Title: Descent into hell : civilian memories of the Battle of Okinawa /
Authors: Ealey, Mark,; McLauchlan, Alastair; Higa, Tatsuro,; Ōta, Masahide, 1925-2017,
Year: 2014
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 Campaigns Japan Okinawa Island Personal narratives.; Civilians in war Japan Okinawa Island.; Civilians in war; Military campaigns.; Pazifikkrieg; Erinnerung; World War, 1939-1945 Campaigns Japan Okinawa Island Anecdotes.; Japan Okinawa Island; Okinawa
Abstract: In 1983, concerned about the need to record and explain the experiences of Okinawans caught up in Battle of Okinawa, the local Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper carried out several hundred interviews with survivors. With explanatory comment added, this was published first in serial form, then later as a book. Tens of thousands of Okinawans were killed in the relentless bombardment by American forces, ten of thousands more local recruits died in Home Guard units, thousands of starvation and malaria in places away from the fighting, hundreds of young students died in the Blood and Iron Student Corps or as nurse's aides tending to wounded soldiers in hospital caves, and hundreds of evacuees lost their lives in ships sunk by U.S. submarines or aircraft. There were even people who took their own lives, or the lives of loved ones, to avoid what they had been told by the Japanese Army would be a far worse fate at the hands of American captors. Descent into Hell is the story of this apocalyptic struggle as told by those Okinawans who survived.
Contents: Introduction: The battle of Okinawa / by Ota Masahide -- chapter 1. The Sound of Army Boots Rings Out on the Cobblestones of Shuri -- chapter 2. Education -- chapter 3. Evacuation -- chapter 4. Compulsory Mass Suicide -- chapter 5. Student Soldiers -- chapter 6. List of Postwar Accidents Involving Unexploded Ordnance -- chapter 7. Excesses Committed by the Imperial Japanese Army -- chapter 8. 8 How Strategic Decisions in the Battle of Okinawa Affected Civilians -- chapter 9. Nurse Aides During the Battle of Okinawa -- chapter 10. Malaria and Starvation -- chapter 11. Internment Camps -- chapter 12. Kyosei Renko: Forced Migration of Korean Citizens to Help Japan's War Effort -- chapter 13. American Excesses -- chapter 14. Psychological Impact.