Chapter 73 suicide rock

After smashing the suicide attack of the Saipan defenders, Holland Smith withdrew most of the troops of the 27th Infantry Division as a reserve team, and sent the Marine Corps, which was better at searching and suppressing, to continue to push north of Saipan. Before the American advance, some Japanese soldiers fled towards the beach.There is a rugged cliff on the North Shore Beach, more than 240 meters high, called Morubi Rock. Most people died there, some were killed by the US troops chasing up, and some committed suicide. Morubi Rock was later called "Suicide Rock", which came less from soldiers than from civilians.The American soldiers saw a scene that horrified them: a family of adults and children jumped off the cliff and turned into floating corpses on the sea in a blink of an eye.

In Japan, the government described the British and Americans as "ghost animals" through propaganda, which made Japanese civilians hiding in caves believe that after being caught by "ghost animals", they would all be killed. Some even said, "The American "Devils" would use tanks to crush captives into patties. In order not to fall into the hands of "savage Americans", families who were able to distribute or pick up grenades pulled off the safety bolts at that time, knocked on rocks and committed suicide. Thousands of civilians who did not have this "blessing" died They all flocked to the "suicide rock" to jump off the cliff.

The U.S. Marines are at the top of the mountain or looking for a way down the mountain. Although years of bloody battles on the Pacific battlefield have hardened the hearts of the soldiers, they still feel thrilled when faced with this unstoppable tragedy. And very uncomfortable. The translator and the captured Japanese kept shouting to the crowd jumping off the cliff through the radio, telling them that the battle was over now and that what awaited them would be safety and food. Jumping down, mothers jump into the stormy waves with their children on their backs. There were so many dead bodies floating in the sea that naval boats could not move without passing over them.Of the nearly 22,000 Japanese civilians on Saipan, two out of every three died unnecessarily in this way.

Witnessing the tragedy, a U.S. military officer couldn't help but burst into tears. He asked himself: "Why do the Japanese want to commit suicide?" Nimitz couldn't help sighing after hearing this: "Perhaps this is the integrity respected by the Orientals." Bar." On the afternoon of July 9, Turner announced the official occupation of Saipan, but this only meant that the organized resistance of the Japanese army had ceased. There were still thousands of stragglers hiding in jungles, mountains and caves. There were only two options waiting for them. , Either surrender, or be burned to death by flamethrowers or blown to death by explosives, usually these Japanese soldiers will only choose the second choice.

The U.S. Marine Corps responsible for the suppression was not at all easy. After all, it is easy to hide open guns, but hard to defend against hidden arrows. "If you are being shot now, it will be from your own rear." The U.S. military launched the largest sweeping operation in history.In the next few weeks, the suppression forces hunted and killed more than 100 Japanese soldiers on average every day, and it was still impossible to completely eliminate them.After more than a year, Japan has surrendered, and the remaining Japanese are still living a life like beasts on Saipan. In the entire Saipan landing battle, the most difficult thing to deal with was the cave.These caves are condescending, and it is difficult to be found unless the Japanese soldiers in the cave fire the first shot, and this shot is usually fired at close range, and the U.S. troops who are shot are often either killed or injured.

Even if a cave is found, it is not easy to place explosives or spray flames at the entrance of the cave, and the attacker may be shot before he reaches the entrance of the cave.In addition, the rock caves on Saipan extend in all directions. When the US military closed a cave, the Japanese troops inside would go to another exit to continue to resist. The troops staying in charge of the cave could only advance step by step. They first fired tanks to lure the Japanese troops in the cave to shoot, so as to discover its location, and then concentrated their firepower to destroy it.Even so, the casualties were not small.According to statistics, the U.S. military suffered a total of 16,500 casualties during the landing battle, of which 3,400 were killed. Many of them were unfortunately recruited while clearing out caves.

The losses of the U.S. military in the Saipan landing battle exceeded the entire Battle of Guadalcanal, but the price was worth it. By occupying Saipan, a fortress in the Central Pacific, the U.S. military not only gained important aviation and submarine bases, but also The Tojo government dealt a heavy blow. Tojo was defeated both militarily and politically. On the surface, his dictatorial status was still unshakable, but in fact he had long been besieged internally and externally, and was on the verge of collapse.The army first cast a vote of no confidence in Tojo, and some departments and bureaus of the navy publicly hung up wooden signs, which read: "Kill Tojo and Shimada!" His military rank is only slightly higher than that of a private, and the Tojo government has the title of "Cabinet of the First Class".

Regarding the future of the war under the leadership of Tojo, the War Guidance Squad under the General Staff Headquarters also conducted a special investigation, and the results showed: "Japan has no hope of reversing the unfavorable situation of the war. It is time for us to end the war." Makoto Matsuya, the leader of the war guidance squad, reported the findings to Tojo.Tojo listened to the report calmly, and neither lost his temper nor refuted it. He looked like a sage who followed his advice. This is of course not the real face of "Private Class".In less than a week, Matsutani lost his black hat and was kicked out of the General Staff Headquarters by Tojo, and went to work in China.