The National Interest
"Buckner also had the 27th and 77th Infantry Divisions available in reserve. The American general thus commanded a landing force larger than the one employed in the Normandy invasion the previous year. Over 180,000 soldiers and Marines would be going ashore."
"To the Americans, Okinawa represented a major stepping-stone toward the final defeat of the Japanese Empire. The successful occupation of the island by American forces would provide air bases and naval facilities that would allow for attacks on the Home Islands themselves. To the Japanese, the surrender of a base so close to the heart of the empire would seriously compromise the ability of their armed forces to defend the homeland. Capture of the island would also interdict the critical flow of petroleum to Japan from Borneo, Sumatra, and Burma.
"Okinawa is the largest and most densely populated island in the Ryukyu chain, some 380 miles southwest of the Japanese Home Island of Kyushu. With a total area of 485 square miles, Okinawa is approximately 60 miles long with a width of 2 to 18 miles. The island’s northeastern area is very rugged, mountainous, wooded, and lightly populated.
"In 1945 the population of Okinawa was estimated to be approximately 500,000, two-thirds of whom lived in the southern one-third of the island. Unlike the north, the south had large open areas suitable for cultivation. Before World War II, the Okinawans maintained a largely rural, agricultural society. The islanders fished and raised sugar
cane, sweet potatoes, rice, and soybeans. They tended to concentrate in small villages rather than in large cities. Ancestor worship dominated their religious practices, and the tombs of those ancestors dotted the countryside.
"The Japanese on Kyushu regarded the Okinawans as their inferiors. The Okinawans were a blend of Japanese, Malay, and Chinese ancestry. Although they spoke a Japanese dialect, communication between the two groups often remained strained. Okinawan labor provided most of the manpower for the construction of the elaborate system of defenses erected by the Imperial Japanese Army." . . .
Along with Elise Stefanik's bold defiance of the House Democratic elite, this is a serious indication that a new GOP is pecking its way out of the shell. Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, relentlessly hammered Chairman Adam Schiff over the lies and inconsistencies regarding the "whistleblower," ending with a demand that "he should immediately step down as chair."
Merkel regime threatens critics of Greta -- Up to 3 years imprisonment for satires about Greta "Two long and beautifully designed Greta pigtails hang from the trunk. Above them is written "Problem solved", and a little further up "F--k you Greta". The public prosecutor's office has initiated an investigation against a man from Plauen who has stuck the pigtails on his car. "The accusation to be examined is a public request to commit crimes," says Ines Leonhardt, spokeswoman for the Zwickau public prosecutor's office. One could see in this kind of tailgate decoration the glorification of violence against children and the invitation to do harm to a certain person. The penal code provides for up to three years imprisonment.A citizen filed a denunciatory complaint. Just the sticker "F--k you Greta", which for example a citizen stuck on his old Citroen, was considered an insult, according to the prosecutor."
