Okinawa was right at Japan's doorstep, providing the springboard for the Allies to invade the Japanese mainland. Meanwhile, on Okinawa 131,000 Japanese soldiers dug in for similar resistance as compared to Iwo Jima, trying to mow down the Americans as they disembarked from their landing vehicles. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima made sure that the Americans would not even come close to the beaches, using kamikazes under Soemu Toyoda to stem the tide. This was the greatest effort by the suicide bombers of legend, sinking 34 ships, damaging 25 beyond economic repair, and 343 were damaged to varying degrees. On the land campaign, 48,193 military personnel were killed, wounded, or missing in the campaign to secure the island. By the end of the battle, three-quarters of the Japanese officers were killed or had killed themselves. Only a handful of officers survived the battle, although more soldiers capitulated. On April 7, the great Japanese battleship "Yamato" was commissioned and sent out to use a kamikaze method, codenamed Ten-Go, but was sunk. The Vice-Admiral Seiichi Ito and the commander of the battleship, Kosaku Aruga, were killed in the fatal mission, and the battleship was destroyed before it could engage the US navy. Control of the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands helped the US Army Air Forces conduct missions against targets on Honshu and Kyushu, with the first raid occurring on Tokyo, from March 9–10.