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 Tenth Army commander General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. called the tactics used on Okinawa "corkscrew and blowtorch" for the press. Demolitions were the corkscrew and flamethrowers the blowtorch. This view shows a team from the 6th Marine Division using dynamite to seal a cave as the Marines approach the Shuri Line. The man closest to the camera has a SCR-300 "walkie-talkie" radio.

 The flanks and rear of Sugar Loaf Hill were blanketed by fire from extensive cave and tunnel positions in Half Moon Hill to the southeast and the Horseshoe to the south. The 6th Division's analysis of the terrain pointed out that: ...the sharp depression included within the Horseshoe afforded mortar positions that were almost inaccessible to any arm short of direct, aimed rifle fire and hand grenades. Any attempt to capture Sugar Loaf by flanking action from east or west is immediately exposed to flat trajectory fire from both of the supporting terrain features. Between May 9-18, 1945, the 6th Marine Division suffered 2,662 combat casualties in reducing the Sugar Loaf complex. Japanese casualties were much higher; almost all were killed. Only five Japanese were taken prisoner in early May 1945.