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| Yae-Dake Trip Report July 2009 Gentlemen,
Here is my little After Action Report.
I went to Motobu Peninsula on the evening of the 25th of June. Took some pictures from the south side while we were driving towards the aquarium. It was too late to do anything as darkness was falling so I decided to go on the next day.
Set out from our hotel on the North side of Yae Dake. It took about 20
minutes to get there... We drove up the the access road to the park at the peak... then passed it and went up to where the road split and a branch went to each of the peaks.
I started walking to the Western peak and cut in to the jungle on the South side of the road near a drainage ditch and started searching... I may have been off since I didn't find anything at all. Not even junk.
After about an hour of searching down the slope I came back up and headed to the Eastern peak.
I cut in a couple of places and searched while walking up to the radar site, there was a lot of garbage, probably from some of the construction work.
After I reached the Eastern peak I encountered two locals who were coming from the radar site, both spoke some English and I was somewhat of a curiosity to them. They didn't mind I was there but told me to beware of the Habu's.
Taking a road to the South from the radar site I ducked in to the jungle at a drainage ditch again and started down slope. As before once inside the jungle canopy the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. It actually felt good in there. No joy though and after several hours, I headed back to our car. After looking at it back at home I realize I may have been off by about 1/4 miles to the east.
Jim
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|  | Battle Excerpt from Offical USMC History The ground around this towering
l,200-foot-high peak prohibited extensive
manuevering and completely favored
the defense. Yae Take was the
peninsula's key terrain feature and its
heights commanded the nearby landscape,
the outlying islands, and all of
Nago Wan. The steep and broken approaches
to the mountain would deny
an attacker any armor support. Infantry was sure to find the going difficult over
the nearly impassable terrain, The Japanese
defenses had been intelligently
selected and thoroughly organized over
an obviously long period. All natural or
likely avenues of approach were heavily
mined and covered by fire.
It was soon concluded that approximately
1,500 men were defending the
area and that the garrison, named the
Udo Force after its commander, was
built around elements of the 44th Independent
Mixed Brigade. Included in this
group were infantry, machine gun units,
light and medium artillery, Okinawan
conscripts, and naval personnel from
Unten Ko.
In addition to 75mm and
150mm artillery pieces, there were two
6-inch naval guns capable of bearing on
the coastal road for 10 miles south - |  | Yae Dake, The major last unmolested battle areas on the main island. The 1500 Japanese soldiers may still be sealed up in the caves on the mountainside. I've never heard of anyone ever finding a cave enterance or discovering any major relics of the conflict. During 2003 Dave Davenport stated that he never found the Japanese artillery emplacements and that the area is too difficult to explore due to the overgrown jungle. Major Brenchley attempted one hunt in 2004 and found one broken beer bottle which we all considered a success at the time. Kudo's to Jim for attempting a difficult historical task, one day somebody will solve the riddle and return the soldiers back to thier homes. Bob Wilke |  | | |  |
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