2nd Mixed Brigade Field Hospital Surrenders on Iwo Jima

Image size: 1600 x 1233 pixel. 576 KB
Date: Thursday, 5 April 1945
Place: Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

Major Masaru Inaoka leads Japanese survivors into captivity. The US Army's 147th Infantry Regiment organized a systematic mop-up in April and May. An officer and ten men, Nisei who spoke Japanese, accompanied by prisoners who lent themselves to this work, broadcast invitations to surrender through loud-speakers, promising the Japanese good usage and plenty to eat and drink. These methods netted 867 more prisoners and killed another 1602. Army troops also stumbled upon the field hospital of the 2nd Mixed Brigade, located 100 feet underground on eastern Iwo Jima. A language officer appealed to the Japanese to come out. The senior medical officer, Major Inaoka, called for a vote. The ballot turned out 69 for surrender, three opposed. Of the three nays, Corporal Kyutaro Kojima immediately committed suicide. The others came out, including the two officers, Captain Iwao Noguchi and Lieutenant Hideo Ota. During the battle, Japanese defense plans for Iwo Jima had made no provision for the evacuation of any wounded. They either crawled back or were carried to aid stations behind the lines. There, they might be placed in niches in the walls of tunnels, where their comrades would look after them as best they could. Some of the Japanese bound up their wounds and remained with their units, either to fight again if physically able or else perform other work behind the lines. Repeated appeals were made for surrender. Some propaganda leaflets were dropped from planes and fired in artillery shells, but the most frequently used method was voice appeals. Language officers, Nisei Japanese-Americans and volunteer prisoners participated in this last form of persuasion. Out of 65 captured Japanese who had some contact with United States propaganda, 53 were influenced and gave themselves up as a direct result. The remaining twelve stated that fear of their own officers and fear of trickery on the part of the Marines had deterred them. These last did not surrender, but were captured under other circumstances. After the war, Captain Noguchi, beset by remorse that he had lived while so many died, later emigrated to Brazil. He was unable to accept life in Japan. 

Source:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/world-war-ii-the-fall-of-imperial-japan/100175/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1099