Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945--The Last Epic Struggle of World War II

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In keeping with the style of his previous books "Given Up For Dead" and "Brotherhood of Heroes", author Bill Sloan tells a gripping story of the last and bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. Loaded with personal accounts from survivors of the battle, this excellent book throws the reader into the front lines of the greatest amphibious assault of the war.

On April 1, 1945, American Army and Marine forces stormed the beaches on Okinawa. Accompanying the troops was a massive naval armada of over 1,500 ships of all types, from LSTs to fast carriers and battleships. The Americans were expecting massive resistance from the Japanese but, to their surprise, the landings were almost completely unopposed. Many felt that the Japanese had either abandoned the island, or that their force was so small as to prove not much of a threat. The Americans were wrong on both counts. After about 4 days of virtually no contact with the enemy, the Americans stumbled across one of the three highly-defended zones set up by the Japanese. For the next 2 1/2 months, the Americans and Japanese became engaged in an epic struggle that would cost the lives of thousands of men on both sides.

Sloan describes in vivid and horrifying detail how the battle unfolded. From the relentless banzai charges and artillery barrages to the dreaded kamikaze attacks on American ships, this book covers every aspect of the battle. Besides the thousands of Japanese and Americans who were killed in the fighting, Sloan also devotes a chapter to the plight of the Okinawan civilians. Over 100,000 civilians perished in the battle; some at the hands of the Japanese, some accidentally killed by the Americans, but most died at their own hand after believing the propaganda the Japanese told them about what the Americans would do to them.

I've read several books about the battle for Okinawa. but this book is by far the best I've read on the battle. It is loaded with action, and the personal narratives from the soldiers and marines who actually fought there adds a human element to the story.

I give this book my highest recommendation. Okinawa was the most costly battle of the war for both the Americans and Japanese, and Bill Sloan delivers a powerful and honest assessment of the battle. This book is a must for World War II history fans.

A person sort of hates to compare authors and their works, but you almost have to with this one. Bill Sloan, as far as writing ability, compares rather favorably with Stephen Ambrose. As has been pointed out, Ambrose died before he delved into the war in the Pacific, but Sloan seems to have taken up the torch rather well. It should also be noted here, that no one book can cover a battle of this magnitude. There are bound to be some units, some aspect of the battle that was either short changed, or, regrettably, left out completely. A good point was made by another reviewer here in mentioning the 77th Infantry Division. To be quite frank, that Division alone probably rates at least three volumes of this size. But, as I said, no book can cover it all. This 402 page book does do a pretty good job of giving the overall feeling of the battle, who participated, who did what and when.

Okinawa was the last major battle in the Pacific during World War II. In it, at least 115,000 soldiers, airmen and sailors were killed. In addition and estimated 150,000 civilians were either killed or committed suicide, in one of the most tragic episodes of the war. We probably never will know the exact number of human beings who lost their lives during this struggle. This of course does not even count the thousands that were left homeless. It is quite difficult for us to understand the hardship and suffering the soldiers, sailors and airmen went through during this battle. It was fought under the most trying condition imaginable. The author has done as good a job as any in conveying these points.

Bill Sloan has written a very readable account of this final battle, using many sources and many personal stories/narratives from individuals who took part. He has drawn quite heavily from Eugene Sledge's wonderful work "With the Old Breed," a great book for those who are interested. What the men went through, both American and Japanese during this battle simply cannot be described using words. I have been fortunate in having the honor of talking to several individuals who survived not only this battle, but also Peleliu. These were (and are) all very old men when I knew them and they were and are still being haunted by their experiences, and will until the day they die. The author has done as well as anyone though in attempting to get the feeling across, difficult as that is.

This work does not only cover the ground campaign, but also the sea and air aspects of the battle. It also gives some insight to the Japanese point of view and their rationale of doing what they did and when. The author has also addressed the reasoning behind some of the tactics used by the American leaders during the battle, which is probably the weakest portion of his work, but then this book is really not about tactics, so there is not a great loss here. The ramifications of the outcome of this battle have been discussed, and indeed, the ramifications had the battle not been fought. Looking at it from a certain angle, it was probably one of the major factors in the decision to drop the atomic bomb rather than invade Japan proper. This of course can be argued long and hard, and probably will be for years to come. The only small complaint I have about the entire work is that it would have been greatly enhanced with more maps and more detailed maps. This was a minor problem though.

As with any historical work, a reader should not finish it, and only it, and feel they know everything there is to know about this particular event. There are many, many other works out there and many more will be written. These should be read for those who are interested. I do feel the reader will enjoy this work more, and learn more from it, if they read of some of the battles in the Pacific that led up to this particular one.

Overall, I do recommend The Ultimate Battle quite highly. You certainly cannot go wrong reading it.

This is an excellent telling of the Battle of Okinawa. From the buildup of forces for the invasion (code-named "Operation Iceberg"), to "Love Day" (when the Japanese Imperial Army purposely allowed the invading troops to land unmolested), to the savage, unremitting assaults on Sugar Loaf, to the bitter end (after over 12,000 American and 100,000 Japanese soldiers had died), it is all here.

Several notable books on this battle were published on or around its 50th anniversary (e.g., Col. Yahara's "The Battle for Okinawa") in 1995. This book, however, may end up being the best of the lot as it masterfully weaves together the stories of the "grunts" and others who witnessed first-hand the bloodletting and suicidal attacks that characterized this campaign with overall strategies of both sides.

Highly recommended and must reading for anyone interested in World War II, especially the war in the Pacific.

The peerless popular historian Stephen Ambrose passed away before he could write his intimate histories of the Pacific War. In Bill Sloan, a new writer has emerged to chronicle the Pacific campaigns' horrors and heroism in the up-close-and-personal, Ambrose style. "The Ultimate Battle" is Sloan's third World War II book; this account of Okinawa is every bit as powerful as his earlier works on Wake Island and Peleliu. Like Ambrose, Sloan tells the WW II stories through the eyes and words of surviving veterans, and their recollections make for sober, poignant and enthralling reading. If you liked Ambrose, you'll definitely like Sloan.

This is a useful collection of survivor's stories of this dreadful campaign. It gives one a fair corporal's view of the battle. But there is no comprehensible general's or colonel's view, and the sailor's view is quite narrow. The most glaring omission is of useful maps. There are three very general maps, but there are also dozens and dozens of towns, villages, roads, and heights mentioned in the text but absent from any of the maps. It is very difficult to follow some of the tactical and operational moves without maps.

The account of the action afloat is much worse. Sticking with the recollections of two or three sailors gives a very narrow view. We have attacks on two other radar picket destroyers, but no mention of the Laffey (DD 724), despite the inclusion of a photo of her and her absorption of seven kamikaze hits. The Eldorado (AGC 11) is identified as a cruiser. The author appears to believe that a flight deck/hangar deck fire could actually sink an Essex-class carrier, and that reversing course reverses port and starboard.

Despite these defects, the first-person narratives succeed in conveying the sheer horror of the fighting. Those who claim that the Hiroshima bombing was unnecessary should be required to read this.

An excellent book. It is personal snapshots of the events of one of the bloodiest battles for America in WW II. This is the most detailed examination of this battle I've ever read. It reviews the Japanese preparations and strategies, tactics, and errors. General Ushijima lead an excellent delaying defensive action attriting the American forces to the point of condemning Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nuclear strikes to end the war. This battle started on April Fool's Day, and for the first week was nearly a lark as the Americans moved inland taking objectives the didn't expect to take for several days including Kadena and Yontan air bases. Once the Americans encountered the Japanese defenses the discovered how well armed and deeply the Japanese were dug were they still didn't understand how difficult the coming fight would be. Both sides made tactical errors that increased the carnage. On the Japanese side it involved Ushijima listening to his second and launching a counter offensive from the Shuri line losing several thousand men that could have reinforced and held the Shuri line for several more days or even weeks. The error by General Buckner is a little more debatable. When the Americans drive stalled in front of the Shuri line several subordinates pressed for an amphibious end around assault on the Japanese from the south end of the island. If the Americans had the resources available this could have pressed the Japanese from both sides and prevented the Japanese from withdrawing to the southern end of the island and extending the fight for another month. The personal stories (exclusively American) reveal how vicious the individual engagements were. The fight for the small hill called "Sugarloaf" was especially bad. The Americans took this lump nearly a dozen times before they kept it. The hill was little more than 50' high and maybe 250 yards long but was one of three points southwest of the Shuri Castle that controlled the area. The hill isn't much to look at but like nearly every other strong point on the island was honeycombed with caves and strong points. Having been on Okinawa it's hard to imagine the visuals this book generates. I've been to Mabuni Hill, Shuri Castle, the Naval underground headquarters, and been a stones throw from Sugarloaf (to many UXOs around to approach). I've been up on Kakazu ridge and looked down on the invasion beaches. Looking down from Kakazu is a sobeing sight visualizing what the Japanese saw those opening days waiting for the Americans to come to them. Not having read the Band of Brothers but seeing the series I'd favorably compare this book to that one.

I have not completely finished reading this book but have come across several things that need to be noted. The first is that the maps are very incomplete in that a lot of the places/towns mentioned in the book are not on the map which leaves the reader to try to guess where the action took place. And on the maps Kadena is incorrectly located. The air base leads to the East China Sea where planes took off almost over the water. I will mention that during the Korean War, there were some planes who took off from Kadena to bomb Korea but were so heavily loaded they ended up in the East China Sea instead of in the air. For that reason, if nothing else, the maps need to be corrected.

The second thing to mention is that there are two places not mentioned in the book that are there. The first is The Pit of the Virgins and the other is Suicide Cliff. Someone might ask how I know of these two places. I remember hearing about them and seeing them when I was a child living on Okinawa with my army father. These two places help figure prominently at the end of the battle for Okinawa. The Pit of the Virgins was dug by the Japanese who encouraged young Okinawan women to jump to their deaths on sharpened bamboo stakes as these young women were told that the American soldiers would rape them and take their virture. Suicide Cliff was at the end of the island where a lot of the Japanese commanders and even soldiers jumped to their deaths rather then be taken captive by the Americans.

The one thing I did enjoy about this book is that there is a lot of first-person accounts of what happened during the battle to free Okinawa. But, it is not mentioned that both the Americans and Japanese both contributed to to the destruction of a culture that had existed for thousands of years. After all, ninety-five percent of Okinawa was destroyed during WWII to include evidence of Okinawan pre-war way of life.

Mr. Sloan's new book can be seen as a sequel to his earlier work on Peleliu, "Brotherhood of Heroes." In that work, he followed a good many American participants, but focused especially on K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. He does the same here (mainly through Eugene Sledge's masterwork, "With the Old Breed,") but he includes many more participants (particularly US Army veterans).
The "Ultimate Battle," won't be the best book written on the Okinawan campaign and it certainly won't be the last, but it will be I think, regarded as a kind of classic in it's own right. Sloan uses his journalistic experience to good effect here and the result is a brilliant retelling of the battle as seen by those who fought for it.
There's nothing in the book that will change the general historic view of the battle, and Mr. Sloan ignored some standard reference works like Manchester's "Goodbye Darkness." He also could have made use of classic Japanese sources such as Yahara's account and Yoshida's majestic "Requiem for Battleship Yamato."
Still that should not retract from this book. It shows what a muddy slugfest the battle was. Okinawa was certainly an ultimate battle indeed.

Having lived in Japan for 24 years and marrying a woman from Okinawa, I found this account of a little known, yet very tragic battle extremely fascinating. In addition to the very detailed account of this battle which claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 people, the author also accurately portrayed the mindset of the Japanese and the culture of the Okinawans. Today Okinawa is a popular tourist destination and a full one third of the main island is still occupied by US military bases. This book is a great read for anyone who is a WWII history buff. It is also a good introduction into some aspects of Japanese thinking.

Death was a Constant Companion
The grizzly battle of Okinawa was so awful that over 20,000 men suffered battle fatigue before it was over: The highest number of any American battle fought during WWII. Bill Sloan's The Ultimate Battle captures all the gritty realism of those terrible months of constant fighting during the grim Okinawa campaign. Death was indeed a constant companion of the battle weary American Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought daily for over 2 ½ months in some of the absolute worst conditions imaginable.
The final WWII battle of Okinawa was worst than a living hell where only the dead found peace; the living soldiered on in a Dante-like inferno of misery and heartbreak. Bill Sloan graphically portrays all the horrors of the battle through the feral eyes of those who suffered through it. When it was finally over man and nature both wept at the human carnage that blighted the ravage earth. It was indeed a broken landscape turned red through the savagery of ultimate war.
Outstanding history. Excellent use of eye witness accounts. I liked how Mr. Sloan kept a thread of continuity throughout this book by referring back time and again to a core of personal accounts. A few more maps would have helped. The photographs were excellent. I also liked the thumbnail sketches of the participants at the end of the book. His inclusion of the use of atomic weapons on Japan were timely and well thought out. I liked that he took the historical view of these weapons and not the current popular revisionist view. All in all a definite recommend and an outstanding addition to anyone's WWII library.
*Beware of the gritty realism and graphically told violence, but war is messy and the true nature of it must be told to understand just how terrible it is. I salute the men and women who fought in these battles and appreciate their service to our great nation. As a retired combat pilot I understand what Mr. Sloan was attempting to do and appreciate it. As General Robert E. Lee said at the battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862, "It is good that war is so terrible or else we would grow too fond of it." War is indeed a terrible thing, but the courage and sacrifice of the warriors is the sole beauty of it all.