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The banzai charge is considered to be one method of gyokusai (玉砕, "shattered jewel"; honorable suicide), a suicide attack, or suicide before being captured by the enemy such as seppuku. [5] The origin of the term is a classical Chinese phrase in the 7th-century Book of Northern Qi , which states " 丈夫玉碎恥甎全 ", "A true man would ...
Attu is the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in snowy conditions, in contrast with the tropical climate in the rest of the Pacific. The battle ended when most of the Japanese defenders were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat after a final banzai charge broke through American lines.
Allied forces under General John L. DeWitt took control of the island on 30 May after the remaining Japanese troops conducted a massive banzai charge. American forces lost 549 killed and 1,148 wounded, with another 2,100 evacuated because of weather-related injuries. During the battle all but 29 men of the Japanese garrison were killed.
This charge hit the 105th directly and violently, and the two lead battalions were overrun. LTC O'Brien led the defense in the 1-105 area, with a pistol in each hand and even manning a nearby .50 Caliber machine-gun until he was killed. When his body was found, there were 30 dead Japanese around him, and he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
A large banzai charge was made at 03:00 and met with some success, killing 45 Americans and wounding 128. [33] With support from the destroyers Schroeder and Sigsbee, the Marines killed 325 Japanese attackers. [33] At 04:00 the Japanese attacked Major Jones' 1st Battalion, 6th Marines in force.
Dead Japanese soldiers lie on the beach after a failed banzai charge on Guadalcanal, 1942. American propaganda distributed through leaflet drops accounted for about 20% of surrenders, [69] equating to about one POW for every 6,000 leaflets dropped. [70]
Hell to Eternity is a 1960 American World War II film starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and Patricia Owens, directed by Phil Karlson.This film biopic is about the true experiences of Marine hero Pfc. Guy Gabaldon (played by Hunter), a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese American foster family, and his heroic actions during the Battle of Saipan.
Traditional "banzai charge" attacks were to be discontinued, as they were both wasteful of manpower and ineffective. These changes in tactics were designed to force the Americans into a war of attrition , compelling them to spend more troops, materiel and time to secure Japanese island garrisons.