Okinawa 65

08 June 1945

On Okinawa, in the north heavy fighting continues on the Oroku peninsula.

In the south, the US 24th Corps prepares to attack Mount Yaeju.

09 June 1945

On Okinawa, the Japanese forces defending the Oroku peninsula are cut off and surrounded by forces of the US 6th Marine Division.

The US 1st Marine Division advance southward to Kunishi Ridge, one of the last Japanese strong points.

10 June 1945

On Okinawa, fighting continues on the Oroku Peninsula, where the forces of the US 6th Marine Division have reduced the Japanese pocket to about 2000 square yards. Heavy Japanese losses are recorded in nighttime counterattacks.

Meanwhile, on the south of the island, the US 1st Marine Division suffers heavy losses in the successful capture of a hill west of the town of Yuza.

The US 24th Corps forces, to the left, launches a major offensive against the last Japanese defensive line, the Yaeju-Dake Line. Japanese resistance is evidently weakening.

YAEJU-DAKE was brought under American artillery fire shortly before the infantry attempted its first advance to the escarpment. Burst at upper left is white phosphorus.

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07 June 1945

On Okinawa, in the Oroku peninsula, Japanese forces hold attacks by the US 6th Marine Division while the US 1st Marine Division advances southward and isolates the peninsula defenders.

The US 24th Corps is engaged in artillery bombardments.

Okinawa Background — Colonel Unmacht’s 4.2 inch Mortar Gunboats

LVT amphibious tractors move past LCI(M)-809 (center), bound for the Okinawa landing beaches, 1 April 1945.

The redoubtable Colonel Unmacht of Hawaiian flame throwing tank fame was also responsible for another major innovation in off-shore fire support in WW2 — the 4.2 inch Mortar Gunboat.

They were simply LCVP, LSM and LCI landing craft given one to four 4.2 inch (107mm) mortars to provide fire support for landings. The inability of naval gunfire to hit reverse slopes and the short 1,200 yard range of naval 4.5 inch and 5 inch rockets means that the 3,500-4,500 yard range 4.2 inch mortar was ideal to hit the backs of hills and mountains fronting landing beaches.

This is the time line of 4.2 inch gunboat development which supported not only the Central Pacific, but also General Mac Arthur’s SWPA command and the invasion of Sicily!

1942 – Developing doctrine and experimenting
July 1943 – Sicily
Spring 1944 – Saipan, Marianas Group – aborted operation
21 June 1944 – Bougainville, first successful amphibious combat operation
August 1944 – Training in Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, Solomon Islands
15 September 1944 – Peleliu, Palau Islands: first LCI(M) combat use
20 October 1944 – Leyte, Philippine Islands
9 January 1945 – Luzon, Philippine Islands
19 February 1945 – Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, northwest Pacific basin
1 April 1945 – Okinawa, the Ryukyus Islands, northwest Pacific basin

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02 June 1945

On Okinawa, mopping up continues as the US 6th Marine Division prepares to land two regiments on the Oroku peninsula.

The US Army 77th Division and it’s supporting 706th tank battalion are pulled out of the line.

The remainder of the Okinawa campaign will be fought by the 24th Corps 7th and 96th Divisions and the 3rd Amphibious Corps 1st and 6th Marine Divisions.

03 June 1945

On Okinawa, Japanese forces are isolated in the Oroku and Chinen peninsula.

The 7th Division cuts across the base of the Chinen peninsula to the south east coast. It finds the peninsula almost devoid of Japanese troops.

The Ninth Japanese “Floating Chrysanthemum” aerial suicide attack on American navy radar pickets begins.

Okinawa Background — The Engineer Special Brigade

Long time military wargamers — grognards — have long noted that the American military, and the US Army in particular, has always been very good at logistics. In the Cold War this was expressed as “Americans always love a technological solution.” Before the advent of highly technological military aviation, this was better expressed as “Americans always love a material and organizational solutions.”

In World War 2, this habit of institutional excellence was best expressed in the form of the US Army Engineer Special Brigade.

One of the little know facts of WW2 — thanks to post WW2 USMC PR campaigns — was that the US Army did more amphibious landings, did larger amphibious landings (See Normandy), faced tougher on-shore opposition (See German tank division counter attacks on beach heads at Sicily, Salerno and Anzio) and faced worse aerial opposition (Luftwaffe guided bombs in 1943 and the Japanese Kamikazes appeared first, with better pilots, lasting longer in worse geographic conditions in the Philippines at Leyte and Lingayen) than the US Marine Corps. More over, the US Army was better than the Marines when it came to providing supplies across the beach!

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