The Sixth Marine Division

by James R. Stockman

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.

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.

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 and artillery. 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.