Following heavy fighting in the south the 6th Marine Division replaced the 27th Infantry Division on the western side of the island. The 29th made steady progress south until 12 May 1945 when on the outskirts of Naha, Okinawa the ran into a low, loaf shaped hill which was soon to be named Sugar Loaf Hill. The hill was part of a complex of three hills that formed the western anchor of General Mitsuru Ushijima's Shuri Line defense.Sugar-Loaf the Gateway to Naha Originally the objective of the 22nd Marine Regiment, the 29th would relieve them on 16 May and would sustain heavy casualties over the course of the next few days while taking the hill. They made numerous frontal assaults on the hill and finally secured it on 18 May but in the process they sustained so many casualties that they were rendered combat ineffective and would eventually be relieved by the 4th Marine Regiment before the push into Naha. The fighting was so intense that during the relief in place the 4th Marines sustained 70 casualties.THE FINAL CAMPAIGN: Marines in the Victory on Okinawa
