Combat· World War II
Awacha Pocket
The Awacha Pocket, also called Nakama, was a fortified knot of broken country in the 1st Marine Division's western zone of the Shuri front, held by the veteran Japanese 62d Infantry Division.
After relieving a battered Army division, the Marines attacked into a warren of draws and ravines that funneled them into killing zones swept by interlocking fire from adjacent strongpoints and from higher ground in the neighboring division's sector. Progress came in yards, with violent night hand-to-hand fighting against infiltrators. The Peleliu-veteran 5th Marines bore the brunt, supported by both Army and Marine artillery, systematically reducing the pocket cave by cave with tanks, flamethrowers, and demolitions. Clearing it opened the way toward the inner Dakeshi and Wana defenses, the next barriers on the road to Shuri.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 866