U.S. Navy Department (April 13, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 331
During the early morning of April 13, the enemy in the southern sector of Okinawa counterattacked in battalion strength but was beaten back with numerous losses by the XXIV Army Corps, supported by naval gunfire and artillery. No substantial change was made in the lines in the South during the day.
On Motobu Peninsula in the North, Marines of the III Amphibious Corps continued to engage groups of the enemy in sporadic fighting. III Corps troops on Ishikawa Isthmus continued to press northward against ineffective resistance.
Aircraft from fast carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet shot down over 100 enemy planes in the area of the Ryukyus on April 11-12, in addition to those reported destroyed in Communiqué No. 330. At Tokuno and Kikai Islands, eight more planes were destroyed on the ground and fuel dumps and warehouses were damaged or set afire.
On April 12, Shinchiku and Kiirun airfields on Formosa were attacked by Seafire and Hellcat fighters of the British Pacific Fleet. Sixteen enemy planes were shot out of the air, one was destroyed on the ground, and five were damaged.
On the following day, U.S. carrier aircraft shot one plane down and destroyed 12 others on the ground in the Northern Ryukyus. Attacking shipping end ground installations in and around the Ryukyus our planes destroyed 23 Barges and small craft, damaged airfields and set buildings afire.
During the period March 18 to April 12, inclusive, U.S. Fast Carrier Task Forces under command of VADM Marc A. Mitscher, USN, hot down 841 enemy planes in combat, destroyed 73 by gunfire and destroyed 363 on the ground.
Navy search aircraft of Fleet Air Wing One destroyed a large radio station on Gaja Island in the Northern Ryukyus and sank a picket ship and set second vessel afire north of the Bonins on April 13.
Army Black Widow night-fighters bombed and strafed harbor installations at Chichi Jima and Haha Jima in the Bonins on the night of April 12-13.
On April 12, a single Navy Search Privateer of FlAirWing Two combed installations on Wake Island.
Marine Corsairs and Hellcats of the 4th Aircraft Wing bombed warehouses and buildings in the Palaus and on Yap in the Western Carolines on April 13.
Marine fighters and bombers continued neutralizing raids on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls on April 12.