Rao bulletin 1 October 2016 html edition this bulletin contains the following articles pg Article Subject
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- -- Fort Bragg
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- Military History ► Sugar Loaf Hill - Okinawa
A statue of Jefferson Davis, second from left, is on display in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. Many of America’s military bases are named for commanders who were associated with Davis and fought for the South during the Civil War, including Gen. Braxton Bragg and Gen. John Bell Hood. Associates of Gen. Robert E. Lee who have bases named for them include Gen. John Brown Gordon and Henry Benning. Like society at large, U.S. military forces were segregated for almost a century after the Civil War, with all-black units fighting in both world wars and other conflicts. That ended when President Harry Truman ordered the integration of the American military in 1948, following the end of World War II. Yet nearly 70 years later, African-Americans, who make up 20 percent of Army soldiers, still serve at bases honoring generals who fought to preserve slavery. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said it is up to each military service to name its installations. “The services are ultimately responsible for naming their own military installations, and as of now, there are no current plans to change policies regarding how installations are named,” Warren said. The biggest onus falls on the Army, which is by far the largest and oldest military service. Virtually all of the major bases carrying Confederate officers’ names are Army installations. Among the key ones: -- Fort Bragg, command center for Army airborne and special forces, is named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, who was a Confederate general and a close friend of Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy’s president, from their days fighting side by side in the U.S. Army in the Mexican War. -- Fort Hood, the U.S. military’s largest base, with more than 53,000 soldiers, is a major training hub named after Gen. John Bell Hood, who commanded Confederate troops and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. -- Fort Gordon, home of the Army Signal Corps in Augusta, Ga., was named after Gen. John Brown Gordon, a close confidant of Confederate Army Commander Robert E. Lee who spent much of his later life denying widespread reports that he had headed the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia. Not all the onetime Southern heroes whose names are on military bases made their names in the Confederate Army. Fort Benning, Ga., is named after Henry Benning, a former Georgia Supreme Court justice widely viewed in his time as a judicial lackey of Lee, who rubber-stamped the Confederate commander’s orders to the civilian populace. Fort Polk, La., honors the Rev. Leonidas Polk. While he reached the rank of Confederate general, Polk was more widely known as a second cousin of President James K. Polk and bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana. After becoming famous as “Sewanee’s Fighting Bishop,” he was killed in action June 14, 1864, when struck by a missile while scouting Union positions from atop Pine Mountain, Ga. Frost, the Army spokesman, said most of the bases were named long after the Civil War had ended. “It should be noted that the naming occurred in the spirit of reconciliation, not division,” he said. [Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau | James Rosen | September 25, 2016 ++] ***************************** Military History ► Sugar Loaf Hill - Okinawa After the Battle of Midway in the summer of 1942, the United States launched a counter-offensive strike known as "island-hopping," establishing a line of overlapping island bases. As each Japanese-held island fell, U.S. forces quickly constructed airfields and small bases, then moved on to surrounding islands, one after another, until Japan came within range of American bombers. The volcanic island of Iwo Jima was a crucial location for the island-hopping campaign to succeed. The island's proximity would make it possible for Marianas Island-based B-29 Superfortresses to refuel on their way to bomb Japanese targets and surrounding islands. It was also ideal for bombers damaged during the raids to find safety and medical attention on their way home from bombing Japan. Three airstrips, which the Japanese had been using for their suicidal Kamikaze attacks to destroy U.S. Navy warships, also made Iwo Jima a primary target. With the island captured, the Kamikazes would have to operate from Okinawa or Kyushu. On Feb. 19, 1945, the U.S. Marine Corps' legendary 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions landed on Iwo Jima to provide fixed air bases for B-29 Superfortress air attacks against Japan and surrounding islands. It took 36 days of brutal combat, while literally inching their way across the island, for the Marines to secure Iwo Jima. But victory came at a heavy price. At the battle's conclusion, 6,281 Americans were killed and 19,217 wounded. The Japanese lost 17,845-18,375 dead and missing. With Iwo Jima secured, preparation to assault Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands began to move forward. Okinawa, on the southern tip of Japan, would serve as the perfect base for air operations and training of U.S. forces for the planned invasion of the Japanese homeland-thought to be inevitable. Dubbed "Operation Iceberg," planning began with Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner's Tenth Army tasked with taking the island. Initial U.S. landings began on March 26, 1945 when elements of the 77th Infantry Division captured the Kerama Islands to the west of Okinawa. On the 31st, Marines occupied KeiseShima. Only eight miles fromOkinawa, the Marines quickly emplaced artillery on these islets to support future operations. The main assault moved forward against the Hagushi beaches on the west coast of Okinawa on April 1. This was supported by a feint against the southeast coast by the 2nd Marine Division. Coming ashore, Maj. Gen. Roy Geiger's III Amphibious Corps (1st & 6th Marine Divisions) and Maj. Gen. John Hodge's XXIV Corps (7th & 96th Infantry Divisions) quickly swept across the south-central part of the island capturing the Kadena and Yomitan airfields. Having encountered light resistance against zero opposition and with almost no casualties, the seasoned combat veterans in the assault force realized that a very hard road lay before them, because the Japanese had chosen to dig deep and fight on their own terms. With the majority of his forces moving south, Gen. Buckner ordered the 6th Marine Division to begin clearing the northern part of the island. Proceeding up the Ishikawa Isthmus, they battled through rough terrain before encountering the main Japanese defenses on the Motobu Peninsula. Centered on the ridges of Yae-Take, the Japanese, under the command of Col. Takehiko Udo, mounted a tenacious defense before being overcome on 18 APR. Two days earlier, the 77th Infantry Division landed on the island of IeShima offshore. In five days of fighting, they secured the island and its airfield. Though fighting in the northern part of the island was concluded in fairly rapid fashion, the southern part proved a different story. While Ushijima did not expect to defeat the Allies, he sought to make their victory as costly as possible. To achieve this, he had constructed elaborate systems of fortifications along a series of defensive lines across the island, both north and south of the American landing beaches, enabling the Japanese to conduct a fierce defense of Okinawa over many weeks. Using pillboxes and strongpoints, caves, and even some ancient castles, the Japanese defensive positions supported one another and often resisted even the most determined artillery fire or air strikes. Mounting few attacks themselves, the Japanese conserved their strength for this defense. Caves or pillboxes often had to be destroyed individually with dynamite charges. Pushing south, Allied troops fought a bitter battle to capture Cactus Ridge on 8 APR, before moving against Kakazu Ridge. Forming part of Ushijima's Machinato Line, the ridge was a formidable obstacle and an initial American assault was repulsed. Counterattacking, Ushijima sent his men forward on the nights of April 12 and 14, but was turned back both times. Reinforced by the 27th Infantry Division, Hodge launched a massive offensive on 19 APR. In five days of brutal fighting, U.S. troops forced the Japanese to abandon the Machinato Line and fall back to a new line in front of Shuri. As much of the fighting in the south had been conducted by Hodge's men, Geiger's divisions entered the fray in early May. On 4 MAY, Ushijima again counterattacked, but heavy losses caused him to halt his efforts the next day. As the Battle of Okinawa worked through its second month, the 6th Marine Division was tasked with moving down the west side of the island to sever Japanese lines and then move eastward behind the heights of Shuri. On top stood the bombed-out, shelled-out ruins of Shuri Castle, the visible part of an elaborate network of tunnels and pillboxes that comprised Ushijima's main defensive fortifications on the island. Shuri Line was located in hills that were honeycombed with caves and passages, and the Marines had to traverse the hills to cross the line. As the 6th Marines moved forward, orders came down for them to capture the Sugar Loaf Hill Complex, three hills which formed the western anchor of the Shuri Line defense. Sugar Loaf Hill, the main hill, was a small, insignificant-looking mound, barely 50 feet high and about 300 yards long, situated on the southern end of Okinawa. It was part of a triangle of strongpoints set up by the Japanese defenders designed to delay and damage the attacking American forces. The other two points of the triangle were the higher terrain of Shuri Heights and an irregular-shaped set of hills that Marines called the Half Moon. Leathernecks of Company G, 22nd Marine Regiment were the first to bump heads with the mound, and the first to feel the heat of the interlocking fires. By the end of its struggle to take Sugar Loaf, "George" Co. would be down to 24 men of its original complement after taking over 85% casualties. When it was relieved, more units were ordered into the fight and were consumed one by one. Many times, Marines reached the summit of the mound only to be driven off or killed by the murderous fire. Eventually, the realization sank in, that the mound was an interlocking system of caves and tunnels with the firing ports so cleverly disguised as to be virtually undetectable. The tanks being used to support the assaults often fell victim to mines, artillery and antitank fire. Those which got through were ineffective in taking out the bunkers because of the camouflage. 
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