On 19 March, the US aircraft carrier squadron dispatched nearly 1,000 carrier-based planes to bomb the aircraft factories in Kure Port, Osaka, and Kobe, as well as airfields in Kyushu and Shikoku, and the Japanese Fifth Air Fleet also dispatched planes to counterattack. Pen ~ fun ~ Ge www.biquge.info the aircraft carrier "Wasp" was hit by several bullets, igniting a fire, and the damage management personnel fought desperately to extinguish the fire, killing 101 crew members and wounding 269 people. But the greater disaster was still to come, at about 7 o'clock, the "Li" aircraft carrier was organizing carrier-based aircraft to take off, and a Japanese "Comet" bomber, with the help of cloud cover, suddenly dived down and dropped two 250-kilogram bombs at a height of 30 meters, one exploded on the hangar deck, and the other fell on the stern of the ship, penetrating two decks and exploding near the officer's cabin, and the bombs that exploded in the hangar were particularly serious, because the aircraft carrier was organizing carrier-based aircraft to take off, and the hangar was full of planes full of fuel and bombs. Immediately after the bomb exploded, it caused a terrible chain explosion, the fire spread rapidly, explosions came and went, the smoke caused by the fire rose straight into the sky, dozens of planes on the aircraft carrier were blown up, the casualties of the crew were already as many as hundreds, the explosion and the fire continued, and gradually spread to the engine room, the superstructure of the "Lee" was unrecognizable and full of bullet holes, the deck was covered with aircraft wreckage, and the fire spread to the ammunition pile on the rear deck, causing an even larger explosion, and the column of smoke was as high as 600 meters. Rear Admiral Davidson, commander of the second group to which the "Lee" belonged, saw that the aircraft carrier was seriously injured and informed the captain of the ship, Colonel Gales, that he could order the ship to be abandoned, but Gales believed that as long as the necessary sea and air support and cover were provided, the "Lee" could be saved. Davidson agreed to his plan and immediately mobilized the other warships of the 2nd Group to come to the rescue, the light cruiser "Saint-Fe" dragged the "Lee" with steel cables to prevent it from capsizing and sinking, and at the same time took some of the injured crew, Captain Gales first ordered the ammunition bay to be filled with water to avoid a larger explosion, but after the water injection the aircraft carrier began to tilt to the right. At 9:30 a.m., the boiler of the "Li" stopped working, its right tilt intensified, and the deck almost touched the sea. The heavy cruiser "Pittsburgh" then arrived and arranged steel cables to prevent the "Lee" from tilting; after unremitting efforts, the "Shengfei" finally stopped the aircraft carrier's tilt, and the "Shengfei" approached the aircraft carrier again, used the steel cable as the fulcrum of the previous main gun, tied it to the aircraft carrier, and worked with the "Pittsburgh" to correct the tilt of the aircraft carrier.

In the two-day assault on 18 and 19 July, the US forces lost 116 carrier-based aircraft, one aircraft carrier was severely damaged, four aircraft carriers and one destroyer were damaged, a total of 528 Japanese planes were destroyed in the air and on the ground, 22 Japanese ships were sunk and damaged, and great damage was caused to aircraft factories and aviation bases in the Kyushu area, making the Japanese air force in the Kyushu area unable to organize large-scale operations in the following two weeks.

On 20 March, the weather turned rainy and the 58th Task Force withdrew southward, and the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in air forces, with little left, and only a few planes carried out sporadic attacks, and one suicide plane crashed and damaged a destroyer. On 22 March, the supply vessels of the 58th Task Force and the Logistics Support Group met at sea and carried out replenishment at sea, replenishing food, ammunition and oil. On 23 March, Task Force 58 reached the waters 100 nautical miles east of Oshima and began advance aviation fire preparations for the Okinawa Islands. The Japanese base camp thought that it was just a passing move by the US aircraft carrier group when it returned to Ulisi, and did not think so.

On March 16, Task Force 57 departed from Manus Island and arrived at the Ulisi base on the 20th for resupply and a short rest. On March 23, he set sail from Ulishi and sailed towards Okinarabu Island. At dawn on March 26, it arrived 100 nautical miles south of Okinagabu Island, and then dispatched carrier-based aircraft to carry out a surprise attack on the island's airfield, this aircraft carrier group has a total of four 23,000-ton aircraft carriers, and the displacement is almost the same as the US military's "Essex" class aircraft carrier, but there are only 36 carrier-based aircraft, which is only half of the number of aircraft carried by the US aircraft carrier, mainly because the flight deck of the British ship and the ammunition compartment, engine room and other key compartments have 50 mm thick armored steel plates, which in the face of the death of the Japanese suicide plane later. The survivability of British ships was much stronger than that of American ships, but due to the small number of carrier-based aircraft, Spruance ordered the escort aircraft carriers of the 1st Group of the 52nd Task Force under the command of Rear Admiral Deggin to cooperate with the British aircraft carriers to jointly carry out suppressive bombardment of airfields on the Japanese mainland and coastal islands. After several days of air raids, the Japanese army inflicted heavy losses on its air forces and airfield facilities in this area. At this point, before the US landing formation reached the waters off Oshima, the 58th and 57th Task Forces had effectively weakened the Japanese air forces in the north and south directions of the Amami Islands, further isolating the defenders of Oshima. When drawing up the plan for the landing on Oshima, Turner, commander of the US landing group, proposed to seize the island with part of his forces first, but almost everyone opposed it, believing that the terrain of Okinagabu Island was too rugged to build an airfield, and that it would be of little value to the Amami Islands landing operation, and that if the landing was carried out, it would be attacked by the Japanese army's fierce air forces.

On 17 March, Rear Admiral Brandy, commander of the 52nd Task Force, Rear Admiral Kieran, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 51st Task Force, Rear Admiral Bruce, commander of the 77th Division of the Army, and Colonel Hanron, commander of the Underwater Demolition Brigade, worked out a plan for the landing on Okinagabu Island. Strive to seize Okinagabu Island in one fell swoop.

On 23 March, Rear Admiral Brandi commanded the 52nd Task Force, which consisted of 18 escort carriers, 15 destroyers, 19 frigates, 70 minesweepers, and some gunboats, submarine hunters, and other small ships.

On 25 March, two cruisers and three destroyers in the support group carried out advance fire preparations against Eirabu Island, and at the same time covered the underwater demolition team to reconnoiter the beach conditions at the landing sites of each island. Landing on the other four islands first.

In the early morning of 26 March, 11 battleships, 11 cruisers, 24 destroyers, and 8 frigates of the 1st Group of the 51st Task Force under the command of Rear Admiral Daiyo prepared artillery fire on Oshima to attract the attention of the Japanese and cover the landing on Okinagabu Island.

At about 7 o'clock, the 77th Division was transported by more than 430 landing ships, divided into four routes, with the support of naval and air fire, and landed on Zamami Island, Aka Island, Keiryu Island, and other islands at the same time, and the Japanese resistance was very weak, and by dusk, the US troops had occupied the above four islands and began to lay out in the Kerama Strait

Buoys and other anchorage facilities. After nightfall, the Japanese launched a special attack on the landed US troops with suicide planes and suicide boats, and although they caused some losses to the US troops, they did not have much impact on the entire battle. On March 27, the U.S. forces expanded their gains and launched an offensive on the remaining islands, soon occupying the entire island of Okinoerabu. On 31 March, the U.S. 77th Division occupied Keiase Island (about 6 nautical miles from Oshima) between Okinagabu Island and Oshima, and a field artillery group consisting of two 155-mm artillery battalions quickly moved up to the island to establish positions in order to support the landing on Oshima that began the next day. After the U.S. forces captured Okinagabu Island, the next target was undoubtedly Oshima, and artillery preparations for Oshima began on March 26.

At four o'clock on March 26, Major General Deyo's 1st Task Force 51st Task Force 1st Group began shelling Oshima, and after dawn, the aircraft carrier carrier-based aircraft of the 58th Task Force of the US Army, the escort aircraft carrier aircraft of the 1st Group of the 52nd Task Force, and the army aviation units that took off from bases in Marianas, the Philippines, and even Chinese mainland also carried out continuous and fierce bombardment of Oshima. some bombed Japanese fortifications; some corrected the fire of naval guns; Some are on air alert; Some carry out anti-submarine patrols...... In order to effectively organize and coordinate, the US military has set up an air support control detachment headed by Colonel Parker to exercise unified command and coordination over all participating aircraft.

On 29 March, because the U.S. minesweepers had cleared the waters in the channel approaching Oshima, the battleships and cruisers were able to sail very close to Oshima and shoot accurately. By March 30, the U.S. troops had been preparing for fire for five days, and the Japanese response was astonishing - there was no return fire! You must know that there are 100,000 Japanese troops on the big island, but it is as if nothing exists, which makes the US military feel very strange.

On 1 April, the weather was clear, and the landing of US troops finally began, and US landing formations from San Francisco, Seattle, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Espírito Santo, Guadalcanal, Saipan and Leyte Island arrived in the waters of the Big Island at dawn and began to transfer. At four o'clock, Turner issued: "Start landing!" The warships of the US artillery support formation immediately began firing to cover the landing force to rush to the beach. The 2nd Marine Division first landed on the southeast coast of Oshima and carried out a feint in order to attract the attention of the Japanese troops, disperse the Japanese forces, and create favorable conditions for a real landing. At 8 o'clock, the main attack force of the US landing landed from the landing ship along the rope net on the side of the landing ship to the landing craft, which lined up in five attack waves and rushed to the shore in a neat formation, and the 1st Marine Division, the 6th Marine Division, and the 7th and 96th Divisions of the Army landed about 9 kilometers from north to south on the west coast of Oshima. At 8:28 a.m., the US planes finished their last strafing fire, the naval guns also stopped firing, and the first wave of landing craft was only 70 meters away from the beach at this time, and the sea and air coordination was perfect. At 8:32 a.m., the first wave of landing troops rushed ashore. At nine o'clock, the sun rose, the sun dispelled the faint morning fog, and you could see the tracked landing vehicles and landing craft on the sea in a neat formation, wave after wave, the river flowed endlessly, in good order, the whole landing process was smooth and unusual, and the Japanese army did not put up any resistance at all, which made the American army quite inexplicable and did not know why. It seems that overnight the Japanese have given up their resistance, but this is not the case.