laststandonzombieisland

It happened 80 years ago today.

Official period caption: “Soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, advancing to Hill 115 on Okinawa against moderate resistance. 16 June 1945.”

Photographer: Moller, 3233rd Signal Service Detachment. SC Photo 270801

Hill 115 was one of the keys to Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima’s 32nd Army’s final defenses on Okinawa, with the boys of the 32nd Infantry clearing out the Japanese 44th Brigade’s HQ there shortly after the above image was snapped.

“With a mortar squad of the 32nd Regiment, 7th Div., on Okinawa are Pfc. Guillermo Acosta, Los Angeles, Cal., and Pfc. James Barnes, Pontiac, Mich., both of whom have also participated in the assaults on Attu, Kwajalein, and Leyte.” Photographer: Moller, 3233rd Signal Service Detachment. SC Photo SC 270795

As noted by the Army’s Center for Military History: 

Within the zone of the 7th Division were Hills 153 and 115, jagged protuberances of coral which, after the fall of the Yaeju-Dake and Hill 95, became General Ushijima’s last hope of defending the eastern end of his line.

The 5-day battle for these hills and the fields of coral outcroppings on the surrounding plateau, lasting from 13 to 17 June, was as much like hunting as fighting. It was a battle of massed tanks that operated ahead of the usual infantry support, blasting the coral rocks with shell bursts and almost constant machine-gun fire. The battlefield was perfect for armored flame throwers, which poured flame into the caves and clusters of rocky crags and wooded areas, either killing the Japanese at once or forcing them into lanes of machine-gun fire. In five days, flame tanks of the 713th Armored Flame Thrower Battalion directed more than 37,000 gallons of burning gasoline at the enemy. It was also a battle of infantry platoons or individual infantrymen against disorganized but desperate enemy soldiers.

Some of the largest cave defenses in southern Okinawa were in the Yaeju and Yuza Peaks. Infantrymen of the 96th Division destroyed these positions with hand and rifle grenades, satchel charges, and portable flame throwers. For the infantrymen, it was a search for the enemy’s hiding places, often followed by a few minutes of reckless combat. Troops of the 381st Infantry occupied the commanding ground on the Big Apple Peak on 14 June, but, for lack of enough explosives to seal the numerous caves in the area, were forced into a night-long fight with the Japanese who emerged from the caves after darkness. Yuza Peak fell two days later, on 16 June. On the same day, the 17th and 32d Regiments reached Hill 153 and Hill 115, but another day of bitter fighting was required before the Japanese forces were completely destroyed.

During this battle, the 32nd won the nickname “Spearhead” because of its continuous attacks against the enemy, one that it still carries today as a unit of the 10th (Mountain) Infantry Division.