A Hell on Earth
	Japanese Soldiers and Okinawans			5 of 8

Katsuo Nagata 15-year-old boy in 1945 Conscripted into the Blood & Iron Boy Scouts of the 32nd Army

After the defeats in battle, probably at the Yaese Hill, most of the Japanese soldiers were wounded, lost their spirit, and were simply sustaining their lives. They did not have food, weapons, or gun powder. However, some of them who still had working weapons pointed their guns at civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly, and forced them out of the caves, saying that they were going to use them as military posts. The women and elderly had to leave the caves with their children and grandchildren. They did not know where to go or how to survive outside the caves where the gunfire was being exchanged. Although Okinawans could not openly say it at that time, it is a fact that they were more afraid of Japanese soldiers than American soldiers at the end of the war. After they lost in the last organized military operations at the Yaese Hill, the Japanese soldiers were desperate, and committed extreme acts of aggression.

Read more about the civilian experience on Okinawa.