Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II

On Easter Sunday, 1945, the U.S. Marines and Army launched an invasion of Japan, attacking Okinawa with 540,000 men and 1,600 seagoing ships. The closing battle of World War II, it lasted eighty-three days and eclipsed D-Day in both troops and tonnage. In "Okinawa," Marine and Pacific War veteran Robert Leckie retells the epic tale of this great battle from both sides, including the stories of the Japanese generals, who in the battle's last moments committed "hara-kiri." He especially focuses on the American soldiers themselves and their commanding officers, drawing brilliantly illuminated portraits of individuals who fought a merciless enemy in the tradition of American military history at its most splendid and terrifying.