The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945--The Last Epic Struggle of World War II

This is mostly an anecdotal description of the battle of Okinawa compiled from interviews with those who fought there. It is a good source for getting personal perspectives of the battle. It is somewhat chopped up for getting an overall perspective of the battle itself.

I really liked almost all of this book. I had several historical problems with it (I shall elaborate below), but overall if flowed well enough from scene to scene. This is essentially what is called a "blood & guts" look from the eye of the average marine and grunt. If you are looking for a a mud-eyed, blood spilling description of the battle, this will suffice. If you really want to find out what was happening on the ground and why it was happening, then this is not the book.In fact, the complete and definitive account of this most major battle in WWII has yet to be written in English. The gold-standard in this sort of history is Philip B. Frank's "Guadalcanal" and Parshall and Tulley's awesome 'Shattered Sword" (the Midway Battle). These books are good precisely because they allow you to know the motivations of the battlefield commanders and those who were on the ground.At very few points in "Ultimate Battle" do we have any idea of the objectives from either side. Lacking is any thoroughgoing description of the Japanese position. Sloan quotes some of Col. Yahara's words (See Yahara, "The Battle for Okinawa" ) but omits several key points in the narrative - such as why the initial landing was uncontested and what the Japanese were really trying to achieve in their last withdrawal to the bottom of the Island. It wasn't just simply... a bunch of fanatics waiting in caves to die. But although Sloan mentions Yahara he never cites his book (it is the only Japanese memoirs published in English about the battle that I know of - readily available in your bookstore - and Yahara was the operational leader for the defence of the island). There is also no operational planning details from the Allied side as well.In addition, the glaring lack of maps is an extreme problem. Us Military Historians are used to dealing with lack of maps or crappy maps, but this volume is extremely disconcerting at times as most of the major battles points of interest are not listed on the four (only) maps in this book.Several critical moments in the battle are brushed over with a sentence or two - the last Marine landing to take place in WWII, the Oroku Penninsula, the confused fighing by remnants of the Japanese marines (still a point of contention among Japanese scholars) and complete ommission of perhaps the most poignant part or the story... the deaths of high-school girls in the HimeYuri unit at the end of the battle.Sloan does give his due to the role of both Marine and US Infantryman, but the chapters on the Kamikaze attacks are anecdotal and confined to mostly two smaller ships... Good writing and very exciting, but I was constantly asking myself... what is the big picture here.Sloan could have just glossed over the issue of Okinawan civilians...(perhaps 150,000 may have been killed), but he does include a chapter on their plight... the role of the Japanese military and the often, not-so-tender, quality of mercy, US front-line forces meeted out to civilians the odd time are also described. As Sloan notes, the actions of the US Military and its nation were noble and they did prepare for handling large numbers of civilians with about 5000 soldiers just for civilian administration. But such planning cannot account for the actions of some who did engage and commit acts of aggression and crimes against unarmed civilians, despite the best of intentions.I used the Osprey edition on this battle to find and identify as much as I could from this battle. The island is not like Peleliu, Anguar or the Admiralties, lost and forgotten. It has a robust population and thriving urban areas nowadays, and, from the perspective of the average Okinawan - for better or worse - more US Military bases per capita than anywhere else on earth. Most of the sites are covered in ferro-concrete buildings, or, like Sugar Loaf, now the site of a massive water cistern.I am still waiting for the definitive combat military history from this Battle, with good scholarship an understanding of both US and Japanese sources, there is much to glean here. Sloan has added some more memories. It is now up to a newer generation of deft historians to bring it all together.

In keeping with the style of his previous books "Given Up For Dead" and "Brotherhood of Heroes", author Bill Sloan tells a gripping story of the last and bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Loaded with personal accounts from survivors of the battle, this excellent book throws the reader into the front lines of the greatest amphibious assault of the war.On April 1, 1945, American Army and Marine forces stormed the beaches on Okinawa. Accompanying the troops was a massive naval armada of over 1,500 ships of all types, from LSTs to fast carriers and battleships. The Americans were expecting massive resistance from the Japanese but, to their surprise, the landings were almost completely unopposed. Many felt that the Japanese had either abandoned the island, or that their force was so small as to prove not much of a threat. The Americans were wrong on both counts. After about 4 days of virtually no contact with the enemy, the Americans stumbled across one of the three highly-defended zones set up by the Japanese. For the next 2 1/2 months, the Americans and Japanese became engaged in an epic struggle that would cost the lives of thousands of men on both sides.Sloan describes in vivid and horrifying detail how the battle unfolded. From the relentless banzai charges and artillery barrages to the dreaded kamikaze attacks on American ships, this book covers every aspect of the battle. Besides the thousands of Japanese and Americans who were killed in the fighting, Sloan also devotes a chapter to the plight of the Okinawan civilians. Over 100,000 civilians perished in the battle; some at the hands of the Japanese, some accidentally killed by the Americans, but most died at their own hand after believing the propaganda the Japanese told them about what the Americans would do to them.I've read several books about the battle for Okinawa. but this book is by far the best I've read on the battle. It is loaded with action, and the personal narratives from the soldiers and marines who actually fought there adds a human element to the story.I give this book my highest recommendation. Okinawa was the most costly battle of the war for both the Americans and Japanese, and Bill Sloan delivers a powerful and honest assessment of the battle. This book is a must for World War II history fans.

My dad was a Marine in the 1st Marine Division on Okinawa during World War II. He was a very difficult man who showed little interest in me, or my brother and I always thought him a very self-centered person with no real people skills. He died two years ago and I began reading and looking for research on what he did during the war. This book has shown me the horror of war, and what he went through years ago before I was born. I realize he saw things that no man was meant to see. This battle must have tested his very being, and at the end stole his soul.It was a little hard for me to get into at first but later on I couldn't put it down, and I am not a person who usually gets into war movies or stories. It is graphic and personal. It is unbelievable to me we lost almost 20,000 men on this island, and we get upset now with 5 - 10 casualties in Iraq or Afganistan. This is not to belittle our soldiers now in any respect, but I don't think we realize the sacrifice these men of this generation made for us. It gives me a whole new outlook on the type of man he was and had to be. And I now know how hard it must be for any soldier to return to a normal "American" life and try to forget what lies in other places and times. Most of all this book has let me forgive my dad for his shortcomings, and respect what he did for his country. This should be required reading in our high schools.

Loads of Combat memoirs here.You cannot help but be impressed by the courage and stamina of the US marines.The book describes a battle field that must of been pure hell to survive in.One of the best WW2 land combat accounts I have read

Great historical account of the Battle of Okinawa. The Pacific War is an underrepresented notion of WWII where the historical and memorial combat in Europe outweigh it by many times over. Okinawa was the last battle fought by the Americans in WWII. The Japanese forces numbered over 100,000 and approx. 95% of those were killed by the Americans (who lost about 13K of their 180,000). While combat was some of the most intense and gruesome seen in the entire war, the civilian deaths are the sticky point. Over 100,000 civilians died on the island, most by suicide since there was an indoctrinated belief that Americans were monsters who would torture any capture civilians (some of this thinking was entirely justified. See Dower's "War Without Mercy").

Good stuff, loved it