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Original World War II American psychological warfare leaflet,OWI code 531, printed on Saipan and air-dropped during the battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. Printed both sides in Japanese, with a full English translation of both sides provided to the buyer.
This is a dual-purpose leaflet — two audiences, one sheet.The front, in black, addresses Japanese soldiers directly. The reverse, in red, addresses Okinawan civilians in noticeably more courteous language. The surviving OWI-Naval record of the Okinawa drop confirms that the majority of the leaflets in this series were dual purpose in exactly this way, carrying one message to troops and another to civilians. Both sides are framed on all four edges by rows of bomber silhouettes — red on the front, black on the reverse — with a circular vignette on each side: an uprooted tree facing the soldiers\' text, a burning scene facing the civilians\'.
The attribution is documentary, not inferred.A declassified OWI-Naval report dated 20 April 1945 lists the leaflets dropped over Okinawa as numbers 523 through 534, plus 811 and 8028, and identifies 531 among those addressed to military men. Independently of that, the reverse of this leaflet names Okinawa in its own text and speaks directly of what has happened to the island. Code and content agree.
What it says.To the soldiers: a brave man fights while there is hope of victory, but fighting a war he knows is lost is neither loyalty nor courage. America\'s aircraft, ships, tanks, guns and men are beyond comparison with Japan\'s. Japan will surrender in the end, and when the whole nation has surrendered there will be nobody left to reproach a man for having come over. Names of those who come over will never be published. Food, water, clothing and medicine will be given, and treatment befitting a man\'s dignity. Live, and help build the new Japan.
To the civilians: before this war you worked only to keep your families safe. Now your houses are burned, your fields trampled, your young men killed. Why are you in this position — this war has nothing to do with you. The mainlanders are inflicting needless suffering on you. If the Japanese soldiers leave the towns, your homes will be spared; if they stay and fight, the Americans must fight them wherever they are. It is the Japanese soldiers who are killing Okinawans and destroying Okinawan homes.This war is not your war. You are being used as the spearpoint by the mainlanders, made their sacrifice, and given no thanks for it.
That final passage is the heart of the piece. Driving a wedge between Okinawans and mainland Japanese was a stated strategic objective of the Okinawa psychological warfare campaign, and this leaflet is that policy carried out in the field. Note also what the leaflet carefully does not do: the Emperor is never mentioned, no promise is made that could not be kept, and the Japanese soldier\'s courage is conceded in the opening sentence. Those restraints were written into the campaign\'s rules by the planners before the invasion.
Why it mattered.Before Okinawa the working assumption was that Japanese troops would never surrender and would have to be killed to the last man. The OWI and the Navy printed more than six million leaflets on Saipan for the campaign, and roughly eight million in total were dropped on the island between late March and the end of organized fighting. When it ended, 11,409 prisoners had been taken — an unprecedented number in the Pacific war, and American lives saved directly as a result. Many leaflets were delivered by aircraft; others were fired from 105mm shells with the chemical filler removed, each packed with four to five hundred sheets.
Survival.These were printed in the hundreds of thousands and almost all were destroyed — rained on, buried, burned, discarded. The survivors came home in servicemen\'s pockets. The fold pattern on this sheet, thirds one way and quarters the other, says it was one of those.
Condition, our in-house assessment: very good. Clean white stock, no tears, no chips, no paper loss, no foxing. Print sharp and fully legible on both sides; the red brushwork on the reverse remains strong and unfaded. Folded from period handling, all creases soft and intact with no splitting. Faint amber ghosting along the border motifs on the reverse from the ink itself. One shallow crimp at a corner. Sold unmounted and unframed in an archival sleeve, with a printed full translation of both sides included.
Curiosity Coins — Medway, Massachusetts | Est. 1999 | ANA • PCGS • NGC • Heritage sales Member / Buying & selling US and world coins, silver, gold, currency, and collectibles since 1999. Many sales start at $5 — combined shipping always available. Questions welcome.
FRONT — To Japanese soldiers
A brave soldier fights on so long as there remains a prospect of victory. But to continue fighting while knowing the war is hopeless is a grave error, and it cannot be said that by fighting on you are serving your country. You could live — build the postwar Japan, fulfill your obligations to your family. That is how true loyalty to Japan is rendered. To throw away your life in this hopeless war is cowardly and foolish.
As you have seen for yourselves, America possesses aircraft, ships, tanks, artillery and troops in numbers that bear no comparison with Japan\'s. Japan cannot resist a force of such magnitude. Before long she will have no choice but to surrender. When that happens the entire Japanese nation will have surrendered — so there will be no one left to reproach you for having come over to the American side on the battlefield.
Even if you come over to the American forces, your names will never be published. After the war you will be able to return to Japan and live, and no one will know that you came over.
To build a new Japan once the war is over, your help will be indispensable. It will require the strength, the learning, and the patriotism of you young men. In the same way, your families cannot get through this hardship without your help and your love.
We will treat you with kindness, exactly as we have treated the many thousands of Japanese soldiers who have already come over to the American side. If you come over, you will be given ample food, water, clothing and medicine, and you will be treated in a manner befitting your dignity. Preserve your precious lives, so that you may fulfill your duty to postwar Japan and to your families.
REVERSE — To Okinawan civilians
Until this war began, you worked with no thought but that your own families should live in safety. Now the American army has already landed on this island, and your homes have been destroyed and burned. Because of this war you will not only be reduced to desperate poverty from now on — you will suffer bitterly as well.
Why have you been placed in such a wretched position? This war has nothing to do with you, has it? You do not wish to fight, and yet you are made to bear hardship and loss you never imagined. Your houses have been destroyed, your fields and crops trampled, your young men in the prime of life killed. The people of Okinawa are all enduring suffering beyond words.
The mainlanders are inflicting needless suffering upon you. Because the Japanese army mounts a futile resistance, you may find yourselves short of food or with nowhere to live. But if the Japanese soldiers withdraw from the towns, your houses will not be destroyed. If Japanese soldiers remain in the towns and fight, there is no help for it — the American soldiers will fight wherever they must. We are deeply sorry for you, but there is no other way.
It must be plain to you that it is the Japanese soldiers who are killing the people of Okinawa and destroying their homes.
This war is not your war. You are merely being used as the spearpoint by the mainlanders. You are being made their sacrifice — and you receive not one word of thanks for it, do you?
