OBOE hill mass was under attack by the 77th Division artillery when this picture was taken 23 May. Muddy reverse slope of Zebra (foreground) is pitted with Foxholes; some shelters can be seen in defilade at foot of Oboe.
When the Japanese attack subsided, 150 enemy dead lay on top of Oboe and on the slope immediately beyond. The Japanese dug in on the reverse slope of Oboe only twenty-five yards from the American foxholes. Between the two dug-in forces, on 24 May, there was an interchange of hand grenades all day long.
The heavy losses incurred by the 1st Battalion, 382d Infantry, in repelling this furious Japanese night assault compelled a reorganization of the battalion. The three rifle companies, A, B, and C, were combined into one company under the Company C commander, with a total strength of 198 officers and enlisted men. This is another example of how battalions were reduced to company strength at Shuri. On 24 May General Bradley, the 96th Division commander, ordered the 3d Battalion, 383d Infantry, to take over the left part of the line of the 2d Battalion, 382d, on Oboe. The ranks of the 2d Battalion had become too thin to withstand another attack like that of 24 May.
Efforts of the 383d Infantry to make inroads into the Love Hill system of defenses on the western side of Conical all failed during the period 22-28 May. Many men were killed during patrol action while searching for a weak spot in the enemy's lines. Nor could American troops move over the crest of the Conical hogback to the west slope without risking their lives. In the neighborhood of Cutaway Hill especially, the enemy constantly reinforced his lines and kept on the alert. No gains toward Shuri were registered in any part of this region lying west of the crest of Conical. The enemy held tight. Thus matters stood along the center of the XXIV Corps front at the end of the month of May.
During the rainy period at the end of May, both flanks of the American line forged ahead of the center. This development was a continuation of a trend that had started in the third week of May. In that week two ramparts of the three hills that made up the integrated Sugar Loaf position—Sugar Loaf itself and the Horseshoe—had fallen after as bloody a period of fighting as the marines had ever encountered. However, the efforts of the 6th Marine Division to complete the reduction of Sugar Loaf, the left (west) anchor of the Japanese line, failed; on 21 May, after five days of fighting, they gave up their attempt to take the reverse (south) slope of the Crescent, the third and closest to Shuri of the Sugar Loaf hills.
For several days after Sugar Loaf fell, the 6th Marine Division continued its efforts to reduce Crescent, the easternmost strong point of the Sugar Loaf sector, but without success. The Japanese denied American troops control of the crest and retained complete possession of the crescent-shaped reverse slope. As long as this ground remained in Japanese hands there could be no swinging eastward by the 6th Marine Division for close envelopment of Shuri. After considering the prospect the division decided to abandon its efforts to force the fall of Crescent and instead to press on toward Naha and the Kokuba River. A strong defense force was left on the north face of Crescent to protect the left rear and to maintain contact with the 1st Marine Division to the east. The main effort of the Army's right (west) flank was now toward Naha and no longer immediately toward Shuri.{421}
The heavy rains had raised the Asato River when patrols on the night of 22-23 May waded the river upstream from Naha to reconnoiter the south bank. The initial reports were that it would be feasible to cross the stream without tank support. Between dawn and 1000, 23 May, patrols pressed 400 yards south of the river under moderate fire. At 1000 the decision was made to cross in force at 1200 by infiltration. An hour and a half after the movement began two battalions were across the Asato under cover of smoke. Casualties had to be evacuated back across the stream by hand, twelve men carrying each stretcher in chest-deep water.
Throughout the night of 23-24 May the 6th Engineer Battalion labored to build a crossing for vehicles. Borrowing from experience at Guadalcanal, five LVT's were brought to the stream and efforts made to move them into position to serve as piers for bridge timbers. Two of the LVT's struck mines along the bank and were destroyed, and the effort to bridge the stream in this manner was abandoned. At dawn a Bailey bridge was started, and by 1430 it had been finished. A tank crossing was ready before dark. The same day two squads of the Reconnaissance Company crossed the lower Asato and roamed the streets of northwestern Naha without meeting resistance.
CROSSING THE ASATO RIVER, marines laid smoke to cover their advantage at Machishi 23 May. Destroyed bridges (circled) had not been replaced at time picture was made. Eastern Naha and Kokuba estuary are at upper right.