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In Reply to: RE: Surprisingly few books on the subject compared to posted by patrickU on December 09, 2009 at 08:18:45
Ms. Chang was clearly obsessed with her subject ( being Chinese likely made it difficult for her to develop much detachment ) My meeting her was pure coincidence, I had just read her book.
For WW2 full-on atrocity, and what has never been adequately addressed in film ( it may not even be possible ) the Battle of Okinawa beats all
The Americans made a significant strategic error invading Okimawa; the Ryukyu islanders didn't consider themselves Japanese ( many still don't ) + the closest the Empire of Japan had come in Centuries to subjugating them was to disarm them. This left Okinawans in a constant state of readiness for invasion, and absolute masters of unarmed ( martial arts ) combat
There were more than 10,000 casualties for every square mile liberated in this campaign; this gave a green light for the USA for the use of atomic weaponry to end the war. Had the Marines, alternatively, rolled into Tokyo bay, almost all civilians had long been evacuated to the countryside + the city was bombed flat ( more bombs were dropped on Tokyo than all of Europe by the Allies ) resistance would have been minimal in comparison
I saw an interview with an Okinawan woman, now elderly, who had been captured shell-shocked + prior to interrogation, had kicked + broken the neck of a Marine sergeant ( killing him instantly ) + critically injured two other Marines; she was 14 years old + had been captured, injured + had not eaten for 6 weeks
The USA annexed Okinawa post-war + did not return sovereignty until the 1970's, Okinawans could not get passports to travel prior to that
Most of the invading forces were battle-hardened grunts, veterans of Iwo Jima, Italy, etc. and around 1/2 of them suffered battle fatigue, many to the extent where they went permanently insane
The Rape of Nanking, "Come and See", Germanys invasion of Russia, "Der Untergang" are mere sideshows in comparison to OkinawaGW
Edits: 12/11/09Follow Ups:
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