1. For days before the invasion, Navy ships bombarded the island with naval artillery and rockets. This photo was taken five days before the amphibious assault.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
2. A Navy Corsair fires a salvo of rockets during Operation Iceberg, the Allied effort to capture Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
3. The USS Idaho shells the island of Okinawa on April 1, 1945.

- Photo Credit: U.S. Navy
4. Marines land on the beachhead already secured on the island. These infantrymen will continue pressing the attack against approximately 130,000 defenders.

- Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Defense
5. U.S. landing ships sit beached and burning on May 4 near the mouth of the Bishi River after a Japanese air attack.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
6. Famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle speaks with U.S. Marines a short time before his death on the island.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
7. A long exposure photograph shows the crisscrossing lines of Marine anti-aircraft fire over the U.S. airfield established on Okinawa.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
8. A May 11, 1945, morning artillery barrage kicks off an all-out offensive.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
9. Japanese rockets rain down on and near U.S. positions during heavy fighting on Okinawa.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
10. The infamous battleship Yamato, sent to Okinawa to attempt to beach itself and act as a shore battery until destroyed, is sank at sea on April 7 before it can reach the island.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
11. Army Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., at right, surveys fighting just a few hours before Japanese artillery killed him.

- Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps
12. A Sherman tank drives past a burning home. The structure was set on fire to prevent its use by snipers.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
13. Marines attempt to extinguish the flames on an overturned Sherman tank. The ammo later exploded before the Army crew could be rescued.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
14. Engineers construct a causeway from the island to the sea to allow supplies to be trucked from ships to shore.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
15. American service members move supplies by horse in areas where the mud was impassable for vehicles.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
16. Okinawan civilians hired to carry supplies line up to receive their loads.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
17. A flamethrowing tank attacks Hill 60 during the Marine assault on the mound.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle
18. A Japanese plane goes down in flames over the ocean.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
19. The HMS Formidable of the Royal Navy burns after a May 4 Kamikaze attack. Eight crew members were lost and 55 injured, but the Formidable survived the war.

- Photo Credit: Royal Navy
20. Marine Corps infantrymen ride a tank to the town of Ghuta on April 1 to occupy it before Japanese defenders can.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
21. A Marine sprints across the "Valley of Death," a draw covered by Japanese machine guns that caused 125 casualties in eight hours.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
22. Marines explode dynamite charges to destroy a Japanese cave on the island.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
23. The USS Bunker Hill burns after two Kamikaze strikes in less than a minute. At least 346 sailors were killed and 43 went missing.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
24. The Bunker Hill survived and returned to the U.S. for repairs. It served as a troop transport after the war before it was sent to the fleet reserve.

- Photo Credit: U.S. Navy
25. Wounded sailors are moved from the Bunker Hill to the USS Wilkes Barre.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
26. Army soldiers move forward during the 82-day battle.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
27. A private cuts a sergeant's hair in the Japanese city of Shuri on the island. A medieval castle in the city survived the battle.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
28. Marines rest on the side of a hill as Japanese fire prevents their further advance.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
29. A tank crewmember is relocated after suffering injuries.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
30. Wounded troops await transport to a ship hospital.

- Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives Catalog
31. Marine Lt. Col. R.P. Ross, Jr. places an American flag on Shuri castle on May 29, 1945. Ross was under sniper fire at the time.

- Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Defense
32. The American flag is raised over the island June 22 in a ceremony marking the end of organized Japanese resistance.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"
33. A U.S. service member visits an American cemetery. The U.S. suffered over 12,000 killed and 50,000 wounded during the battle. Japan suffered over 150,000 soldiers and civilians killed or committed suicide.

- Photo Credit: Army History "Okinawa: The Last Battle"