Starting in November 1944, U.S. forces intensified their bombing of the Japanese mainland. In the beginning,only military targets such as bases and munitions factories were bombed. However, in March of the following year, a shift was made to target civilians in such large cities as Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe. American bombers flying in by night at low altitudes dropped heavy payloads of incendiary bombs which burned down whole sections of these cities. Then in June, the bombing of small and medium-size cities and factories commenced. Air raids continued until just before the end of the War.Not only were many cities heavily damaged by air raids,but 500,000 people were killed and many others were injured. In such all-out war, casualties were no longer limited to combatants, but also included women, children and other civilians.

Okinawa was the site of the only land battle in Japan during the War. American forces landed on the Kerama Islands in Okinawa on March 26, 1945, then moved onto the main island of Okinawa on April 1st. Pitched battles continued on the ground until the Japanese army's last stand in the south of the island in June. Unable to depend on the strength of its own soldiers, the Japanese side drafted civilians into "volunteer corps" and sent them into battle. As a result, one in four Okinawans, including elderly residents and children, fell victim to the War. While the residents were fighting for their homes and lives, the Japanese authorities were using the Battle of Okinawa to buy time for what they thought would be the decisive battle of the War-the impending battle for mainland Japan.

At the end of the War, the American forces dropped their newly developed atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in quick succession. The United States claims to have dropped the bombs to expedite Japan's surrender and reduce the number of American casualties. However, the U.S. must have also wished to end the war before the Soviet Union could join in, thus ensuring that America would gain sole control of occupied Japan. The dropping of atomic bombs therefore effectively became the first act of the Cold War, which pitted the United States against the Soviet Union after World War II.