Okinawa: The Final Battle (DVD, 2005)

I am a student of WWII in the Pacific, I have lived on Okinawa and Guam and in the Philippines. During all three stays, I was able to actually walk the same ground that our troops walked and died on. I was able to see actual weapon implacements. I have looked in caves because they are still to dangerous to enter. I have had friends who have found military equipment and unexploded ordance; my neighbor unearthed granades that were linked with wire through the pins in his yard on base. The DVD actually provides phographic evidence of what the battle was like. During college courses I was lucky enough to see actual uncut combat film from the Army Historian. The films were in black and white and in color. They were unbelievable, I found it hard to understan how anybody lived through the devistation. I really understand why the Okinawans dislike the "Ugly" Americans. The Japanese ingraned it in their minds, that we were bad people and there are still Americans today who do their best to cause problems for the military stationed on the island. The two parts of the battle that really just make me sick, the first is the "Cave of the Virgins" where Okinawan students went for protection against the battle. They believed the Japanese who told them that they would be raped and killed by the brutal Americans, they refused to exit the cave when ask to by the Americans. Because the American military had no idea that there were children and teachers in the cave and assumed that they were Japanese military, the Americans used flame throwers and granades to clean out the cave, all of the students and teacheres were killed. The second place is "Sucide Clifts" where both Japanese military and Okinawan civilians threw themselves off the cliffs to their deaths. The Okinawan parents would throw their children off then jump themselves.

This History Channel video details one of WWII's greatest battles with rare footage and great commetary. You feel like you have experienced the battle on some level yourself. A must own for any WWII historian or history buff.

A History Channel documentary showing the struggle for the Japanese held islandsf Okinawa during WWII. This was the first invasion of what was Japan proper
during the war (prior to that it was Japanese held territory). This led the
Japanese army into a suicidal type of defense-simply to try to inflect as many
dead or wounded on the American Marines and Army during the landing and fight
for the island. The Japanese Air Force also first introduced massive Kamikaze
type attacks on the American Fleets that supported the island. This type of
fighting was what finally led to the dropping of the atomic bomb instead of a
conventional invasion of Japan. Great documentary for WWII buffs.

I spent 18 months on ”THE ROCK in 67-68 with 541st Supply Co. 2nd Log sending supplies to Naum. Just wanted to review the Battle stories I had heard while there. Couple of the old Sargent's had been there during the fight.

Good history

Brought back memories for my dad, Howard Basch/WW2 Navy. He flew many many missions over Okinawa in many different planes and he was a machine gunner who strafed many islands esp Okinawa. He's almost 90 and still going strong////////////////////////​/////His son, David R. Basch sr. Great dvd movie