During the battle of Tarawa, the marines managed to get a few tanks ashore, but they refused to roll over and crush the wounded and opted for infantry to destroy Japanese strong points by hand.
During the closing months of World War II, the Japanese military resorted to increasingly desperate measures. One of these was the Kamikaze suicide attacks, which culminated in the last charge on the island of Okinawa.
Civilians were often trapped in caves used by Japanese soldiers during WWII, leading to tragic consequences when the Americans attacked. In some cases, soldiers were ordered to kill the civilians or risk alerting the enemy forces.
Wainwright, commander of US forces in the Philippines during World War II, learned what it was like to surrender to Japanese forces when he surrendered his 10,000 men on the island of Corregidor just a month after escaping to Australia. The Japanese subjected the captured troops to horrific war crimes.
Japan's move southward into French Indo-China, including Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, was seen as a major threat to the United States, as the raw materials Japan was securing were needed by the US. This prompted serious sanctions from the US, with demands for Japan to withdraw from China as well.