June 22, 1945: The Battle of Okinawa

June 22, 1945: The Battle of Okinawa ends. It is an American victory. But it is a hard one, perhaps a "Pyhrric victory."

U.S. troops had been "island-hopping" all across the Pacific Ocean, taking one piece of territory after another from Japan. But as they got closer to Japan's "home islands" -- Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu -- the Japanese fought harder. The Battle of Iwo Jima, ending in March, was brutal, to the point where it remains the defining victory of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Okinawa would be as close to the home islands as could be gotten without getting all the way there, about 400 miles from Kyushu, and 1,300 miles from Tokyo (on Honshu). Okinawa had an airstrip, and it was close enough that, should the battle be won, U.S. planes could take off from there, attack the home islands, and fly back without having to refuel.

But the Japanese fought harder than ever. The U.S. invaded on April 1, and it took 83 days to secure the island. There were over 12,500 American troops killed, including the overall commander, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. The Japanese lost 77,000. For comparison's sake, in the Vietnam War, America lost 59,000 in 8 years. This was 12,500 in less than 3 months.

The phrase "Pyrrhic victory" originates from a quote from Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose triumph against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum, in what is now Southern Italy, in 279 BC destroyed much of his forces, forcing the end of his campaign. According to legend, he said, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." The more common translation is, "Another such victory, and I am undone."

So President Harry Truman knew that an invasion of Japan's home islands would be even worse. The study he commissioned suggested that the U.S. would lose 500,000 men -- half a million -- while their Allies would lose at least as many, and the Japanese would lose twice that, over a full million, and that wasn't even counting civilians.

Truman realized that, if he had the atomic bomb, and he didn't use it, and half a million American soldiers were dead when the war could be ended quickly -- almost literally in a flash -- the backlash would be horrible. He was willing to trade however many Japanese lives that the bomb would kill to save those American, Allied, and, yes, Japanese men. And he did. And so, Okinawa became the site of the last major American battle of World War II.

The U.S. returned control of Okinawa to Japan in 1971, although it maintains a military base there, the largest U.S. base in Asia. Today, the Okinawa Prefecture -- Japan calls their State equivalents "Prefectures" -- includes 160 islands, 49 of them inhabited, with about 1.4 million people living on them.

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June 22, 1945 was a Friday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-0 at Yankee Stadium. Bill Bevens pitched a 4-hit shutout, and Tuck Stainback hit a home run.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The New York Giants won the opener, 3-0. Van Lingle Mungo pitched a 3-hit shutout. The Philadelphia Phillies won the nightcap, 5-4.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves, 8-7 at Ebbets Field.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 10-5 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 2-1. The Chicago White Sox won the nightcap, 3-0. Orval Grove pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.