Army Theater Supports Tenth Army Invasion of Okinawa

Photo By Erin Thompson | Pre-war sketch of then-Col. Kendall Fielder by Navy Artist McClelland Barclay.  

UNITED STATES

03.23.2023

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian

1 APRIL 1945
On 1 April 1945, Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, Jr.’s Tenth Army invaded Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, about four hundred miles south of mainland Japan. To support the invasion, the G-2 of the U.S. Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas (USAFPOA), provided both intelligence for planning and trained specialized intelligence teams.

Brig. Gen. Kendell J. Fielder, a 51-year-old Georgian, had served as the Army Theater G-2 in Hawaii since February 1941. After Pearl Harbor, he and the rest of Lt. Gen. Robert Richardson’s Army staff assumed the largely administrative, but still important, function of providing Army forces for Admiral Chester Nimitz’s drive across the central Pacific. Beginning in October 1944, Fielder’s G-2 telescoped their activities on Col. Louis B Ely and his Tenth Army G-2 as they prepared for the Okinawa invasion.

To advance these preparations, Fielder had his staff compile intelligence on the enemy and terrain on the Ryukyus. In late 1944 and early 1945, this included a series of estimates of Japanese strength and capabilities on Okinawa. Concurrently, G-2 analysts prepared photo interpretation reports and overlays showing enemy fields of fire and defenses. On 10 February 1945, the Army Theater G-2 turned over an objective folder on the Okinawa archipelago to assist the Tenth Army’s planning. The Tenth Army and its corps and divisions also began receiving USAFPOA’s periodic reports and intelligence bulletins. Fielder’s staff also coordinated the production of maps for the operation. The G-2 staff’s work and coordination allowed Ely and his team to concentrate on tactical planning for the battle.

To support the Tenth Army and its units, Fielder attached teams of intelligence soldiers. Forty-one teams, totaling 78 officers and 252 enlisted men, were attached to the army for the campaign itself. These consisted of nineteen photo interpretation teams, nine Japanese interrogator-translator-interpreter teams, seven order of battle teams, and six Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) detachments. Fielder’s staff tailored these teams to meet requirements. For example, USAFPAO decided to reinforce the CIC detachments, since the Army experience with Japanese civilians during operations on Leyte pointed to the need for additional agents.

As much as possible, these teams received training on theater and operational requirements and conditions. The corps and divisional photo interpreters trained at Army Theater schools. Interrogator-interpreter teams practiced their skills on Japanese prisoners of war held in Hawaii, while others honed their translation skills on captured documents. Before departure for Okinawa, Tenth Army teams conducted about three hundred interrogations to obtain information on fortifications, terrain, cultural objects, and customs of the island.

In addition, Fielder’s staff established an “enemy equipment intelligence service team” to provide technical intelligence (TECHINT) of particular interest the Army ground forces. During the months before the invasion, the team provided lectures, displays, and demonstrations to familiarize front-line troops with Japanese equipment. For the operation itself, the team formed a detachment with its own collection, salvage, and language assets. Unlike the other intelligence teams, this TECHINT detachment remained under the direct control of General Fielder and his staff, although it provided any relevant intelligence to Colonel Ely.

In the six months prior to the landings on Okinawa, General Fielder and his staff helped prepare the Tenth Army’s G-2. They provided Ely’s staff, especially in the early stages, with a solid baseline of information for operational planning. They also bolstered the invasion forces, down to division level, with specialized analysts to provide direct intelligence support throughout the campaign. In these two key ways, the Army Theater G-2 staff contributed to the success of the Okinawa operation.

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• Date Taken: 03.23.2023
• Date Posted: 03.23.2023 18:45
• Story ID: 441076
• Location: US