Contains numerous maps. One of a series of monographs prepared by the Historical Division that deals with the activities of Marine Corps units in World War II, this monograph is the work of Captain Carleton. While on Okinawa he lived with the men of the Sixth Marine Division, watched them fight and listened to their accounts of the action. He was with the Twenty Ninth Marines on Motobu Peninsula, the Twenty Second Marines during the fight for Naha, and spent considerable time with the Sixth Reconnaissance Company. Most of the material in this monograph is the result of Captain Carleton’s personal observations or was gained through his interviews with the officers and men who fought in the Okinawa battles.

The Sixth Marine Division holds a unique place in U.S. Marine Corps history, because it was retired after one great battle. The division was formed on Guadalcanal in September 1944, its ranks filled with battle-hardened veterans and untested replacement troops. The Sixth Division fought its only action on the island of Okinawa from April to June 1945 but entered the fight with more combat experience overall than any other Marine division in its initial battle. It disappointed no one. The Okinawa campaign involved eight Army and Marine divisions, but the Sixth captured most of the ground in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Weeks later, atomic attacks on two Japanese cities in early August 1945 swiftly ended the war. Before Hiroshima there was Okinawa. Because of Okinawa, in considerable part there was Hiroshima, wrote one reporter. With the invasion of Japan canceled, the Sixth Division went to China on occupation duty and, on 1 April 1946, was reorganized out of existence. As it was created overseas, so was it disbanded. This book tells the story of these Marines in their own words. Historian Laura Lacey - a Marine family member who has lived on Okinawa -sympathetically portrays the men who in 1945 fought a tremendous battle that she contends has not received its full share of attention from historians. Lacey considers the gritty details of close quarters combat and considers the myriad physical and psychological wounds that war wreaks. With Marines now engaged in a tough fight in Iraq, Laceyas book reminds us that whether or not a war is popular, war is indeed hell."

Contains 86 photos and 42 maps and charts. The story of part played by the United States Marines in the largest amphibious assault of the entire Pacific War during World War II. The battle lasted an exhausting and bloody 82 days from early April until mid-June 1945. The legendarily tough defence of the Japanese soldiers and citizens was matched by the American troops in the last major campaign that had led all the way from Pearl Harbor to the Home Islands of Japan. “After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island while the 2nd Marine Division remained as an amphibious reserve and was never brought ashore. The invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces. The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or tetsu no bōfū ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Japan lost over 100,000 soldiers, who were either killed, captured or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds. Simultaneously, tens of thousands of local civilians were killed, wounded, or committed suicide. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting at Okinawa.”-Wiki

"The history of the Sixth Marine Division on Okinawa and the operations of its organic units during their campaigns throughout Melanesia, Micronesia, and the Orient in World War II has been ably recorded in this volume. The account of the exploits of the brave Marines of the Striking Sixth who fought so valiantly on Okinawa will be of especial interest to those of you who participated in these stirring events and will also serve as a reminder to posterity of the glorious accomplishments of the Sixth Marine Division. The bloody, hard-fought battle for Okinawa may be recorded in history as the decisive campaign of the Pacific War. It broke the cordon of defenses surrounding the Japanese homeland and clearly demonstrated the superiority of American arms and the quality of our fighting men over the best the enemy could muster. The fact that the collapse of Japan followed closely the Okinawa victory strongly indicates that the results of this battle influenced the Emperor's decision to sue for peace. To have participated as a member of the Sixth Marine Division in the final great battle of the Pacific War is a distinction of which every man can be justly proud"--Foreword.

The story of eighty-two days on an island hell