The Lost Evidence

As U.S. forces approached their ultimate goal, Japanese defenders tried desperately to stop their advance at the last great battle. It was the final stanza of a brutal campaign in which over a quarter of a million people lost their lives. It was a conflict that pit a vast, modern war machine against an increasingly desperate enemy. As the Allied juggernaut closed in on Japan's home islands, Okinawa's defenders relied on suicide tactics and banzai charges to stall the invasion force.