Figure 1.--Cpl. Angus Robertson, a member of a Marine patrol on Saipan, on June 21, 1944 found this Japanese family hiding in a hillside cave. The mother, four children and a dog. The family took shelter from the fierce fighting and based on what they were told were terrified of the American soldiers. National Archives 127-GR-113-83266.

Unlike some of the islands which became World war II battlefields, Saipan was an inhabited island. There was a substantial civilian population on Saipan, including Japanese. There ws an indigenous population. In addition, Japan had colonized the island. There were Koreans, Okinawans and Japanese. No one knows the precise population at the time of the invasion. There were, however, about 23,658 people living on Saipan (4,145 were indigenous) in 1937 a few years before the war began. The population of Saipan in 1937 was overhlf of the entire population of the Northern Marianas which totaled 46,708 people. Japanese authorities told civilians that the Americans were barbaric and would bruttaly torture all prisioners, both military and civlian. The Japanese bushido code precluded soldiers from surrendering. Why the Japanese authorities did not want the civilians to surrender is unclear. They urged the civilians to kill their children and commit suiside. Many did. Hundreds of Japanes families committed suiside. Many civilians jumped to their deaths from the high cliffs along the island's most northern point, the last area of Japanese resistance. The suisides included mothers with babies in their arms. Americans and Saipanese used loudspeakers to try to disuade the Japanese civilians to surender. Most of the civilians on Saipan survived the invasion. An estimated 90 percent are believed to have survived. The occupation of Saipan was the first American encounter with Japanese civilians. The civilians encountered by the Americans were interned in camps. Here the military authorities could keep them away fromthe fighting as well as provide food and shelter as well as military care. fter the figting was over, authorities opened schools for the children. The camps held 13,954 Japanese, 1,411 Koreans, 2,966 Chamorros and 1,025 Carolinians at the end of the War (September 1945). Conditions in the camps were primitive, but food was adequate. as soon as the fighting ended, families were allowed to leve released from Camp Susupe during the day to raise vegetables. The camp had an improvised Buddhist temple which the Japanese also used for Shinto religious ceremonies. The Japanese on Saipan had a high birth rate. There were many Japanese orphans in the camps. These were children whose parents had committed suiside. Some had also killed their children. Others could not bring themselves to doing this.

Created: December 30, 2002
Last updated: 10:06 PM 11/9/2004