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Abstract
The civilian death toll during the Second World War Battle of Okinawa was very high. This was the result of sheer brutality resulting from racism and hatred, but also from unethical strategic decisions. This article chronicles decisions made on both sides – and accompanying actions – that arguably amount to crimes against humanity. In addition to the strategic decisions that contributed to the high death toll, actions such as rape, killing of surrendering soldiers, looting and mutilating the dead, and failures to protect one's own civilian population are recounted and discussed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sadly, Dr Alistair Andrew McLauchlan passed away in May 2014. The present article, initially submitted to us in 2012, was finalized by Dr McLauchlan in 2013 so as to be ready for this 2014 volume of the Journal of Military Ethics. We are sad that it did not make it into print before his passing. Only minor editorial changes have been made after Dr McLauchlan passed away. We express our sincere gratitude to his wife Jan McLauchlan and his collaborator Mark Ealey for their support, and to Mark Ealey also for his generous help in the final editorial process.
Notes
1. The Japanese lost approximately 60,000 troops and approximately 100,000 civilians on Okinawa. A total of 12,513 American troops were killed and over 60,000 wounded, of whom several thousand subsequently died.
2. See Dower (Citation1986) for an excellent treatise on the racist component of the Pacific War.
3. See Report of Military Government Activities for Period 1 April 1945 to 1 July 1946 (US Navy Citation1946: 72). The number of men stationed at the time was 717; in other words, almost 2.5 misdemeanours per man.
4. This is not necessarily so either. She may have been Japanese or Korean, a comfort woman or a terrified civilian.
5. Personal communication with author (February 2011) from Bill Pierce, Weapons Company 29th Marines, 6th Marine Division.
6. Literally ‘black men's cave’.
7. Imperial Japanese Army military communications on 17 and 24 May express clear concern about deteriorating military discipline.
8. Ushijima and Cho committed ritual suicide on 21 June 1945.
9. See Feifer (Citation1992: 498) and Lacey (Citation2005: 75) for especially harrowing descriptions of such events.
10. See also Feifer (Citation1992: 488): ‘Once you kill somebody, the first one, it's much easier after that. When they come out of the caves, it's like target practice, like a turkey shoot.’
11. Personal communication with author (October 2010) from Joseph A. Drago, Ico 3rd Battalion 22nd Marines, 6th Marine Division.
12. Personal communication with author (October 2010) from Joseph A. Drago, Ico 3rd Bn 22nd Marines, 6th Marine Division.
13. Personal communication with author (October 2010) from Bill Pierce, Weapons Company, 29th Marines, 6th Division.
14. In particular, Okinawa Prefectural History, Volume 9, ‘Documents of the Battle of Okinawa Part 1’ (Citation1971) and Volume 10, ‘Documents of the Battle of Okinawa Part 2’ (Citation1974) contain such testimony from several hundred Okinawans.
15. The attack on the Ihara Surgery Cave is perhaps the best-known tragedy, probably involving phosphorous grenades.
16. In the first week of the campaign, 12,661 civilians were in custody. By 22 April 1945, there were more than 100,000 (Hayashi Citation2010: 121).
17. Material supporting the civilian experiences hereafter mentioned can be found in Senka wo Horu, the testimony of Okinawan civilian survivors published by the Ryukyu Shimpo in 1983 and 1984 (for full English translations, together with academic annotations and an introduction by Masahide Ota, see Ealey & McLauchlan 2014).
18. Under the terms of the Yalta Conference (4–11 February 1945), Russia agreed to join the war against Japan within 90 days of Germany's surrender in return for Japanese territory concessions.
19. For several reasons, this number varies between 112 and 120.
20. Some local Okinawan women were also taken to work in the comfort stations.
21. Approximately 2000 school students joined the Nurse Corps and Blood and Iron Corps.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Alastair A. McLauchlan
Alastair Andrew McLauchlan, PhD (Otago), MEd (Dist), BA (Hons, Japanese), BA (French and German), Dip Tchg (Dist) was an independent translator and researcher. He published several books and 20 peer-reviewed papers in a wide range of journals. His last book was a collaborative project (with Mark Ealey) on civilian suffering during the Battle of Okinawa. Much of Dr McLauchlan's work focused on Japanese social topics, especially the little-known buraku issue, dealing with an outcast group at the bottom of the Japanese social order.