Okinawa · Chapter 2 of 9
L-Day: the strangely quiet beaches
On Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945, American assault waves crossed the reef and landed on the Hagushi beaches on Okinawa’s western coast. The bombardment had been immense. Men who had studied earlier Pacific landings expected a murderous reception at the water’s edge. Instead, the main assault found surprisingly little opposition.
The 1st and 6th Marine Divisions landed in the northern part of the assault area; the 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions came ashore to their south. The Bishi River divided the corps zones. The 2nd Marine Division made a demonstration off the southeastern coast, helping threaten another possible landing area. A demonstration was an operational task, not evidence that the division made the same sustained ground advance as the assault divisions.
Yontan and Kadena airfields were taken quickly. American troops pushed inland and crossed the narrow central portion of the island. These early successes were real, but they did not mean the Japanese defense had collapsed. Much of the main garrison was waiting in the fortified south, beyond the airfields and beachhead.
The beachhead also had to become a working supply system. At different tides landing craft could cross the reef or had to transfer cargo to amphibious vehicles. Causeways, piers, dumps, traffic routes, and field hospitals followed the assault troops. Engineers repaired runways and widened roads that had never been designed for the volume of heavy military traffic now using them.
The first lesson of Okinawa was therefore a dangerous one: an easy landing could precede an extremely difficult campaign. Ushijima had surrendered the opportunity to contest every yard of beach in exchange for the protection of prepared inland positions. The battle’s opening photographs show the scale of Allied capability; its later photographs show the limits of what that capability could accomplish quickly.
