[/quote]Peter H wrote:http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA ... awa-8.html
April 19th 1945:
At 1330, since it was now evident that infantry would not be able to reach them, the tanks received orders to return to their lines. Of the thirty tanks that had maneuvered around the left end of Kakazu Ridge in the morning, only eight returned in the afternoon. The loss of twenty-two tanks on 19 April in the Kakazu area was the greatest suffered by American armor on Okinawa in a single engagement.The tanks had operated wholly without infantry support. Four of the twenty-two were armored flame throwers, and this was their first day in action. Some crew members of tanks destroyed by antitank gun fire dug pits under their tanks and remained hidden forty hours before they escaped, incredibly unmolested by the scores of Japanese within 100 yards. "
My Dad served in Okinawa the 193rd tank batallion (company A). I remember him telling us about hiding in the foxhole a long time and a "highranking officer" mysteriously appeared and told them to follow him or else they would die in the foxhole that night. Some of the crew followed and when they were in safety the "high ranking officer" vanished. My Dad was always convinced that they were rescued by an angel.
Dad's discharge papers list him as 193rd tank batallion, Company A, 27th Infantry Division. He received a purple heart for injuries there--he was patched up and put back to the lines just like they did the tanks "on the fly" to get them to safety. I wish I could hear more real life stories from these guys. Dad didn't talk about the war much and was haunted by this battle and losing his friend, Jimmy Mock.