Word: kyushu
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...known that it could not repeat the air blow in sufficient strength. But that night a small Japanese task force built around the battleship Yamato-a light cruiser, a smaller light cruiser and nine destroyers-was permitted to steam out of the Inland Sea, glide through the dark along Kyushu's coasts and turn into the East China Sea on its mission toward almost certain destruction...
Dawn was not far past when U.S. search planes picked the fleet up southwest of Kyushu and flashed the word to Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58. Task groups under Rear Admirals Frederick C. Sherman, Arthur W. Radford, Joseph James ("Jocko") Clark and Gerald F. Began surged forward, ran for the oncoming Japanese. At noon they launched their planes...
Within three hours after the shock of invading against negligible opposition, a famed Marine regiment walked across Yontan airfield, one of the biggest in Okinawa Gunto, less than 400 miles from Kyushu. Casualties (from halfhearted snipers): very light. Planes could make emergency landings on the airfield now. A few hours of Seabee sweating would make it an excellent take-off point for medium bombers to fly to China, to Japan, to Formosa-all approximately 400 miles distant-and to knock out whatever chance the Japs might have left of shipping anything from the south or southwest to the homeland...
...attack narrowed down to the main objective: poverty-stricken, malaria-ridden, snake-infested Okinawa, largest and staunchest rung in the Ryukyu ladder. Once firmly established on Okinawa, Americans could climb up the 370 miles to Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, or climb down 365 miles to Formosa, potential springboard for landings in China...
...have no base large enough, or close enough to Japan, to launch amphibious operations against the main islands. But they are moving ahead on an accelerated schedule, and this week, by Jap account, an amphibious force was off the Kerama Islands, within sight of Okinawa, within 400 miles of Kyushu. If confirmed, this was clearly a preliminary to the invasion of Okinawa itself-the seizure of a base which would really imperil Japan...