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The Battle of Okinawa, 1945: the last great battle of the Pacific

Second World War, Pacific · 1 April to 22 June 1945 · United States vs Japan · ~6 min read · Updated October 2026

By Echoes of Battle

American troops under fire during the Battle of Okinawa, 1945

At a glance

United States (with Allies)Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.
vs
Empire of JapanLt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima
Date
1 April to 22 June 1945
Location
Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands
Period
Second World War, Pacific theatre
Outcome
Allied victory
By the numbers
SideStrengthLosses
United States~180,000 in the assault force1~50,000 casualties, including more than 12,000 killed2
Japan~100,000 defenders3~110,000 killed (incl. conscripted Okinawans); 100,000 or more civilians also died

Figures are approximate; civilian deaths on Okinawa were especially heavy.

Quick answer

The United States won the Battle of Okinawa, fought from 1 April to 22 June 19454, the largest amphibious battle of the Pacific War5. American forces took the island from Japan after nearly three months of savage fighting and mass kamikaze attacks on the fleet. The enormous cost in American, Japanese and civilian lives weighed heavily on the decision to end the war with atomic bombs rather than invade Japan itself.

In the spring of 1945 the Pacific War reached Japan's doorstep. On Okinawa, only a few hundred miles from the home islands, American troops faced a dug-in Japanese army determined to make the invasion as costly as possible, and they did.

Part of The greatest battles of the Pacific War · Before: Battle of Iwo Jima · Key figures: Desmond Doss

The gateway to Japan

By 1945 the Allies were closing on Japan itself, and Okinawa was to be the springboard for an invasion of the home islands. The Japanese commander, Mitsuru Ushijima, chose not to contest the beaches but to fortify the rugged south1 of the island and bleed the attackers.

Two colour maps of Okinawa with Japanese defensive zones in the south and American advance lines
US Military Academy atlas maps of Okinawa: the Japanese Thirty-Second Army's defensive dispositions on 1 April 1945, concentrated in the south, and the Tenth Army's operations in the first week after the landings. Public domain

The landings and the ridges

The 1 April landings were almost unopposed2, but once the Americans pushed south they ran into a dense network of ridges, caves and fortified lines. The fighting at places like Shuri Castle and the Sugar Loaf became a grinding battle of attrition in mud and rain, among the worst of the war.

Marines advancing over rubble below the shattered walls of a ruined building
Marines of the 1st Marine Division move in on the ruins of Japanese barracks on the outskirts of Shuri in 1945. Public domain

Kamikaze at sea

Offshore, the US and Allied fleet was battered by the largest kamikaze campaign of the war, hundreds of suicide aircraft that sank and damaged many ships and killed thousands of sailors2. The navy suffered some of its heaviest losses of the entire Pacific war off Okinawa.

Huge column of black smoke rising from an aircraft carrier at sea
The aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill on fire after being hit by two kamikaze aircraft off Okinawa on 11 May 1945, photographed from USS Bataan. US Navy photograph. Public domain
Okinawa showed what invading Japan would cost, and helped ensure it never happened.

The cost

By late June the island was taken, but the price was staggering: tens of thousands of American casualties, nearly the entire Japanese garrison killed, and a catastrophic civilian death toll, as many Okinawans died in the crossfire or were caught in the fighting. Both opposing commanders died in the closing days.4

Marine with a raised arm on a hillside as a civilian walks out of a smoky cave
A Marine signals to a comrade to hold fire as a civilian emerges from a cave on Okinawa in 1945. Public domain

Why Okinawa mattered

Okinawa was the last great battle of the Pacific War and a grim preview of what invading Japan might cost. That calculation weighed heavily in the decision to use the atomic bombs6 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after which Japan surrendered. See also the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Frequently asked questions

When was the Battle of Okinawa?

It was fought from 1 April to 22 June 1945.

Who won the Battle of Okinawa?

The United States and its Allies, after nearly three months of fighting.

Why was Okinawa so costly?

The Japanese fought from fortified ridges and caves and launched the war's largest kamikaze campaign; American, Japanese and civilian deaths were all extremely high.

How did Okinawa affect the end of the war?

Its enormous cost influenced the decision to end the war with the atomic bombs rather than invade the Japanese home islands.

Were civilians affected?

Yes, severely. Tens of thousands of Okinawan civilians died in the fighting, one of the war's great tragedies.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

  1. Roy E. Appleman, James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, John Stevens, Okinawa: The Last Battle (United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific) (Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1948). ↩ a b
  2. The National WWII Museum, “Okinawa: The Costs of Victory in the Last Battle” ↩ a b c
  3. Wikipedia, “Battle of Okinawa” ↩
  4. U.S. National Archives, The Unwritten Record, “Spotlight: Battle of Okinawa” ↩ a b
  5. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Battle of Okinawa” ↩
  6. George Feifer, Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb (Ticknor & Fields, 1992). ↩

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