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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Tomb Hill-Ouki

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 5 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 wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveArmourGuns01 km2 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 5 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 18,111 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 11th Ind Inf Bn(+), 4,731 men under Lg Fujioka) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 2.6 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 466 (3%), Japan 1,278 (27%).

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 wingInfantry3,513
USA centreInfantry4,685
USA right wingInfantry3,513
USA reserveInfantry2,928
USA artillery (221 guns)Artillery2,717
USA armour (151 tanks)Armour755
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan18,111

Japan

Lg Fujioka

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry1,020
Japan centreInfantry1,360
Japan right wingInfantry1,020
Japan reserveInfantry850
Japan artillery (32 guns)Artillery480
Lg FujiokaCommander—
In this plan4,730

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan18,1114,731
Losses, this plan4661,278

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 523, “Tomb Hill-Ouki”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
48 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2.6 km (attacker), 2.6 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker18,1114660221Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Penetration; Stalemate
Japandefender4,7311,278032Defensive/offensive 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.