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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Nishibaru Ridge-Tanabaru Escarpment

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 8 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 wingReserveArmourGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 8 in date order). USA (US 96th Div(+), 17,163 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 96 hours of fighting on a front of 2.3 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 879 (5%), Japan 2,860 (95%).

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 wingInfantry3,381
USA centreInfantry4,508
USA right wingInfantry3,381
USA reserveInfantry2,818
USA artillery (228 guns)Artillery2,574
USA armour (100 tanks)Armour500
Mg BradleyCommander—
In this plan17,162

Japan

Lg Fujioka

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry612
Japan centreInfantry816
Japan right wingInfantry612
Japan reserveInfantry510
Japan artillery (34 guns)Artillery450
Lg FujiokaCommander—
In this plan3,000

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan17,1633,000
Losses, this plan8792,860

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 541, “Nishibaru Ridge-Tanabaru Escarpment”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
96 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2.3 km (attacker), 2.3 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker17,1638790228Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Penetration
Japandefender3,0002,860034Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages momentum +1 · technology +1 · initiative +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.