costs of tanks costs of tanks in the military graph

After landing on the west side of the island, the Tenth Army pushed directly south into the teeth of the enemy’s prepared defenses toward the Japanese headquarters at Shuri, and even beyond once overwhelming pressure forced the enemy to reposition further south. Built into and on top of ridges, hills, and escarpments, these lines transformed the terrain itself into a fortress. Successive east-west defensive belts stretched across the island. Between them, fighting in the Aleutians and on Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Guam, and Leyte had hammered them into tough outfits before they arrived in the Ryukyu Islands for the toughest campaign of all.īefore the American invasion, the Japanese constructed an intricate system of formidable positions across southern Okinawa. Army’s XXIV Corps was comprised of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th Infantry Divisions. Even the 6th Marine Division, formed relatively late in the war, had a core of veterans around which to build.Īlongside the Marine, the U.S. The III Amphibious Corps’ 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions were hardened by fighting on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian. The majority of the Tenth Army was comprised of some of the most battle-tested American troops in the Pacific. Operation Iceberg on Okinawa, the last major battle of the war, was a combined operation of unprecedented scale, a savage climax for a combat theater marked by years of unrelenting savagery. For three months, US military forces engaged in merciless fighting for control of 640 square miles of the Ryukyu Islands, only 340 miles from mainland Japan. The road to that point had been long and bloody, a plodding march from the landing beaches on April 1 to the southern tip of the mainland. On June 22, 1945, the American flag rose into the quiet blue sky above Tenth Army’s headquarters as a band played the “Star Spangled Banner,” a somber observation of US victory on Okinawa. The National WWII Museum, Gift of Dylan Utley, Accession #2012.019.782 Top image: At the 1st Marine Division cemetery, a Marine kneels at the grave of a friend lost on Okinawa.

Costs of tanks costs of tanks in the military graph