Combat· World War II
Hill 81 (Okinawa)
Hill 81 was a strongpoint just north of Makabe in the 1st Marine Division's zone, one of the hills bulwarking the Japanese Medeera defensive position in the campaign's closing days.
The 5th Marines assaulted it on 18–19 June 1945 as the division compressed the last enemy pocket against the Army's 96th and 7th Divisions closing from the east. Lieutenant Colonel Shelburne's 1st Battalion was directed to seize the neighboring Hill 79 and push on to Hill 81, but could not take Hill 79's crest, losing three tanks to enemy fire and mines. Colonel Griebel then committed Lieutenant Colonel Benedict's 2d Battalion in the afternoon of 19 June to take Hill 81 from the south and relieve the pressure. Swinging wide through the 8th Marines' zone, the battalion ran a long gauntlet of fire to reach Makabe, where the lead company was badly winded and the assault platoon was pinned the moment it started up the slope. The volume of fire and the lateness of the hour forced Benedict to break off and form a perimeter southwest of Makabe. Hill 81 proved a hard objective, reduced only in the days that followed by tank-infantry teams as the 5th Marines finished clearing the last of the Medeera defenses.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 867