Hidden Bibliographic Details
| Varying Form of Title: | Civilian memories of the Battle of Okinawa
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| Other uniform titles: | Ryūkyū shinpō.
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| Other authors / contributors: | Ealey, Mark, translator, writer of commentary.
McLauchlan, Alastair, translator, writer of commentary.
Higa, Tatsuro, writer of foreword.
Ota, Masahide, 1925-2017 writer of introduction.
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| ISBN: | 9781937385279
1937385272
9781937385262
1937385264
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| Notes: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 483-485).
Translated from the Japanese.
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| Summary: | In 1983, concerned about the need to record and explain the experiences of Okinawans caught up in Battle of Okinawa, the local Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper carried out several hundred interviews with survivors. With explanatory comment added, this was published first in serial form, then later as a book. Tens of thousands of Okinawans were killed in the relentless bombardment by American forces, ten of thousands more local recruits died in Home Guard units, thousands of starvation and malaria in places away from the fighting, hundreds of young students died in the Blood and Iron Student Corps or as nurse's aides tending to wounded soldiers in hospital caves, and hundreds of evacuees lost their lives in ships sunk by U.S. submarines or aircraft. There were even people who took their own lives, or the lives of loved ones, to avoid what they had been told by the Japanese Army would be a far worse fate at the hands of American captors. Descent into Hell is the story of this apocalyptic struggle as told by those Okinawans who survived.
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