Question

okinawa (operation iceberg)

• over 200,000 japanese soldiers died protecting two tiny islands, why?
• after a long campaign of island hopping, the allies were planning to use kadena air base on okinawa as a base

for_____________________(the planned invasion of the
japanese home islands, 340 mi away)

• imperial japanese army mobilized 1,780

_____________________aged 14–17 years
into_____________________as an iron and blood imperial
corps, 2,000 students died on the battlefield.

• 1,465 kamikaze aircrafts, 185 individual kamikaze sorties from

kyushu, 250 individual kamikaze sorties from taiwan

Explanation:

For the first blank (after "for"):

The context is about the Allied plan during the Okinawa campaign (Operation Iceberg) in World War II. After island - hopping, Okinawa's Kadena Air Base was to be used as a base for the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands (since the home islands were 340 miles away and an air base there would support the invasion effort). So the blank should be filled with "the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands" (as it's also given in the parentheses as a clue, but the sentence structure requires putting it in the blank).

During the Battle of Okinawa, the Imperial Japanese Army mobilized schoolchildren (students) aged 14 - 17 years into a fighting force (like a corps, specifically the "Iron and Blood Imperial Corps" as mentioned later). So the first blank is "students" and the second blank is "the Iron and Blood Imperial Corps" (or a fighting force, but based on the context of "Iron and Blood Imperial Corps" given, we can infer).

Answer:

the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands

For the second set of blanks ( "Imperial Japanese Army mobilized 1,780 ____ aged 14 - 17 years into ____"):