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Lot 286
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Japanese Map of Okinawa Captured & Reproduced by U.S. Corps of Engineers
Japanese Map of Okinawa Captured & Reproduced by U.S. Corps of Engineers
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Description:

World War II

Japanese Map of Okinawa Captured & Reproduced by U.S. Corps of Engineers

 

Japanese map, circa March 31, 1945, showing Japanese defensive installations entitledin part "Captured Jap 62nd Div Map." The map was captured from the 62nd Division of the Imperial Japanese Army and then reproduced by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in August 1945. Lightly folded into six even sections, with isolated toning at top and verso, measuring approximately 22.25" x 19.75" unfolded. Maps relating to the Battle of Okinawa are much scarcer than highly coveted D-Day maps, the latter of which there are many. 

 

The Battle of Okinawa (code name Operation Iceberg) took place on Okinawa Island between April 1-June 22, 1945. One of the Ryukyu Islands extending southwest of the Japanese mainland, Okinawa was of paramount strategic importance. Allied forces needed it to launch Operation Downfall, the large-scale on-the-ground invasion of Japan anticipated to take place in November 1945.

 

Allied forces, the bulk of which were U.S. Army and Marines, faced off against the Imperial Japanese Army and conscripted indigenous Okinawan civilians that spring. The Allies launched a multi-pronged amphibious assault of Okinawa and surrounding islands. Although the Allies significantly outnumbered defenders, the Japanese brooked their efforts with kamikaze and other extreme defense tactics. Approximately 250,000 died from war, starvation, illness, and mass suicide in what would be the bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater.

 

This map shows a detail of the southernmost part of Okinawa Island, north of the Kokuba River and cities Naha, Shuri, and Yonabaru. The map highlighted the location of Japanese defensive installations, like road blocks and mine fields, by color and symbol. Limited topographical features, ocean currents, and the layout of large cities are also shown on the map. The Americans superimposed English language place names and a legend key over the original Japanese field map.

 

This area of Okinawa Island saw some of the fiercest fighting from Japanese defenders barricaded in fortified caves. Allied forces launched a two-pronged attack against Shuri (shown at the center of this map) and had captured its 15th century castle by late May 1945. Defeated Japanese defenders often performed ritual suicide to avoid the humiliation of interrogation and imprisonment.

 

The 62nd Division, whose members once consulted the original of this map, was a part of the 32nd Army of the Imperial Japanese Army. Formed in Northern China in 1943, the 62nd Division was dispatched to Okinawa Island in August 1944. It fought Allied forces along the Kakazu Ridge, probably depicted somewhere near the extreme upper right corner of this map, and later warded off Allied forces along the southern Naha-Yonabaru front (pictured near the bottom.) The division would retreat further and further south until it was annihilated towards the end of the Battle of Okinawa.

 

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