Okinawa battle

japan

6 panoramas by osamu okada

Southern front and mopping-up operation

The southern section of the Okinawa Main Island consists of upheaved coral reefs, and there are many natural caves called “Gama”. There is a slightly elevated hill of Maesato, Kuniyoshi, Yozadake, Yaesedake, standing in a row from east and west, where the Japanese army made the defensive line. From this line, there is nothing that is interrupted in on the south, and a gently-sloping land, and spread sugarcane field to the precipitous cliff off the seashore.

A total of 130,000 persons, such as Okinawan citizens who have taken refuge, the residual 30,000 soldiers, with civilian of the central front were mixed in the small area of about 10km of east and west.

The US forces held the mopping-up campaign of the bombardment from the warships at the sea, the air strikes, the air strafing, the flamethrower with tanks, pouring gasoline into the entrance of the refugee cave, called “the rider attack” in this area.

沖縄 – 南部戦線（掃討戦）

沖縄本島南部は隆起した珊瑚礁から構成され、多数の自然壕（ガマ）があります。日本軍が防衛ラインとした真栄里、国吉、与座岳、八重瀬岳と小高い丘陵が東西に連なり、このラインより南側には遮るものがなく、海岸の断崖絶壁まで、なだらかなさとうきび畑が広がります。

東西10Kmほどの地域に、中部戦線の残存兵30,000人、中部戦線から日本軍とともに避難してきた住民など、合計130,000人が混在していました。

米軍は、この地域で海からの艦砲射撃、空からの空爆と機関銃掃射、戦車を先頭に火炎放射器による攻撃、ガソリンを流し込む等の壕への馬乗り攻撃による掃討戦を行いました。

Former Navy Underground Headquarters

The Japanese navy built the underground headquarters on the Oroku hill to defend the Oroku airfield, the present Naha International Airport.

On June 2, the battle with the US forces and the Japanese navy was started around the headquarters in Oroku. On June 13, Commander Minoru Ota, and staff officers committed suicide in the headquarters, and 4,000 sailors killed in the battle or committed suicide.

This panorama photos the staff officer’s room, which is exactly the same as it was that time. Bullet holes when the staff officers committed suicide with a hand grenade, remain distinctly.

旧海軍司令部壕（幕僚室）

小禄飛行場、現在の那覇空港の防衛のため、日本軍は小禄地区の丘に地下陣地壕を構築しました。

6月2日、小禄の旧海軍司令部壕の周辺で米軍と日本軍との戦闘が開始されました。6月13日、大田実司令官、参謀が旧海軍司令部壕内で自殺し、4,000人の将兵が戦死または自殺しました。

このパノラマは、当時のままの幕僚室を撮影したものです。参謀が手榴弾により自殺したときの跡がくっきりと残っています。

Staff officers’ room

[FULLSCREEN QTVR]

Stepping down the stairs of 105 flights, there is the staff officer’s room, the office of battle plans, the secret code room, the commander room, the medical room, the radio room, and the generator room, etc.

4,000 sailors had hidden the body to the underground corridors which connects these rooms, are 450m in full length. It is said that the outside of the headquarters underground trench was surrounded by the tank of the US forces and the soldiers, and the sailors who went away to the ground through the tunnels never returned.

This panorama photos the corridors where the exits to the ground are in the front and opposite side of the corridors. In addition, the commander room is located in right-hand side. The marks of the hoe when digging the underground trench remain in the wall distinctly.

In the underground trench, 2,500 persons’ remains of the war dead are recovered. Now, it is improved as the Former Navy Underground Headquarters Park. The inside of the underground trench and its surroundings are exhibited as an institution which can realize misery of a total of 200,000 war dead in the Battle of Okinawa.

105段の昇降廊（階段）を下ると、幕僚室、作戦室、暗号室、司令官室、医療室、信号室、発電室などがあります。

これらを繋ぐ通路は全長450mあり、これらの通路に4,000人の将兵が身を潜めていました。壕の外は米軍の戦車、兵隊に包囲され、通路を通って地上へ出て行った兵士は、二度と戻ってくることはなかったようです。

このパノラマは、通路を撮影したもので、前方の通路の先、反対側に地上への出口があります。また、右側には司令官室があります。壁には壕を掘るときの鍬の跡がくっきり残っています。

現在、旧海軍司令部壕内部と周辺は、旧海軍司令部壕公園として整備され、壕内では2,500人の遺骨が収骨され、沖縄戦の全戦没者数20万人という悲惨さを実感できる施設として公開されています。

Underground corridors

[FULLSCREEN QTVR]

Cave of Todoroki

There are many natural caves with various sizes, which are called Gama, in the southern section of the Okinawa Main Island. In the midst of the Battle of Okinawa, these caves were used as the army and Okinawan citizens’ refuge cave. The cave of Todoroki is a natural cave in the Itoman city, and consists of perpendicular and cylindrical doline with a diameter of about 30m, the cave of the middle, and under it the cave through which groundwater flows into further continued.

Those days, hundreds of Okinawan citizens have taken refuge in the cave of Todoroki, and tens of Japanese soldiers have fled after that. It is said that the baby who screamed from hunger was strangled to death by the Japanese soldiers because of being found by the US forces, Okinawan citizens who were going to surrender, and Okinawan citizens who speak about the dialect of Okinawa were killed with sword as spies, and Okinawan citizens were expelled from the refuge cave into the intense mopping-up operation of the US forces, and some children were starved to death in this cave. On the other hand, when surrender advice was not followed, without distinguishing between Okinawan citizens and the Japanese army, the US forces were merciless, and threw the bomb and hand grenade into the cave. Moreover, after Lieutenant-General Simon Bolivar Buckner, commander of the US forces was killed in the battle by the bombardment of the Japanese army in the Maesato village on June 18, it is said that the US forces had murdered the civilian and the surrendered persons for retaliation.

This panorama photos the direction of the cave of the middle from near the entrance of the cave of Todoroki.

Today, these caves are included in the course of the school trip of junior and high schools, and are utilized as a part of peace education for renunciation of war as the place where people can do the vicarious experience of war.

轟の壕

沖縄本島南部には、ガマと呼ばれる大小様々な自然洞窟がありました。沖縄戦の最中は、軍隊および住民の避難壕として使用されていました。轟の壕は、糸満市糸敷にある自然洞窟で、直径30mほどの円筒形の垂直のドリーネ、中段の洞窟、さらにその下の方には地下水が流れる洞窟が続いていました。

当時、轟の壕には数百人の住民が避難しており、その後、数十人の日本兵が敗走してきました。壕の中では、米軍に見つかるからと、空腹で泣き叫ぶ赤ん坊が日本兵に絞め殺され、投降しようとする住民や沖縄の方言を話す住民はスパイとして斬り殺され、米軍の激しい掃討作戦の中、避難壕から住民が追い出され、壕内で餓死する子供もいたと言われています。一方、米軍は、投降勧告に従わない場合、住民、軍の区別なく容赦なく爆弾、手榴弾を壕に投げ込んでいきました。また、6月18日、真栄里で日本軍の砲撃により米軍のバックナー司令官が戦死すると、米軍は、報復戦として、民間人、投降者も殺害したと言われています。

このパノラマは、轟の壕の入り口付近から中段の洞窟方向を撮影したものです。

現在、こうした壕は、中学校、高等学校の修学旅行のコースに組み込まれ、戦争の追体験ができる場所として、二度と戦争を繰り返さないための平和教育の一部として活用されています。

Cave of Todoroki

[FULLSCREEN QTVR]

On June 23, commander Ushijima and the chief of staff Chou committed suicide in the headquarters underground trench located on the Mabuni hill, and the organized resistance by the Japanese troops were finished. On July 2, General Nimitz of the US forces declared the end of the Okinawa capture operations.

6月23日、魔文仁の丘にあった司令部壕内で、牛島司令官、長参謀長が自殺し、日本軍による組織的な抵抗は終わりました。7月2日、米軍のニミッツ元帥は、沖縄作戦の終了を宣言しました。

Himeyuri Monument and the third army field hospital in cave

In the Battle of Okinawa, many students were mobilized by the Japanese army without legal basis. The Himeyuri students’ military unit was composed of 222 students from the women’s part of the Okinawa normal school and the first girls’ high school, and was serving in the war as the nurse.

In the early morning of June 19, the gas shell was thrown by the US forces, into the third army field hospital in cave in which the Himeyuri students’ military unit was serving, and many of teachers and Himeyuri students were killed in the battle. Most of the surviving teachers and students were driven into the southern Arasaki seashore, threw themselves from the precipitous cliff and committed suicide. 194 students of totally 222 Himeyuri students’ military unit fell into victim.

This panorama photos Himeyuri Monument stands on the cave, and the exterior of the Himeyuri Peace Memorial Museum in left-hand side.

ひめゆりの塔　第三外科壕

沖縄戦では多くの学徒が法的根拠もなく日本軍により動員されました。ひめゆり学徒隊は、沖縄師範学校女子部と第一高等女学校の生徒222人で編成され、看護婦として従軍していました。

6月19日早朝、ひめゆり学徒隊がいた第三外科壕に米軍によりガス弾が投げ込まれ、教師、ひめゆり学徒の多くが戦死しました。生き残った学徒も、南部の荒崎海岸に追い込まれ、断崖絶壁から身を投げて自殺したりしました。ひめゆり学徒隊222人のうち、194人が犠牲となりました。

このパノラマは、第三外科壕の上に建つひめゆりの塔、その左側のひめゆり平和祈念資料館の外観を撮影したものです。

Himeyuri monument

[FULLSCREEN QTVR]

Cave where students from Okinawa normal school died

Along the Mabuni hillside, there stands the underground trench of the Japanese 32nd Army’s headquarters, caves, memorials, and a spring said to have dyed with blood of peoples, who visited to drawing water and killed by the bombardment.

In June, 1945, many students of the students’ military unit from Okinawa normal school could not break through the encircling net of the US forces, and committed suicide in the cave.

This panorama photos the entrance of the cave from the outside. The charnel is also located in the right-hand side of the entrance of the cave. The poem of the Japanese soldier or the student “I am sad to have sympathized whenever should fight with a pebble is told and ordered” is also minced by the right-hand side of the cliff.

沖縄師範健児の壕

日本兵、住民が追い込まれた魔文仁の崖の中腹には、沖縄守備軍司令部壕、沖縄師範健児の塔、沖縄師範健児の壕、水汲みに訪れた人の血で染まったと言われる泉等が残されています。

1945年6月、米軍の包囲網を突破できず、多くの学徒がこの壕で自殺しました。

このパノラマは、壕の入り口を外側から撮影したものです。壕の入り口の右側には納骨堂もあります。右側の崖には、「小石を持って戦えと聞かされるたびに身につまされて悲しかりけり」との日本兵もしくは学徒の俳句も刻まれています。

Cave where students from Okinawa normal school died

[FULLSCREEN QTVR]

“Heiwa-no-ishiji” Cornerstone of Peace

Finally the Japanese soldiers and Okinawan citizens who were surrounded by the US Forces were driven into the precipitous cliff of the Arasaki seashore and the Mabuni seashore of the southern tip of the Okinawa Main Island. It is said that there were many Japanese soldiers and Okinawan citizens, those who were going to surrender were killed with sword by Japanese soldiers, those threw themselves and committed suicide from the 50m precipitous cliff, those committed suicide with the hand grenade, and those were killed in the battle by the machine-gun and mopping-up of the US Forces in these area.

Today, the Mabuni hill and its surroundings are improved as the Okinawa War Memorial Quasi-National Park, and many memorial institutions, cenotaphs, peace memorial towers, such as the Mabuni Hill Memorial Park, the sobering Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, the Okinawa Peace Memorial Hall, the National Cemetery for the Okinawa War Dead, Heiwa-no-ishiji the Cornerstone of Peace are stood. Every year, the Okinawa prefecture-sponsored Okinawa memorial ceremony for all the war dead is held in the Mabuni Hill Memorial Park on June 23.

This panorama photos the monument called “Heiwa-no-ishiji” the Cornerstone of Peace Memorial, inscribed with the name of each, the Japanese soldiers, Okinawan citizens, and the US soldiers who died in the Battle of Okinawa.

As well as Japanese people, many Americans considered to be the families of the Okinawa stationing US forces also visited, and have put flowers in front of the monument.

After the end of the Battle of Okinawa, it was continued military occupation by the US forces and Okinawa was returned to Japan at last on May 15, 1972, 27 years after. However, also after that, the US forces continue being stationed as the greatest military base in the Far East, and Futenma Air Station (US Marine Corps.), the Kadena air base (US Air Force), Camp Hansen (US Army), etc. are firmly included in a part of the US military strategy. The scar of the Battle of Okinawa may be not yet cured in the meaning of troubling Okinawan citizens with forms, such as noise, and a plane crash, while many lands of Okinawa had been requisitioned exclusively by the US forces still now.

平和の礎

米軍に包囲された日本兵、住民は、最終的に沖縄本島南部の荒崎海岸、魔文仁海岸の断崖絶壁に追い込まれていきました。投降しようとして日本兵に斬り殺された者、50mの断崖絶壁から身を投げて自殺した者、手榴弾で自殺した者、米軍の機銃掃射により戦死した者等、多くの日本兵、住民がこの地で犠牲となりました。

現在、魔文仁の丘付近は、沖縄戦跡国定公園として整備され、沖縄県平和祈念資料館、沖縄平和祈念堂、国立沖縄戦没者墓苑、平和の礎など、慰霊施設、慰霊碑、慰霊塔、平和祈念施設が多く建てられています。例年、6月23日には、平和祈念公園で、沖縄県主催の沖縄全戦没者追悼式が開かれています。

このパノラマは、沖縄戦で犠牲となった米兵、日本兵、沖縄の住民の名前が刻まれた平和の礎と呼ばれる戦没者の名碑を撮影したものです。

日本人とともに、沖縄駐留米軍の家族と思われる米国人も多く訪れ、碑の前で献花しています。

沖縄戦終結後、沖縄は米軍により占領され続け、27年後の1972年5月15日、ようやく日本に返還されました。しかし、その後も、普天間基地（米海兵隊）、嘉手納航空基地（米空軍）、キャンプハンセン（米陸軍）等、極東最大の軍事基地として米軍が駐留し続け、米国の軍事戦略の一部にしっかりと組み込まれています。現在も沖縄の多くの土地が米軍により接収されたままで、騒音、墜落事故等の形で沖縄の住民を苦しめているという意味で、沖縄戦の傷跡はいまだに癒されていないのかもしれません。

“Heiwa-no-ishiji” Cornerstone of Peace

[FULLSCREEN QTVR]

Osamu Okada
岡田治

related websites