Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign

Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

USS Tennessee bombarding Okinawa with her 14"/50 main battery guns, as the Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) in the foreground carries troops to the invasion beaches.
Date19 February – 21 June 1945
Location
Result Allied victory
Belligerents
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Japan
Commanders and leaders
United States Chester W. Nimitz
United States Douglas MacArthur
United States Holland Smith
United States Simon B. Buckner 
United States Roy Geiger
United States Joseph W. Stilwell
United States Ray Spruance
United States Marc A. Mitscher
United States William Halsey, Jr.
United Kingdom Sir Bernard Rawlings
United Kingdom Sir Philip Vian
United Kingdom Bruce Fraser
Empire of Japan Tadamichi Kuribayashi 
Empire of Japan Mitsuru Ushijima 
Empire of Japan Isamu Cho 
Empire of Japan Hiromichi Yahara (POW)
Empire of Japan Seiichi Itō 
Empire of Japan Minoru Ota 
Empire of Japan Kosaku Aruga 
Empire of Japan Keizō Komura
Casualties and losses

27,113 dead or missing,
74,501 wounded,
79 ships sunk and scrapped,
773 aircraft destroyed

Casualties from Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa

98,811–128,375 dead or missing,
17,000 wounded,
7,216 captured,
21 ships sunk and scrapped,
3,130 aircraft destroyed,
75,000–140,000 civilians dead or missing

Casualties from Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa

The Volcano and Ryūkyū Islands campaign was a series of battles and engagements between Allied forces and Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific Ocean campaign of World War II between January and June 1945.

The campaign took place in the Volcano and Ryukyu island groups. The two main land battles in the campaign were the Battle of Iwo Jima (16 February to 26 March 1945) and the Battle of Okinawa (1 April to 21 June 1945). One major naval battle occurred, called Operation Ten-Go (7 April 1945) after the operational title given to it by the Japanese.

The campaign was part of the Allied Japan campaign intended to provide staging areas for an invasion of Japan as well as supporting aerial bombardment and a naval blockade of the Japanese mainland. The dropping of atomic weapons on two Japanese cities and the Soviet invasion of Japanese Manchuria, however, caused the Japanese government to surrender without an armed invasion being necessary.


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