Brute force was only option: Former Royal Marine reacts to footage of bloody WW2 battle

It's described as a battle "unsurpassed in Marine Corps history" – but what made the fight for Sugar Loaf Hill in Japan's Okinawa region quite so brutal?

Drawing on rare footage from the time, former Royal Marines Commando Joe Hearn analyses the tactics and terrain that faced US Marines when they attempted to wrest control of the area from Japanese forces in May 1945.

"I think what's important, too, is the psychological impact," Mr Hearn said. "So while the world was celebrating the end of the war in Europe, these Marines were still locked in brutal combat on the island of Okinawa."

• VJ Day: Veteran talks of his experience of fighting with the British Pacific Fleet
• VJ Day: The Royal Marine who kept fighting after World War Two had ended
• VJ Day: Remembering the war in Asia and how Britain and its allies fought back