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Okinawa Battle

Facing defeat, the Japanese Imperial Army abandoned Okinawa to gain time for the battle on Japan's mainland. Ushijima Mitsuru, the commander in chief of the Okinawa Battle, said to Colonel Yahara Hiromichi of the Staff, "With all the strength of the army and the islanders, we must fight as long as the last enemy remains." This was certainly the emperor's determination giving priority to maintaining the national polity. Based on the National Mobilization Law, the wartime legislation drew all the residents into the battlefield and took the lives of more than 150,000 Okinawans.