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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Shuri Envelopment (Phase II)

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 20 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 wingReserveGuns01 km2 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 20 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 15,840 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 24th Div(-)(+), 3,000 men under Lg Amamiya) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 4 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense and delaying action, and that Japan held. Losses: USA 124 (1%), Japan 434 (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 wingInfantry3,231
USA centreInfantry4,308
USA right wingInfantry3,231
USA reserveInfantry2,693
USA artillery (171 guns)Artillery2,376
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan15,839

Japan

Lg Amamiya

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry634
Japan centreInfantry845
Japan right wingInfantry634
Japan reserveInfantry528
Japan artillery (24 guns)Artillery360
Lg AmamiyaCommander—
In this plan3,001

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan15,8403,000
Losses, this plan124434

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 532, “Shuri Envelopment (Phase Ii)”, 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 defender
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense, Delaying action
Front width
4 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker15,8401240171Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Japandefender3,000434024Defensive plan

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.