The Marines did everything they could to prevent the suicides.
My Dad’s best boyhood friend was a Marine killed on Saipan.
Dad was in India at the time.
My father was in the 4th Marine Division. He was at Saipan and witnessed the suicides off the cliffs. It upset him greatly. He said the women would throw the children off first, then they would jump.
Of course, that was nothing like the absolute Hell he witnessed on Iwo Jima.