The gripping tale of the last great battle of the Second World War. As the siege of Stalingrad was the ultimate scene of carnage at the Eastern Front, the battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest of the Pacific war. Almost the entire Japanese kamikaze effort of the Second World War was directed against the Americans at Okinawa. At the beginning of the battle on 1 April 1945, over 1 million Americans, Japanese and Okinawans were centred on the small Pacific island; by 23 June, when the Japanese commanders committed seppuku, 250,000 civilians and soldiers were dead. More people died during the battle of Okinawa than in the ensuing bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Okinawa 1945 offers a stunning account of the last major campaign of the Second World War and the largest land?sea?air engagement. Superbly researched and extraordinarily detailed, Okinawa 1945 is told at the level of the participants themselves, soldiers and civilians alike, with the dramatic stories of three individuals running through the entire account. AUTHOR: While researching this book, George Feifer interviewed hundreds of American and Japanese veterans as well as Okinawan civilians, and their first-hand testimony is reproduced throughout. Feifer's previous books include RMoscow Farewell and The Girl From Petrovka. He worked extensively as a journalist for The Sunday Times and now, living in Connecticut, is completing an account from both sides of the American opening of Japan in 1853.
