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Who commanded U.S. forces in the Battle of Okinawa?
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Battle of Okinawa
U.S. Marines battling for control of a ridge near Naha, Okinawa, May 1945.
U.S. ground forces during the Battle of Okinawa were commanded by Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., who led the U.S. 10th Army.123
The broader operation was conducted under the overall leadership of theatre commander Admiral Chester Nimitz, with Admiral Raymond Spruance overseeing the amphibious landings. Buckner, who had assumed command of the 10th Army in September 1944, was killed in action on June 18, 1945, while visiting a forward observation post, making him the highest-ranking U.S. officer killed by enemy fire during World War II.231