Fantastic read. I read it in two days flat and I couldn’t recommend it to friends enough. Even if you’re not a huge history fan this will convert you in the quickest way.

Free ARC from Net Galley, my #1 digital source!!!!!

"Iceberg", 82 days of suffering and sacrifice from both sides. This should be mandatory reading for ALL who have the power to vote to send our country to war. MANDATORY reading for all those timid politicians that think the "combat zone" is or should be a place of equal opportunity.

The "Storm of Steele" as the other side called it is written/captured in great detail as heroic sacrifice is shown by both sides including the infamous "Hacksaw Ridge" with PFC Doss. Great book that captures a truly horrible battle.

Well written descriptions of different battles that took place on and around Okinawa. Many terms are abbreviated after the first appearance and this makes it difficult to recall what each abbreviation or acronym stands for if it has been a while since the original term was introduced. Otherwise a good read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Book Review: Bloody Okinawa: The Last Great Battle of World War II by Joseph Wheelan
(Published by Hachette Books)

4 Stars

"Never before had there been, probably never again will there be, such a vicious, sprawling struggle." - New York Times

The Battle of Okinawa, code-named "Operation Iceberg", the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II, commenced on April 1, 1945 and ended on June 22, 1945, lasting 82 days.

As a lowly student of Japanese and Okinawan culture, I was pretty excited about a new book on the battle, one of history's bloodiest. It was described as "Tetsu no Bōfū" (鉄の暴風) or A Storm of Steel for the souls on island, a veritable typhoon of fire and death from the very moment US naval guns and aircraft bombarded the island to soften enemy defenses.

"Bloody Okinawa" deftly walks us through "the last great battle", commencing with a prelude of events in the Pacific Theater, then - over the fog of war through non-linear events - an incredibly thorough narrative of combat, day after excruciating day for inch after grueling inch, on the hills, cliffs and escarpments of Okinawa, the horrors, the deadly human toll, - and, in conclusion, the battle's aftermath and impact to this very day.

Victories in Saipan and the Battle of Leyte were met with by crucial next-step decisions; options to next liberate Luzon or Formosa. For General Douglas MacArthur it was going to be unequivocally freedom for his beloved Philippines. Island hopping was then followed by Iwo Jima, and finally, Okinawa, its final phase - to capture an airfield at Kadena in Central Okinawa as a land base for "Operation Downfall", the planned invasion of the Japanese homeland.

In the end the sacrifices on both sides were all for naught, with the homeland invasion rendered unnecessary by the "deus ex machina" atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Focal points of the battle include the heroics at Southern Okinawa's Maeda Escarpment, also known as Hacksaw Ridge, of Pfc. Desmond T. Doss, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor despite refusing to bear arms during WWII on religious grounds.

Today, on a hillside at the Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Okinawa stand a semi-circular avenue of stones engraved with the names of all thousands of the honored dead in the Battle of Okinawa regardless of nationality, arrayed majestically upon the Cornerstone of Peace overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This was the place of the last stand, the final battle in Okinawa, where Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima (牛島 満), commanding, met his fate.

For the novel, the author draws upon his impressive body of work as a military and political historian - writings on John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, General Philip H. Sheridan, the Civil War, the Mexican-American War and the banzai attacks of Guadalcanal.

"Bloody Okinawa" is, in my humble opinion, a compelling read in the calibre of the works of the late John Toland ("Infamy", "But Not in Shame", "The Rising Sun", inter-alia), surviving Japanese Colonel Hiromichi Yahara's account entitled Okinawa Kessen (沖縄決戦), and last year's "Indianapolis", the sixteen-year epic endeavor of Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic.

But, what could be easily a 5-star read for me is somehow tainted by the insertion of 21st century political issues entirely out of place.

The author writes: "...for their part, the Japanese believed that Americans had abused and murdered African American slaves, massacred American Indians and stole their lands, and started a mid-nineteenth-century expansionist war against Mexico..."

It is preposterous to proffer that the divine race of Amaterasu (天照), forebear of Japanese emperors, brutal enablers of the Bataan Death March, the Rape of Nanking and the invasions of Manchuria, Korea and Taiwan would have concerned themselves with the woke politics of other nations at that time of war.

Written without a Japanese or Okinawan in consultation, there are numerous misspellings and misinterpretations of culture. Some anti-US military sentiment in the choice of words is also noted.

Nevertheless, this historical war novel is indeed a commendable rendition of the battle.

Review based on an Advance Reading Copy from Hachette Books through NetGalley.

I received a digital copy of the book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

The invasion of Okinawa was not just one battle. It was a coordinated series of battles with numerous moving parts all striving towards the goal of taking the island. Given this, it’s a challenge to put such an operation into a coherent format. The author throws a lot at the reader early on, mixing both historical and contemporary events, making them jarring in the presentation. However, once the battle gets moving, the author focuses on one aspect of the invasion in each chapter, making the history easier to appreciate. In addition, numerous quotes from participants on both sides showcase the difficulties the soldiers faced, providing a human touch to what is an inhuman situation.