【war-related site】Navy Battery/Pillbox at Panataga Ridge

Located halfway up the hillside of Panataga Ridge (95.4m above sea level), one of the few highlands on Miyako Island, is a bunker dug approximately 50 meters in the Ryukyu limestone. The pathway is wide enough to transport cannons, and the area to mount the artillery is made of concrete. At the top of the stairway is an observation area to oversee the impact points. Iron and steel were sold at high prices after the war, and so to extract the metal reinforcements, the concrete were chipped away, leaving chunks and pieces on the ground. This bunker was constructed by the 2nd Company of the Navy’s 313th Construction Corps, and it is said to have housed a 14-centimeter cannon. Stationed here were the Artillery Unit of the Sakishima Group under the command of the 28th Mountain Artillery Regiment.