Civilian Suicides

There were many cases in World War II in which civilians living on islands occupied by the Imperial Army chose suicide when the American troops were about to overrun the Japanese. In some cases they were forced to do this, but in many cases they choose to do so, apparently largely as a result of Japanese propaganda about how horrible people were treated by the American troops. The US troops tried to stop the suicides, some of them mass suicides, but were unable to get to the people in time.

This is one photo relating to this problem.

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