>In late March, soldiers of the 77th Division seized the Kerama islands, about 20 miles to the west, and witnessed how old men cut the throats of small children and young girls rather than give themselves and their families up. ‘We yelled at them to stop, but it did no good,’ a GI recalled.
>When invading Ie Shima, another island near Okinawa, American soldiers again were witnessing how war exacted an awful toll among the young and innocent, according to a modern unit history: “For two days, the naked body of a young baby had lain in the road in front of the 2nd Platoon’s night defensive position and each day the men had seen it. Just looking at the body had deeply affected the men. On the third day, they were devastated when they saw it crushed beneath the threads of a tank moving forward to attack.”
– Peter Harmsen: Asian Armageddon, 1944-1945.
One third of Okinawa’s civilian population died in the fighting.
I didn’t realize Carbines were so common!
Reading a detailed history of the battle in Okinawa singlehandedly makes the case for dropping the atomic bombs. We are still using the purple heart medals that were planned for the invasion of the Japanese home Islands.
Literally listening to Dan Carlin’s Supernova in the East part V when I saw this. Very cool pictures
If you want to learn more about the Pacific theater and put a permanent dent in your opinion of the human race, listen to Dan Carlin’s “Supernova in the East” podcast series. The whole series is incredible and illustrates a wound in human history, but the last three episodes really dig their nails into that wound as they attempt to describe the indescribable horrors experienced during the Allied approach to the Japanese home islands.
Much like the bombs, listening to that series is a very good bad idea.
Anyone know what the cans in the ground are in photo 6?
Trump and Vance never understood why the US ever started this war!
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>In late March, soldiers of the 77th Division seized the Kerama islands, about 20 miles to the west, and witnessed how old men cut the throats of small children and young girls rather than give themselves and their families up. ‘We yelled at them to stop, but it did no good,’ a GI recalled.
>When invading Ie Shima, another island near Okinawa, American soldiers again were witnessing how war exacted an awful toll among the young and innocent, according to a modern unit history: “For two days, the naked body of a young baby had lain in the road in front of the 2nd Platoon’s night defensive position and each day the men had seen it. Just looking at the body had deeply affected the men. On the third day, they were devastated when they saw it crushed beneath the threads of a tank moving forward to attack.”
– Peter Harmsen: Asian Armageddon, 1944-1945.
One third of Okinawa’s civilian population died in the fighting.
I didn’t realize Carbines were so common!
Reading a detailed history of the battle in Okinawa singlehandedly makes the case for dropping the atomic bombs. We are still using the purple heart medals that were planned for the invasion of the Japanese home Islands.
Literally listening to Dan Carlin’s Supernova in the East part V when I saw this. Very cool pictures
If you want to learn more about the Pacific theater and put a permanent dent in your opinion of the human race, listen to Dan Carlin’s “Supernova in the East” podcast series. The whole series is incredible and illustrates a wound in human history, but the last three episodes really dig their nails into that wound as they attempt to describe the indescribable horrors experienced during the Allied approach to the Japanese home islands.
Much like the bombs, listening to that series is a very good bad idea.
Anyone know what the cans in the ground are in photo 6?
Trump and Vance never understood why the US ever started this war!
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