During the closing days of the Okinawa campaign, Japanese infantry decided to treat the much-ballyhooed Bushido warrior code as if it was a plate of week-old sushi.
“The Japs didn’t follow any rules in surrendering. Some came in with their arms stiffly parallel pointing to the sky like a movie safe-cracker being surprised by a cop. Others had their arms extending like a bird in flight. Some voluntarily stripped to a loincloth to prove they carries no firearms or explosives. It wasn’t even a German-type surrender, with troops neatly stacking rifles at predesignated dumps.”
“Psychological warfare had been vigorously and intensively applied since March 25th. We dropped eight million pieces of propaganda behind enemy lines , including twelve editions of a newspaper and 45 types of leaflets. The newspaper informed the enemy of the ignoble death of Mussolini, the capture of Berlin and the end of the European war. Later we told them of the Atomic Bomb and the entry of Russia into the Pacific war.”
More about the Battle of Okinawa can be read here.
More about the Battle of Okinawa can be read here.
There was a time when it was difficult to capture the Japanese – Click here to read about that…
Pictured above is war correspondent Mac Johnson at work.
KEY WORDS: Japanese Army General Mitsuru Ushijima supreme commander of the Okinawa area 1945,Isamu Cho Japanese Army Okinawa 1945,massive surrender of Japanese Army on Okinawa 1945,Okinawa garrison and the failure of Bushido warrior code 1945,Captain Samuel V Eastman on Okinawa 1945,Lieutenant Robert W Strickler Battle of Okinawa 1945,Captain Charles (Dusty)Farnum G Company 32nd Infantry Regiment on Okinawa 1945,Lt General Simon Bolivar Buckner of the 10th Army killed on Okinawa 1945,LT General Roy S Geiger USMC on Okinawa 1945,US Army Colonel John Merton (Mickey) Finn on okinawa,US Army 32nd Infantry regiment on Okinawa,US Army applied psychological warfare during the Battle of Okinawa 1945
