Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb

676 Pages·1992·87.157 MB·English

by  George Feifer

HfiRIN COUNTY FREE LIBRPRY
31111013680432
THE
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JLENNOZAN offen ruling account of ^
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the battle of Ol ;•,,.,. the last major /
campaign of Woii*; War II and the /^
largest land-sea-air engagement in history.
In examining the disastrous collision of
—
f HHOOKKIK^AIDO
three disparate cultures American,
—
Japanese, and Okinawan the book pro-
vides an unforgettable picture of men at
war and also the context for understand-
ing one of the most ominous events of
this century: the decision to drop the
atom bomb. yo
Drawing on more than ten years of
research and interviews, George Feifer
recreates the drama and horror of the
last engagement before the invasion of
theJapanese homeland. In three appall-
ing months during which the Japanese
lost the fight but refused to surrender,
the death toll mounted to 23,000 Ameri- oJima
cans, 91,000 Japanese, and 150,000 Oki-
—
nawan civilians more than the losses
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
The book makes vividly real those tenets
—
ofJapanese culture its emphasis o—n [ANA
.
honor and its horror of losing face LNDs ;4
which allowed this campaign to become
a great human tragedy.
In its magisterial narrative of the Guam
conflict, Tennozan weaves together the
personal experiences of both soldiers
and civilians, from the highest-ranking
officers on down. Specifically, it follows
the lives of three men: Dick Whitaker, a
U.S. Marine with the 6th Marine Divi-
sion; Captain Tadashi Kojo, a twenty-
three-year-old battalion commander in
Japan's crack 22nd Regiment; and
Masahide Ota, a student at Okinawa's
prestigious Normal School, now gover-
nor ofthe prefecture ofOkinawa. But in
going beyond military history to recount •^SOLO
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the fate of the astound!'i^4 number of
continuedon ;•«- 'h^o
Guadalcan;
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Books by George Feifer
Tennozan: The Battle ofOkinawa and the Atomic Bomb (1992)
The Destined Hour, withBarbara andBarry Rosen (1982)
To Dance, with Valery Panov (1978)
Moscow Farewell (1976)
Our Motherland (1973)
Solzhenitsyn withDavidBurg (1972)
The Girl from Petrovka (1971)
Message from Moscow (1969)
The Challenge ofChange (1967)
Justice in Moscow (1964)
TENNOZAN
The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb
George Feifer
Ticknor 8c Fields
New York 1992
Copyright © 1992 byGeorge Feifer
All rights reserved
Forinformation about permission to reproduce
selections from thisbook, write to Permissions,
Ticknor & Fields, 215 Park Avenue South, New
York, New York 10003.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Feifer, George.
Tennozan the Battle ofOkinawaand the atomic
:
bomb/George Feifer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical referencesand index.
ISBN 0-395-59924-5
1. World War, 1939-1945—C—ampaigns—Japan—Okinawa
Island. 2. Okinawa Island History. 3. Atomic bomb.
I. Title.
D767.99.045F45 1992 91-46913
—
940.54'25 dc20 CIP
Printed in the United StatesofAmerica
Bookdesign by David Ford
Maps by George Ward
987654321
BP 10
Quotations from E. B. Sledge's With theOldBreed
are reprinted with permission. Copyright © 1981
Presidio Press.
Excerpts from Typhoon ofSteel: TheBattleforOki-
nawa byJames H. Belote and William H. Belote.
Copyright © 1970byJames H. and William H.
Belote. Reprinted by permission ofHarperCollins
Publishers Inc.
TENNOZAN
A site where
a sixteenth-century
Japanese ruler staked
his entire fate on
a single battle.
It has come to mean
any decisive
struggle.
There was neveragood warora badpeace.
—
Benjamin Franklin
Nothingis worse than war? Dishonouris worse than war.
Slavery is worse than war.
—
Winston Churchill
The cherry is thefirstamongflowersas the warrioris thefirstamongmen.
—
OldJapanesesaying
Thefortress ofOkinawa now appeared to be the home islands'onlypro-
tectionfrom invasion, and its defense was the key to whetherJapan would
surviveasan independent nation . . . so that Okinawa,Japan's last impor-
tantstand in the war, became virtuallysynonymous with kamikaze.
—
Ivan Morris, TheNobilityofFailure: TragicHeroesintheHistoryofJapan
KILLJAPS. KILLJAPS.
KILL MOREJAPS
You willhelp to killtheyellow bastards
ifyou doyourjob well.
—
Asign atthe headquartersof
Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey,
commanderofthe fleet that helped
devastate Okinawa
TheRyukyus were notKyushu, orShikoku, orHonshu; Okinawa retained
importance[fortheJapanese] only as apotentialfieldofbattle, a distant
borderarea in which the oncomingenemy couldbe checked,pinneddown,
andultimately destroyed.
—
George Kerr
1
Contents
Introduction xi
Book I
1 Operation Heaven Number One 3
2 American Participants 35
3 Japanese Participants 44
4 Okinawa 58
5 From Manchuria to Okinawa 78
6 Early Damage 87
7 Japanese Leadership 94
8 FinalJapanese Preparations 102
9 The Boys in the Pacific 112
Book II
10 The Landing 131
11 The North 153
12 Civilian Dislocation 165
13 Ruriko Morishita, Nurses' Aide 183
14 Kojo Returns 189
15 Kamikazes 195
16 The Shuri Line 230
17 Sugar Loaf Hill 251
18 Close Combat 278
Book III
19 Kojo at the Shuri Line 357
20 Ushijima Abandons the Shuri Line 388
2 South from the Shuri Line 403
X] Contents
22 Civilian Suffering 446
23 Young Okinawans Hold to
Their Duty 464
24 Mopping Up 475
25 American Atrocities 483
26 The Military Toll 500
Book IV
27 Expiration ofthe 32nd Army 513
28 The Civilian Toll 527
29 Aftermath 535
30 The Atomic Bombs 566
Bibliography 587
Chronology 596
Index 601