America at War

I have a question for anyone familiar with America’s war in the Pacific. A recent documentary about the Battle of Okinawa explained the defence in depth method used by the Japanese to defend Okinawa.

Three separate but interconnected lines of defence across the width of the island and comprising deep, well built underground man made bunkers, connecting tunnels and natural caves formed the core of the defence system and included portable artillery and ammunition stores.

Formidable defence lines and presenting an almost impossible challenge to attacking forces, resupply for the Japanese wasn’t an option. On the face of it the odds were more than favourable to the defenders. The Americans attacked with formidable resolution. They used every asset at their disposal including the use of infantry portable and tank equipped flamethrowers. It was basic hand to hand warfare, using the bayonet, grenades, explosive charges and mortars.

My question is: why wasn’t poison gas, assuming it was available, used in the assault ? 12,000 American lives were lost in taking Okinawa. Perhaps many could have been saved if gas had been available and used. The battlefield area was well suited to the use of this medium. A suitable, quickly incapacitating gas could have been pumped into the galleries and connecting passageways and tunnels of the bunker system and over time would have distributed itself thru’ out the entire system.

As a former British Army soldier, my admiration for the unrelenting courage displayed by these American GIs is boundless. Their tenacity in attack was equalled by the Japanese tenacity in defence. It was only by the use of relentless assault that the American infantry were able to overcome.