During the Battle of Okinawa, a mother survived by fleeing the battlefield barefoot with her child on her back. She cowered in anxiety and fear among a group of Okinawan residents captured by the U.S. military. Caught up in the fierce Battle of Okinawa, the civilian population of Okinawa fled for their lives. Girls and children alike were evacuated from the battlefield. Left in the middle of the battlefield between the American and Japanese forces, the trapped civilians were eventually ordered by the Japanese to take their own lives and commit suicide. Numerous mass suicides by women and children also occurred. Where many Okinawans had taken refuge, Japanese troops fled just to avoid war and forcibly commandeered shelters, forcing Okinawans to flee under shells and bullets, resulting in abuse and massacre.
Not only the Okinawans who lost their refuge in the battlefield of Okinawa, but also the Okinawans who worked with the Japanese forces were tragically killed in the horrific battle. In the Battle of Okinawa, the two armies fought to the death with all their might. They turned the Okinawans into a force to be reckoned with, down to the smallest tree and plant, and forced them to die together with the military, government, and civilians. The Japanese military mobilized Okinawans uprooted, and civilians were taught to die in the same way as soldiers. The number of deaths among Okinawans amounted to more than 94,000, more than the number of deaths among Japanese soldiers.
On April 1, 1945, the U.S. forces landed from the thinly populated mid-western coast of Okinawa, and by April 20, they had taken control of the Okinawa Peninsula in the northeastern part of the island.
The U.S. forces encountered fierce resistance from the garrison around the military headquarters at Shuri in central Okinawa from around April 6, 1945. After more than 40 days of back-and-forth offensive and defensive battles, the American forces broke through the central front and reached the defense line of the military headquarters below Shuri Castle, where they launched an all-out attack starting on May 11. The Japanese forces fought hard, but were suddenly defeated in southern Okinawa on May 22, and Shuri was occupied by the Americans.
In the southern part of Okinawa, the American forces hunted down not only the Japanese troops, who sacrificed some 60,000 soldiers, but also the Okinawans in a sweeping battle. The southern part of the island was turned into a miserable battlefield where the Japanese troops were defeated and the Okinawans were evacuated. The U.S. forces attacked with all kinds of modern weapons, including artillery, bombs, and flamethrowers. Organized fighting by the Japanese ended on June 23.
