Wana Ridge, Shuri, Okinawa, Japan.
Photographer: Walter F. Kleine.

With the butt-stock of a Thompson Sub Machine Gun firmly braced against his shoulder, a U.S. soldier takes aim on Wana Ridge, Okinawa, on the 20th May 1945. The caption reads: A Marine of the 1st Marine Division draws a bead on a Japanese sniper with his Tommy gun as his companion ducks for cover. The division is working to take Wana Ridge, before the town of Shuri, Okinawa, 1945.

The largest island in the Ryukyu group of Islands, that arcs from Taiwan to mainland Japan. Okinawa was a major engagement between the U.S. 10th Army and the Japanese 32nd Army, during the last remaining days of World War II.

The strategic importance of Okinawa.

For the allied forces closing in on Japan in a pincer movement. The 60-mile long island with a population numbering slightly less than half a million was of strategic importance. Its capture had meant naval bases, runways and bombers to easily target the industrial plants of Japan. Not to mention a springboard to later invade the mainland itself.

For the 86,000 Japanese and 24,000 Okinawan defenders on the other hand. It was the last opportunity to turn the tide of the war by inflicting the maximum possible damage. Both sides were determined not to let the other win, whatever the cost.

Beginning on the 23rd of March with intense aerial bombardments and ending on the 21st of June 1945. The engagement at Okinawa is often considered to be a death struggle between two resolute armies. With every inch of the ground bitterly contested and every encounter no matter how small etched in the memory of those who survived.

High Casualties.

Out of the huge allied force of over 600 naval ships, 1,727 aircrafts and 183,000 ground troops that had assaulted the island on the 1st of April 1945. On the sea, 1,500 Japanese Kamakazi Zeros making their suicide dives had disabled or destroyed almost half of this naval force. While on land, strongly entrenched Japanese soldiers familiar with the terrain had extracted a heavy toll of casualties leaving some 12,670 dead and over 40,000 wounded.

Though the outcome for Japan was more devastating. With a speculated 110,000, Japanese and Okinawans perishing by the end of the engagement. The fanatical resistance offered by the Japanese and the high casualty suffered had alarmed U.S war planners even more.

Here on this island, as ground troops had reported back of Japanese soldiers refusing to surrender for honour’s sake. Ordinary citizens forced to commit suicide with hand grenades. And schoolboys engaging U.S. forces from the front lines. U.S war planners had begun to search for other alternatives over launching a full-scale invasion. Convinced, future engagements to be equally bloody.

As the brutal conflict had raged, back in Washington, the balance had tipped in favour of using the atomic bombs.

The two Marines in the photo.

The two Marines in the photo are Davis Hargraves and Gabriel Chavarra. Both men had belonged to the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment. Ordered to secure Wana Ridge located near Shuri, the capital of Okinawa.

On the 19th of May 1945, their regiment had replaced the 7th Marines that had sustained heavy losses in its effort to gain a foothold on Wana Ridge and bring the U.S. advance closer to the town of Shuri. Where the headquarters of the 32nd Japanese army was located.

As one of the many defensive positions in the 32nd Japanese army’s protective perimeter around the town of Shuri. The Wana Ridge had been open to attack from three sides. The Marines had at first attempted to take the ridge during heavy rains without adequate tank support and been continuously assailed with mortar and gunfire.

Assult on the ridge.

On the 20th of May, after supporting U.S. troops had managed to weaken the enemy flank with intense tank shelling. The 2nd and 3rd battalion had assaulted the ridge and quickly progressed to the base of a 100 Meter Hill by the dusk of the same day. This, in spite of the hard coral surface of the ridge that had left them exposed to Japanese fire, especially from unreachable sections of the cliff.

At the base of the hill, the Marines had been forced to withdraw in the face of concentrated firepower. Then at midnight on the following day (21st May) they had become embroiled in repelling a counterattack. Launched by a two hundred strong Japanese force, that had scaled the left side of the steep ridge to dislodge them.

With the rains getting worse, the 2nd had suspended operations. On the 28th of May, however, it had again launched two assaults on the hill. The battalion’s E-Company had managed to reach the crest. But in the face of relentless enemy fire and rising casualties, it had abandoned the hard-gained ground not long after.

The ridge had ultimately been captured by the 77th Infantry Division on the 31st of May 1945.

The photo.

This photo was taken by U.S army photographer, Staff Sergeant Walter F. Kleine. It shows Hargraves aiming blindly into the distance for Chavarra to ascertain the location of a Japanese sniper. Kleine had captured the scene, seconds after a third Marine had been shot dead.

In the counteroffensive, the Japanese sniper who was holed up inside a cave had been sealed inside by the two men with C-4 charges and hand grenades. Since by this time both men were out of ammunition.

Although, the engagement at Okinawa was the last battle of World War II and witnessed the largest amphibious assault ever attempted during the war. Its real significance is considered by authors and military historians to have crystallized Truman’s decision to use the atomic bombs. That were eventually released over Japan 45 days after the end of the engagement on the 21st of June 1945.

Marines, Davis Hargraves and Gabriel Chavarra, both returned home after the war. Kleine’s photo is now archived by the National Archives and Records Administration.