82 Days on Okinawa

December 2, 2019
The retired Shaw, a former unit commander in the U.S. Army’s 361st Artillery Battalion, debuts with a comprehensive and action-packed memoir of the Battle of Okinawa. Considered the last stepping stone for the Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands, Okinawa hosted nearly 100,000 Japanese ground troops and local draftees. Shaw claims to have been “the first actual fighting man” to set foot on the island, on April 1, 1945; the next morning, the 96th Infantry and eight other army and marine infantry divisions came ashore. The initial beach landings were unopposed, but as Shaw’s field artillery unit and the 96th Infantry advanced further inland, they encountered stiff resistance from Japanese forces dug into heavily fortified positions. Shaw served as his unit’s reconnaissance officer and visited the front lines regularly, where he witnessed fierce hand-to-hand combat and nighttime ambushes by Japanese fighters. As a unit commander, he also took part in the strategic planning behind the Allies’ advance. This dual perspective gives the book a wide-angled view that’s unusual in a soldier’s battle memoir. Though the reconstructed dialogue occasionally rings false (“ ‘Hara-kiri is an ancient form of the ultimate surrender in the Japanese art of war,’ I said”), this account gives a satisfying presentation of the bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater of WWII.

December 1, 2019
A memoir of World War II's last great battle by an officer who is now 99. Shaw was a field artillery unit commander already bloodied by the 1944 invasion of the Philippines when his unit landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945. The immense invasion, the most expansive amphibious assault of the Pacific War (1,500 Allied ships and 1.5 million soldiers), came ashore meeting no resistance, which was the result of deceiving the Japanese, according to the author. In fact, the Japanese had given up defending beaches--as they had abandoned mass banzai charges--because it didn't work. They had deeply fortified part of the island and prepared to fight to the death. Moving inland, the troops encountered resistance after a few days, and here the narrative records nearly three months of brutal combat that killed more than 100,000 Japanese soldiers, 10,000 Americans, and far more Okinawan civilians. Shaw often scouted ahead of his battery, observing frontline infantry in action. His purported duty was to direct artillery fire, but readers expecting to learn the experiences of a WWII forward observer will discover that this is mostly a literary device. In the text, co-written by Wise, Shaw is the omniscient observer describing the murderous battles of his division down to company and platoon level across the island. The author also offers his eyewitness account of the suicides of the defeated Japanese generals and descriptions of regular trips to the rear to record deliberations of the senior commanders and chat with his men. The result is a docudrama with invented dialogue and action that must be at least partly fictionalized because it's unlikely Shaw could have witnessed so much, not to mention remember it. A vivid re-creation of a campaign so vicious that the soldiers involved rejoiced when they heard about Hiroshima.

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February 1, 2020

April 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa (April 1, 1945-June 22, 1945). For the United States, taking control of the Japanese island was critical to reaching the mainland, but the hilly and woody terrain and experienced Japanese military resistance presented challenges. As a 25-five-year-old field artillery commander (361st Artillery, 96th Division), Shaw was one of the first U.S. officers to land on the beaches. When the battle ended, he and his men had experienced 82 days of fighting. The first day many units lost half of their men. After nearly three months of combat, more than 10,000 Americans and many more Japanese lost their lives. Two years ago, at 97, Shaw told his story to veteran World War II writer Wise; included are accounts of repeated acts of heroism and astonishing attacks. Shaw tells how victory was uncertain until the very end. VERDICT World War II aficionados will love this book.--David Keymer, Cleveland

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