How a remote island escaped mass suicide in Battle of Okinawa

How a remote island escaped mass suicide in Battle of Okinawa

Residents had been told that, if captured, women would be assaulted and men mutilated by U.S. soldiers.

A single military decision made deep inside the command bunker was the trigger that led to the deaths of civilians. Driven into a corner by the offensive of the U.S. military, the 32nd Army decided on May 22, 1945 to abandon its command bunker beneath Shuri Castle and withdraw to the Kyan Peninsula in the south. Preparations for the withdrawal were carried out in secrecy.