Okinawa was the last battle in the Pacific and the last battle of World War two. It included 287,000 troops from the U.S. Army, against 130,000 soldiers for the Japanese. As with many other battles in the pacific, the U.S. was looking to take over air bases on that island that would greatly help with an invasion of the mainland of Japan.
Japanese decided to gain time, rather than attack at the water's edge. Along with that, Japanese sent mass air attacks by planes that became an almost suicide mission. They were known as Kamikaze attacks, as the Japanese pilots and their blames would drive themselves into an American ship on the waters. They would risk their own life to kill a great number of their enemies. Japan also sent their last bug battleship, called the Yamato, on a similar raid. The Japanese were on the defensive using pillboxes, strong points, caves, and ancient castles. They did not attack much themselves, but instead used their power for when the U.S. soldiers would attack them.
Compared to most of the other pacific islands, Okinawa was much more populated, as there were 100,000 civilian casualties. On land the U.S. lost 7,374, with 31,807 wounded. On water, the U.S. navy 4,907 were killed, along with 34 ships sunk and 368 damaged. 763 aircraft were lost. The Japanese lost 77,000 soldiers.