On March 15, Li Junhao flew to the Pacific Theater to prepare to personally command the landing of the Ryukyu Islands.

The 1st Army and the 10th Army (Gurkha Division), of which he personally served as commanders, had already arrived ahead of schedule, joined the Second Army and the Fourth Army, and were waiting for his arrival.

When the plane landed on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12), Admiral Raymond Spruance, commander of the 5th Fleet, Vice Admiral Simón Bolívar Buckner, Jr., commander of the 10th Army of the Army, Vice Admiral Ennis Whitehead, deputy chief of staff of the Navy and Land and Sea and head of the Air Support Department, Vice Admiral Julian Smith, commander of the Second Army of the Navy and Army, and Vice Admiral Alexander van der Graft, commander of the Fourth Army, and other senior generals came forward to greet them.

After the greetings, Li Junhao listened to a report on the preparations for the battle......

The most critical part of the Ryukyu Islands operation is its main Ryukyu Island (called Okinawa Island by the Japanese), located between the Japanese mainland and the Gulf Island of China, about 340 nautical miles from Kyushu in the north, 105 kilometers long from north to south, 3-31 kilometers wide, and an area of about 1,176 square kilometers; The north is mountainous and the terrain is steep; The south is hilly and naturally cave-in. The island and its nearby Ie Island and Kerama Islands have 5 airports and more than 10 harbors.

Li Junhao knew the tragedy of the Battle of Okinawa in history, which was the largest, heaviest and last battle of the United States and Japanese forces during the Pacific War. The reason why he personally came to command the landing battle was to avoid huge losses.

Therefore, after listening to the report, he said: "Generals, you have carried out a series of previous operations to seize the island, and you have all carried out very successful, and you have accumulated a lot of experience, but this time it is a little different, the Liuhuang Islands can be said to be the last southern barrier of the Japanese mainland, and the Japanese army will definitely defend desperately, and will also send planes and ships from the mainland and the Bay Island to support......

"Let's just say that this main island of the Ryukyus, with more than 100,000 Japanese troops stationed, has been operating on the island for many years, making full use of the terrain and caves, building a large number of strong fortifications, tunnels, and caves, and arranging a lot of anticline positions, I am afraid that you will suffer great losses...... So, I ask you to keep all of this in mind! ”

"Commander Panson, that's what we did." Lieutenant General Buckner, commander of the 10th Army, said, "According to the plan, the Marines will land in the middle of the main island of the Ryukyus and establish a landing field, because this place is narrow, just enough to cut off the main island, and then our army units will attack the north and south ends respectively after landing on the island......

Hearing the lieutenant general's confident words, Li Junhao couldn't help but take a deep look at him, in the original history, this was killed by the Japanese artillery shells in this battle, and he was the highest-ranking general killed by the US army in World War II.

At this time, Admiral Spruance, commander of the 5th Fleet, spoke: "Admiral Panson, we have taken into account what you said, as long as the sea and land forces seize the landing ground as planned, and our navy and land forces are responsible for other aspects, we will definitely complete the task successfully......"

Li Junhao understood the meaning, this was to let him not interfere in the specific battle command, he was not displeased with this, but felt that these generals may have fought too smoothly before, these are a little overconfident, in order to reduce unnecessary losses, he still decided to say more, "Commander Spruance, after the battle begins, the fleet must pay attention to air defense, and the Japanese aircraft are likely to take a suicide attack......

The meeting was a little awkward, Li Junhao got up and said goodbye after saying what he had to say, he knew that he had no problem inspecting and inspecting as a member of the Joint Staff Committee and a commander of a service, but he was not happy to directly intervene in the command of the campaign led by the navy and the main attack of the army!

Therefore, after the meeting, he left the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" and took the sea and land generals to his amphibious command ship, so as not to annoy people.

Before he came, he also imagined that he would personally command the Ryukyu landing battle, and specially brought the First Army with him for this purpose, but now he felt a little excited, and signaled that Lieutenant Smith, the commander of the Second Army, who was originally scheduled to be in charge of the beach rush operation, would continue to take charge, and he was ready to retreat and watch the battle.

——

On March 18, the fighters of the 5th Fleet began to sortie and attacked Japanese airfields in Kyushu, Shikoku, and Bay Island; At the same time, the landing forces began to set off.

On the 23rd, carrier-based aircraft and naval guns carried out advance fire preparations on the Kerama Islands and the main island of the Ryukyus, destroying some airfields and exposed defenses on the islands, and destroying the Japanese coastal attack fleet.

On the 26th, the 22nd Brigade of the Second Army of the Navy and Army attacked and captured the Kerama Islands, 40 kilometers west of Naha at the southern tip of Ruri Island, and obtained a ship mooring ground and a logistics supply base.

On the morning of April 1, the 5th Fleet began to carry out naval artillery strikes and air strikes on the main island of Liuli, and carried out fire preparations.

Subsequently, the Second Army and the Fourth Army each sent three main forces to land on the beach in the middle of Ryukyu Island, and in only five hours they established a landing ground with a front of 14 kilometers and a depth of 5 kilometers, including two field airfields......

Then, about 60,000 men and a large number of tanks and artillery of the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th infantry divisions of the army landed, took over the naval and land forces, and immediately attacked to the west......

By the 4th, the U.S. forces had occupied the central part of Okinawa, cut off the island, and began to develop an offensive to the main positions in the north and south. At this point, the landing mission has been completed.

The troops on land and sea completed their tasks after only five hours of fighting on the first day, and the troops participating in the battle withdrew to the Kerama Islands to recuperate, and the other troops did not even disembark.

On the 5th, Li Junhao received a telegram from Lieutenant General Buckner, commander of the 10th Army, asking him whether he could withdraw the sea and land troops from the Kerama Islands, because the army troops participating in the war needed to use the islands for rest and recuperation......

Ha! Li Junhao is really unhappy now - he was thinking about whether to stay and see if there is anything that needs help, but now people have come to pick him up!

The generals of the sea and land were a little angry, but Li Junhao waved his hand and left!

However, out of caution and politeness, before leaving, he asked Smith, commander of the Second Army, to call Spruance, commander-in-chief of the campaign and commander of the 5th Fleet, to ask whether the 2nd and 4th Armies of the Navy and Land still had combat missions, and forwarded the telegram from Vice Admiral Buckner.

Soon, Spruance telegraphed back: the Marines' mission in the Ryukyu Campaign was all over, and they could retreat to the Philippines or South Asia to rest.

Let's go! Li Junhao decided to go to the Philippines, ready to see the current situation there, and there are old friends there!

(End of chapter)