Sugar Loaf Hill,Okinawa

I have watched the history channel accounts many times and always have wondered why,with the huge naval presence,and the tremendous resistance at this battle,why would the marines not have pulled back and allowed the naval guns to pummel the hill,destroying many of the tunnels and emplacements,instead of just takeing it head on with the tremendous losses to our ground troops?

 

You've managed to miss what arguably was the most sustained and controlled ship-to-shore bombardment in military history.

The Tenth Army Action Report shows a total of 513,650 naval shells 5" and larger rained down on Okinawa between 2 Apr and 24 June (less an estimated 20,000 5" shells for AA and another 64,653 star shells that don't go boom). The 513k number averages out to about one every 15 seconds for almost three months.

I'll leave it up to you to research daily expenditures and target locations for Sugar Loaf specifically (Hint: you won't find it watching TV). How did you come by your expertise on the effects of naval shells on geologic structures?

 

I dont claim any "expertise" on anything that happened then. But I do know what happens when 500# bombs are rained down on a tunnel system. I do not know what the large naval shells are loaded with,but I woud think that they would cause a lot of tactical disruption if they were concintrated. We had to have had forward fire control spotters then? Were the naval guns in use in 1945 not radar guided as well?No need to get testy,I just thought someone would know.

 

Naval HC shells typically had less than 10% of their weight in explosive. (See navweapons for details). HC bombs would typically have over 50% HE and even AP bombs over 10% so a 500lb would have more explosives than a 16" HC round.

 

They hit it plenty. Digging deep into ridges and using huge tombs to hide in. I know they didn't anticipate most of the Japanese to hold up down south. If they pulled back the japanese would have gone on the offensive. The ridges were huge my grandfather said. The navy bombing took at least 25 percent of them. It was horrible because not only did you have to get to the top of the ridge but you had to get enough men on top to hold it. Plus adjacent ridges were also firing at them.....

 

Photo I took on Sugar Loaf. Find it there by the big water tower in its pinnacle. Not a very good pic but it looks nothing like it did.

 

Here

 

One more