| On April 1, 1945, during World War II, some 60,000 U.S. troops landed on the west coast of Okinawa, regarded as the last stepping stone to be taken before the assault on the main islands of Japan. Although the Japanese employed 355 kamikaze air raids and the Yamato, the greatest battleship in the world (sunk on April 7), in defense of the island, U.S. ground forces met little opposition on the beaches, because the Japanese commander, Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru, had decided to offer his ... |