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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Advance Through the Outposts

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 3 of 28The event in the chronicleWikipedia
A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rugged, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsCentreArmourLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 3 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 18,398 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 62nd Div(-), 2,900 men under Lg Fujioka) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 2.2 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 286 (2%), Japan 2,120 (73%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

USA

Mg Arnold

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry3,632
USA centreInfantry4,843
USA right wingInfantry3,632
USA reserveInfantry3,027
USA artillery (173 guns)Artillery2,595
USA armour (134 tanks)Armour670
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan18,399

Japan

Lg Fujioka

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry592
Japan centreInfantry789
Japan right wingInfantry592
Japan reserveInfantry493
Japan artillery (32 guns)Artillery435
Lg FujiokaCommander—
In this plan2,901

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan18,3982,900
Losses, this plan2862,120

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 522, “Advance Through The Outposts”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
72 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2.2 km (attacker), 2.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker18,3982860173Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Repulse; Penetration
Japandefender2,9002,120032Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages air superiority +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.