'They'd Just Fight Until You Killed Them' Battle of Okinawa, WWII

My grandfather was on Iwo, and his cousin was on Okinawa. Can't imagine the things those two men must've seen

ETA: My grandfather said the same thing about the food, except his phrase was: "Everything tasted like death. Death has a taste. You can feel it in your bones, too."

I'll never forget how chilling it was to hear him say that so matter-of-fact(ly)

I did some work for a marine that was on Iwo Jima, and he said “we killed them by the thousands“. He said we shot them, stabbed them, and burned them. Anything we could do to survive.

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This is why the bombs were necessary. The American casualty estimates of an invasion of mainland Japan were astronomical.

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Yep, we had been firebombing the hell out of Japan for months, they sustained 10s of thousands of losses and they still were fighting.

Many of the homes of the Japanese were made of bamboo which was a reason many Japanese cities were in flames.

It is estimated that the US would have sustained over 1 million casualties, if not more.

The Japanese were willing to fight to last person. The women and children were being trained to fight.

The Japanese would have sustained millions of losses.

The Japanese Emperor Hirohito saw that they could withstand the onslaught of the Allied invasion of mainland Japan, so he commanded the Japanese Army and the Japanese people to surrender.

It has been contended that the top commander of the Japanese Imperial military forces want to have Hirohito assassinated and keep on fighting to the last person.


Many contend the real reason that the Japanese surrendered was that the Russians were bearing down on Japan with their invasion of Manchuria and had mainland Japan in their sites.

I think this may be the more plausible reason for the Japanese surrender.

If the Russians would have invaded Japan, were would have seen it divided up much like Germany and Korea.

We may have seen another conflict much like we did in Korea.

A little known fact about WWII is that just 20 years earlier, the Japanese were allies of the US in WWI.

My dad served in the Navy during WWII and was at the Okinawa aboard an attack transport, the USS Gage APA-168. A short blurb about that day, exactly 75 years ago:

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01-April-1945: The Gage joined in the assault at Hagushi Beach, Okinawa. Gage landed and supported marines of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment, 6th Division, a Navy construction battalion, a medical company, and combat equipment. Gage was on station for five days and nights during heavy fighting and almost continuous kamikaze threat

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One hell of a generation they were.

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Many contend the real reason that the Japanese surrendered was that the Russians were bearing down on Japan with their invasion of Manchuria and had mainland Japan in their sites.

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I’ve heard this stated more and more, but it never really made sense to me. Is it plausible that the Japanese were willing to fight to the last man, woman, and child, and risk more atomic bombs being dropped on them by continuing to fight against the greatest standing army and navy at that time, but the thought of the Russians entering the war was what frightened them into surrender?

That song has always given me chills.

I worked for a marine that was in the pacific. RIP
He did not talk much but said we did not take any prisoners and neither did they. He said we did not have enough to eat and was hungry most of the time.

Russian did mass war rape against German women . Idk of American or British did as , but it was horrific

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Yep, we had been firebombing the hell out of Japan for months, they sustained 10s of thousands of losses and they still were fighting.

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We burned out 14.5 square miles in Tokyo. Think about that. 14.5 square miles.