As far as Japan is concerned, once Okinawa is lost, the sea and air supremacy in the mainland and China's coastal areas will all be lost, and the sea communication line to Southeast Asia, on which Japan depends for its survival, will be completely cut off. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 After the loss of the Mariana Islands in July 1944, the focus was on strengthening the defensive forces and fortifications of Okinawa.

However, Japan never imagined that the Ryukyu People's Revolutionary Army, which had always been a hidden danger, would break the defense plan, and the Ryukyu People's Revolutionary Army, which had been preparing for many years, would take control of Ryukyu so quickly under the leadership of Hayashi Toshio, and the Japanese army defending the island under the command of Lieutenant General Ushijima Manchu, which planned to be sent to Ryukyu to strengthen the defense, was 2 divisions and 1 mixed brigade under the 32nd Group Army, with about 86,000 people, and a total of more than 100,000 people, including naval base troops, could only stay in Tokunoshima.

Originally, there were two lines of defense with Shuri as the core, Makiko and Shuri, and a third line of defense in the Yaetake and Mt. Zadake areas at the northwest end. Each line of defense was based on the hilly terrain to form a multi-layered and solid defensive position. The 2nd Combined Fleet, consisting of 1 battleship, 1 cruiser, and 8 destroyers, (commanded by Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito), submarine units, and air units stationed in Kyushu and Taiwan, were responsible for supporting and covering the anti-landing attempts. Okinawa and its neighboring islands also have one squadron of torpedo boats and more than 600 suicide attack boats. These deployments, which lasted for nearly half a year, became the defense of the Ryukyu People's Republic in just a few days.

Just three days after the battle began, the number of US troops participating in the battle increased to 452,000, with more than 1,500 ships and 2,500 aircraft. The commander of the 5th Fleet, Admiral R.A. Spruance, served as commander-in-chief. The 10th Army (commanded by Lieutenant General JR.S.B. BUCKNER) was composed of the 3rd Marine Army and the 24th Army of the Army, with 8 divisions and 183,000 men. Among them, the 81st Infantry Division is the general reserve of the theater. The aircraft carrier mobile units of the United States and Britain, as well as the 20th and 21st strategic bombing units of the United States, will serve as cover and support.

The Japanese army fought on Tokunoshima Island as the base and Okinogarabu Island as the front line in the face of the powerful firepower of the American army, and the defeat was decided, but it was only to see how long the Japanese army could hold out.

From 1 June to 22 June, the Japanese Army's naval aviation carried out 10 large-scale attacks on US warships, and although they achieved certain results, they did not play a decisive role in the overall situation of the war. Two divisions of the U.S. 3rd Marine Corps advanced smoothly to the northern part of Okinagabu Island, occupying the northern half of the island by June 15. Two divisions of the 24th Army attacked Tokunoshima, but met with stubborn resistance from the Japanese and made slow progress, and on the 16th they began to break through the defense line of the southern port of Tokunoshima. After that, the U.S. military adjusted its deployment, and the 1st Marine Division and the 77th Infantry Division were engaged in fighting on the southern front of Tokunoshima. On 20 June, the Japanese launched a general counterattack and failed, so they retracted their positions. Surrounded by the two flanks of the U.S. army, on the 29th, he abandoned the southern line of defense on Tokunoshima and moved to the area of Amagidake in the north.

On June 21, the U.S. 6th Marine Division landed at the western port of Tokunoshima. On June 22, Lieutenant General Buckner, commander of the U.S. 10th Army, was killed and replaced by Major General R.S. Geiger, commander of the 3rd Marine Army. On the 23rd, the U.S. Army broke through the Japanese northern defensive line. In the early morning of the next day, the commander of the Japanese 32nd Army, Mitsuru Ushijima, and his chief of staff committed suicide by caesarean section.

In the past month, the battle between the US Pacific Fleet and Japan's Imperial Combined Fleet was also extremely tragic, and the US Pacific Fleet, which had previously had the upper hand, suffered heavy losses in the face of the attack of Ito's suicide submarine, and the two sides almost returned to the same stage of strength.

When the fleet commander ordered a fleet to go around from Iwo Jima to the back of the Japanese army, the Japanese were aware in advance, and the two sides fought a fierce battle on Iwo Jima Island, and the American detachment was almost completely wiped out, and the plan had to be abandoned, and although the Japanese won the victory, the casualties reached more than 10,000 people.

On 26 and 27 June, the Japanese army dispatched 462 naval planes and 237 army planes, a total of 699 aircraft, including 355 suicide planes, with the Fifth Air Fleet and the Sixth Air Force in Kyushu as the main force and the First Air Fleet and the Eighth Flying Division of Shikoku as auxiliary forces. They sank three US destroyers, one tank landing ship, and two 10,000-ton munitions ships, and damaged one battleship, one aircraft carrier, one frigate, one mine-laying ship, and eight destroyers, and the US forces suffered hundreds of casualties. The Japanese called the two-day battle "Kikusui No. 1" operation, and a total of 335 Japanese planes were shot down, accounting for about 48% of the total number of sorties.

On July 2 and 3, the Japanese army launched the "Kikusui No. 2" operation, because the planes lost in the "Kikusui No. 1" operation had not had time to replenish, so the number of sorties was less than the first time, the navy dispatched 200 planes, the army 192 planes, a total of 392 Okinawa battle planes, including 202 suicide planes. Due to the lack of troops, the Japanese army made some improvements in attack tactics, first dispatching fighter planes to attract US fighters, and when the US fighters ran out of fuel and returned to the mother ship, the attack planes flew over the target to attack; at the same time, the Japanese army also began to use a new type of weapon -- "cherry blossom bombs," which were actually rocket-boosted manned aerial bombs, which were carried by attack planes to the theater of operations and then separated from the carrier planes, and were piloted by the daring pilots to rush to the target, loaded with a ton of high bombs, propelled by three solid-fuel rocket engines. The speed is as high as 800 kilometers per hour, and it is very powerful, and the US military calls it "eight-grid bullets", and this weapon has caused considerable losses to the US military. In this operation, the Japanese sank one US destroyer and one landing ship, damaged one battleship, six destroyers, three frigates, one minesweeper, one mine-laying ship, and one landing ship, and lost 205 planes. Beginning in early July, in order to reduce losses, the US military dispatched radar alert ships in the direction where the Japanese planes were most likely to come. In addition, a large number of fighter planes were deployed on the airfield of Okinawa, which had just been occupied, specifically to intercept invading Japanese planes.

On 16 July, the Japanese army launched the "Kikusui III" operation, dispatching 391 naval planes and 107 army planes, a total of 498 planes, including 196 suicide planes, sinking 1 transport ship and 1 munitions ship, damaging 1 aircraft carrier, destroyer, and hospital ship, 2 transport ships, and losing 182 Japanese planes. In this battle, the US destroyer USS Lafite fought bloody battles and won the honor of "unsinkable ship" and became a symbol of the bravery and strength of the US Navy. At about 8 o'clock in the morning, when it discovered that more than 50 Japanese planes were approaching, the "Rafi" immediately issued an early warning and guided the fighters in the air to intercept it. Soon two Japanese suicide planes rushed over, and the "Lafite" quickly opened fire and shot it down, and then more than 20 Japanese planes pounced from several directions, and the "Lafite" went all out to organize the whole ship's firepower to shoot at the air, and the Japanese planes concentrated on the attack, making it difficult for the "Lafite" to take care of both, and was hit by three suicide planes one after another, one of which was hitting the turret of the 127 mm tail gun, and the violent explosion blew up the turret on the spot, and flames and smoke gushed out, up to 60 meters. The deck was littered with burning caused by jet fuel spills on Japanese suicide planes, and the fire was raging, and the damage management team fought to the death to control the spread of the fire. Immediately after that, a bomb dropped by a Japanese plane hit the ammunition compartment of the 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, causing an even larger explosion that blew up the steering gear and deprived the "Rafite" of its ability to maneuver. Soon two more suicide planes crashed into the "Lafite", which further aggravated the injury, the guns of the second half of the "Lafite" were all blown up, only the four 20-mm guns in the front were still insisting on fighting, the life-and-death struggle lasted for a full 80 minutes, the "Lafite" was attacked by a total of 22 suicide planes, shot down nine, but was hit by five, and four bombs hit, the "Lafite" was so traumatized that with the efforts of all the crew, it did not sink in the end, and among the 350 crew members, 32 people died, 71 people were injured, almost a third.

The Japanese army's three Kikusui operations were all carried out during the day, although it was easy to find the US military targets, and many results were achieved, but the cost was also quite huge, for the Japanese army, whether it was the loss of planes or pilots, it was difficult to quickly replenish, so the subsequent Kikusui operation, the Japanese had to change to a night attack.

On July 17 and 18, the Japanese army dispatched 317 planes, including 131 suicide planes, to carry out the "Kikusui No. 4" operation.

On 20 and 22 July, in order to make up for the loss of planes, the Japanese army converted its water reconnaissance planes into suicide planes and launched a special attack, dispatching a total of 597 planes, including 300 suicide planes, and launched the Kikusui No. 5 and Kikusui No. 6 operations successively.

On 24 and 25 July and 27 and 28 July, the Japanese army converted the trainer plane into a special attack plane in order to increase the number of special attack planes, and launched the Kikusui 7 and Kikusui 8 operations one after another, dispatching a total of 737 aircraft, including 208 suicide planes. On August 3, 4 and 5, the Japanese army did its best to dispatch 502 aircraft, including 114 suicide planes, to launch the Kikusui 9 and Kikusui 10 operations.

From 27 May to 5 August, the total number of sporadic sorties was as high as 4,109, including 917 suicide planes, plus 10 sorties of planes dispatched during the Kikusui Operation, totaling 7,851 sorties, including 2,423 suicide sorties, although more than 4,200 were shot down, they caused huge losses to the US military, sinking 33 US warships and damaging more than 360 ships. Of the 33 warships sunk by the US military, 26 were sunk by suicide planes, accounting for 78.8 percent of the total number of sunken warships. Even Mitchell's flagship aircraft carrier "Bunker Hill" was hit by two suicide planes in the Kikusui 6 operation launched by the Japanese army on 25 July, and the damage was extremely serious, with 396 crew members killed and missing, and 264 wounded. The ship was also hit by a suicide plane and lost its ability to sail, leaving Mitchell to change flagships twice in three days. In contrast, the four aircraft carriers of the British army were all hit by the Japanese suicide planes, but the damage was far less than that of the US troops, because the British aircraft carriers had an armored flight deck and a sturdy enclosed hangar structure, so their ability to resist damage and impact was much stronger than that of the US aircraft carriers.