Okinawa Pacific War Trivia

1. The last battle of World War 2 was on the island of Okinawa. What was the name of the operation?

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: Operation Iceberg

Operation Iceberg was the biggest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater.

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: April 1, 1945

June 6, 1944 was the allied invasion of Europe, February 19, 1945 was the American Invasion of Iwo Jima and August 7, 1942 was the American invasion of Guadalcanal.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: Ryukyus

Okinawa is the largest of the islands in the Ryukyus. Running generally north and south, it is 60 miles long and from 2 to 18 miles wide.

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: Tenth Army

Unlike most American invasions of Japanese-held islands in the Pacific, this one was led by the Army. The First and Sixth Marines participated and the Second Marines were in reserve afloat.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: Simon Buckner

His father was Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr., who surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Donelson, 1862.

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: Simon Bolivar Buckner

Vandegrift was the over-all commander of the Marine invasion forces from Guadalcanal, MacArthur was not involved as he was leading forces in a different area of the Pacific, and Geiger was in command of the First and Sixth Marines which participated in the invasion. Lt Gen. Buckner was killed on Okinawa by Japanese artillery.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: 1,200 ships

April 1, 1945, Easter Sunday, (and April Fools' Day), was a brilliantly clear day in the East China Sea. Over 1,200 ships, carrying more that 180,000 marines and soldiers, converged on the banana shaped island of Okinawa, 350 miles southwest of Japan.

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: None. It was moved from Okinawa to the Philippines in December, 1944

The fact that it was moved from Okinawa to the Philippines in December, 1944 caused Yahara to change the defense plans of Okinawa from an attempt to repulse the Americans at the beach-head as he no longer had sufficient strength to do that. Now, it was to become a battle of attrition with interlocking dugouts and pillboxes.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: Ushijima

The task of defending the Ryukyus was entrusted to the Japanese 32nd Army, commanded by LTG Mitsuru Ushijima. General Ushijima, according the members of his staff, was a calm and very capable officer who inspired confidence among his troops.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: The Shuri line

Acting on the assumption that he could not defeat the combined American forces, General Ushijima drew his forces together into the southern part of Okinawa and, from the strongly fortified positions around Shuri, where he prepared to make his stand there as costly to the Americans as possible.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: Ernie Pyle

Pyle was buried under a marker bearing the inscription of "At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle, 18 April 1945".

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima

Maj. Gen. Isamu Cho was Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima's chief of staff. Watanabi had been in charge of the 32nd Army on Okinawa until he was transferred because of poor health in August, 1944, and Kitagawa was his chief of staff.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: 48,100

The price paid for Okinanwa was dear. The final toll of American casualties was the highest experienced in any campaign against the Japanese. Total American battle casualties were 49,151 of which 12,520 were killed or missing and 36,631 wounded.

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: None. The ship carrying them was sunk en route to the island.

The general opinion of the Japanese and the General Staff was that the Americans would follow their victory in the Marianas by seizing Daitojima and use it as a foothold to swoop down on the Ryukyus, therefore it should be strengthened. When asked, Col. Yahara opined that Daitojima was just an "isolated rock" 300 kilometers east of Okinawa and of no strategic value. He believed an aggressive enemy would strike at Okinawa directly. The General Staff eventually came around to Yahara's thinking and dispatched the First Infantry to Okinawa but the ship carrying it (the Toyama Maru) was sunk by the Americans before it could arrive. Yahara knew the battle could not be won but that a long battle would enable Japan to have the time to prepare the defense of the home islands for the anticipated invasion.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: Picket destroyers

On April 6, the Japanese launched a massive series of kamikazi attacks. Hundreds of planes struck at the American fleet in successive waves. Day after day, week after week, the Japanese onslaught continued. The radar picket destroyers bore the brunt of these attacks: sailors on one destroyer set up a huge arrow-shaped sign reading "Carriers this way."

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: He was captured while posing as a civilian teacher

His commanding generals ordered him to try to escape so he could report to the Army and the Emperor. He tried posing as a civilian to avoid capture so he could carry out his duty but the mission failed. He was later criticized by Major Naomichi Jin, the 32nd Army's air officer, who did manage to follow orders and get to Japan in order to secure more air support. Jin's complaint was not that Yahara failed to complete his mission but that he allowed himself to be taken alive.

From Quiz Battle of Okinawa

Answer: American strategists looked for an alternative to attacking the Japanese mainland.

Okinawa scared the living snot out of everybody. Consider the fanatical resistance, the culture of suicide, and Japanese aversion to surrender: what would be the cost of a sustained battle on the Japanese homeland? It made the use of the atomic bomb much more palitable.

From Quiz The Battle for Okinawa

Answer: Human excrement

Colonel Kaya was following the tradition of Masashige Kusunoki, the great fourteenth century warrior.

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