George Feifer's, The Battle of Okinawa: The Blood and the Bomb is a fantastic book. I read it 20 years ago, and this was a reread that was well worth the time.

At 471 pages of reading, it is a 5 star book that touches on all aspects of the most costly battle in the entire Pacific War, impacting the U.S. personnel in the Army, Navy and Marines, Japanese soldiers in the Army, and the Navy and the most unfortunate victims of all thy Okinawan civilian population.

The Japanese created a defensive wall out of the mountainous terrain and the natural coral of Okinawa, creating tunnels, and even after pulling back from its initial well prepared defensive line toward the coast they still from Shuri line with sited and interlocking fields of fire made the U.S.army and Marine units pay dearly for every yard despite the unprecedented land and sea artillery support.

The use as the battle developed of both suicidal Kamikaze pilots and Banzai charges against prepared U.S. lines and the limits the Japanese soldier and Okinawan civilian population pushed themselves to was unbelievable.

The Battle cost both sides their ranking generals on the same day. General Simon Bolivar Buckner and General Mitsuru Ushijima.

I can not recommend any book on The Battle of Okinawa more highly than this. ( )

Excellent account of the final battle, with absolutely convincing argument in favor of dropping the bombs. ( )

2457 Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb, by George Feifer (read 12 Aug 1992) This is a detailed look at that most vital and fearsome battle of the Pacific War, which began April 1, 1945, and ended July 2, 1945. It tells of the battle from the viewpoint of the people fighting--on both sides. I have never read a more real account of the emotions of the fighters. It tells of atrocities, on both sides, and its last chapter is the most convincing account I have ever read as to why the dropping of the two atomic bombs was absolutely necessary to save American and Japanese lives. I think one can be sure that if the bombs had not been dropped my brother Roman and a million others would have died in the invasion of Japan. This book is the best book I'll ever read on the battle for Okinawa--and while as I was reading it I thought it needed a better editor to shorten and chronologize it, its last chapters are stunning and frightfully moving and convincing. The author says the most impressive book he has read by a participant in the battle is E. B. Sledge's With the Old Breed at Pelelieu and Okinawa, published in 1983. Okinawa was returned to Japan by the U.S. in 1992, but we still have lots of bases there, this book says. This is a very great book. ( )

This is an excellent volume on a little-known battle. It's essential for anyone interested in knowing the true story of the pacific theatre of WWII, as well as anyone who wants to understand one of the main reasons the US decided to drop the atomic bomb. ( )