Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy Book 3)

by Ian W. Toll

ON APRIL 14, THE IMPERIAL GENERAL HEADQUARTERS in Tokyo had announced that air attacks on the Allied fleet off Okinawa had sunk or crippled 326 ships. Among the “fully confirmed” sinkings were six aircraft carriers, seven battleships, thirty-four cruisers, forty-eight destroyers, and various auxiliary vessels. According to the official communiqué, the true figures were thought to be even higher—but out of an abundance of caution, in order to avoid haste and error, unconfirmed claims were being withheld pending “further checkup.”11 A week later, Radio Tokyo reported that the enemy had lost half of the 1,400 ships he had brought to Okinawa, including four hundred sunk, with casualties of no fewer than 800,000! These shocking losses, the announcer declared, had driven the Americans “into the black depths of confusion and agony.”