The Final Storm

In spring 1945, American forces invade Okinawa, the last major stepping-stone before the Japanese home islands. Chester Nimitz directs the naval campaign while General Mitsuru Ushijima prepares a defence based on fortified positions, attrition and refusal to surrender. Marines and soldiers confront mud, caves, artillery and kamikaze attacks during months of severe fighting.

As Okinawa ends, Harry S. Truman inherits the presidency and the decision over how to force Japan’s surrender. The novel follows preparations for invasion alongside the secret atomic project and Paul Tibbets’s mission over Hiroshima. Shaara closes the series by placing military victory beside civilian destruction and the moral uncertainty surrounding the weapon that ended the war.