CINCPOA Advance Headquarters, Guam
Elements of the Marine III Amphibious Corps on Okinawa Island on April 14 advanced northward to the vicinity of Momubaru town on the west coast and Arakawa town on the east coast. Resistance was negligible. The Marines on Motobu Peninsula are now in possession of most of that area and are attacking small concentrations of enemy troops which continue to resist.
In the southern sector during the early morning hours of April 14 the enemy mounted a small counterattack which was immediately beaten off by troops of the 96th Infantry Division. Enemy positions were brought under fire of field artillery, ships’ guns and carrier and land-based aircraft.
A few enemy aircraft appeared in the area off Okinawa during the day and nine were shot down by our combat air patrols.
Aircraft from carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet bombed airfields on Ishigaki and Miyako Islands in the Sakishima group on 14 April, destroying seven aircraft on the ground and damaging twenty five more.
Without opposition, carrier aircraft of the British Pacific Fleet struck airfields and installations at Matsuyama and Shinchiku on Formosa on 13 April. A number of aircraft were damaged on the ground and hangars, barracks, buildings, a railway bridge, a train and other targets were heavily hit. Several small groups of enemy planes attempted to attack surface units of the British force and three of these were shot down. The task force suffered no damage.
Fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed enemy islands in the Palaus on 14 April.
C. W. NIMITZ,
Fleet Admiral, USN,
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet,
and Pacific Ocean Areas.