The largest combined land, sea, and air battle began on this day 80 years ago...

The Battle of Okinawa.

Operation Iceberg - the U.S.-led invasion of the island of Okinawa - began on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. In the early morning hours, approximately 60,000 U.S. soldiers and marines landed on the beaches to surprisingly light resistance. Over the coming days, however, as U.S. forces continued to fan out to the north and south, resistance began to stiffen significantly and one of the most miserable battles of the Second World War began to establish its pattern. In the vain of World War I, American forces would attack heavily entrenched Japanese soldiers while under constant artillery bombardment. The body count began to stack up as thousands of Americans became casualties of war.

Roughly 110,000 men of the IJA and Home Guard opposed the force of 180,000 Americans in the campaign. By the time the island was declared secure on June 22, the Battle of Okinawa had resulted in 264,000 military and civilian casualties. The U.S. saw 12,000 of its men killed and an additional 37,000 reported wounded or missing. The Japanese losses were staggering, with 90,000 military KIA and an additional 125,000 civilians believed to have been killed. The numbers for the Japanese wounded will never be adequately accounted for.

Needless to say, the staggering losses of the Battle of Okinawa would eventually lead President Harry Truman to decide to use the atomic bomb on the Japanese rather than ordering a full invasion of the home islands. And so it can be truly said that the road to Hiroshima began.....80 years ago today.