Yanks seize three-fourths of Okinawa, push to north
First 18 days of campaign cost Americans 7,895 killed, wounded or captured
GUAM (UP) – Marines completed the conquest of three-quarters of Okinawa today with a push to the northern tip of the island only 330 miles south of Japan.
The first 18 days of the Okinawa campaign, along with associated operations in the rest of Ryukyu Island chain and supporting carrier raids on Japan proper, cost 7,895 Americans killed, wounded or captured, a Pacific Fleet communiqué announced.
Navy suffers heaviest
Heaviest losses were suffered by the Navy – 989 officers and men killed, 2,220 wounded and 1,491 missing. Tenth Army Marines and soldiers lost 478 dead, 2,457 wounded and 260 missing.
Though Marines of the III Amphibious Corps had brought all of central and norther Okinawa under American control, they were still battling isolated enemy groups on Motobu Peninsula jutting out from the northwest coast.
Yanks stalled near Naha
In southern Okinawa, the XXIV Army Corps was still stalled by strong Jap positions shielding Naha, the island’s capital. The Fleet’s big guns and carrier planes were hammering the defenses.
Other forces on Ie Island three miles west of Motobu Peninsula made substantial gains in the northeast section of the island, but Jap troops in dug-in positions and pillboxes around Iegusugu Peak were resisting stiffly.