In February, US Marines swept ashore on the island of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, only 1,200km from Tokyo. After more than a month of fighting, Iwo Jima was secure. All strategic effort was aimed toward an eventual Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. However, there was still another amphibious operation necessary before the invasion of Japan. In what turned out to be the final battle of the Pacific War, American Marines and Army troops landed on the island of Okinawa, a mere 550km from the home island of Kyushu, on 1 April 1945.
This story is from the Issue 104, 2022 edition of History of War.
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This story is from the Issue 104, 2022 edition of History of War.
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