User:Cgeorgan

The Pinnacle
Part of Battle of Okinawa, World War II, the Pacific War
Advance of American XXIV Corps showing approximate Japanese positions north of Shuri, April 1945
Date April 5, 1945 Location Okinawa, Japan Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States}	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Col. Daniel G. Maybury, Commander 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry, U.S. 7th Marines	1st Lt. Seiji Tanigawa, Commander 1st Company, 24th Independent Infantry Battalion, Japanese 62d Division †

The Pinnacle was the name given to a 30 foot spire, atop a 450 foot ridge of coral approximately 1,000 yards southwest of Arakachi, Okinawa . Heavily fortified by the Japanese 62d Division, this outpost to Japan's main defenses at Shuri held up the U.S. 7th Marine Regiment on 5 April 1945 with accurate and well-concealed machine gun, mortar and artillery fire.

The Pinnacle As A Defensive Position

File:Okinawa The Pinnacle.jpg

The Pinnacle: Japanese positions & American assault, 5 April 1945

Lieutenant Tanigawa had built his defenses around eight light and two heavy machine guns sited at the base of the hill. In trenches and pits riflemen well-supplied with grenades covered the dead spaces in front of the machine guns. The defenses were connected by the usual tunnels and trenches, affording underground mobility. On the top of the ridge were four 50-mm. mortars, and on the reverse slope to the south were three more. Artillery check points had been established for 62d Division field pieces to the south. Barbed wire and mine fields protected the major approaches. Lieutenant Tanigawa could hardly have hoped to stop the Americans, but undoubtedly he expected to make the price of victory high.

5 April, 1945

The Pinnacle. Its western approaches, over which Company C moved to capture it, are shown above.

References

• Appleman, Roy E. (2000). Okinawa: The Last Battle. Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)