US Troops during the battle for Okinawa

The battle of Okinawa was fought from the 1st April until the 22nd of June. Known as the "tetsu no bōfū, or the Typhoon of Steel, the battle led to 50,000 American and 100,000 Japanese military causalities. Okinawa was of vital geostrategic importance for any future landings on the Japanese home islands. The brutality and deadliness of the battle served as a grim forecast for future Allied operations in Japan. Significant war crimes were perpetrated by both sides, with the majority being committed by demoralized Japanese soldiers. Up to 150,000 local civilians died, half of the islands’ total population. It was in this context that US military officials began to think of atomic weapons as a less deadly method than physical invasion to enforce unconditional surrender. Truman considered the bombs to be “a possibility of preventing an Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other.” (Josef Mlejnek)