Saipan marks 80th anniversary of fierce WWII Japan-U.S. battle

In the battle, a number of Japanese soldiers also staged suicide attacks on U.S. forces.

Suicide literally means killing oneself. I know what the writer is trying to say here, but the type of attack --- called gyokusai by the Japanese military ---should not be described as a "suicide attack." It is generally rendered as "to die an honorable death (rather than surrender).' Americans also referred to it as a 'banzai charge.'

NCIS is correct. It wasn't so much "suicide" as it was "sacrificial". One of the ridiculous (from our POV) aspects of IJA thinking. And it wasn't a last end-of-the war desperation thing, as it was observed on Attu early on. So who are these net geniuses who downvote facts and knowledge?

ProtestantToday 07:03 pm JST

Japan wanted war. They got it in spades. They were defeated. The end.

The US wanted war just as much as Japan did. They still want them today as well.

The ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of about 41,000 Japanese troops, 8,000 to 10,000 Japanese civilians,

One of the many instances of Japan committing genocide on its own people.

and many indigenous people.

One of the many instances of Japan committing genocide on local citizens.

he ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of about 41,000 Japanese troops, 8,000 to 10,000 Japanese civilians,

One of the many instances of Japan committing genocide on its own people.

What kind of mind does it take to not question why it was necessary to kill one's own people during combat with the US military?

What is certain is that the local residents and indigenous peoples were victims of the US military's attacks. The same thing happened in the Philippines.

And there seem to be people who want to make people think that the Japanese military was a cruel and inhumane group, even though there is no truth to that.

Is it the white people who refuse to acknowledge the cruelty of their colonial rule?

There is absolutely no point in leaving wrong things in the history books.

Ego Sum Lux MundiJune 15 08:14 pm JST

ProtestantToday 07:03 pm JST

Japan wanted war. They got it in spades. They were defeated. The end.

The US wanted war just as much as Japan did. They still want them today as well.

And yet the US is not at war currently. Funny that.

WandoraJune 15 09:53 pm JST

Is the G7 why no one now celebrates VJ Day? At least not as reported by the media, of course.

Sane countries don't need to have an annual military parade.

The US wanted war just as much as Japan did.

That is soooo far from the truth. The isolationist movement in the US in the leadup to Pearl Harbour was huge and influential, involving the country's top leaders like Joe Kennedy, Indeed the US resolutely stayed out of the wars in Europe that began in 1939, and China that began in 1932...until Pearl Harbour, that is.

Japan, by contrast, launched unilateral military invasions of every single one of its peaceful neighbors, (barring the Soviet Union), and was spoiling for a fight from the get-go.

An attempt to make an equivalency of the two on this indicates a profound ignorance over the historical events.

＠JeffLee

Do you know about the Chiang Kai-shek Route?

It is a military support route that began in 1939 and continued through India and Myanmar to Chongqing, China.

The United States and other Allied powers did not participate in the war, but they provided a lot of weapons to the Nationalists, who were facing Japan. But America was not involved?

The United States could have avoided a war with Japan as many times as it wanted.

However, the Hull Note tried to ban oil exports from America. At the time, Japan imported more than 90% of its oil from America.

Even though there was a strong request from the UK, the American leadership wanted a war with Germany, and it is an undeniable fact that the domestic situation in America leaned towards war after Japan started the war at Pearl Harbor.

Who won the Second World War and gained hegemony? The answer is clear.