OKINAWA 1945: THE STALINGRAD OF THE PACIFIC

An extraordinarily gripping chronicle of the last great battle of World War II. As the siege of Stalingrad was the ultimate scene of carnage of the Eastern Front, the Battle of Okinawa proved to be the bloodiest of the Pacific War. Almost the entire Japanese kamikaze effort of World War II was directed against the Americans at Okinawa. At the beginning of the battle on 1st April 1945, over one million Americans, Japanese and Okinawans were centred on the small Pacific island; by 23rd 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 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.