Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (Okinawa)

Attack on Yuza-Dake/Yaeju-Dake Escarpment

All battlesBattle of Okinawa: engagement 25 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 25 in date order). USA (US 96th Div(+), 18,660 men under Mg Bradley) attacked Japan (Jap 24th Inf Div(-), 4,250 men under Lg Amamiya) in Okinawa. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 3 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense and fortified defense, and that neither side won. Losses: USA 88 (0%), Japan 1,006 (24%).

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 wingInfantry3,719
USA centreInfantry4,958
USA right wingInfantry3,719
USA reserveInfantry3,099
USA artillery (172 guns)Artillery2,580
USA armour (117 tanks)Armour585
Mg BradleyCommander—
In this plan18,660

Japan

Lg Amamiya

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry980
Japan centreInfantry1,307
Japan right wingInfantry980
Japan reserveInfantry817
Japan artillery (11 guns)Artillery165
Lg AmamiyaCommander—
In this plan4,249

What the sources report

USAJapan
Strength, this plan18,6604,250
Losses, this plan881,006

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 547, “Attack On Yuza-Dake/Yaeju-Dake Escarpment”, 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 draw
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense, Fortified defense
Front width
3 km (attacker), 3 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker18,660880172Frontal attack; Repulse; Penetration; Stalemate
Japandefender4,2501,006011Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages training +1 · morale +1 · momentum +1 · technology +1 · initiative +1 · air superiority +1 · combat effectiveness +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.