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Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Attack on Shuri Line's Eastern Flank III

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 17 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 17 in date order). USA (US 96th Div(+), 19,658 men under Mg Bradley) attacked Japan (Jap 24th Inf Div(+), 4,227 men under Lg Amamiya) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 2.9 km, a single envelopment, right flank against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 313 (2%), Japan 3,022 (71%).

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 wingInfantry3,891
USA centreInfantry5,188
USA right wingInfantry3,891
USA reserveInfantry3,243
USA artillery (183 guns)Artillery2,745
USA armour (140 tanks)Armour700
Mg BradleyCommander—
In this plan19,658

Japan

Lg Amamiya

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry892
Japan centreInfantry1,189
Japan right wingInfantry892
Japan reserveInfantry743
Japan artillery (34 guns)Artillery510
Lg AmamiyaCommander—
In this plan4,226

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan19,6584,227
Losses, this plan3133,022

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 545, “Attack On Shuri Line'S Eastern Flank Iii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
24 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
2.9 km (attacker), 2.9 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker19,6583130183Single envelopment; Right flank; Penetration; Stalemate
Japandefender4,2273,022034Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages morale +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.