This is the order of battle for the US invasion of the island of Okinawa , the largest island of the Ryukyu chain. This offensive, called Operation Iceberg by its planners, was the final Allied offensive in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II.
The defending Japanese military was determined to inflict a casualty rate so high that the U.S. government would choose not to invade the Japanese home islands. To this end, the southern portion of Okinawa had been covered with the most extensive system of fortifications and interlocking fields of fire the Americans had yet encountered in the Pacific Theatre. In anticipation of this level of resistance, five full divisions, two Marine and three Army , were committed to the struggle.
The initial American landings took place on 1 April 1945 and the island was not declared secure until 22 June, a period of 82 days, far longer than was expected by US planners. Four days before the end of the campaign, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. became the highest ranking U.S. military officer to be killed in action in the Second World War.
United States
US Tenth Army
Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. , USA (KIA 18 Jun)
Japan
For most of the war, the Japanese had not considered Okinawa vital to their defensive arrangements. US progress in the Central Pacific led them to activate the Thirty-Second Army [a] on the island in April 1944. In June, 5,000 men of the 44th Independent Mixed Brigade were lost at sea when their transport was torpedoed by a US submarine. The 9th Division, a veteran unit, was intended for Okinawa but was stranded on Formosa when the high command decided it couldn't risk more slow-moving transports in the East China Sea. [1] The unprecedented American casualty figures would almost certainly have been considerably higher had these men made it to Okinawa.
Japanese Thirty-Second Army [b]
Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima ( seppuku 22 Jun)
Approx. 67,000 men under arms, incl. 5,000 Okinawan conscripts [2]
US Tenth Army
Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. , USA (KIA 18 Jun)
Major General Roy S. Geiger, USMC (18 Jun thru 23 Jun)
General Joseph W. Stilwell, USA (from 23 Jun)
III Amphibious Corps [3]
Major General Roy S. Geiger
Embarked in Task Force 53 under Rear Admiral Lawrence F. Reifsnider
XXIV Army Corps [5]
Major General John R. Hodge
Embarked in Task Force 55 under Rear Admiral John L. Hall
Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima ( seppuku 22 Jun)
Approx. 67,000 men under arms, incl. 5,000 Okinawan conscripts [8]
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the US military, was fought between the United States and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of World War II, from 15 September to 27 November 1944, on the island of Peleliu.
The 1st Commonwealth Division was the military unit that commanded Commonwealth land forces in the Korean War. The division was a part of the multinational British Commonwealth Forces Korea, with infantry units of the British Army, Canadian Army and Australian Army forming the bulk of the division. Additionally, the New Zealand Army supplied artillery contingents and an Indian medical unit was also attached. As with the "Korean Augmentation To the United States Army" (KATUSA) programme, numerous South Korean troops were seconded to the Commonwealth division to make up numbers under a scheme known as "KATCOM".
The VII Army Corps of the United States Army was one of the two principal corps of the United States Army Europe during the Cold War. Activated in 1918 for World War I, it was reactivated for World War II and again during the Cold War. During both World War II and the Cold War it was subordinate to the Seventh Army, or USAREUR and was headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, West Germany, from 1951 until it was redeployed to the US after significant success in the Gulf War in 1991, then inactivated in 1992.
The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare.
The 6th Marine Division was a United States Marine Corps World War II infantry division formed in September 1944. During the invasion of Okinawa it saw combat at Yae-Take and Sugar Loaf Hill and was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. The 6th Division had also prepared for the invasion of Japan before the war ended. After the war it served in Tsingtao, China, where the division was disbanded on April 1, 1946, being the only Marine division to be formed and disbanded overseas and never set foot in the United States.
This is the order of battle for the Guadalcanal Campaign, called Operation Watchtower, the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II. The campaign lasted from the initial American landings on 7 August 1942 until the final Japanese evacuation on 9 February 1943, a period of six months, far longer than was expected by Allied planners.
The 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion conducts amphibious and ground reconnaissance in support of the 3rd Marine Division and Marine Forces Pacific (MarForPac), operating in the commander's areas of influence. The battalion is based out of Camp Schwab, a satellite base of Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler. It is geographically located on the Okinawa Prefecture in Japan.
On 15 June 1944, United States Marine forces landed on the southwest coast of the island of Saipan in the central Marianas chain; these were followed a day later by US Army forces. This invasion was part of Operation Forager, an effort to recapture the entire Marianas chain from the Empire of Japan.
3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment (3/23) is a reserve infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps located throughout the Southern United States consisting of approximately 800 Marines and Sailors. The battalion was first formed in 1943 for service in the Central Pacific Area during World War II, taking part in a number of significant battles including those at Saipan and Iwo Jima before being deactivated at the end of the war. In the early 1960s, the unit was reactivated as a reserve battalion. The battalion is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri, with outlying units throughout the Southern United States. 3/23 falls under the command of the 23rd Marine Regiment and the 4th Marine Division. Recent operations have included tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The American airborne landings in Normandy order of battle is a list of the units immediately available for combat on the Cotentin Peninsula between June 6, 1944, and June 15, 1944, during the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II.
Marine Defense Battalions were United States Marine Corps battalions charged with coastal and air defense of advanced naval bases during World War II. They maintained large anti-ship guns, anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, and small arms to repel landing forces.
Battle of Chosin Reservoir order of battle is a list of the significant units that fought in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir between November 27, 1950 and December 13, 1950.
The 15th Marine Regiment is an inactive United States Marine Corps infantry and later artillery regiment.
John Ralph Lanigan was a highly decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of brigadier general. He is most noted as commanding officer of 25th Marine Regiment during Battle of Iwo Jima. Lanigan was a recipient of the Navy Cross, the United States military's second-highest decoration awarded for valor in combat.
On 21 July 1944, United States Marine and Army forces invaded the island of Guam, the southernmost of the Mariana Islands chain in the Central Pacific, with the intent to take control of the island from the Imperial Japanese Army. Operation Forager II, as it was called by American planners, was a phase of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
The 16th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion was a United States Marine Corps antiaircraft unit that served during World War II. Formed in 1942 as the 16th Defense Battalion, its original mission was the air and coastal defense of advanced naval bases. During the war the battalion defended Johnston Island, Hawaii and Tinian and took part in combat operations at Okinawa. The battalion returned to the United States after the war and was decommissioned on 30 November 1945 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.
On February 19, 1945, men of the United States Marine Corps invaded the island of Iwo Jima, part of the Volcano Islands chain, in the North Pacific. This invasion, known as Operation Detachment, was a phase of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The American goal was to establish multiple airfields that would allow escort fighters to accompany long-range bombers in their attacks on the Japanese home islands, as well as providing a place for damaged bombers to land on the return flight.
On 10 November 1943, men of the United States Marine Corps invaded the island of Betio, located at the southwest corner of Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands chain in the Central Pacific. This invasion, known as Operation Galvanic, was a phase of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
On 15 September 1944, United States Marine Corps forces landed on the southwestern shore of the island of Peleliu in the Palau island chain, 470 nautical miles due east of the Philippine island of Mindanao. This action, called Operation Stalemate II by American planners, was a phase in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Whether possession of the island was necessary for the Allied cause has been the source of much controversy.