If captured by the Americans, it could provide them with bases for fighter escorts to assist B-29s in raiding the Japanese home islands, as well as being an emergency landing strip for any damaged B-29s that could not return to the Marianas.

General Mitsuru Ushijima made sure that the Americans would not even come close to the beaches, using kamikazes under Soemu Toyoda to stem the tide.

The suicide bombers proved effective, sinking 34 ships and damaging hundreds of others,[1] but they nevertheless failed to stop American reinforcements from arriving on the island.

On 7 April the large Japanese battleship Yamato was sent out to use a kamikaze method, codenamed Ten-Go, but it was sunk before it could attack the invasion fleet.

Control of the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands helped the US Army Air Forces conduct missions against targets on Honshu and Kyushu, with the first raid occurring on Tokyo from 9 and 10 March.

Kamikaze bases in the Ryukyu Islands posed a particular threat to the U.S. and British task force operating around Okinawa and its environs.

Thousands of Japanese aircraft and dozens of merchant ships were destroyed, with a consequent heavy loss of both civilian and military lives.