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Arclight · 06-17-08, 11:26 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa

"At some battles, such as Iwo Jima, there had been no civilians involved, but Okinawa had a large indigenous civilian population. Okinawan civilian losses in the campaign were estimated to be between 75,000 and 140,000. In addition, it is estimated that more than a third of the surviving civilian population was wounded.

With the impending victory of American troops, civilians often committed mass suicides, urged on by the fanatical Japanese soldiers who told locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: "There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" (to blow themselves up). Some of the civilians, having been induced by Japanese propaganda to believe that U.S. soldiers were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture. Some Okinawans threw themselves and their family members from the cliffs where the Peace Museum now resides. A Japanese American Military Intelligence Service combat translator with the U.S. military, Teruto “Terry” Tsubota, tried to convince civilians to not kill themselves, even climbing into caves to talk to them, but his efforts had limited success.

Edwin P. Hoyt, in "Japan’s War: The Great Pacific Conflict", argues that the Allied practice of mutulating the Japanese dead and taking pieces of them home was exploited by Japanese propaganda very effectively, and "contributed to a preference to death over surrender and occupation, shown, for example, in the mass civilian suicides on Saipan and Okinawa after the Allied landings. Life Magazine's "picture of the week" in May 22, 1944 depicted a beautiful blonde with a Japanese trophy skull sent to her by her Marine lieutenant boyfriend. This image gained widespread circulation in Japan, as did the news that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been presented with a letter-opener carved out out of a Japanese soldiers arm bone by Congressman Walter. In Japanese media the Americans came to be portrayed as "deranged, primitive, racist and inhuman"."

Horrible stuff, and sadly there's lots more to find on this. Maybe such motivations were simply a necessity to be able to get through the day mowing down enemy soldiers...

*This can be considered schocking / disturbing to some. Please take the circumstances at the time into consideration , should you decide to look at it.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j.../LIFEskull.jpg

06-17-08, 11:26 AM	#14
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa "At some battles, such as Iwo Jima, there had been no civilians involved, but Okinawa had a large indigenous civilian population. Okinawan civilian losses in the campaign were estimated to be between 75,000 and 140,000. In addition, it is estimated that more than a third of the surviving civilian population was wounded. With the impending victory of American troops, civilians often committed mass suicides, urged on by the fanatical Japanese soldiers who told locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. Ryukyu Shimpo, one of the two major Okinawan newspapers, wrote in 2007: "There are many Okinawans who have testified that the Japanese Army directed them to commit suicide. There are also people who have testified that they were handed grenades by Japanese soldiers" (to blow themselves up). Some of the civilians, having been induced by Japanese propaganda to believe that U.S. soldiers were barbarians who committed horrible atrocities, killed their families and themselves to avoid capture. Some Okinawans threw themselves and their family members from the cliffs where the Peace Museum now resides. A Japanese American Military Intelligence Service combat translator with the U.S. military, Teruto “Terry” Tsubota, tried to convince civilians to not kill themselves, even climbing into caves to talk to them, but his efforts had limited success. Edwin P. Hoyt, in "Japan’s War: The Great Pacific Conflict", argues that the Allied practice of mutulating the Japanese dead and taking pieces of them home was exploited by Japanese propaganda very effectively, and "contributed to a preference to death over surrender and occupation, shown, for example, in the mass civilian suicides on Saipan and Okinawa after the Allied landings. Life Magazine's "picture of the week" in May 22, 1944 depicted a beautiful blonde with a Japanese trophy skull sent to her by her Marine lieutenant boyfriend. This image gained widespread circulation in Japan, as did the news that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been presented with a letter-opener carved out out of a Japanese soldiers arm bone by Congressman Walter. In Japanese media the Americans came to be portrayed as "deranged, primitive, racist and inhuman"." Horrible stuff, and sadly there's lots more to find on this. Maybe such motivations were simply a necessity to be able to get through the day mowing down enemy soldiers... *This can be considered schocking / disturbing to some. Please take the circumstances at the time into consideration , should you decide to look at it. http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j.../LIFEskull.jpg __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia. Last edited by Arclight; 06-17-08 at 12:51 PM.