7. BATTLE FOR OROKU
After the seizure of Naha and the area to its east the Sixth Marine Division prepared to continue its drive to the south by making an amphibious landing on Oroku. General Shepherd ordered his Division Reconnaissance Company, a flexible group that worked underG-2 orG-3 as the situation demanded, to cross the estuary during the night of 1-2 June and reconnoiter possible landing beaches as well as explore the area inland where the beachhead would be established. Using plastic boats, the company made its reconnaissance and returned to Naha at 0300, 2 June, to report that the northern part of Oroku Peninsula was occupied by the enemy but not in great strength.
The plan for the reduction of enemy forces on Oroku was simple and complete; it left the Japanese no alternatives except to surrender or die. The Fourth Marines were to make a dawn landing on 4 June and as the beachhead expanded, the Twenty Ninth Marines were to go in on the left of the Fourth. With two regiments attacking abreast, the plan called for the other regiment, the Twenty Second Marines, to throw a cordon-like line across the base of the peninsula in conjunction with the First Marine Division as it crossed both forks of the Kokuba river and drove south. Then with the Twenty Second facing northwest and preventing the enemy from escaping, the two assault regiments would drive east and southeast to exterminate the enemy defenders of Oroku.
After the rainy weather of the last week in May and the first few days in June, the Sixth Marine Division faced a tremendous logistical problem. Initially the assault regimentswould have to be supplied by amphibious craft over the same route used for the landing. As the attack moved to the southeast, there was a chance that the Naha Estuary could be bridged by using little Ona Yama island, which lay in the center of the estuary, almost equidistant from Naha and Oroku. There were a few of the enemy on Ono Yama; these would have to be killed before the engineers could commence their bridging efforts. Simultaneously then, with the landing of the Fourth Marines on Oroku, the Sixth Reconnaissance Company was ordered to land on, and secure, Ono Yama. All through 2-3 June amphibious trucks (DUKWS) and tractors carried supplies and equipment over impassable roads to the beach at Naha where the landing was to be launched.
Map 10. Beachhead On Oroku.Map 10. Beachhead On Oroku.
Map 10. Beachhead On Oroku.
Map 10. Beachhead On Oroku.
Before dawn, 4 June, the preliminary bombardment commenced on Oroku and Ono Yama. At 0551, the Fourth Marines landed two battalions without any great difficulty. Early enemy resistance was light and the troops moved rapidly inland. At 1000 the Twenty Ninth Marines commenced to load a battalion to send across to join the Fourth. In the meantime, the Division Reconnaissance Company had landed on Ono Yama and killed a handful of Japanese.
Defending Oroku were mixed troops. There were some regular units, some Okinawa Home Guardsmen, and some were naval and air personnel from units stationed at Naha Port, and Naha Airfield. The rough character of the terrain on Oroku, with the exception of the flat ground around the airfield, lent itself to the defenders. From carefully prepared cave positions they could use the machine guns, 40 and 20-mm. antiaircraft guns that had been stripped from the defenses of the airfield. This enemy group on Oroku, some 5000 strong, had resigned themselves to making a last ditch stand on the peninsula. Initially, however, the amphibious landing of the Fourth Marines caught them by surprise. With the advance of the First Division across the Kokuba toward Itoman, the enemy apparently decided that Oroku would be attacked from its base, not its northwest tip, and was originally deployed to fight off any thrust from the base.
Map 11. Front Lines On Oroku.Map 11. Front Lines On Oroku.
Map 11. Front Lines On Oroku.
Map 11. Front Lines On Oroku.
It was indeed unfortunate then, that because of two factors beyond its control, the Sixth Marine Division was not afforded the opportunity of really capitalizing on its tactical surprise to the enemy. The rainy weather through the latter part of May and early June had made Oroku extremely muddy. What few roads there were that led inland from the landing beaches were either mined or had sections blown out so that our tanks could not use them. The rice paddies, fields and hills, ankle to knee deep with mud, were heavily mined, precluding the possibility of tank movement and causing the infantry to move with utmost caution. At a time when speed could have meant rapid gains, the division found itself forced to let the rifle companies fight as best they could and without many of their supporting arms. The brief respite gained by the enemy allowed him to redeploy his forces to resist the attack of the Fourth and Twenty Ninth Marines.
Map 12. Last Pocket of Resistance on Oroku.Map 12. Last Pocket of Resistance on Oroku.
Map 12. Last Pocket of Resistance on Oroku.
Map 12. Last Pocket of Resistance on Oroku.
It wasn’t until 13 June that the enemy forces on Oroku were destroyed. The Fourth Marines, after landing on 4 June, had seized the first hills inland and then as the Twenty Ninth came in on the left, the Fourth secured Naha Airfield and drove to the southeast in an encircling maneuver. Facing the enemy from the east, the Twenty Second Marines kept him bottled up and harassed his rear. On the left, driving down the long ridge that parallels the estuary, the Twenty Ninth moved slowly. In the extreme broken terrain that characterized Oroku, the enemy resisted fiercely using all the weapons at his command to prevent the advancing Marines from crossing the numerous compartments, and denying them the use of the corridors.
The advance was slow and the action costly. In addition to his automatic weapons, small arms, grenade discharges and mortars, the enemy had 320-mm. spigot mortars andartillery. Cut off, surrounded, and assaulted from all sides, the enemy was exacting a final price for the peninsula. It was not until 12 June that the first real break in his carefully coordinated defense became apparent. On this day, converging forces of the Fourth Marines and the Twenty Ninth had the enemy completely encircled. From his positions, the enemy could look to the northwest and see the Twenty Ninth; turning to the south, he could see the Fourth Marines driving in on his flank; behind him was the Twenty Second Marines, moving in slowly to complete his doom.
During the afternoon of 12 June, some enemy groups came out waving white surrender flags. Others refused to surrender and pressed grenades to their stomachs. Still others allowed themselves to be killed while offering only feeble resistance. In most, the will to live was gone; they were resigned to their fate. Next day, 861 Japanese were killed and 73 taken prisoner.
Before the capture of Oroku could be called complete, there remained to be taken the small island of Senaga Shima. After a heavy preliminary bombardment, the Sixth Division’s Reconnaissance Company, with a company from the Twenty Ninth Marines attached, landed on the island and quickly seized it. Only two of the enemy were found and killed but many fine coastal guns were captured. Now the battle for Oroku was over. The enemy had resisted bitterly, 1,608 Marines were killed or wounded in the capture of the peninsula, and thirty of our tanks were lost. During the ten days of fighting the Sixth Marine Division had killed almost 5,000 Japanese and had captured nearly 200. For its excellent work in landing on the peninsula, seizing the airdrome and then driving around the enemy’s position to overwhelm him from the flank, the Fourth Marines was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.