Okinawa was the final Japanese island before the mainland. It would be the largest amphibious invasion in history. The Americans had to control the air and the water. The orders came that the Americans would attack at night. They headed out at about 3:00 a.m. The battle that ensued was horrendous on both sides. There were dead and wounded everywhere, but the Americans had broken the Japanese line. The Japanese were not surrendering. You had to kill them in place. However, a number of the Japanese committed suicide by running attacks against the Americans, and there were some who jumped off of cliffs, and some while holding their babies.
During the battle for Okinawa, which began April 1, 1945, V.E. Day occurred in Europe on May 8, 1945.
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Standards
- Along with the rest of the world, the United States and South Carolina experienced economic instability during this period. As a result, political instability and worldwide conflict consumed the world in the 1940s. Following World War II, the United States emerged as a world leader through political policies and economic growth.
- 5.3.CE Analyze the cause and effect of government-sponsored policies within the United States and Europe related to the status of different groups, to include the Holocaust.
- 5.3.CX Contextualize the technological and geographic influence on military strategies in the Pacific and European theaters of war of World War II.
- This indicator was designed to promote inquiry into military and economic policies during World War II, to include the significance of military bases in South Carolina. This indicator was also developed to foster inquiry into postwar economic developments and demographic changes, to include the immigration of Jewish refugees following the Holocaust.
