Crucible of Hell

Crucible of Hell reconstructs the eighty-three-day Battle of Okinawa, the largest amphibious operation of the Pacific War and the last great land battle before Japan’s surrender. American forces confronted a deeply fortified Japanese defence designed to inflict casualties rather than prevent the initial landing, while kamikaze attacks placed the supporting fleet under sustained pressure.

David moves between senior strategy and the experiences of American servicemen, Japanese defenders and Okinawan civilians trapped between them. The book examines propaganda, mass civilian death, the collapse of the Japanese Thirty-Second Army and the cost paid by the United States. It also considers how the violence of Okinawa influenced Harry Truman and American planning for an invasion of the Japanese home islands.