Evening star., 1945-06-08
Jap Remnants
On 0kinawa Cu1
|nto2Groups
Fierce Defense Seen
Extending Campaign
Several More Days
b. the Associated Press.

~ NS1A413 ollC o. - f1lllCl lSdl
troops today plunged into the
final battle for Okinawa, with
every expectation of having te
use grenades in hand-to-hanc
combat and to call on flame.
throwing tanks before this
bloody doorstep to Japan coulo
be called secure"
japanese remnants on the smashed
Naha-Shuri-Y -Yonabaru line-possibly
10000 troops-were cut into two sep
arate groups, but both were we'll in
trenched. One was squeezed be-
tween the 9Th and 1st Marine Di-
visions when the latter advanced 900
yards yesterday to within 300 yards
of the west coast, north of the town
of Itoman. This maneuver cut off
Oroku Peninsula.
The second group was we'll in
trenched in the Yaeju-Dake heights,
an escarpment rising to $50 feet In
the center and stretching from Ito
man to Hama agusuku on the east
coast.
Intense japanese Fire.
In both sectors the japanese were
defending their positions with in
tense machine-2un and mortar fire
On the Oroku Peninsula the Japs
also turned 20 and 40 nm. gunflre
on the Americans.
Although the enemy position was
hopeless-the Tokyo radio itself said
SO in effect-the Japs could hold out
several days and make the battle for
OkinaWa even costlier than it has
been.
Admiral Chester w. Nimitz's COM
munique reported that 66,324 Japs
had been killed on Okinawa from
the April l invasion through June
6, This was an increase of 4,805
in the last week. Latest estimates
were that the original garrison
totaled about $4,000 japanese troops.
The Tokyo radio, contradicting
itself from broadcast to broadcast,
said today the OkinaWa fighting
was never intended to decide the
fate of our nation" after quoting
newspaper concessions that the
battle was virtually lost.
Japs Blame Supply Situation.
Preparing the japanese populace
for news of the loss of the island
only 325 miles from the Japanese
homeland-Tokyo continued:
ing on Okinawa will have great eff
feet on the entire war. It
goes without saying that the cause
of the current Okinawa war situa-
ton is the widening difference in
the fighting strength of both Sides"
Tokyo blamed much of its troubles
on its very difficult supply situa-
alton since the enemy land
ed, we were forced to fight virtually
with the only troop strength on
hand and the ammunition on
hand"
After earlier having quoted two
Domel news agency correspondents
as attributing defeat on Okinawa to
failure of kamikaze (suicide) aerial
assaults on naval forces off the
island, Tokyo blatantly asserted: d:
I'VE have destroyed 566 enemy YES
sells, counting only those announced
by the Imperial Headquarters - =
the enemy will never be able to re-
place these losses so easily. Actually,
his naval task force has been COM
pletely worn out" (The Navy De-
partment in Washington reported a
few days ago 25 ships had been sunk
in the OkinaWa and kindred
actions)
Fail to Reconcile Claim.
The Japanese broadcast did not
reconcile this claim with its admis-
sion that American forces got ample
supplies while the Japanese got
virtually none, nor the fact that
American carrier pilots have raided
japanese home islands whenever
Admiral Nimitz thought advisable.
Japanese on OkinaWa have the
benefit of good defensive terrain,
where they already are dug in. On
Oroku Peninsula-site of Naha air.
field, which has been captured by
the Yanks-the ground is very rough