OKINAWA PSYOP

Although this leaflet was printed by the U.S. for use in the Philippines, it depicts Japan under siege and an Allied line of advance leading directly to Okinawa. It does not mention Okinawa but two lines of attack are shown moving toward the island the three lines are seen leaving it on their way to the invasion of Japan. The title on the front is:

IS JAPAN NEXT?

The text on the back is:

The American offensive rolls on relentlessly. As a result of the inferior strategy of the militarists, the Japanese forces were defeated everywhere. Meanwhile, however, the militarists continue to announce “Great Victory.”

Today the American troops in the Pacific are being augmented by great forces from Europe. The Japanese homeland is being relentlessly bombed. The war is progressing quickly toward Japan herself.

Unconditional surrender means the end of the war and the destruction of the militarists. It does not mean the enslavement or the extermination of the people.

The first large-scale use of PSYOP in the Pacific was the Okinawa campaign. The Office of War Information (OWI) working with the Navy on Saipan printed more than six million leaflets to be dropped on Japanese troops and Okinawan civilians. The Army PWB in the Southwest Pacific also prepared some leaflets that used Okinawa as a theme. Curiously, other nations used the lesson of Okinawa in their propaganda. The Australians printed a leaflet for use against the Japanese coded J.302. The leaflet is large and there are five photos on the front, including: Allied wounded evacuated by air; American Marines advance; wrecked Japanese planes on the ground; and Allied guns fire day and night. Some of the text is:

Okinawa fell to the Allies on 22 June. On Okinawa, for the first time in the Pacific War, large bodies of Japanese troops recognized the futility of continuing resistance against overwhelming odds. During the last few days of the campaign more than 9,000 officers and men surrendered, and those men are being treated with respect by the Americans…

Leaflet CM-118

Curiously, a very similar map was made by the Office of War Information and dropped by the U.S. Air Force over parts of occupied China. This 2 April 1945 depicts a map showing the distance between Okinawa and Kyushu, Formosa and the Coast of China.

The text on the back is:

OKINAWA INVADED!

At dawn on 1 April 1945, a hundred thousand U.S. troops swarmed ashore on Okinawa. They landed in 2 columns, one column pushing ashore 4 kilometers southeast of Minatogawa, while the other landed near Kitadani. For ten days before the landing Admiral Mitscher’s task force pounded Okinawa, while light bombers and fighters of the fleet smashed at airfields and gun-emplacements.

This was the largest landing operation ever seen in the Pacific, involving hundreds of large and small landing craft, spearheaded by 1500 planes. Several of the U.S. Navy’s newest and largest warships took part.

It was a repetition, on a larger scale, of the landings on Guadalcanal, Saipan, Leyte, Luzon and Iwo Jima. At no point in the Pacific where American troops have attempted a landing in force have they ever been repelled.

Okinawa is an ideal base for U.S. operations. The 50-mile-long island is a natural steppingstone to the China Coast, only 300 miles away. It is also next door, in an air sense, to Japan’s main war-industries on Kyushu, thickly dotted with iron and steel foundries, synthetic oil works, and shipyards.

The landing on Okinawa is important in two respects. It proves the amazing weakness of the Japanese navy, unwilling to risk defending even its home waters. It also means that the United States now has a striking base in the very heart of Japan’s "basic area."

Loudspeaker Team

Loudspeaker teams were used in depth. The result was the surrender of 11,409 prisoners of war. The gradual improvement in loudspeaker propaganda is interesting to note. An research study on WWII psychological warfare mentions a case study from the Battle of Okinawa. It contrasted how aggressive surrender demands with threats of flamethrowers merely increased resistance, while a revised loudspeaker broadcast that was more in line with Japanese cultural beliefs worked. According to the report, an American Infantry officer with a loudspeaker team and a Japanese linguist under orders to translate exactly broadcast this message:

Japanese soldiers; come out of hiding and surrender or I'm going to burn you out with my flamethrowers!

In a second case, a more cultural message was broadcast:

Attention! I am the lawful American commander in the area. Attention! I have been ordered, by superiors to end resistance in this area. Attention! I order all Japanese personnel to assemble, in soldierly fashion. Attention! I must end your resistance soon. I have flamethrowers. I would regret the unfortunate consequences of the use of flamethrowers.

Paul M. A. Linebarger says in Psychological Warfare, Second Edition, 1954:

On Okinawa tank-mounted loudspeakers were ingeniously hooked up. The American tank officers and crews obviously could not speak good colloquial Japanese. The Japanese troops were dug in like rodents, and in a condition of desperation that made them fight cruelly and suicidally. Even if the Americans shelled the openings of their cave mouths or ran armored bulldozers over the holes, burying Japanese alive, there was the chance that the Japanese would run through long underground passages and pop up later, possibly at night, to cause more damage before they were killed. With Americans and Japanese unable to talk to one another, this condition might have led to a severe loss of American life in mopping up hundreds upon hundreds of such minute Japanese strongholds. The American tanks had loudspeakers mounted on many of them; they had radio telephone communication, that could be used between the different tanks on a tank team, or—it was an alternative, and could not be used simultaneously—could be employed for the commanding tank to communicate back to headquarters.

At headquarters, American Japanese, whose American accents had been trained out of their voices in special public-speaking classes, sat ready and waiting.

The tank team would come into the valley, and the American commander would look the situation over. He would cut his radio telephone into communication with headquarters, and would then say:

"Hillside ahead of me. No characterizing features. Five or six holes, but I can't tell which ones have Japanese in them. I can get up the hill. There are two trees at the crest of the hill, and a bunch of these native graves over on the left."

The American Japanese at headquarters would say:

"Regular announcement, sir? Do you want them to be assembled by the graves or at the trees?"

"Tell them to stand in front of the graves. That way they'll be coming downhill. Want to be cut in?"

"Yes, sir," says the headquarters man.

The tank commander would then cut his radiophone into a relay, and the tanks which had loudspeakers would automatically connect the loudspeaker units directly with the radio telephone. A voice, loud as the voice of a god, would fill the entire valley, coming from everywhere at once and speaking good clear Japanese:

"Attention, Japanese troops, attention! This is the American tank commander calling. I am going to destroy all resistance in this valley. Attention! I have flame-throwers. These will be used on all dugouts and caves. Attention! Flame-throwers will be employed. Gunfire will close the cave mouths. No Japanese personnel can expect to escape. Japanese personnel commanded to cease resistance. Japanese personnel commanded to cease resistance. Japanese personnel must assemble in front of native burial place, to American left flank, Japanese right flank."

Surrender instructions to the enemy were broadcast by Japanese troops who had surrendered and were willing to help bring in more of their comrades and save their lives. Here a prisoner-of-war voluntarily broadcasts from an LCI standing off the rocky cliff near Hill 89.

According to the case study, most of the Japanese soldiers fought to the death in the first case, while most surrendered after the second approach. In the first message there is a threat. In the second message there is respect, a mention of military law and a formal system of assembly. The Japanese are asked to assemble, not surrender. For those Japanese that knew the war was lost and wanted a way to save face, this second approach seemed to offer an honorable way to survive.

Up until the Okinawa campaign it was believed that Japanese troops could not be convinced to surrender. Fifth Fleet carrier planes dropped some five million leaflets on the island. The psychological warfare teams' immediate objective was to depress Japanese morale so that the enemy soldiers would surrender rather than resist. The long-range goal was more ambitious: to promote the idea that Okinawans were ethnically and culturally different from the home island Japanese. The leaflets told the Japanese soldier why and how should surrender and the Okinawan citizens not to be afraid, for they were not regarded as the enemy.

For the first time, a Combat Propaganda Team of officers, linguists and artists went ashore with the invasion forces to conduct a campaign in coordination with the assault. The team was led by Lieutenant W. B. Stephenson, USNR.

The United States had lost a tremendous number of killed and wounded during the Iwo Jima campaign. It was the carnage from Iwo Jima that indicated the need to find a way to convince the Japanese defenders to surrender. Prior to Iwo Jima it was believed that the Japanese would never surrender and must be killed to the last man. Psychological Operations was believed to be the answer to this problem. It would convince the Japanese to surrender and save American lives. Okinawa would be the proving ground.

General Simon Bolivar Buckner

Months prior to the attack, General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Commander of the U.S. Tenth Army, requested that two series of leaflets be prepared for the “Operation Iceberg” Okinawa campaign. One should discourage civilians from obstructing the advance of U.S. troops; the second should weaken the resistance of the Japanese military.

General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., at right, surveys fighting just a few hours before Japanese artillery killed him.

The propaganda section contacted the commanders of all important organizations prior to the invasion to explain what they needed and what they could accomplish. They devoted over three months to this selling and planning phase. Combat commanders want to hear about bombs and shells, not paper. They are hard to convince that using men and supplies to drop propaganda serves any purpose. Leaflet drop demonstrations were held near Tenth Army Headquarters in Hawaii and they were publicized widely to get as many commanders and men enthused about the project.

Navy PV-1 "Polly"

Knowing that American soldiers loved souvenirs, the propaganda section distributed sample leaflets to all the attendees to keep. They asked and received the operation order for the invasion and found that they would start dropping leaflets seven days before the invasion, and then switch to “phase two” on D-Day+10. They were issued 1,300 105mm propaganda shells and told that they would have one Navy PV-1 “Polly” plane equipped with loudspeakers. They were issued 100 empty propaganda bombs and 800,000 “safe conduct” leaflets to be used in the final phase of the propaganda campaign. By the start of the invasion this number was raised to 555 propaganda bombs loaded aboard 13 escort aircraft carriers (CVEs). Seventy-five percent of the leaflet drops were planned for the towns of Shuri, Naha, Yonabaru, and points south. In central Okinawa the principal targets were Yontan, Kadena, and Machinato airfields.

Japanese Commander General Mitsuru Ushijima

We should mention that Buckner was not afraid of new concepts and imaginative ideas. No Japanese commander had ever surrendered his forces in the field but Buckner had his propaganda team prepare and drop a leaflet on 10 June 1945 that requested the Japanese commander surrender. The plan was not successful but it showed that Buckner was open to suggestions on the value of propaganda.

The United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific adds in a chapter entitled “Okinawa: the Last Battle:

The decline of enemy morale may have resulted in part from a campaign of psychological warfare which General Buckner started before the April landing and intensified as the assault against the Yaeju-Dake began. From 25 March until the end of organized fighting, planes dropped about 8,000,000 propaganda leaflets on the island. Until mid-June these leaflets were aimed at winning the confidence of the civilians and soldiers and at spreading defeatism. Through a letter addressed to General Ushijima and dropped behind enemy lines on the morning of 10 June, General Buckner hoped to initiate mass surrender by the Japanese:

“The forces under your command have fought bravely and well, and your infantry tactics have merited the respect of your opponents . . . . Like myself, you are an infantry general long schooled and practiced in infantry warfare . . . . I believe, therefore, that you understand as clearly as I, that the destruction of all Japanese resistance on the island is merely a matter of days . . . .”

General Buckner then invited Ushijima to enter negotiations for surrender. No one seriously expected Ushijima to respond to this bid for surrender. Two days later planes scattered another 30,000 leaflets over enemy ground, this time emphasizing Ushijima's refusal to negotiate for surrender and his selfish determination to commit his entire army to destruction, and calling upon his subordinate officers and men to quit of their own accord. Another appeal was made on 14 June.

The American plan called for an extensive effort to weaken the enemy’s will to resist. Intelligence agencies prepared 5,700,000 leaflets to be dropped over Okinawa from carrier planes. More millions of leaflets were to be printed at the target and be scattered over specific areas by bombs and shells. Tanks with amplifiers, an airplane with an ultra-loud speaker, and remotely controlled radios dropped behind enemy lines would also tell the enemy why and how he should surrender.

Interpreters or prisoners broadcast pleas of "cease resistance" over other portable loudspeakers set up in the southern tip of the island. The Japanese surrendered by twos or threes, apprehensive and hesitant and with curious expressions of hope and fear. Many prisoners offered to return to induce their comrades to surrender. Usually they were given cigarettes to take back to the caves as proof of American promises. Two such "bait-boys," known as "Murrymoto" and "Goto," brought back several hundred prisoners and were so faithful that their captors allowed them to carry weapons and live in the company perimeter during the night. In this manner 7,401 Japanese soldiers, including more than 200 commissioned officers and 3,339 unarmed laborers, surrendered to Tenth Army troops.

Mass surrenders of Japanese soldiers did not begin until the Tenth Army crowded them almost to the water’s edge. There was a noticeable increase, however, after the intensification of the psychological warfare program. During the first 70 days of battle, prisoners captured by the tenth Army averaged less than 4 a day. This average increased to more than 50 a day between 12 and 18 June; and on 19 June, as the 6th Marines and 7th Infantry Divisions rolled forward near the east and west coasts, 343 soldiers voluntarily surrendered. On the afternoon of 20 June, 977 prisoners were taken, an unprecedented accomplishment in the Pacific War.

Once the invasion was underway, 95% of all the leaflets were printed aboard the ships of the invasion fleet; the other 5% were printed onshore by the topographic reproduction units of the 24th Corps and third Amphibious Corps. They were hand-written by a Nisei (Japanese-Americans), then produced in lots of about 50,000, bundled and sent to be dropped by tactical aircraft flying from the newly captured Kadena AFB. The first hand-written tactical leaflet to Okinawan civilians said in part:

Those of you who wish to enter the American occupied area may do so during day in safety. Do not enter the American occupied area or loiter near it at night because we fear that you will be mistaken for a Japanese soldier.

A week later a second tactical leaflet was written that said in part:

If you move along with the Japanese forces, or if you aid the Japanese forces, you will receive the same treatment as the Japanese forces.

A 10th Army surrender leaflet was issued to the Okinawan public. It read:

...Place complete trust in the American Army. You will be given food, water and medical care and will be treated with kindness....

Five days before the landings on Okinawa, Naval aircraft received mission orders to drop propaganda leaflets on several locations on Okinawa. These leaflets were an appeal for the civilians of Okinawa to surrender themselves to the American troops to save themselves from being wounded or killed in the coming invasion.

Eight pre-invasion leaflets were prepared in all. The reader should understand this is just a small percentage of the total leaflets that would be printed and dropped as the battle went on. The final one said in part:

Come out of your caves and other hiding places at once. All of you. Come in groups, bringing with you only those possessions which you can readily carry.

The Americans were worried about not being able to tell the Japanese military from Okinawan civilians. In an attempt to solve this problem one leaflet was prepared that warned the civilians against wearing Japanese military clothing for warmth because the Americans could mistakenly shoot them.

Nine themes were designed for the Okinawa campaign:

1. Cite lies of Japanese leaders.
2. Create dissension and friction.
3. Play up American industrial might.
4. Create a feeling of panic and terror.
5. Appeal to physical needs.
6. Show the futility of self-destruction.
7. Appeal indirectly for surrender.
8. Appeal to authority and respect for law.
9. Appeal to non-Japanese combatants.

Certain subjects were “taboo.” Just before embarkation a final meeting with the Combat Team was called to discuss policy. They would be no “horror” leaflets (scenes of horribly mangled or disfigured dead or wounded Japanese soldiers) and no leaflets would make grandiose promises that could not be fulfilled. They would not speak ill of the Emperor or attack Japanese legends like Admiral Togo or General Nogi. They would not attack the Japanese Constitution, customs, habits, religions, or the status of women.

 

American Officers and Men

The Japanese did retaliate with propaganda leaflets, but without air superiority, their attempts were feeble. After the death of President Roosevelt on 12 April 1945, The Japanese prepared leaflets for the U.S. forces which claimed that Roosevelt had died due to the strain of the high losses on Okinawa. The leaflets said that the losses would be higher still. This copy of the leaflet was found on Okinawa by the 7th Infantry Division on 23 April 1945. The text is:

We must express our deep upset over the death of President Roosevelt. The “American Tragedy” is now raised here at Okinawa with his death. You must have seen 70% of your CV’s [Aircraft Carriers] and 73% of your B’s [Battleships] sink or be damaged causing 150,000 casualties. Not only the late president but anyone would die in the excess of worry to hear such an annihilative damage.

The dreadful loss that led your great leader to death will make you orphans on this island. The Japanese special attack corps will sink your vessels to the last destroyer.

You will witness it realized in the near future.

The battle of Okinawa began on 1 April to 22 June 1945. President Roosevelt died on 12 April. The total losses of U.S. troops were over 49,000 casualties including 12,520 killed. I don’t see any US carriers or battleships lost. 36 ships were sunk and 368 damaged, but no capital ships were lost. The leaflet was probably written between 13 April and 22 June 1945.

The Leaflets

There is an interesting mention of the use of leaflets by American forces in Edmund G. Love’s the History of the 7th Division during WWII, Infantry Journal Press, 1950. It says in part:

As the American lines closed upon the last Japanese line of resistance on Okinawa, the enemy's morale was in a curious condition of derangement – a prelude to eventual collapse. As soon as the Japanese were forced into a final retreat following the fall of Shuri, the psychological personnel with the 7th Division commenced a program of softening up enemy morale by leaflet propaganda. Prior to this time, efforts were made to secure prisoners by physical capture and the recovery of wounded in the belief that propaganda would have no effect on the Japanese as long as their front-line troops were in fighting trim. The Tenth Army had, however dropped some leaflets behind the Japanese lines and had also distributed a weekly news sheet called Ryukyus Shuho which because it occasionally mentioned current Japanese successes in China and because it gave an accurate portrayal of the Okinawa campaign, was considered reliable. It also became the only source of world information available to Japanese soldiers and Okinawan civilians alike.

The classified military report booklet 1945 Progress of the War in the Middle Pacific adds:

Evidence of the effectiveness of our psychological warfare program is offered in the rise in 1945 of the percentage of Jap prisoners taken. In earlier campaigns only about one percent of Jap troops surrendered, while on LUZON during the first half of June 1945 the proportion rose to nine percent, and on OKINAWA it hit eleven percent. Also significant is the comparison of civilian surrenders and suicides on the KERAMA RETTO (small islands a few miles west of OKINAWA) and OKINAWA itself. The KERAMAS, attacked without warning a few days before the main landings on OKINAWA and without having been subjected to a preliminary propaganda preparation, saw large scale civilian suicides. On OKINAWA, which was subject to pre-invasion leaflet bombings, civilians by the thousands took to the hills where they were told they would not be harmed. Very few killed themselves.

Is this your war? Or is it really the war of the Japanese leaders who have dominated you? Such was typical of the questions asked the Japanese soldiers and civilians on the island of OKINAWA during an 18-day barrage of “paper bullets” which began 7 days before D-day. Six million propaganda leaflets designed to create a distrust of Nippon’s military leaders in the minds of both civilians and soldiers were dropped. By means of this unending shower of leaflets, civilians were further warned to: Stay away from coastal areas - stay away from American paratroopers - withdraw and seek safety - watch for later leaflets, which explain how to avoid harm. These "later leaflets," designed in a brilliant red, white and blue coloring and unmistakable from a distance, stated in bold lettering, "THE BEARER HAS CEASED RESISTANCE. TREAT HIM IN ACCORDANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW. TAKE HIM TO THE NEAREST COMMANDING OFFICER."

At the end of the fourth day of the OKINAWA operation, official communiques listed 9.000 civilians as having surrendered to our forces, and a week later this number had increased to 30,000. Perhaps this was mere coincidence, but the obvious assumption is otherwise. A few days after the Initial landings on OKINAWA it was reported that many civilians were following precisely the directions given them on the leaflets.

OWI Leaflet 535

This is an unattractive leaflet, rather long and all text. The concept is good though. It is designed to correct the Okinawan’s belief, circulated by the Japanese that the Americans are brutal people that torture and kill. This leaflet is a letter from an Okinawan, living in Hawaii, to his people. In it, he expresses his joy that his people will soon come to know the Americans and will be released from Japanese oppression. The letter is a very sincere and sensitive writing and should have marked effect in allaying the fears of the Okinawans.

The front carries a message from the writer, probably to the American military in which he hopes it will be possible for the Okinawa people to read his letter. He has signed it but the Americans covered up his name. The letter is on the reverse side. The text on the front is:

I am exceedingly happy to hear the news that the American forces landed on Okinawa a few days ago. I think that the time has come for the liberation of our Okinawa. I think that it is our duty to help the people of Okinawa to understand America immediately. I have written this humble letter. If you can make it possible for the Okinawa people to read this, I shall be very happy. It was thoughtful of you to answer my poor letter the other day. I am impressed with the worthiness of American democracy.

1945 Kona Hawaii

The letter text on the back is:

BE GLAD, MY BELOVED PEOPIE OF OKINAWA!

When you see the above words, you people of Okinawa may be surprised. I have observed carefully the steps Japan has been taking since the Manchurian Incident or rather since the time when I was a child and have been concerned about her future. Especially, since the Japan-China Incident, I have been wondering sadly "Whither are you going, my people?" This fear never left my heart. I will write in detail at some time when the opportunity arises the reasons for my feeling.

Why do I say to you "Be glad?" Till today, you have not had the opportunity to get to know America. We who live in America have ample opportunities of knowing America well and we are exceedingly happy of the fate about to fall on Okinawa. We heard about the conditions on Saipan and we think that the people there must have been just as relieved as if they were awakened from a nightmare of falling into a deep cave.

The time has now come for you the people of Okinawa to learn about the American Government. You will come to know America without the help of my words. You may already be conscious of its blessings. The fact is that the people of Okinawa who have been oppressed for a long time have now the opportunity of growing and expanding in the "warm bosom of mother." I believe that the present sufferings are the birth pains of being born into a world of happiness. However, no matter what kind of happiness it is, if we don’t understand it and take the wrong attitude toward it, it may turn into misfortune, I am one of those who would like to inform you, the people of my native land of Okinawa, about America in detail and study with you as to how we should act from now on. There are many things I would like to say but shall leave them for a later date. This is a poor letter; but I shall appreciate it if you would read it.

OWI Leaflet 1055

Okinawan natives had been told by the Japanese that the Americans were barbarians who would kill them. This leaflet shows that the natives were lied to. An American soldier walks with three small Okinawan children. The text is:

Little loved ones cared for by Americans await their father’s return.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

The Office of War Information, working in conjunction with the U.S. Navy dropped over 200 different leaflets on Japanese troops. In general, these leaflets and the text was designed and written in San Francisco. They were then radio-telegraphed to Honolulu, Hawaii where the leaflets were fine-tuned, and finally sent to the advanced naval base on Saipan from where they were printed and placed in American aircraft to be dropped over the enemy. The Saipan leaflets were all coded with a simple number that could be anything from 1 to 5000. Some leaflets were prepared at Admiral Nimitz’s headquarters on Guam and these leaflet had no code number.

Nimitz had authorized a small psychological warfare (PW) section in his headquarters in early June, 1944. Allison B. Gilmore mentions the section in: You can’t fight Tanks with Bayonets, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 1998:

OWI did not establish a presence in Nimitz’s command until March 1944, when it opened an overseas branch in Honolulu and began full scale propaganda activities. From Hawaii OWI worked under the jurisdiction of the Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA), operating jointly with Nimitz’s Psychological Warfare Section, created by June 1944.

Just days before the end of the war Nimitz decided to upgrade his own section into a branch. The military PW section worked hand-in-hand with the civilian Office of War Information (OWI) unit headquartered in Honolulu and later with a forward base on Saipan. The Navy PW section started with just five officers and two enlisted men. When it was decided to concentrate on PSYOP during the invasion of Okinawa, six more officers were added to the section. The PW section continued to expand and had combat propaganda teams at Okinawa, Peleliu and Majuro. It moved with Admiral Nimitz to his headquarters in Guam, What is most interesting is that although it was a Navy section, it consisted of members from the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.

There is no way to say how many different leaflets were dropped on Okinawa, perhaps a majority of all of the OWI leaflets to Japan during the battle, but in this article we will depict some of the leaflets that actually mention Okinawa and show some that have the nine themes for PSYOP against Okinawa mentioned above. We have found one reference to Okinawa propaganda in a previously classified OWI-Naval report called The Leaflet Newsletter - Area III - Far East, dated 20 April 1945 citing a report from the OWI in Honolulu. It says:

Over Okinawa we dropped leaflets 523 to 534 inclusive, 811 and 8028…The majority of these leaflets were dual purpose, including a message to Japanese troops and another to civilians.

Looking through my files I see that the leaflets mentioned are entitled:

523, 525, 527, 528, 529, 531 – To military men.
524 – American troops and supplies.
526 – Instructions to Island Inhabitants.
530 – To soldiers.
532 – Recently Rear Admiral Walter Hennecke. (Germans surrender)
533 – Important!
811 – The bearer has ceased resistance. (Safe Conduct Pass)
8028 – Japanese on Saipan received good care from American troops. (For civilians)

OWI Leaflet 2028

We add leaflet 2028 to show one from the above OWI list of leaflets dropped on Okinawa. It depicts photographs of Japanese women preparing cakes, a group of Japanese sitting waiting for medical treatment, a group of Japanese under American care, and Japanese obtaining water. The text is:

Japanese on Saipan receive good care from American troops

When American troops landed on Saipan, there were about 25,000 Japanese civilians on the island. A few of them committed suicide because they had been told that they would be mistreated. The others came into the American camp and are being well cared for as these pictures show. Men, women and children are receiving food. They receive medical care if they are sick. Those who wish to do so are working and are paid for it.

Sometimes the Japanese forced the civilians to act against the Americans, or possibly, some acted on their own volition out of some strange loyalty to an Emperor who always treated them as second-class citizens. One example is found in the diary of an American Army engineer. He says that on 26 July 1945, two women emerged from a Japanese cave stark naked and beckoned to one of the patrols. The soldiers were seasoned fighters who had seen numerous ambushes and traps and immediately opened fire killing both women. As they fell to the ground both had hand grenades hidden beneath their armpits.

The US Navy Japanese/Oriental Language School Archival Project, THE INTERPRETER adds:

To be honest, the darker side of American actions must be set forth. One of our tasks shortly after our arrival was to prepare Japanese-language leaflets urging the Japanese troops to surrender. These leaflets were being dropped over battle areas by plane. One day I came across a young American soldier who had been fighting near the caves where we had recently dropped leaflets. Eagerly, I asked him, “Did those leaflets have any effect?” His response was, “Oh yeah, several soldiers came out waving those leaflets. But you don’t think we took them prisoner, do you?”

Many of the low number Saipan leaflets mentioned Okinawa in an attempt to destroy Japanese moral. Leaflets bearing the numbers 100 to 399 were prepared for the period of bombardment of an entire tactical area, preliminary to any further action to be taken in that area. It was believed that the Japanese had no knowledge of the war situation so many leaflets mentioned that Okinawa had fallen as a way of showing the enemy that they were losing the war. I will mention three examples; there are about a half-dozen in all.

Leaflet 116 depicts sinking Japanese ships and was designed to lower moral and develop a realization of the helplessness of Japan’s position. One line is:

The Americans occupy Saipan, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa has already fallen into American hands.

Leaflet 121 depicts an American officer eating with Japanese prisoners and was designed to refute Japanese propaganda concerning American brutality. One line is:

The Japanese soldiers and civilians who came to an understanding with the Americans on Attu, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa are receiving very kind treatment…

Leaflet 123 depicts an American soldier carrying an injured Okinawan woman and is designed to destroy the Japanese belief in inevitable victory. Some of the text is:

This is the way in which the Americans are kind. Women and children are aided by American forces on Okinawa.

Barak Kushner refutes the relative value of some of the OWI leaflets to Okinawa in The Thought War – Japanese Imperial Propaganda, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2006:

As the battle for Okinawa surged in April 1945, the OWI and the American armed forces began to assess their most comprehensive campaign launched to date. Out of a garrison of approximately 120,000 Japanese troops, 11,000 POWs were taken, but only 7,400 were Japanese soldiers. The others were Korean or Taiwanese laborers. While it was a partial success compared with efforts elsewhere, the approximately 50,000 German POWs a month who flooded into U.S. camps from August 1944 until the spring of 1945 dwarfed Japanese surrender statistics.

But then he adds:

One reason behind the small numbers of Japanese soldiers captured by U.S. forces may have been the fact that U.S. soldiers slaughtered wounded or surrendering Japanese soldiers.

The Leaflet Themes

Overcoming the last resistance on Okinawa was aided by propaganda leaflets, one of which is being read by a prisoner awaiting transportation to the rear. Many civilians gave up at the same time. At numerous points, however, severe fighting continued.

OWI Leaflet 2079

This leaflet shows Naha City, the capital city of Okinawa, before and after an American bombing. I show the leaflet horizontal because I think it is easier to see the damage. This leaflet warned the Japanese of the total destruction of their industry and advised them to save the country and stop their resistance.The text on the front is:

Naha City of Okinawa Prefecture before the bombing.

After bombing

The back of the leaflet depicts a B-17 bomber attacking railroad yards and surrounding buildings. The text is:

BEFORE FALLING SEEK THE ASSISTANCE OF YOUR CANE!

The bombing so far has destroyed only a small part of the Japanese industry. However, as time goes on the degree of destruction will be multiplied and Japan will become a ruin. It is not loyal to your country to sit and watch its destruction without doing anything. That is an attitude taken by cowardly persons.

Save your country! Stop resistance! Seek the assistance of your cane before falling!

I have also seen this leaflet printed on a bright yellow paper that would stand out well on the ground after a bombing.

The same photograph of Naha City before and after the bombing appears on leaflet 131. This leaflet is aimed at islands held by the Japanese and seeks to destroy their morale. On that second leaflet, the back is all text. The text on the front of leaflet 131 is:

The City of Naha – Before and after Bombing.

The back has a very long message so I will only translate a small part:

Brainless Leaders

Saipan is 3,300 miles from Pearl Harbor whereas your island is less than 1,000 miles from American bases. Therefore, it is obvious that we are able to take your island whenever we think the trouble is worthwhile. We considered Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa more important to us than this island and we took those Islands first. The Japanese leaders know that we are able to capture this island but they are going to repeat the same mistake as in the South Seas where the abandoned hundreds of thousands of your soldiers. They will sacrifice you the same way….

This is just a brief look at the concepts behind the propaganda leaflets dropped on the Island of Okinawa. We will now depict nine leaflets that match the themes mention above as part of the PSYOP plan.

OWI Leaflet 2023

Cite the lies of Japanese leaders. There are numerous leaflets on this theme. The Japanese lied all the time claiming victory after victory. For instance, leaflet 702 is one of dozens that tell the Japanese that the Americans are kind and charitable, and the Japanese stories about their cruelty were just false propaganda. Leaflet 2001 tells the readers that Japanese radio announcers lie and are forced to broadcast the information that the Military demands. We depict leaflet 2023 that shows American naval aircraft about to attack the Japanese troops and reminds them:

Those planes are from American carriers your leaders told you were sunk off Taiwan. Now our bombs tell you that not one carrier was sunk off Taiwan.

OWI Leaflet 2063

Create dissension and friction. American propaganda tried to create dissension by telling the Japanese troops that their officers received special privileges; and the Japanese civilians that the Gumbatsu (what President Eisenhower called the Military-Industrial Complex) had started an illegal war and was making money while Japanese soldiers were killed on the battlefield. This leaflet depicts St. Luke’s Hospital in Tokyo that was a gift from America to Japan. It reminds the people who the real war criminals are:

We did not start this war. As you know, this war was started by the attack on Pearl Harbor without warning and without the approval of the Emperor…Instead of fearing us, you should fear the military clique who have betrayed the Emperor….

OWI Leaflet 1005

Play up American industrial might. There are well over a dozen leaflets on this theme showing Japan surrounded by the US Navy, covered with Air Force bombers and telling the Japanese soldiers that the USA can out-produce Japan and can make ships and planes faster than the Japanese can destroy them. It was hard to pick one leaflet for this theme. 808 threatens them with: Don’t you know that resistance against our overwhelming strength is futile? Do you enjoy being pounded and shelled to bits? I picked 1005 to place here. I don’t care for the image, just a vast fleet of American ships and planes over Japan, but I do like the text:

Since 8 December 1941, the United States has built more than 33,000,000 tons of shipping…

Since 8 December 1941, the United States has built more than 171,000 planes. Modern wars are won not be spirit but by overwhelming industrial production.

Leaflet 130

The front shows two photographs of American fighting ships and the text:

Look at this great American materialistic fighting power. A group of landing craft along a beach where a landing has just been made. Rockets fired from the fleet, streaking through the air.

The back is all text:

The battle front is now moving to Japan proper. American bases in the South seas have been secured. Premier Koiso who promised the recapture of Saipan, Guam and even Guadalcanal  resigned his post. It is obvious that for Japan, which has lost her naval and air power, the recapture of bases in the South Seas are an impossibility. Japanese bases in the South Seas were not even completely established at the time of our invasions. Saipan did not even possess a single fortress gun. Japan’s inferior production power has not only been a fatal blow but has sealed her fate.

American forces used 1,400 ships in the invasion of Okinawa. You probably have no idea how powerful 1,400 ships are. We also doubt you know the world situation, America or its culture. We also doubt that you know that the turning part of the war has passed. Request an armistice at once.

OWI Leaflet 2046

Create a feeling of panic and terror. There were dozens of leaflets that fit this criteria, bombs exploding, fires, dead soldiers, destroyed families and Japanese wives forced into prostitution by starvation, etc. I have tried to find the leaflet that best expresses this terror.

Leaflet 2046 is from a series of leaflets that showed the horror of American bombing. The text is meant to describe the bomber, its range, bomb-load and fire-power together with indication of the havoc its bombs can create. It explains that nothing can save the Japanese people from American bombs:

These American bombers above your heads are very advanced and powerful. Even engineers could not have dreamed of these powerful planes just five years ago. These bombers are twenty times bigger than yours, and its armor is so thick and bullets would not penetrate, unless the bullets hit its crucial areas, which is less than one third of total surface of its body. Not only are these bombers able to fly at a much higher altitude than your latest fighter planes, but they also can carry a full load of bombs as far as two thousand miles away.

OWI Leaflet 1006

Appeal to physical needs. The Japanese of course had many physical needs. They were starving, wet, dirty, lacked medical care, and could see death coming straight at them. The Americans would usually promise safety in a POW camp, clean clothing, food, medical care and surprisingly, cigarettes. Picking a leaflet that best met these criteria was difficult. I suspect that starvation was a major physical need so I selected this leaflet that depicts a wonderful plate of Japanese delicacies. Just what was needed to tempt a soldier living on roots, grass and insects:

Your island has been isolated and cut off from all aid and supplies. You have almost no food and are slowly starving to death. You are as human as we are and the thought of your hunger is far from pleasant. if you are hungry and wish to have good food, indicate that fact by displaying a large visible cross along the southeast intersection of the airfield runway. We will then be able to help you.

Combat Propaganda adds:

Together with the life-saving leaflets were scattered leaflets which pictured on one side a plate of brightly colored and delicious looking food. The purpose was to implement and intensify the surrender campaign. It was hoped that the picture of the food would play upon the senses of the Japanese soldiers and further tempt them to surrender.

In a confidential study on the effects of American propaganda in the Philippines, a Japanese Domei correspondent admitted that “It could be said that one of the biggest problems facing us is to minimize the effects of food propaganda on Japanese soldiers.” Branding this type of appeal as contrary to the soul and spirit of the Japanese, the author added that the mere mention of good food and the picture in the leaflet undoubtedly caused some impression on the average Japanese soldier who has been suffering from short rations. Then, as if to minimize the statement, he concluded, “But, of course, no Japanese will submit himself to the thought of surrender, for to the true soldier of the Emperor privation and death are more honorable than surrender.”

By the way, this leaflet proves that you need to know your enemy. I believe the plate is very tempting to the average Japanese soldier. The Japanese dropped a similar leaflet on US soldiers also showing a salad. How wrong they were. They should have depicted a hamburger on a steak. I am sure that leaflet was a failure.

We will give you water and food

I thought the reader might be interested in this OWI attempt to teach American soldiers some Japanese language so that they might get the Japanese to surrender without the aid of a PSYOP soldier and translator.

OWI Leaflet 701

Show the futility of self-destruction. The U.S. Army looked at this a little differently than the Navy. Their leaflets on the Philippines discussed hari-kari and why the Japanese soldier should resist. The Navy leaflets seem to be more on the subject of why fight on until the death for the militarists and industrialists who wanted this unjust war. Two Japanese captives are depicted playing Chinese checkers. Their faces are partially blocked for their protection.This leaflet is one of the very few Navy products that mentions seppuku (ritual suicide) so it seems a good choice for this theme:

If you commit seppuku – you will be the last of your family. You won’t be able to carry on your line. No good to you, to your family, or to Japan will come from such an act. When the war is over, you won’t be alive to enjoy peace and happiness.

OWI Leaflet 811

Appeal indirectly for surrender. There was no shortage of surrender leaflets. In fact, almost every leaflet had a surrender message somewhere in the text, often the last line at the bottom. Looking through the OWI leaflets I found four that were almost completely about surrender. I picked leaflet 811 because it is entirely about surrender, and in fact looks like it was copied from early Australian leaflets to the Japanese which were quite similar. The same message appears on the front in back in English and Japanese.

Leaflet 811 was designed by the OWI and printed on Saipan. It was dropped in depth on Okinawa. This leaflet was dropped in bulk during the last 10 days of organized resistance. About 600,000 copies of this red, white, and blue sheet, size 5 x 8-inches, were showered on the enemy. The necessity of having all American front-line troops schooled in the recognition of the surrender leaflet saw 10,000 copies, 15 per company, issued to the men a day or two before large-scale use of it was begun.

Although its distribution was withheld until a concentrated effort was made to effect mass surrenders on the whole front, CINPAC-CINCPOA Leaflet No. 811, the "life-saving pass," appeared in bulk during the last ten days of organized resistance. About 600,000 copies of this red-white-and-blue sheet, size 5-inches by 8-inches, were showered on the enemy. The necessity of having American front-line troops schooled in the recognition of the surrender leaflet saw 10,000 copies, 15 per company, issued to the men a day or two before large-scale use of it was begun.

Surrendered Japs, with their possessions over their heads, wade toward the American boats to be taken prisoners. 12 Japanese soldiers, tired of the fight but still healthy, climbed out of their caves and bomb shelters on one of the islands off Okinawa on 6 May. They carried money, razors, diaries, brushes, tooth powder, photographs and cigarette holders.