Battle Okinawa

75 years ago, near the end of World War II, Japan and the US engaged in a desperate battle in Okinawa. The Americans used weapons of unprecedented lethality, targeting civilians as well as the Japanese military. Civilians sought shelter in caves alongside the Japanese troops they thought would defend them, only to face hunger and threats of execution if they surrendered. This is the story of ordinary people who were caught in the conflict and perished during the battle's final month.

The final stages of World War II… The islands of Okinawa turned into a theater of war the United States military called "hell." The Battle of Okinawa claimed the lives of at least 120,000 islanders. Women and girls were forced in as army cooks or nurses, boys in their mid-teens molded into soldiers… and sent to the frontline. As most records were lost, families are still wondering how their loved ones were mobilized… and what became of them. But recently discovered documents reveal their unknown stories.

By mid-1945, Hitler is dead and the war has ended in Europe. Halfway around the world, however, the fighting is still going strong on a small island in the Pacific. Okinawa was the site of the last battle of the last great war of the 20th century, with a casualty rate in the tens of thousands. Through it all, military cameramen risked their lives to film the conflict, from brutal land combat to fierce kamikaze attacks at sea. See the footage they captured and experience this intense battle the way the soldiers saw it, in color.

On the island of Okinawa, in the middle of the Pacific, took place the final and bloodiest battles of World War II, known as Operation Iceberg. For 82 gruesome days, the U.S. and Japanese armies faced each other on land, sea, and air, causing thousands of military and civilian casualties. It was a trench warfare entangled in rain and mud. The small tropical island was turned into hell, as battles raged on despite the Armistice in Europe.

By mid-1945, Hitler is dead and the war has ended in Europe. Halfway around the world, however, the fighting is still going strong on a small island in the Pacific.