Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Kakazu and Tombstone Ridges

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 6 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.
Rolling, 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 6 in date order). USA (US 96th Div(+), 21,247 men under Mg Bradley) attacked Japan (Jap 12th Ind Inf Bn(+), 3,000 men under Lg Fujioka) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 3.8 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against fortified defense, and that Japan held. Losses: USA 1,079 (5%), Japan 2,468 (82%).

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 Bradley

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry4,334
USA centreInfantry5,779
USA right wingInfantry4,334
USA reserveInfantry3,612
USA artillery (246 guns)Artillery3,187
Mg BradleyCommander—
In this plan21,246

Japan

Lg Fujioka

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry612
Japan centreInfantry816
Japan right wingInfantry612
Japan reserveInfantry510
Japan artillery (32 guns)Artillery450
Lg FujiokaCommander—
In this plan3,000

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan21,2473,000
Losses, this plan1,0792,468

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 540, “Kakazu And Tombstone Ridges”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
72 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
3.8 km (attacker), 3.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker21,2471,0790246Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Repulse
Japandefender3,0002,468032Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration

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.