The photograph was during the Battle Of Saipan which took the lives of 22,000 Japanese Civilians, most of who died by suicide and almost all 30,000 Japanese troops that were on the island. 71,000 American troops landed on Saipan, however, 3,426 died, while over 13,000 were injured.
The Japanese were adamant about resisting and very determined to not let any American take both soldiers or civilians even at the cost of their lives. A direct order from Emperor Hirohito was also given, he asked that the Japanese kill themselves rather than be captured alive by the American soldiers.
While the authenticity of this order has been debated since the war, the evidence seems to attest to its truth. The civilians didn’t only fear the war but even more so, the speculations of the aftermath of being captured by American soldiers. They believed that the Americans would rape and murder them if they were captured. They were also told that to join the United States Marines, they had to murder their parents. Most Japanese considered being captured to be a fate worse than death.
It didn’t help that the American soldiers didn’t consider the Japanese human. When American marines discovered an underground bunker, they rarely asked whether it was a civilian or military before doing the rounds. They considered civilians to be dangerous as well.Â
It had also been documented on numerous occasions since Pearl Harbor how violent they were to the Japanese.Â
American loudspeaker units and American marines were noted to have offered food and safe passage. However, many of the civilians were not interested and sometimes, too frightened to listen. They chose death over being captured. While some walked into the sea, others used knives and others employed various other means. The majority, however, used a nearby suicide cliff, and here whole families walked into their death.
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