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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Maeda Escarpment

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 10 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 wingReserveGunsArmour0500 m1 kmN

One of the 28 engagements of the Battle of Okinawa recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 10 in date order). USA (US 96th Div(+), 18,095 men under Mg Bradley) attacked Japan (Jap 62nd Div(-)(+), 3,900 men under Lg Fujioka) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 2.1 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 479 (3%), Japan 3,810 (98%).

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 wingInfantry3,575
USA centreInfantry4,767
USA right wingInfantry3,575
USA reserveInfantry2,979
USA artillery (200 guns)Artillery2,714
USA armour (97 tanks)Armour485
Mg BradleyCommander—
In this plan18,095

Japan

Lg Fujioka

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry806
Japan centreInfantry1,075
Japan right wingInfantry806
Japan reserveInfantry672
Japan artillery (36 guns)Artillery540
Lg FujiokaCommander—
In this plan3,899

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan18,0953,900
Losses, this plan4793,810

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 542, “Maeda Escarpment”, 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 attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2.1 km (attacker), 2.1 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker18,0954790200Frontal attack; Penetration; Stalemate
Japandefender3,9003,810036Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages 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.