However, the local people were forced to participate in fortifications and battlefield services, and these civilians who lacked military training and battlefield experience also suffered huge casualties under the naval and air firepower of the US military, especially air strikes.
The Japanese army shrank its position in the battle and forced a large number of people to move to the south of Okinawa by force. Under the military strike of the US military, these people suffered tens of thousands of casualties. Before the Japanese army issued a suicide order, the retreating Japanese army distributed grenades and bayonets to Okinawa people who were blocked by the US military fire and could not evacuate south, and supervised a large number of people to commit suicide.
On the eve of the defeat of the Japanese army, when the final suicide charge was launched, the Japanese bayonet in stark raving mad forced the unarmed Okinawa people to participate in the charge. After the Japanese army issued a suicide order, it simply forced the people to commit suicide collectively. If they refuse to commit suicide, they will be slaughtered by the Japanese army. People who died in the final stage accounted for half of the deaths, and it is conservatively estimated that more than 20,000 people died at the hands of the Japanese army.
At that time, there were 470,000 people in Okinawa, and 1.5 million people died in the battle.
During the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese government and army forced people to commit suicide and slaughter people, and 70% of the US military bases in Japan were located in Okinawa, which were two major problems that often caused disputes and even conflicts between the local government and people in Okinawa and the Japanese central government.