In celebration of the 75th anniversary, a riveting first-hand account of the Battle of Okinawa—the Pacific War's ""bloodiest battle of all"" (New York Times)—from the first officer ashore, who served at the front for the battle's entire 82-day duration, heroism that earned him a Bronze Star.

On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, 1,500 Allied ships and 1.5 million men gathered off the coast of the Japanese island of

Respected historian Bill Sloan tells the full story of the Battle of Okinawa as it has never been told before, through the eyes of the men in battle.

Using the same grunt's-eye-view narrative style of Sloan's acclaimed Brotherhood of Heroes, The Ultimate Battle is the full story of the largest land-sea-air battle ever waged by the United States, a battle whose staggering casualties and take-no-prisoners ferocity led Truman to drop the