Tank with skull, battle of Okinawa, 1945

Footage of a Sherman tank decorated with a human skull operating on Okinawa in 1945. In January of 1944, a military directive was released prohibiting the use of human body parts as war trophies, but this was not always enforced. The Battle of Okinawa was a particularly brutal episode, and such displays were not unknown. Lasting from April to June 1945, this last, epic land battle was the culmination of an island-hopping campaign which began in August 1942 when U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal. The U.S. committed the entire 10th Army, which included three Marine divisions and four Army divisions, to subdue a Japanese garrison of at least 76,000 ground troops in prepared positions. The naval forces supporting U.S. ground troops were subjected to relentless air attacks by Kamikaze pilots and suicide attacks by motor torpedo boats. Total U.S. casualties were between 76,000 and 84,000, while total losses for Japanese naval and land forces exceeded 105,000, most of which were killed in action.