[Vigilanteman]

A good share of the 30 million civilian "volunteers" were volunteered by the militarists like the civilians on Saipan. A good book (written by a Japanese scholar who lived through the era) is "The Pacific War" by Saburo Ienaga. The English edition has been published.

[slimer]

A good share of the 30 million civilian "volunteers" were volunteered by the militarists like the civilians on Saipan

In other words, I take it that they did not have much of a choice in the matter...Thanks for the book.