Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Hills 153 and 115

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 28 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 28 in date order). USA (US 7th Inf Div(+), 15,808 men under Mg Arnold) attacked Japan (Jap 44th Ind Mixed Bde(-), 2,000 men under Lg Ushijima) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 3 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 317 (2%), Japan 1,971 (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 wingInfantry3,156
USA centreInfantry4,207
USA right wingInfantry3,156
USA reserveInfantry2,630
USA artillery (141 guns)Artillery2,115
USA armour (109 tanks)Armour545
Mg ArnoldCommander—
In this plan15,809

Japan

Lg Ushijima

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry458
Japan centreInfantry611
Japan right wingInfantry458
Japan reserveInfantry382
Japan artillery (6 guns)Artillery90
Lg UshijimaCommander—
In this plan1,999

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan15,8082,000
Losses, this plan3171,971

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 537, “Hills 153 And 115”, 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
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
3 km (attacker), 3 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker15,8083170141Frontal attack; Penetration
Japandefender2,0001,97106Defensive plan; Annihilated

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · initiative +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.