Shuri's Fail

The concrete road west of Shuri castle had been smashed by shelling; eleven days of rain had turned Okinawa's red clay into hip-deep sludge. Confidently the Japanese commander moved his troops over to the east side of the castle, certain that no troops could attack his left. He underestimated the webfoot qualities of the U.S. marines.

Captain Julius D. Dusenberry's company left all armor and supply vehicles behind, shed most of its personal equipment and set out through the muck. Ascending a narrow ravine they labored 2,000 yards to the shattered walls of the castle, sliding and cursing. Only a few snipers were left to oppose them, and the marines drove into the vital heart of the Japanese Shuri line. Said Major General Pedro A. del Valle, 1st Marine Division commander: "The most astonishing thing is how the hell they got there."

Tenth Army troops poured in through the cracked Shuri line. Shuri village, taken next day, was found to be a "stinking 120-acre mass of ruins." Most of Naha, the island capital, which had been cleaned up before Shuri by the 6th Marine Division, was equally deserted and flattened.

Final Phase? As the weather began to clear, U.S. troops plowed on to the next and perhaps final phase of the battle for Okinawa. In a quick amphibious maneuver, the Marines reached around the enemy's lines beyond the city, fought their way onto Naha airfield, largest in the Ryukus. Army troops on the east turned to free Baten Harbor. This week the 7th Infantry Division cut off the Chinen Peninsula in one of the swiftest advances of the campaign. Ahead lay flat, open land where the Japanese had little chance for effective defense.

Tenth Army officers did some adding up. Since the battle for Okinawa began some two months ago, 61,519 Japanese had been killed, 1,353 captured (U.S. losses: 10,221 killed and missing, 27,704 wounded). Some 20,000 to 30,000 defenders, still alive, might try to hold two possible lines across the island or split into hedgehogs on the German model. Said Major General John R. Hodge, XXIV Army Corps commander: "I think we've got them."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.