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180 pages

English

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Critical acclaim for The Battle for Okinawa

"An indispensable account of the fighting and of Okinawa's role in the Japanese defense of the home islands." --The Wall Street Journal

"A fascinating, highly intelligent glance behind the Japanese lines." --Kirkus Reviews

"The most interesting of the 'last battle of the war' books." --The Washington Post

"A fascinating insider's view of the Japanese command." --Dallas Morning News

COLONEL HIROMICHI YAHARA was the senior staff officer of the 32nd Japanese Army at Okinawa.

A Military Book Club Main Selection

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Seconde Guerre mondiale

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Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	07 mars 1997
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781620455883
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA
THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA
COLONEL HIROMICHI YAHARA
Translated by Roger Pineau and Masatoshi Uehara
With an Introduction and Commentary by Frank B. Gibney

John Wiley Sons, Inc.
New York Chichester Weinheim Brisbane Singapore Toronto
This text is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 1995 by Pacific Basin Institute
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc.
A Pacific Basin Institute Book
Major funding for the English translation of Colonel Yahara s text was provided by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If legal, accounting, medical, psychological, or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yahara, Hiromichi, 1902-1981.
The battle for Okinawa / Hiromichi Yahara : translated by Roger Pineau and Masatoshi Uehara : with an introduction and commentary by Frank B. Gibney.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-471-18080-7 (paper)
1. World War, 1939-1945-Campaigns-Japan-Okinawa Island.
I. Gibney, Frank B. 1924- II. Title.
D767.99.045Y33 1995
940.54 25-dc20
94-43765
In memory of Kenneth Lamott and Roger Pineau
Contents
The Colonel s Prologue: April 1, 1945
Two Views of Battle, by Frank B. Gibney
P ART I P REPARATIONS FOR B ATTLE
From the text by Colonel Hiromichi Yahara
1. Plans for 32nd Army:
Yahara versus Imperial Headquarters
P ART II T HE A MERICAN A SSAULT
Lieutenant Gibney s commentary continues
2. The Grand Strategy Unfolds
3. Challenge and Response
P ART III R ETREAT UNDER F IRE
Colonel Yahara s narrative resumes
4. Counteroffensive Halted
5. World View through the Eye of a Needle
6. The Headquarters Cave
7. The Battle at Maeda-Nakama-Awacha
8. The Bloody Action at Sugar Loaf Hill (Amekudai)
9. The Arikawa Brigade Withdraws to Shuri
10. Choosing a Last-Stand Location
11. The Right Flank Nears Collapse
12. Retreat and Attack
13. Army Headquarters
14. Farewell to Shuri
15. The Tsukazan Command Post
16. Tsukazan to Mabuni
17. Civilians at the Last Stand
18. Retreat and Rear Guard Action
19. Kiyan Peninsula
20. Mabuni Headquarters Cave
21. The Battle for Kiyan
22. The Naval Base Force Is Wiped Out
23. The Last Battle
24. Cave Fantasies
25. Final Days at Mabuni
26. The End of 32nd Army
P ART IV E XODUS
Yahara s attempted escape
27. The Mabuni Departure
28. Gushichan Cave
29. Mingling with the Refugees
30. Fusozaki Village
31. Coolie on a New Battlefield
32. Reversal of Fortune
The Colonel s Postscript
Epilogue: The Battle Ended-Capture and Return
Prisoner of War Interrogation Reports
Index
The Colonel s Prologue
April 1, 1945
On the morning of April 1, in the twentieth year of the Showa era, the island of Okinawa is rent by an earthshaking bombardment, vast and oddly magnificent in its effect, in preparation for the American army s landing attack.
At this time the commanders of Japan s 32nd Army are standing on the crest of Mount Shuri near the southern end of Okinawa s main island, quietly observing the movements of the American 10th Army. The commanding general of 32nd Army, Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, stands tall and composed, a fine figure of a man. The short, stout officer standing nearest to him, legs set defiantly apart, is his chief of staff, a man known for his fierce valor, Major General Isamu Cho. Ushijima s staff officers, binoculars in their hands, gaze calmly at the Kadena western shoreline, about twenty kilometers to the north. There, at that very moment, the enemy landing force is disembarking.
Since early dawn, the silhouettes of enemy troopships have darkened the coastline. Ten battleships and ten cruisers form the core of the attack force: Some two hundred lesser ships line up offshore. Stretching from Namihira to Heianzan, Kadena forms a seven- to eight-kilometer-long coast zone. There the heaviest gunfire is concentrated. Smoke and debris from the explosions and fires rise up to the sky. The enemy aircraft, looking like hundreds of oversized beans, conceal themselves in the convenient smoke screen before carrying out their bombing operations.
At 8:00 A.M. the enemy infantry disembarks from the thousand-odd landing craft, thrusting onto the shore. The sweep of the ordered military formation is impressive. It is as if the sea itself were advancing with a great roar.
Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Simon Buckner, now close in on the beach in succession. They take cover. They are most probably anticipating the famous banzai charges repeated time and time again throughout the Pacific island operation ever since the battle of Attu. In these assaults, masses of Japanese soldiers wearing frantic, weird expressions, brandishing swords, throwing grenades, and stabbing with bayonets, charge ceaselessly, jumping over the dead bodies of their fallen comrades while screaming banzai.
But the Japanese atop Mount Shuri show no signs of using such tactics. The group simply gazes out over the enemy s frantic deployment, some of the officers joking, a few casually lighting cigarettes. How could this be? For months now the Japanese army has been building its strongest fortifications on the heights of Mount Shuri-and its adjacent hills. Here they will lure the American forces and confound them. Hence their air of nonchalance. The battle is now progressing exactly as expected. All the Japanese command need do is to await the completion of the enemy s landing at Kadena and watch them finally head southward.
General Ushijima and his staff are full of confidence. He who wields power is unperturbed, as the saying goes. Without the least bit of doubt or worry, the Japanese are nevertheless tense with the warrior s inner excitement at the thrill of preparing to cross swords with a mighty enemy.
As senior officer in charge of operations I should be the proudest of all. As their troops land with almost no resistance from the Japanese forces, what must the enemy commander and his staff be thinking? In my attempt to imagine the minds of my opponents, I am unable to suppress an ironic chuckle.
Contrary to their expectations, the enemy meets no resistance from Japanese troops. They will complete their landing unchallenged. Advancing with such ease, they must be thinking gleefully that they have passed through a breach in the Japanese defense. They will be wrong. In that eerie atmosphere, are they not suspicious that the Japanese army has withdrawn and concealed itself in the heights surrounding Kadena, with plans to draw the Americans into a trap? What a surprise it must all be. It is amusing to watch the American army so desperately intent in its attack on an almost undefended coast, like a blind man who has lost his cane, groping on hands and knees to cross a ditch. Observe the huge amount of firepower directed at Kadena: According to American military records, a total of forty-five thousand shells were fired from the big guns (over 5 centimeters) in preparation for landing. In addition some thirty-three thousand rockets were launched with an uncountable number of bombs dropped from the air. From the viewpoint of the defenders it is exceedingly pleasurable to see this all wasted.
Spring in its fullness has already come to this southern island. The green hills and fields around Mount Shuri, where ten thousand Japanese soldiers wait concealed deep below the surface, shine brilliantly in the morning sun. It is all so splendid. The sea below is quiet and deep blue as the whitecaps breaking on the nearby reef draw a series of fractured lines that finally join together. The only sign of what lies ahead is an occasional enemy reconnaissance plane passing through the sky above Shuri-as if a reminder. Compared to the wildly menaced Kadena coastline, it is a world apart. The stillness of the Japanese 32nd Army, against the movement of the American 10th, makes a truly interesting contrast.
Yet, now, as they gaze casually at the American planes cutting across the sky, these high Japanese officers are suddenly seized by a gnawing sense of unease. Not one Japanese airplane has appeared over the battlefield. According to the original battle plans formulated in Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo, the leading actor in warding off the enemy attack on Okinawa would be the air force. Thirty-second Army was to play no more than a minor supporting role. It had been publicly stated that the best opportunity to destroy the enemy would be while he was still in his ships, before the troops had a chance to land.
Over the past week, Japanese aircraft had carried out attacks on the enemy fleet under cover of darkness, by moonlight and at dawn. Why now, with enemy landing craft swarming around the Kadena beaches, do they not overcome all obstacles, take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime chance, and make an all-out concerted attack? Had the afternoon s special attack (suicide bombing) been canceled due to damage inflicted on us by enemy planes? No matter how unbelievable this thought might have been at the moment, the special attack planes nonetheless did not appear.
Postwar accounts of the battle have directed criticism against the Japanese army for its alleged negligence at having allowed the American forces to land. In contrast,