The continuing conflict: When battlegrounds become bases

“ This period of fighting was marked by Japanese suicide attacks against Allied naval ships and the Navy sustained heavy losses, losses greater than in any other campaign during the war. On 21 June the island was declared secure and the next few days were spent mopping up enemy pockets. The fall of Okinawa and Iwo gave the Allies the air bases from which the almost daily aerial attacks on the principal industrial cities of Japan were to be launched, as well as emergency landing fields for crippled B-29’s returning to their more distant island bases from attacks on Japan. ”

“ Duty, Honor, Country.
This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished - tone and tints. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. ”

“ Time correspondent Robert Sherrod reported that the dead at Iwo Jima, both Japanese and American, had one thing in common: “They all died with the greatest possible violence. Nowhere in the Pacific War had I seen such badly mangled bodies. Many were cut squarely in half.”
Close combat was rough enough; on Iwo Jima the stress seemed endless because for a long time the Marines had no secure “rear area” in which to give shot-up troop units a respite. Kuribayashi’s gunners throughout the Motoyama Plateau could still bracket the beaches and airfields. ”

“ OKINAWA
AN ENLISTED MAN WASHING in a water-filled foxhole following the heavy rains (top) ; drying clothes and digging a new foxhole (bottom) . The fighting continued on Okinawa until 21 June when the island was declared secure.
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OKINAWA
B-24 TAKING OFF FROM THE AIRSTRIP AT YONTANZAN for a mission over Japan (top) ; Douglas C-54 Skymaster arriving at Yontanzan airstrip on a flight from Guam (bottom) . The construction of airstrips on Okinawa and the nearby islands was carried out concurrently with the operations, and attacks on the Japanese home islands were soon started. ”

“ Under the many-sided influence of such views and aspirations, we seem entirely to have forgotten the teaching which once the old German Empire received with "astonishment and indignation" from Frederick the Great, that "the rights of States can only be asserted by the living power"; that what was won in war can only be kept by war; and that we Germans, cramped as we are by political and geographical conditions, require the greatest efforts to hold and to increase what we have won. ”

“ It's with us only that they make battles. It is we who are the material of war. War is made up of the flesh and the souls of common soldiers only. It is we who make the plains of dead and the rivers of blood, all of us, and each of us is invisible and silent because of the immensity of our numbers. The emptied towns and the villages destroyed, they are a wilderness of our making. Yes, war is all of us, and all of us together." ”

“ HENDERSON FIELD in the Lunga area, Guadalcanal, as it appeared in November 1943. Lunga River can be seen in right foreground. The airfield, in the process of being built by the Japanese in the summer of 1942, was the immediate objective of the marines who landed on the island on 7 August 1942. This broad, level, coastal plain on the north coast of Guadalcanal was the only territory in the southern Solomons offering terrain suitable for the construction of large airfields. ”

“ Since almost every part of the globe is inhabited, new territory must, as a rule, be obtained at the cost of its possessors—that is to say, by conquest, which thus becomes a law of necessity.
The right of conquest is universally acknowledged. ”

“ Although the American and Persian friends are helping greatly the spread of the Faith in Japan, the main object of their presence in that country is to attract Japanese people to the Cause of God. Only when the Faith is firmly rooted in the hearts of the people of that country can we feel that true progress has been made; and therefore to see there are so many Japanese believers, active and devoted in different places in Japan, has been a great comfort and joy to our Guardian. ”

“ To know that a Spiritual Assembly of all Japanese members was formed in Tokyo greatly inspired him (the Guardian) . This is a historic and wonderful achievement. At present it might seem to people of the world that these few devoted souls are insignificant when compared to the millions of people residing in Japan—but we who have recognized the Power of Bahá’u’lláh, and that His teaching is God’s Message to men in this day, know that the seed of the Tree of Life has at last germinated in your land, and that it will grow to overshadow all those who dwell in the islands of Japan. ”

“ Plans were made, ships and supplies collected, and the troops given special training for the invasion; meanwhile Japanese air and ground reinforcements poured into the Central Pacific.
An intense air offensive against enemy installations in the Marianas began on 11 June 1944 and a naval bombardment of Saipan began on the 13th, two days before the landings on the 15th. Opposition was heavy at first, but by the 25th U.S. troops, supported by tanks, heavy artillery, renewed naval gunfire, and aerial bombardment, drove the enemy from the high ground on the central part of the island. ”

“ Peleliu was the site of the major Japanese airfield in the group of islands and Angaur was important as a suitable location for the construction of a large-size bomber base.
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PALAU ISLANDS
MEN STRUGGLE UP A STEEP SLOPE ON PELELIU. The assault of this island was met with considerable opposition. On D day the enemy, supported by tanks, launched a counterattack against the landing forces. This attack was repulsed and the next day the airfield was captured. ”

“ Lastly, in all times the right of conquest by war has been admitted. It may be that a growing people cannot win colonies from uncivilized races, and yet the State wishes to retain the surplus population which the mother-country can no longer feed. Then the only course left is to acquire the necessary territory by war. Thus the instinct of self-preservation leads inevitably to war, and the conquest of foreign soil. It is not the possessor, but the victor, who then has the right. ”

“ As regards the employment of war as a political means, our argument shows that it becomes the duty of a State to make use of the ultima ratio not only when it is attacked, but when by the policy of other States the power of the particular State is threatened, and peaceful methods are insufficient to secure its integrity. ”

“ If the statesman acts in this spirit, he will have an acknowledged right, under certain circumstances, to begin a war, regarded as necessary, at the most favourable moment, and to secure for his country the proud privilege of such initiative. If a war, on which a Minister cannot willingly decide, is bound to be fought later under possibly far more unfavourable conditions, a heavy responsibility for the greater sacrifices that must then be made will rest on those whose strength and courage for decisive political action failed at the favourable moment. ”

“ War has frightful beauties which we have not concealed; it has also, we acknowledge, some hideous features. One of the most surprising is the prompt stripping of the bodies of the dead after the victory. The dawn which follows a battle always rises on naked corpses. ”

“ Every man will have 120 rounds in his possession.
(l) Platoon commanders will report at "Stand to" whether their ammunition is correct or otherwise.
(m) Except in cases of emergency no bandoliers will be issued to men in the trenches.
(n) Disposal of rifles, equipment, and ammunition.—Men wounded and going sick will, if able to walk, wear their equipment and carry their rifles. The rifles and equipment of men unable to carry them, and also those of dead men, will be sent back to the dressing station. ”

“ Men should not be taken from the firing line for this purpose.
33. No soldier is to be buried nearer than 300 yards from the trenches.
34. In each platoon a N. C. O. will be detailed for duty by day. This N. C. O. will do no night duty, but will get a full night's rest. His duties are to post the day sentries and to see that they are alert and carrying out their duties correctly. He will be generally responsible for the cleanliness of his lines and will frequently visit the latrines. It is part of his duties to see that any loose ammunition lying about is collected. ”

“ But when the State renounces all extension of power, and recoils from every war which is necessary for its expansion; when it is content to exist, and no longer wishes to grow; when "at peace on sluggard's couch it lies," then its citizens become stunted. The efforts of each individual are cramped, and the broad aspect of things is lost. ”

“ The Guardian is particularly happy over the news conveyed by Mr. Momtazi for the formation of seven new Assemblies. This is a great step forward in the progress of the work, not only in Japan, but in the Pacific area; and augurs well for the formation of the Regional National Assembly with Japan as the hub, which is to be elected next Ridván.
The Japanese believers are often in his thoughts and prayers, and he is proud of their achievements, and cherishes great hopes for their future. He will pray that your Assembly may be instrumental in bringing in many new souls during the coming year. ”

“ The love of the Japanese people, for truth and beauty is very great, and our Guardian feels sure that gradually many souls will become attracted to the Cause of God through your persevering and devoted labours.
Your loyalty and determination touches him deeply, and he assures you all that for each one of you he will pray for guidance and blessings. He urges you to work together for the Cause as one soul in different bodies, and show by your love and unity what a force lies in our Faith for the regeneration of mankind. ”

“ He feels the future of Japan is very great. The hearts and minds of the Japanese people are awakened; and if the teaching work is carried on very actively and audaciously, many souls will be attracted by the Divine Fragrances.
The beloved Guardian is so confident that the Faith will spread rapidly in Japan, and the believers will firmly establish the institutions of the Cause, that he has chosen to send to them for ultimate display in their National Haziratu’l-Quds in Tokyo one of the very precious relics from the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. ”

“ We shall therefore some day, perhaps, be faced with the necessity of standing isolated in a great war of the nations, as once Frederick the Great stood, when he was basely deserted by England in the middle of the struggle, and shall have to trust to our own strength and our own resolution for victory.
Such a war—for us more than for any other nation—must be a war for our political and national existence. This must be so, for our opponents can only attain their political aims by almost annihilating us by land and by sea. ”

“ It is only in their logical connection with the entire development, political and moral, of the State that the military requirements find their motive and their justification.
CHAPTER I THE RIGHT TO MAKE WAR Since 1795, when Immanuel Kant published in his old age his treatise on "Perpetual Peace," many have considered it an established fact that war is the destruction of all good and the origin of all evil. In spite of all that history teaches, no conviction is felt that the struggle between nations is inevitable, and the growth of civilization is credited with a power to which war must yield. ”