Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Shuri Envelopment (Phase III)

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 21 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 21 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 15,205 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 24th Div(-)(+), 2,600 men under Lg Amamiya) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 4 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense and delaying action, and that USA won. Losses: USA 182 (1%), Japan 2,564 (99%).

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 wingInfantry3,014
USA centreInfantry4,019
USA right wingInfantry3,014
USA reserveInfantry2,512
USA artillery (150 guns)Artillery2,250
USA armour (79 tanks)Armour395
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan15,204

Japan

Lg Amamiya

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry613
Japan centreInfantry818
Japan right wingInfantry613
Japan reserveInfantry511
Japan artillery (3 guns)Artillery45
Lg AmamiyaCommander—
In this plan2,600

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan15,2052,600
Losses, this plan1822,564

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 533, “Shuri Envelopment (Phase Iii)”, 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, Delaying action
Front width
4 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker15,2051820150Frontal attack; Penetration; Stalemate
Japandefender2,6002,56403Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · air superiority +1 · combat effectiveness +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.