Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Skyline Ridge-Rocky Crags

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 7 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 wingReserveGuns01 km2 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 7 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 16,291 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 11th Ind Inf Bn(+), 2,600 men under Lg Fujioka) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 96 hours of fighting on a front of 3.4 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 740 (5%), Japan 1,661 (64%).

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 wingInfantry3,173
USA centreInfantry4,231
USA right wingInfantry3,173
USA reserveInfantry2,644
USA artillery (221 guns)Artillery2,444
USA armour (125 tanks)Armour625
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan16,290

Japan

Lg Fujioka

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry530
Japan centreInfantry707
Japan right wingInfantry530
Japan reserveInfantry442
Japan artillery (38 guns)Artillery390
Lg FujiokaCommander—
In this plan2,599

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan16,2912,600
Losses, this plan7401,661

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 524, “Skyline Ridge-Rocky Crags”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
96 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
3.4 km (attacker), 3.4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker16,2917400221Frontal attack; Penetration
Japandefender2,6001,661038Defensive/offensive plan; Annihilated

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · 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.