Evening star., 1945-06-14
300 laps Killed
Trying 10 Seize.
Hill on 0kinawa
U. S. Casualties Light
Despite Fierceness
Of Enemy Assault
MAP on Page A-3.)
By the Associated Press.

Saglng a series OF banZai charges
to climax their Okinawa death
stand, 300 screaming japanese
counterattacked a 7th Army Di-
vision position yesterday-and
were wiped out.
The Japanese prepared we'll for
the assault. For 80 minutes they
laid down a barrage of mortar,
machine-gun and rifle fire and
hurled grenades.
Then they attacked with grenades
and satchel charges. Capt. Dallas
d. Thomas of Shawnee, Okla, and
Torrington, Wyo., told Associated
Press Correspondent AL Dopking
that $50 were killed before dawn
and the remainder were hunted
down behind crags and killed by
noon.
American Casualties Light.
American casualties were light
despite flerceness of the fighting.
The action occurred near Hama
gusuku, eastern anchor of the Yaeju
escarpment line, when the Japanese
attempted to retake Hill 95.
On the opposite side of Okinawa,
Maj. Gen. Lemuel c. Shepherd, jr.'s
9Th Marine Division completed
smashing pocketed Japanese on
Oroku Peninsula. The Marines
killed $500 enemy troops in their
nine-day battle for the peninsula.
The japanese, now squeezed into
one 13-square-mile pocket behind
the twice-breached Yaeju escarp-
ment, today clung only by their
finger tips to this bit of Okinawa's S
485 square miles But they clung
tenaciously and stubbornly, forcing
American 10th Army troops to ham,
mer at each single, separate finger.
400 Yard Advance.
Maj. Gen. Archibald v. Arnold's
7th Division, hammering at one of
those fingers on the east flank,
gained most of the escarpment rim
above Hanagusuku in a 400-yard
advance. Hanagusuku itself, al
though behind American lines. still
is no mans land. Both Japanese
and American artillery dominate it..
Smashing at the enemy finger on
the western flank, Maj. Gen. Pedro
A. del Valle's 1st Division Marines
strengthened their position on stra-
tegic Kunishi Ridge by bringing up
Subjected to heavy
enemy fire as they crossed 800 yards
OF open rice paddles, the reinforce-
ments were moved up in Sherman
tanks and protected by a smoke
screen. The tanks carried out
wounded on the return trip.
Because of the difiiculty of taking
up supplies, airplanes parachuted
food, ammunition and water to for
ward elements.
In the center OF the line two COM
panies of Maj. Gen. James L. Brad
ley's 96th Division were locked for 36
hours in 4 hand-to-hand grenade
battle. The action, Correspondent
Dopking reported, was fought south
of the town Of Tomui, at the base of
the main escarpment, which rises
almost 100 feet straight up. The
companies, commanded by 1t. Albert
Strand, Mohall, N. OAK, and 1t
Harry j. Kline, Minot, N. Oak,
killed so of the enemy.
Other Peaks Attacked.
Other troops of the 96th Division
were assaulting two of three promi-
nent peaks on a circular white coral
plateau where the japanese had
chosen to die. These were the high
est and steepest faces of the es-
carpment.
Gen. Bradley's Doughboys preached
the escarpment three days ago, but
still had not reached its highest
point.
In the 7th Division sector, a for
ward artillery spotter saw 200 Japa-
nese moving toward the point from
where the predawn banzai charge
was launched. He ordered artillery
fire. Japanese not killed scattered
for cover.
Gen. Shepherds Marines, in
breaking up the Oroku Peninsula
pocket, overran hospital where re-
treating japanese had killed $50 of
their wounded troops to prevent
their capture by the Yanks.
Although the Oroku pocket was
smashed, the Yanks still had to
clean out several isolated caves and
pillboxes from which the japanese
continued to fire.
It might be significant that on
Tuesday, despite fair weather, the
enemy did not have even the con-
ISOLATION of seeing his own air forces
over the Okinawa area attack
American shipping. Such days have
been rare in this 75-day -old cam
paign.