What they didn’t know was the Japanese Imperial Army had them just where they wanted them. The military force also included an unknown number of conscripted civilians and unarmed Home Guards known as Boeitai.Īs they moved inland, American troops wondered when and where they’d finally encounter enemy resistance.

Japan’s 32nd Army, some 130,000 men strong and commanded by Lt. The troops quickly secured both Kadena and Yontan airfields. Wave after wave of troops, tanks, ammunition and supplies went ashore almost effortlessly within hours. On D-Day along the shores of northern France, American troops fought hard for every inch of beachhead-but troops landing on Okinawa’s beaches surged inland with little resistance.

But the Fifth Fleet’s offensive onslaught was almost pointless and landing troops could have literally swum to shore-surprisingly, the expected mass of awaiting Japanese troops wasn’t there. Soldiers and Army brass alike expected the beach landings to be a massacre worse than D-Day. As dawn arrived on April 1, morale was low among American troops as the Fifth Fleet launched the largest bombardment ever to support a troop landing to soften Japanese defenses.

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