The Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one heroes, legends, histories, histories, podcast.

This is your host, John Hagadorn, and today we bring you the true story of the Battle of Okinawa,

the last great battle of World War II. Code-named Operation Iceberg, it involved U.S. Army,

Navy, and Marines, and took a heavy toll on all three. Okinawa has been called the Typhoon of

steel for the number of Allied armored ships that took part in the battle, a battle

which is known for the atrocity and frequency of Japanese kamikaze attacks and the number of casualties

incurred, over 140,000 lives lost, along with hundreds of planes and dozens of ships. Before we

begin our narrative, I would like to share a little bit of the backstory to Japanese aggression and the nature of this battle,

because this battle, the Battle of Okinawa, answers the question of why it was necessary to end the war by bombing Japan.

Okinawa was carnage on a grand scale, and there is no doubt that with mainland Japan being the next stop, and considering the

level of resistance mounted by the Japanese, resistance which included forcing native civilians

and children as young as 13 into the fight, and using suicide tactics, Japan's home island

would have suffered huge losses before capitulating. Japanese Emperor Hirohito, Prime Minister Tojo, and their minions would have sacrificed every man,

woman, and child in Japan in a fight they knew they could not win.

To make that point, on Okinawa, 1,780 middle school boys were organized by the Japanese into front-line service, while

girls students were organized into nursing units. These children, the Japanese, called

volunteers. When the Allied invasion took place, all school students were forced into service.

Between the 21 male and female schools that were pressed into fighting,

2,000 students would end up dying on the battlefield. Their only choice, die fighting, or be shot

by Japanese officers. There has been an effort on behalf of some historians to remove blame from

Hirohito, a blame he richly deserves, for Japanese war atrocities and the

suicidal defense of their war effort, those historians blaming Japan's crimes on the Prime

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