| Description: | Marines dash toward front lines on Okinawa. US Marines dash across an open stretch of land as they head for the front lines of Okinawa, main Ryukyu (Loochoo) Island, past one of their comrades who was killed during an attack a few minutes earlier. The Marine at the extreme left carries a stretcher. From the landings on Okinawa on March 31, 1945, through May 14th US casualties on the island totaled 20, 950, including 3,781 killed. 17,004 wounded and 165 missing. During the same period the Japanese lost 46, 505 dead and 1,038 of their soldiers taken prisoner. Three weeks after the landings the Americans controlled ¾ of Okinawa and by May 25, were breaking the enemy's strong defenses in the islands southern sector. Bases on Okinawa would enable US B-29 superfortresses to increase their bomb load by one and a half tons so they could carry ten tons in attacks on Japans industrial areas. June 7, 1945. (41489-FMC, National Archives). |
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Okinawa
