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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Shuri Envelopment (Phase I)

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 18 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 wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingGunsReserveGuns01 km2 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 18 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 16,043 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 3rd Spec Estab Rgt(+), 3,338 men under Lg Ushijima) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 3.6 km, a single envelopment, right flank against prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 170 (1%), Japan 478 (14%).

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 wingInfantry3,670
USA centreInfantry4,894
USA right wingInfantry3,670
USA reserveInfantry3,059
USA artillery (50 guns)Artillery750
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan16,043

Japan

Lg Ushijima

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry794
Japan centreInfantry1,059
Japan right wingInfantry794
Japan reserveInfantry662
Japan artillery (2 guns)Artillery30
Lg UshijimaCommander—
In this plan3,339

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan16,0433,338
Losses, this plan170478

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 530, “Shuri Envelopment (Phase I)”, 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
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
3.6 km (attacker), 3.6 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker16,043170050Single envelopment; Right flank; Penetration
Japandefender3,33847802Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · surprise +3 · 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.