Men of Stone PTO (id:#57636)

Dagger (Rout Report # 5.2 ID: Z24)   [next]   [previous]

Tanabaru, Okinawa 1945-05-04 (5 others)

Overview:

The emperor's birthday had come and gone, and with it, much of the 32nd Army's hope for salvation on Okinawa. After a month of pounding from the Americans, no significant reinforcements had arrived, despite many promises. But day after day, they negated the incredible material wealth of the American attack with steadfast personal sacrifice. Still, many of attack-obsessed Japanese officers began to chafe at the cave-and- bunker strategy, despite its obvious success in exacting heavy penalties from a superior enemy force. And the hotheads finally got their way, extracting from Ushijima and his master strategist Yahara a promise for a grand counterattack. Passion for action and romantic selfsacrifice won out over rational economy of force and the carefully-husbanded Japanese 27th Tank Regiment and artillery was committed to support the infantry of the 24th Division as they emerged from their tunnels and bunkers to fight "above ground" for the first time in the Okinawa campaign.

Defender: American (4th Battalion, 17th Regiment, 96th Infantry Division)  

Errata (source)