Robert Leckie, Book Review of Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II

Robert Leckie’s book, Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II, is entirely about one of World War II’s most brutally fought battles. On April 1, 1945, the U.S. invaded Japan, attacking the island of Okinawa with 540,000 U.S. Army and Marines, and 1,600 ships. “ L Day” was the official name for this day. The L stood for “Landing,” but the Americans who invaded the Hagushi Beaches that day without any trouble from the Japanese, called it “Love Day.” This battle was the last battle of World War II and lasted a whopping eighty-three days. This invasion greatly outnumbered D-Day in weapons and in men.

Former Marine and Pacific War veteran, Robert Leckie describes this battle in depth, not only telling you about the Americans, but showing the Japanese side as well. This book clearly informs the readers of the bloodshed and techniques that were used throughout the entire battle. From the American soldiers struggling to adapt to the new and unfamiliar terrain, to the Japanese kamikaze attacks, this book successfully sheds light on the individuals who fought in this epic battle.

Many people over time have argued that this battle was unnecessary because the U.S. could’ve just dropped the atomic bombs on Japan to end the war. However, Leckie is able to show the strategic importance of this battle. Okinawa was the entrance to Japan. If America successfully invaded Okinawa, then the Americans would only be 375 miles from Kyusha, which is one of the home islands of Japan. This would provide a glimpse of a possible invasion. The island also had many airfields which the Americans wanted to use as a base for operations. Leckie defends this importance by showing that if the Japanese would’ve won the battle of the Pacific War, the Imperial Conference could not have been influenced to accept the Allied surrender offer, thus the war would have been prolonged.

Although Leckie makes a strong defense of the importance of this battle, he never goes into if this battle was rational or not. Leckie does not describe individuals weighing their costs and benefits or the choice they decide to make. He does a great job of descriptively covering the events of the Okinawa invasion and does not tell the story from one particular point of view. However, I believe a better understanding of economics could help make this book better.

One of the routes Leckie could have went about to describe if this battle was rational or not was to talk about the length of the war. Was eighty-three days of fighting rational? Most regular people would say that this is not rational. Not only did thousands of men lose their lives, but all the weapons or ships that were damaged or destroyed was very costly. Don’t forget the opportunity cost of the income that could have been earned in other lines of work. These