Combat· World War II
Shuri Line battle
The Shuri Line was Ushijima's main defensive belt, a bastion of mutually supporting ridges, escarpments, and underground fortifications across the narrow southern neck of the island, anchored on the medieval Shuri Castle.
The Tenth Army ground forward four divisions abreast in brutal attrition warfare, the Marines holding the western half of the line and the Army the east, against an enemy fighting from reverse-slope caves under preregistered artillery. The 1st Marine Division fought through the sequential ridge complexes of Dakeshi and Wana, while the 6th Marine Division assaulted Sugar Loaf, the line's western anchor. A costly, failed Japanese counterattack broke the defenders' strength and decided the campaign. The Marines turned the western flank and seized the abandoned Shuri Castle, raising their colors over its shattered parapet as the line collapsed.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 586