[오키나와 전투-미군에게 항전하다가 권총 자살한 인물]오타 미노루(大田 実,Minoru Ōta)

오타 미노루( 大田 実 , 1891년 4월 7일 ~ 1945년 6월 13일)는 제2차 세계대전에서 활약한 일본제국 해군의 군인이다

오키나와 전투-오로쿠 반도 지역-에서 끝까지 싸우다가 전사했다. 전사했을때 계급은 해군 소장이며 사후 해군 중장으로 추서되었다.[위키백과]

[Minoru Ōta (大田 実, Ōta Minoru, 7 April 1891 – 13 June 1945) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, and the final commander of the Japanese naval forces defending the Oroku Peninsula during the Battle of Okinawa.]

Japanese commanders on Okinawa prior to the Battle of Okinawa

 

In Okinawa, Ōta commanded a force with a nominal strength of 10,000 men. However, half were civilian laborers conscripted into service with minimal training, and the remainder were gunners from various naval vessels with little experience in fighting on land. Allied sources are contradictory on his role as commander of the naval elements in Okinawa. Some cite Ōta as able to organize and lead them into an effective force, which fought aggressively against the Allied forces, "withdrawing slowly back to the fortified Oroku Peninsula."[7] But Naval elements, except for outlying islands were headquartered on the Oroku peninsula from the beginning of the battle.[8] Operations Planning Colonel Hiromichi Yahara of the Japanese 32nd Army describes a miscommunication occurring in the order for Ota's Naval elements to withdraw from the Oroku Peninsula to support the army further south.[8] What actually happened is clear: Ōta began preparations on or around 24 May, for the withdrawal of all Naval elements to the south in support of the Army. He destroyed most heavy equipment, stocks of ammunition and even personal weapons. While in mid-march to the south, 32nd Army HQ ordered Ōta back into the Oroku peninsula citing that a mistake had been made in timing (explanations vary). Naval elements returned to their former positions with no heavy weapons and about half the troops had no rifles. The Americans, who had not noticed the initial withdrawal attacked and cut off the peninsula by attacks from the north on land, and one last seaborne landing behind the Navy's positions. Naval elements then committed suicide with whatever weapons possible, with some leading a last charge out of the cave entrances. According to the museum for the underground Naval Headquarters in Okinawa, "many soldiers committed suicide" inside the command bunker, including Ōta.[9]

The Commander's Room of the underground Naval Headquarters.
Ōta committed suicide here.[영어위키에서 발췌]

 

[정보]책- 철의 폭풍(반양장)

저자 오키나와타임스 (편집) | 역자 김란경 | 산처럼 | 2020.10.25.