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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Attack on Shuri Line's Eastern Flank I

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 15 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 15 in date order). USA (US 96th Div(+), 19,714 men under Mg Bradley) attacked Japan (Jap 24th Inf Div(-)(+), 5,284 men under Lg Amamiya) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 2.3 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that neither side won. Losses: USA 502 (3%), Japan 4,038 (76%).

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 wingInfantry4,021
USA centreInfantry5,361
USA right wingInfantry4,021
USA reserveInfantry3,351
USA artillery (157 guns)Artillery2,355
USA armour (121 tanks)Armour605
Mg BradleyCommander—
In this plan19,714

Japan

Lg Amamiya

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry1,146
Japan centreInfantry1,528
Japan right wingInfantry1,146
Japan reserveInfantry955
Japan artillery (34 guns)Artillery510
Lg AmamiyaCommander—
In this plan5,285

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan19,7145,284
Losses, this plan5024,038

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 543, “Attack On Shuri Line'S Eastern Flank I”, 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 draw
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
USAattacker19,7145020157Frontal attack; Repulse; Penetration; Stalemate
Japandefender5,2844,038034Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; 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.