Okinawa 1945

The final preliminary to the invasion of the Japanese mainland was possession of the Ryukyu island group, midway between Formosa and Kyushu, the southernmost island of the Japanese homeland. The target of Operation 'Iceberg' was Okinawa, the largest island in the group. This book details the largest and most complicated amphibious expedition undertaken in the Pacific, when Admiral Spruance's Fifth Fleet lifted Lt. Gen. S.B. Buckner's Tenth Army, the XXIV Corps under Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge and III Marine Amphibious Corps (Maj. Gen R.S. Geiger). Defending Okinawa was the Japanese 32nd army of 130,000 men under Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima.