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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Kochi Ridge IV

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 14 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 wingReserveArmourGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 14 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 15,109 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 24th Div(-), 5,140 men under Lg Amamiya) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 2.2 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 114 (1%), Japan 1,464 (28%).

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 wingInfantry2,914
USA centreInfantry3,886
USA right wingInfantry2,914
USA reserveInfantry2,429
USA artillery (209 guns)Artillery2,266
USA armour (140 tanks)Armour700
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan15,109

Japan

Lg Amamiya

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry1,126
Japan centreInfantry1,501
Japan right wingInfantry1,126
Japan reserveInfantry938
Japan artillery (30 guns)Artillery450
Lg AmamiyaCommander—
In this plan5,141

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan15,1095,140
Losses, this plan1141,464

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 529, “Kochi Ridge Iv”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
24 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2.2 km (attacker), 2.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker15,1091140209Frontal attack; Penetration
Japandefender5,1401,464030Defensive 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.