Comes with C.O.A.

This extremely rare ‘SECRET’ marked World War II document is a U.S. Naval Communication report received by ‘Commander Amphibious Group Five". Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. (commander of the Amphibious Group Five during the battle of Okinawa) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army during World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater of Operations and commanded the defenses of Alaska early in the war. Following that assignment, he was promoted to command the Tenth Army, which conducted the amphibious assault on the Japanese island of Okinawa on April 1, 1945. He was killed during the closing days of the Battle of Okinawa by enemy artillery fire, making him the highest-ranking United States military officer lost to enemy fire during World War II.

Marked ‘SECRET’ and dated June 1st, 1945 this original combination report (numbered 311257) provides an extremely rare look at intelligence reported back during the Battle of Okinawa. Codenamed Operation Iceberg this was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The initial invasion of Okinawa on 1 April 1945, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War II. This report was used to provide the commander and other high-ranking officers of the Amphibious Group Five intelligence of the operation such as U.S. Marine advances, Japanese strongholds, divisional movements, retreats, resistance pockets, airstrikes reports, etc.

Here are a few lines pulled from the June 1st, 1945 Battle of Okinawa report….

“Shuri Castle Area finding scattered pockets of resistance x1 patrol”

“96th Infantry Division drove west word to corpus boundary x2 bn found dozens of caves captured yesterday x1 cave appeared tank maintenance shop.”

The V Amphibious Corps (VAC) was a formation of the United States Marine Corps which was composed of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions in World War II. The three divisions were the amphibious landing force for the United States Fifth Fleet with two goals, removal of Japanese forces from islands so U.S. Seabees could build advance bases to project US power. In doing this VAC was notably involved in the battles for Tarawa, Saipan, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima. V Amphibious Corps was commanded by General Holland 'Howlin Mad' Smith followed by General Harry Schmidt. U.S. Navy Admirals Raymond Spruance and Richmond Turner wanted General Smith to command the Okinawa invasion forces. They were overruled by CinCPac, Admiral Nimitz because General Smith had sacked a U.S. Army general, Ralph Smith, during the Saipan campaign, and justifiable animosity between senior U.S. Army staff existed towards General Smith due to his service chauvinism. U.S. Army general Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. was appointed to command the Okinawa invasion in his place. Coincidentally, General Roy Geiger USMC, was placed in command of Tenth Army in June, 1945 when General Buckner was killed in action.

This is an incredible piece of World War II history with rare references to specific battle locations in Islands on Okinawa! The staples are still in fair condition and hold the paper together. This is a double-page report.