Today in History: Defeat on Okinawa

Map of Okinawa and Journey of the 383rd Infantry
Today in History–June 21–the Library of Congress features the U.S. defeat of Japanese troops on Okinawa Island on this day in 1945. One of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War II, the battle for Okinawa claimed somewhere around 12,000 American and 110,000 Japanese lives. Find out more by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access images and oral histories and more resources related to the Battle of Okinawa and World War II.

Okinawa image set

Okinawa veteran oral histories

The Broken Urn: Okinawa Interlude (book) written and illustrated by Carl Hall

Okinawa battle 1945 historical newspaper coverage

A World Without War” March 1945 – December 1945 (companion information to the PBS Series The War by Ken Burns)

World War II primary sources & teaching resources