April 1st

On this day, April 1st 1945, U.S. troops land on the island of Okinawa Japan. The U.S. forces were determined to set up a base of operations there. Having suffered heavy losses over the past few battles the troops were fatigued but determined. The U.S. was so persistent on setting up a base here because they wanted to use it to prepare their forces for an invasion of mainland Japan later in the year. The Japanese used tactics such as Kamikaze and suicide raids to increase the number of casualties, but likewise they decreased their own resources and weakened their own forces. Eventually the Japanese continued to be weakened by both the Allied troops and their own foolish strategies until they finally surrendered a while later.

This invasion proved to be the next step to crippling the Japanese into submission. The Pacific campaign was aimed to do exactly that, by capturing Japanese territories and islands around the Pacific Ocean and later preparing to invade the Japanese mainland. After capturing Okinawa the U.S. forces met little resistance from the civilians and soldiers since the brunt of the forces had been used and killed in the initial attacks.