Human Shield

Considered to be the last defense to protect the Japanese mainland, experienced commander, Ushijima was appointed, and three divisions, which called the strongest, were dispatched to Okinawa.

However, the war situation worsened, and in November 1944, the strongest division was picked up and  brought from Okinawa to Taiwan, and the morale of the corps on Okinawa dropped significantly.

In January 1945, the general headquarter's chief of staff changed the policy from decisive battle on Okinawa to the mainland decisive battle and ordered Okinawa to have "a bleeding endurance battle".

The word,discarded stones had been recognized by the army on Okinawa since this time. The United States Army was inevitably landing, and neither addtional personnel nor supplies were available.

"Don't fight for the chance to win, but fight for the last one to earn time."

On April 2, after the U.S. military landed, the General Headpuarter said, "Occupation of Okinawa is inevitable." "We know that many civilians are living there, but we ask the Okinawan army to delay the landing of US army onto the mainland even a little", which resulted in the retreat to the southern part.

Discarded stones(suteishi)are not just abandaned stones, but in Go terms, it means adding something before being discarded. What happens when translated into English?

Indeed, "Suteishi" is human shield.

There is no other translation.

The Japanese army used the Okinawan army as human shield, and the Okinawan army used the people of the prefecture as human shield. This situation killed a large amount of its own army and its own people, which had a great impact on the other side.

It was extremely difficult for Akira Shimada, the prefectural office, and the police to try to save innocent prefectural people's life as many as possible.

Some say that the death of many non-combatants in Okinawa, the too many death of US soldiers, and the scourge of killing Japanese people affected the decision for US to drop the atomic bomb.

Japan, which lost control of the sea and air in the fall of Saipan in July 1944, got conscious of its defeat and started to work on a ceasefire by diplomatic route. Eventually it took a year to lose. Most of the three million war dead have died in this past year.