Lighter Than a Feather PTO (id:#56996)

Critical Hit (Critical Hit # 3.1 ID: CH 55)   [next]   [previous]

"Sugar Loaf", Okinawa 1945-05-16 (2 others)

Overview:

Described by one Marine as a “small pimple of a hill”, Sugar Loaf Hill would turn out to be the costliest battle in the Pacific Campaign for the Marine Corps. The Japanese commander on Okinawa, Lt. General Mitsuru Ushijima, wisely deduced that to defend the entire island was foolhardy. He would give up the northern two-thirds and concentrate his resources on the southern third. Called the Shuri Line, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps would face more concentrated artillery fire than any previous campaign and these artillery attacks would be uncannily accurate, having been ranged on a small hill known on maps as point 51.2. By the evening of 15 May, the Marines had already made several assaults on the hill. Many times they reached the summit only to be driven off by ferocious counterattacks and devastating artillery barrages. Now it was the turn of the 3rd Battalion.

Defender: Japanese (Elements of the 15th Independent Regiment)  

Errata (source)