opened. Natasha, with an agitated face, came out of there and, not noticing the monk who rose to meet her and took hold of the wide sleeve of his right hand, went up to Sonya and took her by the hand.
- Natasha, what are you? Come here, said the Countess.
Natasha came under the blessing, and the abbot advised to seek help from God and his saint.
Immediately after the rector left, Nashat took her friend by the hand and went with her into an empty room.
Sonya, right? will he be alive? - she said. - Sonya, how happy I am and how unhappy I am! Sonya, my dear, everything is the same as before. If only he were alive. He can't ... because, because ... because ... - And Natasha burst into tears.
- So! I knew it! Thank God, said Sonya. - He will be alive!
Sonya was excited no less than her friend - both by her fear and grief, and by her personal, unspoken thoughts. She, sobbing, kissed and consoled Natasha. "If only he were alive!" she thought. After weeping, talking, and wiping away their tears, the two friends approached Prince Andrei's door. Natasha carefully opened the door and peered into the room. Sonya stood next to her at the half-open door.
Prince Andrei lay high on three pillows. His pale face was calm, his eyes were closed, and you could see how evenly he breathed.
- Oh, Natasha! Sonya suddenly almost screamed, clutching her cousin's arm and stepping back from the door.
- What? what? Natasha asked.
“This is this, that, this…” said Sonya with a pale face and trembling lips.
Natasha quietly closed the door and went with Sonya to the window, not yet understanding what she was being told.
“Do you remember,” Sonya said with a frightened and solemn face, “remember when I looked for you in the mirror ... In Otradnoye, at Christmas time ... Do you remember what I saw? ..
- Yes Yes! - Natasha said, opening her eyes wide, vaguely remembering that then Sonya said something about Prince Andrei, whom she saw lying.
– Do you remember? Sonya continued. - I saw then and told everyone, both you and Dunyasha. I saw that he was lying on the bed,” she said, making a gesture with her hand with a raised finger at every detail, “and that he closed his eyes, and that he was covered with a pink blanket, and that he folded his hands,” Sonya said, making sure as she described the details she saw now, that these same details she saw then. Then she saw nothing, but said that she saw what came to her mind; but what she thought up then seemed to her just as real as any other memory. What she then said, that he looked back at her and smiled and was covered with something red, she not only remembered, but was firmly convinced that even then she had said and seen that he was covered with a pink, precisely pink blanket, and that his eyes were closed.
“Yes, yes, exactly pink,” said Natasha, who also now seemed to remember what was said in pink, and in this very she saw the main extraordinary and mysteriousness of the prediction.
“But what does that mean? Natasha said thoughtfully.
“Ah, I don’t know how extraordinary all this is! Sonya said, clutching her head.
A few minutes later, Prince Andrei called, and Natasha went in to him; and Sonya, experiencing a feeling of excitement and tenderness rarely experienced by her, remained at the window, pondering the whole unusualness of what had happened.
On this day there was an opportunity to send letters to the army, and the countess wrote a letter to her son.
“Sonya,” said the countess, looking up from her letter as her niece passed her. - Sonya, will you write to Nikolenka? said the countess in a low, trembling voice, and in the look of her tired eyes, peering through glasses, Sonya read everything that the countess meant by these words. This look expressed both prayer, and fear of refusal, and shame at what had to be asked, and readiness for irreconcilable hatred in case of refusal.
Sonya went up to the countess and, kneeling down, kissed her hand.
“I will write, maman,” she said.
Sonya was softened, agitated and touched by everything that happened that day, especially by the mysterious performance of divination that she just saw. Now that she knew that on the occasion of the resumption of relations between Natasha and Prince Andrei, Nikolai could not marry Princess Marya, she gladly felt the return of that mood of self-sacrifice in which she loved and used to live. And with tears in her eyes and with joy in the consciousness of committing a generous deed, she, interrupted several times by tears that clouded her velvety black eyes, wrote that touching letter, the receipt of which so struck Nikolai.

In the guardhouse, where Pierre was taken, the officer and soldiers who took him treated him with hostility, but at the same time respectfully. There was also a sense of doubt in their attitude towards him about who he was (isn't he a very important person), and hostility due to their still fresh personal struggle with him.
But when, on the morning of the next day, the shift came, Pierre felt that for the new guard - for officers and soldiers - he no longer had the meaning that he had for those who took him. And indeed, in this big, fat man in a peasant's caftan, the guards of the other day no longer saw that living person who fought so desperately with the marauder and the escort soldiers and uttered a solemn phrase about saving the child, but they saw only the seventeenth of those held for some reason, according to the order of the higher authorities, taken by the Russians. If there was anything special in Pierre, it was only his timid, concentrated, thoughtful look and the French language, in which, surprisingly for the French, he spoke well. Despite the fact that on the same day Pierre was connected with other suspects taken, since the officer needed a separate room that he occupied.
All the Russians kept with Pierre were people of the lowest rank. And all of them, recognizing the gentleman in Pierre, shunned him, especially since he spoke French. Pierre sadly heard ridicule over himself.
The next day, in the evening, Pierre learned that all these detainees (and, probably, including himself) were to be tried for arson. On the third day, Pierre was taken with others to a house where a French general with a white mustache, two colonels and other Frenchmen with scarves on their hands were sitting. Pierre, along with others, was asked questions about who he is with that allegedly exceeding human weaknesses, accuracy and determination with which defendants are usually treated. where was he? for what purpose? etc.
These questions, leaving aside the essence of life's work and excluding the possibility of disclosing this essence, like all questions asked at the courts, aimed only at substituting the groove along which the judges wanted the defendant's answers to flow and lead him to the desired goal, that is, to the accusation. As soon as he began to say something that did not satisfy the purpose of the accusation, they accepted the groove, and the water could flow wherever it wanted. In addition, Pierre experienced the same thing that the defendant experiences in all courts: bewilderment, why did they ask him all these questions. He felt that it was only out of condescension or, as it were, courtesy that this trick of the substituted groove was used. He knew that he was in the power of these people, that only power had brought him here, that only power gave them the right to demand answers to questions, that the only purpose of this meeting was to accuse him. And therefore, since there was power and there was a desire to accuse, there was no need for the trick of questions and trial. It was obvious that all answers had to lead to guilt. When asked what he was doing when they took him, Pierre answered with some tragedy that he was carrying a child to his parents, qu "il avait sauve des flammes [whom he saved from the flame]. - Why did he fight with a marauder? Pierre answered, that he defended a woman, that the protection of an offended woman is the duty of every man, that... He was stopped: it did not go to the point. Why was he in the yard of the house on fire, where witnesses saw him? He answered that he was going to see what was being done in Moscow. They stopped him again: they did not ask him where he was going, but why he was near the fire? Who is he? They repeated the first question to which he said that he did not want to answer. Again he answered that he could not say this .

The battle for the near approaches to Japan. Capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa

Even during the battle for the Philippines, the American command began preparing new operations against Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff set the following tasks for the armed forces in the Pacific: to take up positions on the Nampo and Ryukyu islands in order to obtain additional airfields for attacks on the islands of the mother country; complete the blockade of Japan by sea and air; maintain military pressure on Japan. The solution of these problems was begun with the capture of the island of Iwo Jima, located halfway from Japan to the Marianas.

The island of Iwo Jima, whose dimensions exceeded 5 by 8.5 km, was not considered by the Japanese command as a strategic object, so its defense was relatively weak. The island had a garrison of 23,000 with 23 tanks and 600 guns. Air cover was almost non-existent - only a few aircraft. The marine component was also minimal - a few small submarines and a dozen patrol boats.

The American-British command still used the strategy of concentrating the maximum possible forces in a narrow area, which would crush the enemy with one crushing blow. The landing forces amounted to 110 thousand people. They were supported by a real air and sea armada: 352 aircraft of the air armies, 1170 aircraft based on aircraft carriers, the 5th American fleet, the number of personnel of which reached 220 thousand people.

As in previous operations, the Americans carried out a long and powerful air and artillery preparation. Massive air strikes were carried out for 70 days! On February 19, they landed. At the same time, the bombed-out Japanese on the coast offered almost no resistance. However, then the offensive developed very slowly. The Americans moved slowly. And the Japanese in the depths of the island put up stubborn resistance, skillfully using natural caves and specially created shelters for defense. However, the superiority in forces and technical means of struggle once again predetermined the victory of the Americans. By March 17, 1945, the Japanese garrison was destroyed.

The Japanese troops almost completely died in the struggle, only about 200 people were taken prisoner (later, when the remnants of the Japanese troops were finished off, more than 800 people were captured). The Americans lost more people than the Japanese, about 26 thousand people were killed, wounded and missing. The Battle of Iwo Jima was the bloodiest battle in the US Marine Corps. The US Navy lost 18 ships, mostly due to airstrikes and coastal artillery return fire.

The American command set up a military base on Iwo Jima. March 10, the US Air Force bombed Tokyo, March 12 - Nagoya, March 13 - Osaka. These air raids from the island became regular. The base on Iwo Jima, together with strongholds in the Aleutian Islands, gave the United States control over the Pacific Northwest.

American equipment that burned down in the early days of the fighting on Iwo Jima

Simultaneously with the fighting on Iwo Jima, the Americans prepared an operation to capture Okinawa. This island was of particular importance in American plans. Its strategic position ensured dominance not only in the East China Sea, but also made it possible to threaten Japan itself. In addition, the Americans were interested in Okinawa as a future major military base in the Western Pacific. The island has convenient sites for the construction of airfields and naval installations.

The Japanese command also attached great importance to Okinawa. The island was defended by 70 thousand people. 32nd Japanese army and about 9 thousand sailors. In addition, the entire male population of the island aged 17 to 45 was mobilized into the army. Even schoolchildren were used as attendants. The 32nd Army was supported from the air by the 5th Air Fleet, which had about 250 aircraft. During the defense of the island, it was supposed to strengthen the 5th Air Fleet with aircraft from other air fleets, including projectiles with suicide pilots. They took part in the defense of the island in the Japanese Navy: 1 battleship, 1 light cruiser and 8 destroyers.

The task of storming Okinawa was entrusted to the 10th US Army under the command of General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., which was formed in early 1945. The army had two corps: the 3rd Corps consisted of the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions, the 24th Corps included the 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions. The US 2nd Marine Division remained in reserve. In addition, the 27th and 77th Infantry Divisions were under the command of the 10th Army. In total, under the command of the 10th Army there were more than 100 thousand soldiers of the US Army, 88 thousand people of the Marine Corps and 18 thousand people from the fleet. The American army was reinforced with 300 amphibious tanks, a large number of artillery, mortar, engineering and other units.

The landing was supported by the American 5th Fleet and the British carrier formation, which had a total of more than 1,300 warships and support vessels. The combat core of the naval component of the strike force included 20 battleships, 33 aircraft carriers, 32 cruisers, 83 destroyers and 36 submarines. The aircraft carriers had more than 1,700 aircraft. To strengthen the aviation component, aviation of the strategic air forces was involved. The total number of the American group was more than 450 thousand people. The American-British command has created an overwhelming superiority in all branches of the armed forces.

The operation was prepared for a long time: from January to April 1945. During this period, American air reconnaissance revealed the defensive grouping of the Japanese on the island and its defense system. At the beginning of March 1945, the US Air Force carried out massive strikes against Japanese airfields and naval bases located in the Ryukyu Islands. On March 18-19, the Americans bombed airfields on the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and in the southern part of Honshu. Since March 23, air strikes have been carried out on Okinawa itself. At the same time, naval artillery bombarded the coast. On March 26-29, American troops captured the Kerama Island group, located west of Okinawa. On these islands, a ship parking and a logistics base were created.

The landing operation on the west coast of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945. The paratroopers landed under the cover of fire from several dozen battleships, cruisers and destroyers. Initially, the resistance of the Japanese troops, who were waiting for the enemy to land on the east coast, was weak. Therefore, on the first day, the Americans easily occupied a bridgehead up to 14 km along the front and up to 4 km in depth. In the next three days, the Americans reached the east coast and cut the Japanese group into two parts isolated from each other.

Threatened with the loss of the island, the Japanese command tried to launch a counterattack in order to disrupt the enemy's landing operation. To do this, they used attacks by suicide pilots and naval forces. On April 6, the attacks of the Japanese Air Force began. On the same day, Japanese ships left the Sea of ​​Japan and headed for Okinawa. A squadron of Japanese warships, led by the battleship Yamato, was supposed to launch a surprise attack on the Allied fleet, auxiliary vessels, and in case of problems returning to base, the battleship was ordered to break through the enemy fleet, stop off the coast and support the defenders of Okinawa with their artillery fire. Naval guns were to play the role of conventional artillery, while ship crews were to play the role of marines. It was believed that the Yamato strike would distract the enemy, which would allow Japanese aircraft to deliver strong blows to the allied fleet. In essence, it was a plan for a suicide attack, with no chance of victory. Die, but take as many enemies as possible with you.

They planned to strike at the Americans on April 8. However, the Japanese fleet failed to covertly approach the intended target. American submarines intercepted the radio transmissions of Japanese ships, and the enemy's plan became clear. On the morning of April 7, American bombers and torpedo bombers based on aircraft carriers attacked the enemy in the area south of Kyushu. The battleship "Yamato", a cruiser and 4 destroyers were lost. More than 3 thousand people died on the Yamato alone. The remaining ships, having received damage, withdrew to their bases.

The Japanese Air Force was more successful. During the almost three-month battle for Okinawa (from April 1 to June 22, 1945), the Japanese were able to sink 22 and seriously damage 164 American ships. However, the attacks of the Japanese air forces could not disrupt the landing operation. By April 22, 1945, American troops cleared the northern part of the island from the enemy. The battle for the southern part of the island dragged on. The main forces of the Japanese army held the defense here. The Japanese soldiers skillfully used the rugged terrain (caves, gorges, rocks) and well prepared the system of engineering structures. In order to break the desperate resistance of the Japanese, the Americans had to strain all their forces and means. Only after fierce fighting, the Japanese were destroyed. By the end of June 21, 1945, organized resistance on the island was crushed.

During the battle for Okinawa, the Americans suffered heavy losses - more than 75 thousand people were killed, wounded and missing (according to other sources - about 50 thousand people). At the same time, more than 10 thousand US military were demobilized due to nervous breakdowns. As a result, the battle for Okinawa became the bloodiest battle for the American army in the entire Pacific theater of operations and the second in terms of the number of victims in the entire war, second only to the Ardennes operation in terms of the number of victims. In the battles on the island itself, the Americans lost 225 tanks and many amphibious assault-tracked vehicles. The fleet lost 36 ships dead, another 368 ships and auxiliary vessels were damaged. Aviation lost 763 aircraft.

Japanese losses amounted to about 100 thousand people killed and more than 7 thousand prisoners (ground forces, air force and navy). In addition, approximately 42 thousand local residents became victims of the war (according to other sources, from 100 to 150 thousand people). The Japanese lost 16 ships and vessels, including a battleship and a cruiser, and a large number of aircraft, mostly with suicide pilots.

The capture of the island was of strategic importance. The allied fleet and army, as well as aviation received a military base in close proximity to the main part of Japan. On the occupied island, the “US Civilian Administration in the Ryukyu Islands” was established, in fact, a military government that existed on the island in 1972. Okinawa is still the largest US military stronghold in Asia.

Japan prepares for the final battle

The enemy's approach to the near approaches to Japan itself forced the Japanese military-political leadership to speed up efforts to prepare for the conduct of hostilities in the mother country and on the mainland. In Northeast China, a total mobilization of all the Japanese was carried out, which made it possible to form a number of new units and subunits in the summer. By this time, the third stage of mobilization was being completed in the metropolis itself. The Chinese and Koreans living in Japan were drafted into the army. In the occupied territories of Korea and China, the number of troops of the puppet governments has increased.

As a result of the measures taken, the ground forces of the Japanese armed forces grew to 4.6 million people, and they planned to increase them to 5 million soldiers by the end of the year. Of the total number of Japanese ground forces, about 2 million soldiers were in Japan itself. The metropolis was ready to defend about 8 thousand aircraft of various types. In addition, there were about 1.6 million sailors in the bases and ports of Japan. The fleet was of great importance in Japan, but now it has almost lost its former role, and hundreds of thousands of sailors were now preparing for ground battles. The remnants of the Japanese fleet - 5 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 6 cruisers, 24 destroyers and other ships, were concentrated at the bases of Japan.

The authorities were going to involve the entire nation in the struggle. Through the press, radio and cinema, the Japanese were assured of the need to "defend the foundations of the national state system, waging war to a victorious end, drawing strength from the principle of eternal devotion to the emperor." On April 25, 1945, a special "Manual for the population on the conduct of defensive battles" was published. According to it, detachments of the civilian volunteer corps were formed everywhere, which were supposed to participate in hostilities together with the army. On June 22, 1945, the Japanese Parliament passed a law on voluntary military service. According to this law, men aged 15 to 60 and women aged 17 to 40 could be called up for military service “if necessary”. They could be enrolled in combat units of the civil corps regardless of consent and marital status.

The Japanese authorities were going to use all the Japanese, if necessary, up to women, teenagers and the elderly. At the same time, the Japanese emperor and the main headquarters were going to secretly take refuge in a huge underground fortress in Matsushiro. There, in case of an invasion of Japan by enemy forces, a network of underground passages was prepared. And in the event of the fall of Japan, the Japanese military-political leadership was going to flee to the mainland and there continue to resist the forces of the Kwantung Army and the expeditionary forces stationed in China.

At the end of March 1945, a plan was drawn up for a "decisive battle on the territory of Japan" ("Ketsu"). He set the task of strengthening with all available forces the areas of possible invasion, as well as the entrances to the most important straits and bays of Japan; mobilization and concentration of all mobile forces, especially aviation and suicide squads, which were supposed to attack enemy landing forces at sea and as they approached the coast; taking all measures to strengthen the country's air defense. One of the most important goals of the Ketsu plan was to "use the concentrated power of all forces to crush the advancing American forces ...".

Plans for the invasion of the Japanese islands

Meanwhile, while Japan was preparing for the battle for the mother country, the American-British command was developing plans for the invasion of the Japanese islands. Shortly after the surrender of Nazi Germany, the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved a plan providing for the landing of troops of the 6th American Army on the island of Kyushu (Operation Olympic) with the support of all air and naval forces available in the Pacific Ocean. The start of the operation was scheduled for November 1, 1945. Four months later, that is, in the spring of 1946, it was planned to land the 8th and 10th American armies on the island of Honshu (Operation Coronet). In the future, it was supposed to throw the 1st American Army into battle, for which it was necessary to transfer it to the Pacific Ocean from Western Europe. The main objective of the two operations was the destruction of Japanese troops on their own territory, the capture of the Tokyo-Yokohama area. Then they planned to advance north in order to capture the rest of the Japanese islands.

At the same time, the headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific, MacArthur, in the event of the surrender of Japan, developed the Blacklist plan. According to it, the 6th US Army was to occupy the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and the western part of Honshu, the 8th US Army - the island of Hokkaido and the northern part of Honshu, the 10th Army - the Korean Peninsula. The occupying troops had to solve the following tasks: to occupy strategic centers; isolate Japan from Asia; establish control over the highest government bodies; demobilize the Japanese military; suppress all elements that resist the occupation.

However, the Americans did not count too much on a quick end to the war. US Secretary of War Stimson, in a memorandum to Truman dated July 2, 1945, noted that “... operations to take over Japan can turn out to be lengthy and require great expenses and hard struggle on our part ... Having started the battle, we will have, in my opinion, to complete it even more more brutal battles than those that took place in Germany. As a result, we will suffer huge losses and be forced to leave Japan. The British leadership did not count on a quick victory either. British Prime Minister Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons, said that it was impossible "to know how long the suppression of Japanese resistance in the many territories that she had conquered, and especially in Japan proper, would last."

Thus, the American and British leadership did not count on a quick victory in Japan. Already the bloody battle for Okinawa showed the determination of the Japanese to resist to the last soldier. The battle for Japan could drag on and lead to huge casualties on both sides. And the bombing of Japanese cities would only multiply the casualties among the civilian population of the Japanese islands.

While the plans for the invasion of the American-British troops into Japan were being developed, the fighting in the Pacific theater was limited to the bombing of Japanese cities and the shelling of some objects on the east coast of the metropolis by naval artillery. For cruising operations, American and British formations of fast ships were allocated - 18 aircraft carriers with 1246 aircraft, 9 battleships, 21 cruisers and 74 destroyers. Between July and August 1945, about 60 Japanese cities, including Tokyo, were subjected to air bombardment and artillery shelling. As a result of these attacks, the civilian population suffered especially heavy losses, which had almost no means of protection. Military facilities were covered by air defense systems, high-ranking military-political leadership and the military had bomb shelters.

As a result, during the fighting in the first half of 1945, the United States and Great Britain won a number of important victories over the Japanese troops in the Pacific Ocean and in Southeast Asia. The American-British troops won victories in the Philippines, Burma, captured a number of islands, including Okinawa, reaching the near approaches to Japan itself. Preparations began for the invasion of the Japanese islands. Maritime communications of the Japanese Empire with the South Seas zone were completely intercepted. The supply of strategic raw materials from the countries of Southeast Asia, primarily oil and oil products, was completely disrupted. The Japanese navy and merchant fleet, due to heavy losses and lack of fuel, were almost completely turned off from the fight at sea. Numerous naval contingent began to prepare for the fight on land. Japanese aviation also suffered irreparable damage. The Japanese economy was in severe decline, although it was still able to arm the ground forces. The Japanese leadership was preparing for a decisive battle for the territory of Japan itself.

However, the war could still drag on. The Japanese Empire still had a good chance of dragging out the war, although this led to huge casualties for the Japanese nation. The Japanese military-political leadership, not without reason, hoped to organize a fierce and prolonged resistance in the Japanese islands, and then in Asia. To do this, the Japanese government had a powerful and numerous ground forces with a disciplined officer corps and fanatical soldiers, thousands of suicide bombers; obedient population, that is, a calm rear; large human resources that were willing to sacrifice; the industrial base and resources of Japan and Northeast China; large areas, including Japan itself, the Korean Peninsula, a significant part of China and territories in Indochina.

Under these conditions, the forthcoming action of the Soviet Union against Japan acquired decisive importance for the further course of World War II.

To be continued…

Battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg- an operation to capture the Japanese island of Okinawa by US troops with the support of the American and British fleets. The battle was the penultimate amphibious landing operation in the Pacific theater of operations, and at the same time the last significant battle of World War II before the Soviet–Japanese War. The fighting went on for 82 days and ended only on June 23.

In English, the battle was called "Steel Typhoon", in Japanese - "Tetsu no ame" (jap. 鉄の雨, "Steel rain"). The reason for such names was the severity of the battles, the intensity of artillery shelling and the impressive number of allied ships and armored vehicles that stormed the island. The battle is one of the bloodiest of the entire war on the Pacific front: the Japanese lost more than 100,000 soldiers; over 12,000 Allied soldiers (mostly US) were killed and over 38,000 were wounded. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, injured or attempted suicide. About a third of the civilian population died as a result of the invasion.

The main goal of the operation was to capture a large island, located only 544 km from the main territory of Japan. After a long campaign to successively seize the strategically important Pacific Islands (Eng. island hopping), the Allies began to approach Japan. Okinawa was to serve as a springboard for the planned invasion of the main islands of the Japanese archipelago. Although Okinawa was hastily equipped as a base for air operations, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, unexpected for the Japanese, led to the surrender of Japan just a few weeks after the end of the fighting on the island and the planned invasion was never carried out.

balance of power

Ground troops

The US ground forces involved in the operation consisted of the 10th Army under the command of General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. Under the command of the army were two corps: the 3rd Corps, under the command of Major General Roy Geiger, consisted of the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions, and the 24th Corps of Major General John Hodge included the 7th and 96 I infantry divisions. The US 2nd Marine Division remained in reserve, at sea, in constant readiness. She never had to go into battle. In addition, the 27th and 77th Infantry Divisions were under the command of the 10th Army. In total, 10th Army commanded 102,000 U.S. Army, 88,000 Marine Corps, and 18,000 U.S. Navy personnel.

The command staff of the 32nd Japanese army. February 1945

The Japanese forces (mostly defensive) were represented by the regular 32nd Army, consisting of 67,000 (according to other sources - 77,000) soldiers, as well as from 9,000 sailors of the imperial navy, who were at the Oroku naval base (only a few hundreds of them were trained and equipped for war on land). In addition, 39,000 local residents were assigned to help the army (among them, 24,000 hastily called up local militia - "Boeitai" and 15,000 workers who did not wear any uniform). Additionally, 1,500 schoolchildren were organized to help the fighting in the so-called Iron and Blood Volunteer Forces, and about 600 high school girls were gathered in a medical unit called Himeyuri.

Initially, the 32nd Army consisted of the 9th, 24th and 62nd divisions and a separate 44th mixed brigade, however, due to a change in defense plans by the Japanese command, the 9th division was transferred to Taiwan before the allied invasion . The main defensive force was in the south of the island under the command of Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Isamu Cho, and Chief of Operations, Colonel Hiromichi Yahara. Yahara was a supporter of a defensive strategy, Cho preferred an offensive strategy. In the north of the island, Colonel Takehido Udo commanded the defense. The naval personnel were commanded by Rear Admiral Minoru Ota.

The Americans were expected to land six to ten divisions against a Japanese garrison of two and a half divisions. The headquarters also calculated that the superior quality and abundance of weapons would give each American division a sixfold superiority in firepower over each Japanese division. To this it was worth adding the power of the American Navy and the US Air Force.

Fleet

US Navy

Most of the fighters and small dive bombers were based on American aircraft carriers. Beginning with the battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese began to use the tactics of kamikaze pilots, but for the first time they became the main part of the defense. Between the American landings on April 1 and May 25, Japanese kamikazes carried out seven major attacks involving more than 1,500 aircraft. The allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa consisted of 1,600 ships. Among them are 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 32 cruisers and 200 destroyers. In this operation, the US Navy suffered the greatest losses - more than in all other battles of the Second World War.

Fleet of the British Commonwealth

Despite the fact that the Allied ground forces off the coast of Okinawa consisted entirely of American formations, the British Pacific Fleet provided the Americans with more than a quarter of all naval aviation used by the Allies in the operation (450 aircraft). The Royal Navy's force off the coast of Okinawa consisted of many ships, including 50 warships, of which 17 were aircraft carriers. Due to the structural features and reinforced armor of the lower deck, British aircraft carriers could carry fewer aircraft, however, such ships were more resistant to kamikaze attacks than their American counterparts. Although all the aircraft carriers were provided by the British Navy, the ships (and their crews) accompanying them belonged not only to the Royal Navy, but also to the Canadian, New Zealand and Australian navies. The task of these ships was to neutralize Japanese airfields on the Sakishima Islands, as well as to protect aircraft carriers from kamikaze attacks.

Battle at sea

The British Pacific Fleet was ordered to neutralize Japanese airfields on the Sakishima Islands. On March 26, the fleet began to carry out the order and on April 10 successfully completed it. On April 10, the fleet's attention was switched to airfields in northern Taiwan. On April 23, the fleet withdrew to San Pedro Bay off the coast of the Philippines. Although such a length of voyage was in the order of things for an American fleet, for an English flotilla of this size this proved to be the longest voyage.

In the battles for Okinawa, 48% of the soldiers were shell-shocked, about 14,000 were demobilized due to nervous breakdowns. The number of US Navy personnel who died in the battle exceeded the number of wounded and amounted to 4,907 people. 4,874 people were injured. Most of the victims and injured were victims of kamikaze attacks.

General Buckner's decision to attack the Japanese fortifications frontally, although it cost many soldiers' lives, was ultimately successful. Four days before the end of the entire operation, Buckner himself was killed by artillery fire while visiting his front line troops. The next day, another general, Brigadier General Claudius M. Easley, was killed by machine gun fire.

For all days of fighting, 368 Allied ships (including landing craft) were damaged, another 36 (including 15 landing ships and 12 destroyers) were sunk. The Japanese sank 16 ships, including the huge battleship Yamato. In the battles on the island itself, the Americans lost 225 tanks and many LVT(A)5 tracked vehicles. The Japanese lost 27 tanks and 743 artillery pieces (including mortars, anti-tank guns and air defense guns), most of the equipment was destroyed by allied naval fire and aerial bombardment.

Japanese soldiers who chose captivity over suicide are awaiting interrogation.

The losses of the Japanese side amounted to about 107,000 military personnel, 7,400 people were captured. Some soldiers committed seppuku or simply blew themselves up with a grenade. In addition, about 20,000 people were burned by American flamethrowers in their cave fortifications.

For the first time in the entire war, Japanese military personnel began to surrender by the thousands. Many of them were native Okinawans, hastily drafted into the army before the battle. These residents were much less imbued with the spirit of the Japanese military doctrine, calling not to surrender in any case (until 1879, Okinawa was a sovereign state, whose inhabitants did not consider themselves Japanese and spoke a special, albeit close to Japanese, language).

When the American troops occupied the island, many Japanese dressed in native civilian clothes to avoid capture. The Okinawans offered the Americans a simple method for identifying Japanese in hiding: because of the great difference between Japanese and Okinawan, the Japanese did not understand when they were spoken to in the latter. The Okinawans, in the presence of the Americans, began to give the inhabitants of settlements simple instructions in their own language. Those who did not understand the instructions were the Japanese hiding from captivity.

Civilian casualties

Two US Marines share a trench with an orphaned child.

Overcoming the resistance of local residents was also carried out with the help of propaganda: a captured Okinawan reads a leaflet.

During many battles on the Pacific front (such as, for example, the Battle of Iwo Jima), the local population was not involved in hostilities, but there were a large number of local residents on Okinawa, and the Japanese decided to involve them in the defense of the island. As a result, according to various estimates, from 1/10 to 1/3 of all the inhabitants of the island died in the battle. The number of deaths by various experts is estimated from 42,000 to 150,000 people (according to data from Okinawa Prefecture - more than 100,000 people). US Army officials spoke of a final figure of 142,058 civilians, including those who were forcibly drafted into service by the Japanese army.

According to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Museum, the inhabitants of the island were sandwiched between two belligerents - the United States and Japan. In 1945, the Japanese army showed complete indifference to the fate and safety of the island and its inhabitants, and Japanese soldiers used the local population as a "human shield" against American attacks. The soldiers of the imperial army took away food from the inhabitants of the island, thereby causing starvation among the population and forcing people to leave their shelters. About 1,000 people were killed by Japanese soldiers for speaking the local dialect - in this way the authorities fought against espionage. The museum says that some [residents] died from shell explosions, some, having fallen into a hopeless situation, were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, others from malaria, and still others fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops". Rape of local women was practiced by both sides of the conflict. Rape by Japanese soldiers became especially frequent in June, when it became clear that the Japanese army had been defeated.