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South of Kyushu in Japan is a string of small islands
leading to Taiwan. The largest of these is Okinawa,
scene of the last battle of WWII.
What happened here?
On Easter Sunday 1945, the invasion "Operation Iceberg"
saw the assembling of the greatest naval armada in history,
when over 182,000 troops and a fleet of 1,300 USA ships set
to capture the island. After horrific battles with huge losses
from both sides (over 8,000 American navy casualties - the
highest death toll ever in naval history), the USA captured
and controlled Okinawa until 1972. There are still 50,000
US troops stationed on the island.
Towards the end of the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese navy
built a secret underground headquarters. By hand, using pick
axes, they dug out over a mile of tunnels. These tunnels soon
became their own graves and the site of one of the biggest
mass suicides ever known, totalling some 4000 Japanese men.
The Japanese hold great honour over the own death and would
not die in the hands of the enemy. They either disembowelled
themselves or threw a grenade, and all along the tunnel walls
you can still see remnants of the grenades. The Japanese fought
bravely in the six week battle, using kamikaze suicide bombers
to weaken the immense USA army.
The battle of Okinawa was one of the most tragic episodes
of the war, as it wasn't only military death but many civilians
died. When the citizens of Okinawa realised they had lost
to the Americans, many jumped to their deaths on the island's
cliffs rather than face capture by the USA, whom they considered
to be barbarians. |
