Okinawa, a beautiful place, is said to be the most beautiful sea in all of Japan. But this beautiful place witnessed one of the worst wars at the end of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa. The battle took place between the United States and Japan and lasted nearly three months, and the Americans won.
The battle resulted in the brutal killing of 100,000 civilians on the island, but it is disgraceful that most of these civilians were not slaughtered by the American army, but died at the hands of the Japanese army itself. Seeing that the defeat was decided, the Japanese army began to slaughter the civilians on the island. Treating women is even more unforgiving.
At the end of June 1945, the Battle of Okinawa came to an end, the defeat of the Japanese army was inevitable, the American artillery bombarded every inch of Okinawa around the clock, under such an offensive, Okinawa residents were killed and wounded countless times, but the Japanese troops did not consider these civilians, their strategy was to consume the strength of the American army in Okinawa, to win time for the island to counterattack.
Normally, when a great war broke out, even if Okinawa was to be used as the front line, civilians should be arranged to evacuate first, but the Japanese government did not do so.
First, soon after Okinawa was incorporated into The Japanese territory, Japan did not have much affection for it, and under the premise that World War II had already consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, the Japanese side did not want to waste more time for these people. Second, in the case of heavy casualties of the Japanese troops on the front line, the people of Okinawa were forced to become the "substitutes" of the army, and all the local men, even boys under the age of ten, were caught on the battlefield, and later, even women were taken to the front line to do coolies and block guns.
Under such persecution, many Okinawans could not bear it, and some of the Okinawan soldiers who were forcibly abducted decided to surrender to the American troops on the opposite side, who knew that they had just climbed out of the trenches and were shot and killed by the Japanese troops monitoring from the rear. The Japanese soldiers who wanted to surrender were killed by their own people, which shows the cruelty and stubbornness of the Japanese army. After the shooting, the Japanese army will also hang the bodies of these people, and threaten the Okinawans in the army not to surrender, otherwise they will all be shot, they tell the Okinawans that the US military is inhuman, if the SURRENDER TO the US army, the US army will skin and cramp the Okinawans, torture them in every way, so that they are worse off than dead.
Under such intimidation, the Okinawans did not dare to surrender again, but Japan's defeat was inevitable, and it was only a matter of time before Okinawa fell into the hands of the US military. At this time, the fate of hundreds of thousands of Okinawan civilians became a big problem.
The Americans could not be allowed to bargain a little, which was the idea of the Japanese government at that time.
Japan in Okinawa desperately to create the image of the "devil" of the United States, for Okinawans, the only impression left by the strange United States is that these three months of unstoppable, coupled with the Japanese army's propaganda, they believe that the United States is indeed dehumanizing, falling into their hands will be very tragic, under such fear, some Okinawa residents began to commit suicide in the sea or kill themselves with a knife, and even killed their wives and daughters before the father committed suicide.
This act of deception was publicized by the Japanese army for a long time as a "heroic martyrdom". But there were still some Okinawans who did not want to die, and they hoped to find an opportunity to escape Okinawa, but they did not expect that the Japanese had already swung their butcher knives at them.
Yutaro Nanashima, a veteran who had participated in the atrocities at the time, described the crime in detail in his memoirs, when the massacre took place, Nanashima was nineteen years old, and at the beginning of the mission, he was still a little confused, until there were shouts of killing around, and the commander looked indifferently at the corpses of civilians on the ground and told them: "Every great Japanese citizen should have the dignity to die for the country!" "
Although the people of Okinawa have never enjoyed the privileged treatment of the great Japanese people, at this moment they are forced to "die for the country."
In fact, when the slaughter began, every Japanese soldier turned into a demon. Seven Islands hesitated at first, and then mercilessly stabbed each civilian with a bayonet, and when he killed more, he would forget about human nature, and Seven Islands did not realize that he was facing a flesh-and-blood person like him, as if he were just slaughtering a herd of livestock.
When Nanashima forced a woman into a corner to be killed, the woman suddenly let out a loud cry of a child in her arms, and she hid the baby under her wide burqa, hoping that the child would have a way to live. When the cry sounded, Nanashima and the woman panicked. Women naturally know that their children will not survive, but what Nanashima thinks is, what should this voice do if it attracts the US military?
Without even thinking, he approached the woman with a bayonet and threatened, "Cover his nose and mouth!" The woman shook her head repeatedly, nanashima pressed forward step by step, and finally in extreme fear, the woman had to cover the child's mouth and nose, because the time was too long, the baby suffocated, and then the mother also died under the bayonet of nanajima.
Whenever the elderly Nanashima recalled this, he trembled, "Did I force my mother to kill her own child?" He asked this countless times, and the answer was yes, and the inhuman executioner was himself.
As the massacre progressed, the Japanese army became more and more irrational, manic, killing civilians when they saw them, and many women were taken captive by them and enjoyed, in the face of women's cries, some young soldiers felt a little hesitant, but other Japanese soldiers said indifferently: "Instead of leaving women to the American army, we should enjoy ourselves!" "
The massacre lasted for several days, and Okinawan islanders killed or injured about a quarter of the local population. Ironically, the reason why the Japanese army finally stopped was that the American army had already occupied Okinawa. Under the intimidation of the US army, the Japanese army died and scattered, and the civilians of Okinawa finally saw the light of day.
There was a survivor of Okinawa who once recalled the events of that year, this white-haired old lady was a high school girl, when the Japanese army came, she hid in the pile of dead people, picked up a life, did not expect to just avoid the limelight, and was found by the Americans. She was trembling with fear, thinking that surviving would be more miserable, but she did not expect that the US military treated her well and did not do anything special.
This catastrophe, the Japanese government has not acknowledged, with the death of the witnesses one after another, perhaps this atrocity will really be forgotten, and then whitewashed as a patriot sacrifice.
But can the sins committed really be covered up? Today's Okinawa beaches are buried with tens of thousands of innocent civilians, and the sea washes away blood, but it cannot wash away shame and hatred. To this day, the survivors of that year still run around the world, hoping to seek justice for their relatives who died tragically.
In a sinful war, the one who suffers the most is always innocent people.