In June 1944, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, under the command of Admiral Spruance, launched an air raid on the Japanese-occupied island of Saipan and prepared for a landing operation. At this time, the Japanese commander Nagumo Tadashi gave the order to dig deep trenches and cleverly set traps on all possible landing beaches, hoping to stop the American troops.
However, the nearly 30,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians on Saipan were blindly optimistic because of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo's speech, which he once declared: "If the enemy comes to Saipan, it will fall into our trap, and we will completely annihilate the enemy on Saipan." ”。In the early hours of June 15, Spruance ordered U.S. troops to land on Saipan.
The U.S. landing assault force arrived in the sea about 16 kilometers west of Saipan and began preparations for the landing as planned. Spruance not only ordered a naval artillery attack to cover the landing, but also sent a small landing force to carry out a feint in the waters north of central Saipan in order to contain and confuse the Japanese army. At the time of the landing of American troops, the Japanese troops on Saipan tried to counterattack.
The members of the Karashima death squad cut the barbed wire fence used by the U.S. military for defense and brandished Japanese swords and smashed into the U.S. position. However, the tank squadron of the American army stood in the way of the Karashima death squads. The Karashima death squad rushed at the American tank with an armor-piercing bomb, which was a typical suicide attack. Despite this, the fighters of the American army did not stop fighting, and they insisted on defending the occupied landing sites until dawn.
In the end, the Tang Island death squad had no choice but to retreat. In the heat of the battle, the positions of the American troops were already full of burning tanks, and the moans of wounded soldiers were also on the beach. And the original 1,000-strong Tangdao death squad had only more than 100 people left when they retreated. In the face of Japan's extreme combat methods, the landing of American troops became more and more difficult.
Spruance decided to urgently deploy a large number of amphibious combat tanks to open the way, and finally more than 40,000 U.S. troops successfully landed on Saipan. At the same time, the Japanese garrison on the island was only more than 20,000 people. The outcome of this 40,000-man land battle against 20,000 men is not difficult to predict. However, what happened next overwhelmed the US military.
In the early morning after the successful landing of American troops, a group of Japanese people moved towards the positions of American troops. As the U.S. soldiers prepared to shoot, broken English came from the other side: "Not to shoot!."we are populace！"(Don't shoot, we're ordinary people) It turned out to be a group of unkempt old people, and some women with children in their arms.
At the same time, behind the ranks of Japanese civilians approaching the American positions, a group of daredevils with bombs suddenly appeared. These disguised daredevils even hid bombs on the children, and then lit the fuses, killing the children, the U.S. troops, and themselves. Such events did not end and intensified on the following island of Saipan.
This history is full of heartbreaking images, and we should remember it and cherish peace.