Word: 6th
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Then the 82nd went to England, to prepare for the biggest test of all. With the 101st and the British 6th, its men spearheaded the invasion of France. Casualties were heavy. Many a rifleman of the 82nd died in the ditches and orchards of Normandy. But the outfit secured its area, broke through, crossed the Douve and led the drive which sealed off Cherbourg, later taken by the 79th ("Lorraine"), the 4th ("Ivy") and the gth-all infantry divisions...
...with rehearsals in Africa and Sicily, landed in Normandy last year and roared into the ruptured German lines at Saint-L6. The closing phase of the war was an armored force field day. All of them - the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, the 6th, the 7th, the 8th, the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, the 12th, the 13th, the 14th, the 16th, and the 20th - dashed off the edges of operational maps, slashed into Germany's heart. As uppity as all armored units (they speak pityingly of "the poor goddam in fantry"), they had never forgotten that...
That was the mission of all Marines-the 2nd at Tarawa, the 3rd, 4th, 5th at Iwo Jima. The new 6th Marine Division was also fighting on Okinawa (see WORLD BATTLEFRONTS), and the Marines had gallant Army company. Until recently when the 6th Marine Division joined them, all the heaviest fighting in the south had been done by the seasoned 7th, 27th and 77th Divisions, veterans of the Pacific campaign, and the 96th Division, blooded last year on Leyte...
Whoever held 300-ft. Sugar Loaf controlled the western approach to Shuri castle, as well as the eastern flank of Naha, Okinawa's capital city. Leathernecks of Major General Lemuel C. Shepherd's 6th Marine Division assaulted Sugar Loaf nine times, and were four times blown off the crest before they could move down the far side. Hundreds of Japs piling out of caves and tombs were slaughtered by the 6th's tanks...
Behind flame-throwing tanks, U.S. Tenth Army troops inched forward. On the west coast the crack, new 6th Marine Division fought its way into the suburbs of Naha. In the center the 1st Marine and 77th Army Divisions pressed closer to Shuri. On the east coast the 96th Army Division captured Conical Hill dominating the Yonabaru airstrip; then doughboys swept ahead to take the airfield itself. Again & again the Japanese came out of mud-filled foxholes and caves to counterattack...