Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan ("Battle of Okinawa," 1996). The Battle of Okinawa remembered more for its iconic photograph of US Marines raising the US flag on Okinawa more so than any other war or battle ever fought. Okinawa the largest of the
Battle of Okinawa than all those killed during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The American forces involved in the Battle of Okinawa consisted of 182,821 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army under the leadership of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. The U.S. Tenth Army comprised of XXIV Corps of the United States Army and III Amphibious Corps of the United States Marine Corps. The 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th are the four divisions including the two Marine Divisions the 1st and the 6th