U.S. Navy Department (April 16, 1945)
CINCPOA Communiqué No. 334
Supported by carrier aircraft and by naval gunfire, elements of the XXIV Army Corps landed on le Shima, an island west of Okinawa, on the morning of April 16 (East Longitude Date). Advancing inland rapidly against resistance which was initially light but later stiffened, our troops captured the enemy airfield and secured most of the area west of that point. The greater part of the enemy defense force has been driven back to defensive positions in the pinnacles southeast of the airfield.
Marines of the III Amphibious Corps continued to attack groups of the enemy on Motobu Peninsula, Okinawa, on April 16. Marine forces continued to advance northward in the rugged terrain of the island north of the peninsula.
There was little change in the lines of the XXIV Army Corps in the southern sector of Okinawa. Naval guns and carrier planes attacked enemy positions in the south.
At the end of April 13 our forces on Okinawa had killed 9,108 of the enemy and captured 391 prisoners of war. About 85,000 civilians had come under jurisdiction of the U.S. Military Government on the island by the end of April 15. Our Military Government authorities have constructed one large camp and have taken over thirteen villages for use of civilians. Civilian foodstuffs are being salvaged and used. Our medical facilities have proved adequate for treatment of civilians thus far.
Fast carrier task forces of the U.S. Pacific Fleet attacked aircraft, airfields and other military installations in the northern Ryukyus and on the island of Kyushu during the period April 12 to 15 (East Longitude Dates). In sweeps over airfields on Kikai and Tanega our planes shot down 77 enemy aircraft from April 12 to 14. Attacking major air bases at Kanoya and Kushira on Kyushu on April 15, U.S. carrier planes shot down 29 aircraft, destroyed 58 on the ground and damaged 60 more.
The enemy launched heavy air attacks against our forces in and around Okinawa on the morning of April 16. Strong combat air patrols from the fast carrier task forces of the U.S. Pacific Fleet met the attacking enemy aircraft and preliminary reports indicate that our planes shot down 62 enemy aircraft over the Okinawa area. Fighters, sweeping Kyushu, shot down 22 more, antiaircraft guns of the fast carrier forces shot down 15, and 67 more were shot out of the air by combat air patrols in the Ryukyus area.
Ship’s anti-aircraft fire off the Okinawa beaches destroyed 38 Japanese planes on April 16. Land-based aircraft shot down an unreported number.
On April 16, Army Mustang fighters of the VII Fighter Command based on Iwo Island attacked ground installations at Kanoya and Kushira on Kyushu.
Army Black Widow night-fighters attacked military installations in the Bonins during the night of April 15-16. Search planes of Fleet Air Wing One damaged a small cargo ship heavily on April 16 in the northern Ryukyus.