Figure 1.--This little Japanese boy was born in 1937, the photograph probably taken on his first day of school in 1943. Notice cap, jacket, short pants, and long stockings. I am not sure what he has on his jacket or what he is holding in his right hand. Once the American submarine campaign began to suceed (1943), conditions in Japan began to deteriorate. Conditions became even worse when farmers brought in a dreadful harvest and the Americans began bombing Japanese cities. I am not sure where the photograph was taken, but it is labeled Shougakusei. Fortunately the boy here survived the bombing and went on to graduate from high school. Click on the image to see his graduation portrait.

Japan with little encouragement joined the Allies in World War I. The country played only a minor role in the War, but gained German possessions in the Central Pacific which they proceeded to turn into fortified bases. Japanese diplomats at both Versailles (1919) and the Washington Naval Conference (1921) failed to achieve goals and this angered nationalist elements, especially in the Army. The Depression and resulting protectionist trade policies in America and Europe adversely affected the Japanese economy. The Japanese military increasingly advocated action to secure markets and raw materials. This process began with the Japanese Army seized Manchiera and set up the puppet state of Manchuko (1931). This brought international condemnation and Japan withdrew from the League of Nations. An Army revolt in Tokyo failed, but left the Army essentially in control of the Japanese Government (1936). The Japanese signed the Anti-Comentern Pact to protect their position in Manchuko (1936). Japan invaded China proper (1937). Many historians date this as the beginning of World War II. After the NAZI victories in Europe, Japan moved into French Indo China (1940). Japan formally joined the Axis (1941). The United States objected to Japanese expanonist policies and moved the Pacific fleet to Pearl Harbor and ininitated embargoes of strastegic materials. The Army had been the main force pushing for war, the Navy realizing they would have to fight the American and British fleets were less enthusiastic. Once the decession was made, however, the Navy dutifully prepared for war. Hitler as Soviet resistance stiffened expected Japan to join his anti-Bolshevik struggle. Instead the Japanese struck south with a devestating carrier attack at Pearl Harbor (1941). This brought America into the war and initiated a war of unprecedented savegery. The Japanese Army treated both POWs and civilians with unprecedented cruelty. As Japanese naval commander Yamamoto predicted, spearheaded by a powerful carrier force, Japan in 6 months swept ower Southeast Asian and the central Pacific with largely ineffective opposition. The decisive American naval vicvtory at Miday (1942) significantly weakened the Imperial Navy. This provided America's vast industrial strength to build the naval forces needed to seize the Pacific island bases to bring the war to Japan. America then laubched a desestating strategic bombing campaign culminating in the dropping of the atomic bombs (1945). Most countries that played important roles in World War II have come to terms with the War. Japan is the principal country today which keeps the truth of the War from their school children.

Road to World War II

Looking back as a historian, it is almost incomprehensible that Japan decided to wage war against the United States. War with Britain and the Netherlands is more understandable. Britain in 1941 looked like if not a defeated nation, at least a severely weakened one. The Netherlands was occupied by Axis ally NAZI Germany. America is a very different matter. The United States was not at war. It had not been weakened by the War. And Japan had no commitment that the Germany would join them if they attacked America. War with America seems like an extrodinarily wreckless decession for a country already mired down in a war with China and that had experienced a sharp defeat in a short war with the Soviets. Why would Japan have decided on war with America, a country with a larger population and a much larger industrial and scientific base. The road to war began early in the history of modern Japan. Wars with China (1895), Russia (1904-05), and Germany (1914-18) proved both short and profitable, enabling Japan to build a small empire. The risring influence of the military brought to power men of limited outlook who saw military action as a legitimate use of sate power. They were backward looking men who saw the European empires of the 19th century as to what Japan should seek to establish. And they were men who were strongly influenced by the historic image of the Samurai and Bushido which convinced them that Japanese racial superiority and martial spirit could prevail over the material supperority of America. Despite the power of American induistry, tgey saw Americans as a weak, decadent people who would not fight. Most of the Japanese militarists who made this judgement on which the very life of Japan would hang, knew no Americans and had little or no experience with Ameica.

Strategic Concepts

The Japanese faced a quandry. They had achieved sucess after success in China, but still the war dragged on. The war in China put substantial demands on the Japanese economy. To make matters worse, their primary source of resources to conduct the war in China as the United States. This was especially true of petroleum. Japan would have to end the war in China or find alternative supplies of natural resources. German successes in Europe opened up the prospects of seizing the resource rich British, Dutch, and French colonies in Southeast Asia. But situated between the Home Island and those resources were the American Phillipine Islands and the implied threat threat of the Pacific Fleet which President Roosevelt had moved forward to Pearl Harbor. One of the not yet fully inderstood questions of World War II is why the Japanese did nor strike north at the Siviets after the Germans had destroyed much of the Red Army. Once the Japanese had decided on war with America. Their focus became the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese strategic concept was to smash the Pacific Fleet and seize a huge empire with the resources it needed and then fortify it so that it would be enormously costly for the Americans to retake. The resources from the empire which the Japanese called the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere were to be used to support the Japanese military. The Japanese with little knowledge of America were convinved that America would never make the sacrifices needed to retake the Japanese conquests. This strategic concept was fataly flawed. First, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a starteling military success, but a strategic blunder of incalcuable proportions. The attack turned a biterly divided America into a unified, mortal enemy. Second, the Japanese strategy had no provision for attacking the industrial base of the United States, an industrial base far exceeding the industrial capacity of Japan. This industrial base allowed American to build a military force that Japan could not possibly match. Third, the Japanese were unprepared for the American submarine campaign, a campaign which by 1943 was beginning to deny Japanese industry the resources from their newly won empire. The Japanese found their army bogged down in unwinnable campaigns in China and Burma and morooned on isolated Pacific islands that they could no longer supply or even defend. Nor could the resources of their empire be brought back to the factories on the Home Island. Japan at the time of its surrender in 1945 was approaching starvation.

Pearl Harbor (December 1941)

Rather than join the NAZI war with the Soviet Union, the Japanese instead struck south with a devestating carrier attack at Pearl Harbor (1941). A Japanese carrier taskforce composed of six carriers on December 7, 1941, executed a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. It was a brilliant tactical victory for Japan, but perhaps the greatest mistake in modern military history as it brought a suddenly united America with its vast industrial capacity into the War. The Japanese launched 360 aircraft which in 2 hours struck Peal Harbor just as the American sailors were waking up on a sleepy Sunday morning. The strike sunk or heavily damaged six of the eight American battleships, thrre cruisrs, three destroyers, and most of the Army Air Corps planes on the island. America was at war.

American Carriers

The Japanese led by Admiral Yamaoto were the first to realize the full potential of naval aviation. They demonstrated this at Peal Harbor and their sweep across the Pacific in 1942. Yamamoto was correct in his assessment of the importance of the carrier. He also warned the Imperial Givernment that he could guarantee naval dominance only for 6 months. Japnese leaders had no concept of how quickly America could build new carries. In the end, the Pacific War was won by the carriers, but it was the American carriers. The primary target of the Japanese at Part Harbor were the three carriers of the Pacific fleet. By mere chance, none were at Pearl. Admiral Nimitz who after the strile was ordered to Pearl was given command of the Fleet. He had to develop a strategy to hold off the Japanese with those three carriers while America built a powerful new fleet. The United States began an emense effort to build a vast naval armada. Priority was given to 40 new carriers-many of which were the Essex class fast carriers. These enorous fighting ships were over 800 feet long and totaled 27,000 tons. These carriers, however, would not begin to arrive until 1943.

Savage War

The attack on Pear Harbor This brought America into the war and initiated a war of unprecedented savegery. The Japanese Army treated both POWs and civilians with unprecedented cruelty. Most accounts of World War II find that the Pacific War was fouught more savagely than the European War, especially the fighting between the Germans and Western Allies. The differences can be exagerated. Tere were German attrcities in the West (Oradour-surGlane and Malmedy). Both the Germans and Allies carried out air raids on cvilian populations. There are, however, reasons to conclude that the fighting in the pacific Gheater reached a level of savergy not normally experienced in the Western Front of the European War. A range of explanations have been offered to explain the savagery of the conflict. Race certainly was a factor. The overwealmin factor, however, appears to be the Japanese martial code (Bushido) and the assumtion as in the case of the NAZIs that the War was won and Japan would never have to answer for the attrocities committed. In fct Japan has a nation has never come to terms with the attricities committed by the Imperial army in its name.

American Internment of the Japanese

Japanese American children were severly affected by the war. Those living in Pacific coast states were move into concentragtion camps. Although not separated from their patents, Japanese Americans in Pacific coast states were interned in concentration or relocation camps as they were called. Italian and German families were also interned, but only aliens or those whose parents have been involved or suspected of involvement in subversive activites. The Japanese were treated differently in part because of Pearl Harbor, but racial factors were a signoificant factor. President Roosevelt in February 1942 signed the order "evacuating" Japanese, most of whom were Japanese citizens, from the West Coast. Like the Germans, American authorities developed euphenisms for what was done to the Japanese. The order only affected the West Coast, not the Japanese on Hawaii. About 127,000 Japanese Americans were interned. It was one of the most grevious violations of the civil rights of American citizens in United States history. While the internment of Japanese Americans was a terrible injustice, depriving them of their property in many instances and their freedom for several years, the camps were quite different than the the NAZI and Japanese concentration camps. The internees were given adequate food and the children attended local schools. Japanese Americans formed Boy Scout troops such as at the Gila River Relocation Center, Arizona, during 1943.

Japanese Offensive (1941-42)

As Japanese naval commander Yamamoto predicted, spearheaded by a powerful carrier force, Japan in 6 months swept ower Southeast Asian and the central Pacific with largely ineffective opposition. The British position in the Far East was based on Singapore. The fall of Singapore shockjed the world and opened the way for the invasion of Burma. Japan also attacked the American forces in the Philippines, destroying most of the Air Corps planes on the ground, even though MacArthur had reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor several hours before the Japanese struck his air fields. America soon learned of Japanese attrocities during the Battan Death, fueling American hatred of the Japanese. Japanese paratroopers successfully seized the Dutch oil field in tact. Japan then invaded New Guinea in preparation for an assault on Australia.

Doolittle Raid (April 1942)

Specially trained American aviators in B-25s took off from the carrier Wasp to strike Japan. It was the first blow to the Japanese home islands. The raid was led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle. The physical damage was inconsequential, but the psychological impact was immense. Most of the Amrican aviators crash landed in China and were helped to reach saftey by Chinese Nationalist guerillas. The Japanese reprisals were savage. A estimated 0.5-0.7 million Chinese civilians were murdered. The Japanese Navy was so embarassed th hey rushed forward plns to bring the desimated American Pacific Fleet to battle at Midway Island.

Intelligence

Allied intelligence in breaking the Japanese codes had a substantial impact on the Pacific War, especially at the Coral Sea (1942) and Midway (1942). As the initaitive shifted to the Americans, learning of Japanese intentions became less important. The code breakers did develop information that lead to an air strike which succeeded in killing Admiral Yamamoto (1943). The Americans never launched a major military deception campaign in the Pacific, in sharp contrast to the operations in Europe. One historian explains that the American assessment. The Americans believed that the Japanese Empire was "... too incompetent to understand what was being told them, and stood to low in the estimation of the decessionmakers for it to have done much good if they had." [Holt] The Americans did carryout one important deception effort--Operation Bluebird. This was designed to convince the Japanese that southern China and Formosa (Taiwan) were to be invaded rather than Okinawa.

The Home Front

We do not yet have much information on the Japanese home front during World war II. Japan was the most industrialized country in Asia, but the country's industrial capacity was a fraction of that of America and Britain. And the country had to import raw material, including vital resources like petroleum. Nor was the country self-production in food production. The Militarists who made the decession for War calculated that Japan could seize the resources it needed in a quick war and that the Americans and Eutropeans would not be willing to wage a costly war to recover the lost territory. That was essentially the gamble made at Pearl Harbor. That gamble was lost at Midway. Not only did Japan suffer that disastrous defeat, but it suffered it at a time that the Imperial Navy was still dominant in the Pacific and before American industrial production had decisively shifted the ballance of forces. We do not know a great deal about the Japanese home front. The Japanese militarists absolutely controlled the press in Japan. Only news of Japanese victories were allowed in the press and for the first 6 moths there were plenty of those. When Japanese defeats began to occur, they were strictly prohibited in the press. When the sailors and surviving air men returned from Midway (June 1942) they were held incomunicano least news of the disastrous defeat leaked out. Even Army commanders were not fully informed.) We are not sure when the Japanese people began to realize that their country was losing the War. In fact Japan lost very little territory until 1944. And the fighting was very distant from Japan. The militarists believed that the NAZIs in Europe would occupy America's military and thus Japan's smaller industrial output would be suffient for a shirt war. Japan mobilized the country's industrial capacity. Women and children were ordered to work in factories as well as on farms. Japanese industry, however, proved totally incapable of matching America production in quantity or quality. The Japanese did succeed in seizing vital natural resources in Oceania and Southeast Asia, including oil and rubber (1942). Unfortunately for the Japanese the U.S. Navy was successfully waging a sunmarine campaign that made it impossible to ship these resources to Japanse factories (1943). Worse still the Americans took the Marianas which brought Japanese industry within the range of the new American B-39n bombers. The losses of the tiny attols and islands in the central Pacific, however, brought the Japanese Home Islands within reach of the new American B-29 bombers. The strategic bombing of Japan was a disaster that could not be hidden by control of the press. These raids must have come as a huge shock and may well have been the first infication to the Japanese people that the War had turned into a national disaster. The first raids were of marginal effectiveness, but by 1945 the U.S. Arny Air Firce was burning the heart out of one Japanese city after another--including Tokyo. There was also a poor harvest which combined with the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine meant that there were growing food shortages. Rationing reduced rice and other food purchases to 1,500 calories--subsistence levels. But as the war continued into 1945 even that amount was often not available. Thestategic bombing camopaign hadby mid-1945 destroyed Japan's transportation system. Had Japan not surrendered (August 1945), Japanese civilians would have starved in large numbers during the Winter of 1945-46.

Coral Sea (April 14, 1942)

The first importantAllied effort o stop the Japanse sweep through the Pacific occurred in the Coral Sea. The Japanse vplanned to seize Port Moreseby, completing their conquest of New Guinea. Port Moresby would have also posed a threat to Australia itself. A Japanese naval task force en route to seize Port Moresby was intercepted by an American carrier force, alerted by code breakers. It was the first carrirer to carrier engagement in history. The Japanese succeeded in sinking Lexington and heavily damaging Yorktown. The Japanese lost a light carrier and another carrier was heavily damaged. Despite the American losses, theJapanese invasion force turned back, the first major Japanese reversal of the War.

Midway (June 1942)

The decisive American naval vicvtory at Miday (1942) significantly weakened the Imperial Navy. This provided America's vast industrial strength to build the naval forces needed to seize the Pacific island bases to bring the war to Japan. Admiral Yamamoto was convinced that the remaining American carriers could be brought to battle and destroyed at Midway. The Japanese plans were based on achieving an element of curprise and on the fact that two American carriers had been destoyed in the Coral Sea, in fact the Yorktown, although heavily damaged had not been sunk. American code breakers had alerted the Ameicans to the Jaspanese plans. Admiral Nimitz positioned Enterprise and Hornet, along with the hastily patched up Yorktown northwest of Midway to ambush he Japanese. The American carrier victory at Midway dealt a crippling blow to the Imperial Navy. The Americans sank four first-line Japnese carriers, killing most of the well-trained crews. While the Imperial Navy still held an advantage, it was no longer an overwealming one. Meanwhile American shipyards were turning out the new Essex clss carriers that would engage the weakened Imperial Navy in 1943.

South Pacific (1942-43)

The first America land offensive in the Pacific occurred on the virtually unknown island of Guadacanal in the Solomons. Allied coast watchers reported the Japanese were building an air strip on Guadacanal. From that base, the Japanese could threaten the sea lanes to Australia. A marine invasion force was rapidly assembled. It was a risky operation from the onset. Although dealt a serious blow at Midway, the Imperial Navy still dominatd the Pacific and outnumbered the American Pacfic fleet in virtually every class of warship--including carriers. Yamamoto, the bold naval commander who planned the Pear Harbor attack, turned tentative after Midway.

Twin Offensives

The United Sates after climbing up the Solomon chain and isolating Rabaul persued two separate offensives. American industry was by 1943 producig war material in such quantity that it could both supply the European theater and support twin offensives in the Pacific. First, MacArthur and the Army would continue to move west along the New Guinea Coast toward the Philippines. Second the Navy would open an entirely new offensibe in the Central Pacific. Carrier strikes had hit Japanese-held islands, but the new offensive would be amphibious landings to seize the islands. The first landing was at Tarawa in the Gilberts. Te casualties were horendous. The next was the Marshalls. These landings covered by the Big Blue Fleet steadily expanding in size and capability were unopposed by the Imperial Fleet. The strength and timing of these landings caught the Japanese off guard. They did not believe the United States capable of so many landings over such a wide area. They had hoped that heavily fortified islands could resist amphibious invasion. This proved to be an illusion.

The Marianas (June 1944)

While Midway and Guadacanal were the turning point of the Pacific War, it was in the Marinanas that Japan's fare was sealed. American carrier aircraft broke the power of Japanese naval aviation. The one power Japanese First Air Fleet never again staged a major carrier strike on American forces. Even more significant were the air bases affored by the Mariana Islands. These bases brought the Home Islands into range of the the new long-range B-29 bombers. The invasion of Saipn was one of the key confrontations of the Pacific War. Earlier Pacific Island invasions had made it clear that the Jpanes would not surrender no matter how great the forces availed against them. American planners concluded that if the Japanese would fight to the death on isolated Pacific islands, tht they would resist to the end in the defense of the Home Islands. The casualties of an invasion of the Home Islands could be orrendous. It was thus important to bring the Japanese Home Islands within the range of American bombers so that the Jpanese war making power could be smashed. Seizure of the Marianas would provide the bases from which America could begin the bombardment of the Home Islands. There was a Japanese civilian population on Saipan. Japanese authorities urged the civilians to kill their children and commit suiside. Many did. After the Americans secured the island, the Jpanese civilians were interned, but in realtively comfortable circumstances.

Political Changes (July 1944)

The American conquest of the Philippines was an event that was impossible to hide even by the Thought Police. Even the most obtuse subject of the Emperor could not fail to ask himself if the War was one glorious Japanese vicgory after another, how could the Americans take the Marisanas? The most obvious casualty of the loss of the Marianas was Primeminister Tojo. Army fanatics who assumed that any defeat was the result of incompetance threatened assaination. Tojo had never been a dictator and he resigned and withdrew into a quiet retirment until after the War American MPs arrested him. A new Goverment as formed (July 1944). The new Goverment included Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai who had argued against war before Pearl Harbor.

Strategic Thinking

The Emperor was not, however, despite the appointment of Admiral Yonai intent on ending the War. Rather he adopted te policy of gyokusai--broken gem. The essence of this concept was a Japanese saying--"better to be a gem smashed to bits than a whole tile". Imperial General Headquater's documents at this time speak of "Gyokusai of the 100 million". The 100 million was an inflated reference to the entire Japanese population. [Thomas, p. 139.] Now that American had proven a potent military force, the militarists no longer believed that Japan could prevail on the battlefield. Most still did not believe that Japan could be forced to surrender. Rather the prevailing strategic thinking was to make every American offensive as costly as possible and simply outlast the Americans. The Emperor wondered why the Imperial Navy did not engage the Americans more forcefully in the Philippine Sea and demanded a major fleet action.

The Phillippines (October 1944)

The Philippino people suffered greviously under Japanese occupation. This helped fuel an effective Resistance campaigns carried out by guerillas which had achieved control of substantial areas. The Japanese, gowever, controlled the population centers, especially on Leyte and Luzaon. The Navy preferred targetting Formosa (Taiwan), but MacArthur eventually prevailed with his insistence that America must retun to the Philippines. He considered his vow to return a pledge to the Philippinp people that had to be honored. Some how his vow, "I shall return." sems less approaptiate than "We shall return", but it was pure MacArthur and he convinced President Roosevelt. Reports from resistance fighters and American pilots revealed that the Japanese were not heavily defending large areas of the Islands. The inasion of Mindanao was considered unecessary and the decession was made to strike first further north at Leyte. It was in this engagement that the Kamakazis first appeared, although still in relatively small numbers. MacArthur President Sergio Osmeña waded ashore with the invasion force at Leyte Gulf (October 20, 1944). The American Army forces advanced steadily. The Japanese resisted, but could not match American fire power. The most serious Japanese resistence occurred at sea. The resulting naval engaement following on Battle of the Philippones Sea is commonly referred to as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was the largest sea battle ever fought and resulted in the destruction of the Japanese fleet as an effective fighting force. This opened the way for the land campaign. Further landings occurred at Ormoc (December 7, 1944).

Iwo Jima (February 1945)

American Maines invaded the isolated volcanic island of Iwo Jima in February 1945. Iwo was 600 miles south of the Jpanese Home Islands and was needed as a base forthe fighters covering the bombers involved in the strategic bombing camoaign. It was also needed as a safe haven for damaged bombers unale toreach their bases in the Marianas. For this reason it was heavily forified by the Japanese. It look the Maunes oiver a month to secure the island and they suffered 30 percent casualties. Virtually all of the 22,000 man Japanese garrison perished. The defenders refused to surrender even when the situation was clearly hopeless.

Kamikazes

Okinawa (April 1945)

The Emperor wanted yo be a final decisive battle. The invasion of Okinawa was the first American attack on Japanese territitory. Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Island chain was strategically located between Kyushu, the southernmost Japanese island and Taiwan (called Formosa by the Japanese). American strategists saw Okinawa as a necessary base from which an American invasion of the Japanese home islands could be staged. Okinawa had several air bases and the only two important harbors between Formosa and Kyushu. The American invasion was code named Operation Iceberg. The greatest naval force in histoy was assembled for the invasion. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's 5th fleet included more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and hundreds of support ships. Over 182,000 troops participated in the invasion. The American invasion forced was surprised when the beach landings were unopposed. Okinawa was defendened by the 32nd Japanese Army and a garrison of about 110,000 men. The Japanes had drawn back from the onvssion beaches. The Japanese strategy was to bring as many ships as possible in close to the island to support the invasion. it was then that a major Kamakazi attack was unleased on the invasion fleet. The Japanese on April 6-7 employed the first massed formations of hundreds of kamikaze aircraft. The Japanese during the Okinawan campaign flew 1,465 kamikaze flights from Kyushu. They succeedd in sinking 30 American ships and damaged 164 others. Other ships were attacked nearer Kyushu and Formosa. The Army Air Corps had rejected a request to havily bomb these air fields as it was seen as a diversion from the strategic bombing campaign. One third of the invasion force was killed or wounded. Over half of the 16,000 Americans killed were sailors on the ships attacked by the Kamakazis. Virtually the entire Japanese garison died in the Okinawa campaign. Few Japanese soldiers surendered even after defeat was certain. Large number of civilans were also killed. The Jaoanese military reserved available food and supplies for its use and in many cases forced civilians to commit suicide. The American military saw Okinawa as a dress rehersal for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands and anticipated even fiercer resistance. The extent of the casualties was a major factor in the American decission to use the atomic bombs.

Strategic Bombing Campaign

America then laubched a desestating strategic bombing campaign vulminating in the dropping of the atomic bombs (August 1945). The air war in the Pacific began as in the European theater with mastery of the skies by the Japanese. The Chinese air force was vityually non-existant. The Japanese conducted terror bombing raid, first on Shanghai and then on other Chinese cities. Japanese aircraft, especially the Mitusubishi Zero, were so effective that they were able to achieve air superority during land and sea battles against Britain and the Unitd States beginning with the attack on Pear Harbor. This continued throughout much of 1942 and only did the arrival of ne American aircraft in large numbers did the Allies begin to gain the upperhand in the sky. The seizure of the Marianas and the deployment of of the new long range B-29 bombers brought the Japanese homeland within range of strategic bombardment. The initial raids were inclonclusive. General Curtis LeMay devised a trategy of fire bombing which caused massive destruction in Japanese citis crammed with highly flameable wooden structures. When Japan refused to surender after the Yalta Conference, President Truman ordered the use of tha Atomic Bomb in August 1945. The Japanese surendered in September.

Ketsugo (April 1945)

The Emperor and the Japanese military were determined to resist. The military conveived the strategy of Ketsugo (April 1945). Ketsugo meant seld defense, nu as a national defense policy it meant preparing civilans to fight an American invasion. It was a refinement of Japan's Shosango victory plan which envisioned defending the home islands to the last man. The plan was to prepare the Japanese people psychologically to fight the Americans and die defending their homeland. The plain included training children, boys as well as girls, to fight with improvised weapns. Soldiers were assined to schools to train even primary-level children in the use of weapons like bamboo spears. I am not sure how widespread this effort was and how intensive the training. I have noted Japanese adults describing such traing they received in schools. Japanese officials warned that the Ameeicans would kill men who surrendered instantly and rape women. Not only were Japanese soldiers not to urrender, but neither would civilians. Others have reported their was no serious training in their schools. A peace faction led by Foreign Minister Togo complained that Ketsugo would destroy the nation. General Anami retorted that those who can not fulfill theur resonsibilities to to the Emperor should commit hari-kiri. He was intent that the entore nation should fight to the death,

Invasion Planning

The last step in the war against Japan was the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. The planning called for first invading Kyushu--the most populace and southern-most island. This was necessary because the range of air cover from Okinawa only reached Kyushu. Marshal advocated an invasion and Nimitz supported him. MacArthur was assigbned to command the invasion and began the planning. The plan provided that once Kyushu was secured, than air bases there could cover landings close to Tokyo. American military planners forsaw 0.5 million American casulaties. This was based on the tenacious Japanese resistance in every Pacific campaign. The military fully expected the Japanese Army to resist to the death just had they had done on Okinawa. In addition, the Japanese had large numbers of aircraft which could be used in Kamakazi attacks on any invasion fleet. Many Japanese today maintain that Japan was near defeat and ready to surrender. It is certain true that the military situation for Japan was hopeless and the population approaching starvation. This does not mean, however, that the Imperial Army was preparing to surrender. The Army had not surrendered in any other campaign where the outcome was hopeless. Ultra intercepts reported that the Japanese were strenthening their defenses in southern Kyushu. There were 3 dicisions deployed there in June and that had been increased yto 9 dicisions by July. In addition, the Army had incouraged even forced civilians to commit suiside as on Siapan and Okinawa. Some observers are convinced that Japanese civilian casualties in any invasion of the Home Islands would have been the greatest civilian disaster of World War II. Millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians may have died if America had invaded Japan.

War Cabinent (June 22)

After nearly 3 months of savage battle, resistance finall collapsed on Okinawa (June 22). The same day the War Cabinent met. For the first time the Emperor took the lead in the discussions. He had gotten his final decisive battle--Okinawa. And the Japanese defense failed without any observable slacking of America's determination to persue the War. He pushed the Govvernent to persue a diplomatic option gto end the War without specifying specific offers to the Allies. Noth factions spoke out, the emerging Peace Faction led by Foreign Minister Tojo and the War Faction led by General Anami. It was decided to ask the Soviet Union to mediatea end of the War. There was no reason to believe that the Soviets would do this.

Peace Feelers

The militarists had launched the war in China and then the Pacific War. They were reluctant to admit how seriously that had miscalculated. Nor were they anxious to begin serious peace negotiations. They strangely thought that they could ask the Soviet Union to mediate an acceptable end to the War. Even the militarists realized that Japan had lost the War and wanted to end it, but they still believed that the thought of enormous casualties could deter an American invasion. The militarists still thouht tht they could retain the Emperor, avoid an occupation, and place disarmament and any trials of war criminals in the hands of the Japanese military. The extent to which the militarists were out of contact with relality was the belief that they could use the Soviets to mediate.

Anbassador Sato (July 1945)

The Foreign Ministry pressed Ambassador Sato to approach Soviets officials to ask them to mediate an end to the War. He had a difficult time arranging appointments with Soviet officials. He informed the Foreign Ministry that it was unrealistic to obtain any concessions from the Allies other than the preservation of the Imperial Dynasty. Foreign Minister Tojo abled back to infirm him that this was compleletly inacceptavle (July 22).

Potsdam Declaration (July-August 1945)

The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin. The Conference was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945. It was a conference of the Big Three (the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The participants proved to be quite different than those at the other major World War II conferences, incliding Yalta held a few months earlier. Stalin still represented the Soviet Union. President Roosevelt had died after Yalta and was replaced by the new president--Harry Truman. Churchill was at the beginning session was replace as prime minister by Clement Attlee, who had replaced him after a general election. The Conference was held after the NAZI surrender (May 1945). The primary order of business was how to administer occupied Germany as well as the post-War order, peace treaties, and the huge problems created by the War. The primary importance concerning the Pacific War was that Stalin secretly pledged to enter the War by August 15. President Truman informed Stalin of the atmoic bomb. Because of Soviet espionahe, he already knew. The Conference issued a declaration demanding that Japan immediately surrender or face "prompt and utter destruction" (July 26). The Japanese did not respond. Some Japanese officials actually thought the Potsdam Declaration showed the success of their policy of bleeding the Americans. Although the Potsdam Declaration called for unconditional surrender, there was language providing for Japan eventually rehoining the community of nations. Also and perhaps more impotantly, the Soviet Union did not sign the Declaration.

Japanese Strategy: Bleed the Americans

The Japanese military situation by 1945 was perilous. Even the most ardent militarist had long since given up on winning the Pacific War. Japan's strategy was now only how total defent could be prevented. The strategy was to cause as many Allied casualties as possible and bleed the Americans so severely that the United States would not dare invade the Japanese Home Islands. Many Japanese military commanders were still convinced that they could out last the Americans. [Thomas, p. 139.] Here the Japanese resistance at Iwo Jima and Okinawa along with the Kamikaze attacks had considerable success. The teraine of the Mainlands was similar to that of Okinawa--very mountenous. American intelligence reports picked up indications that the Japanse were reinforcing Kyushu. President Truman began to see a series of Okinawa campaigns and huge casualties all along the Japanese Home Islands from Kyushu to Tokyo. His requests for caualty estimates from General Marshal were avoided. The Japanese prepared the Shosango victory plan for the defence of the home islands. Primeminister Kantarô Suzuki took office (April 1945). The government refined the Shosango plan with Ketsugo an Emperor Hirohito approved the plan. The idea was to defend the Home Islands to the last man. And this did not mean just soldiers, but civilans as well--including children. Ketsugo was to prepare the Japanese people psychologically to die as a nation in an effort to defend the Home Iskands. School children, boys and girls, were to be taught to construct makeshift weapons such as sharpened bamboo poles. Soldiers were assigned to schools to show children how to do this. We are unclear at this time just to what extent the Japanse were actually implementing Ketsugo. A Japanese reader from Tokyo tells me that he was sent into the country and received no such training. Other reports indicate that children were receiving this training. One fact is certain, American planners did expect a suisidal and costly Japanese resistance. The caualties resulting from the Japanese strategy and the liklihood of even more severe resistance if the United States invaded the Home Islands is a factor that has to be taken into account in the assessment of the subsequent decession to use the bomb.

Japanese Actions

There was little Japanese reaction to the Allies Potsdam Declaration (July 26). Prime Minister Suzuki decided to essential ignore it. Many officials cling on to the hope that the Soviets would mediate an end to the War, despite the fact that the Soviets had given them no reason to beliece that they would. The Emperor also showed little urgency. He busied himself collecting the imperial regalia (the acred mirror, sword, and curved jewel).

Atomic Bomb (August 1945)

Soviet Invasion of Manchuria (August 8, 1945)

Stalin kept his pledge made at Potsdam. He moved the date up after the Hiroshima bombing as he wanted to be in the War before Japan surrendered. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan just before morming and launched a massive iknvasion of Machuria (August 8, 1945). They Soviet invasion was the largest ground operation of the Pacific War. The Red Army rapidly swept over Manchuria. Japanese resistance crumpled. The Soviet invasion is not well covered in Western histories of the War. One question that arises is why the Japanese so quickly suceeded in Manchuria while the United States struggled in Okinawa. I think this is primarily because Okinawa was a small island where the Japanese could concentrate their forces in mountenous terraine. Manchuria was a huge area, much of it a flat plane, idea for tank warfare. The Japanese could not defend it like they were able to do on Okinawa. Perhaps readers more familiar with the Soviet invasion will be able to tell us more.

Japanese Deliberations

The Hiroshima Bomb (August 6) and the Soviet invasion (August 8) moved the Japanese Government to action. The War Cabinent met again t 10:30 in the morning (August 9). Foreign Minister Togo suggested offering peace terms with only one condition--the preservation of the Emperor. General Anami demanded other conditions, including no occupation, allowing the military to disarm itself, and to try its war criminals. Anami assured the Emperor that the Americans had only one atomic bomb. While the meeting was going on, news arrived that a second bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki. The Full Cabinet met, but they were also divided. Only the Emperor could dcide the issue. The Emperor resisted gicing up his authority. Figures like Hironumi, a Shinto Fundametalist, imsisted that this was not a constitutiinal question, that the imperial line existed before the 1871 constitutiob and could not be separated from the country';s very existeance. The Emperor broke the deadlock, approving an offer to surrender as long as it did not prejudice the perogatives of the Throne. The Japanese offer reached Washington (August 10). President Truman and his advisors were divided. Stimson wanted to accept, both to use the Emperor to assure compliance with the surrender and to avoid Soviet participation in the occupation. Byrne's advised against the accepatance, fearing public oposition to retaining the Emperor. Truman decided to side steo the Japanese language and send the Japanese a message making it claer that the occupation authority woyld be in charge.

Surrender (September 1945)

The Allies at in the Potsdam Declaration demanded that Japan surrender (July 27, 1945). , the Allied powers requested Japan to surrender. The Japanese military despite the fact that the Allied bombing had destroyed major cities, were determined to resist, hoping that the cost of invading Japan would deter the Allies. The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9). The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria (August 8). There is reason to believe that the Soviet declaratioin of war and rapid seizure of Manchuria was more important in forcing Japan to surrender than the atomic bombs. Emperor Hirohito finally decided to surrender unconditionally (August 14). The success of the Soviet Army convinced even Imperial Army officers and the Ministry of war that defeat was inevitable. Emperor Hirohito on August 14 decided to surrender unconditionally. Even after the atomic bombs and the debacle in Manchuria, there were hardliners that were opposed to surrender. A group calling themselves the Young Tigers seized the Imperial Palace grounds and tried to prevent the Emperor's surrender broadcast. The attempted coup almost succeded. On what has become called "Japan's Longest Day" the attempted coup, bombing raid blackout, intrigues, killings, and sepukus determined fate of millions of Japanese people. It iwas a complicated series of events involving both great heroism and treason by officers convinced that they were behaving honorably. The Commander of the Eastern Army, however, remained loyal to the Emperor, dooming the coup. [PWRS] The formal surrender was held underneath the guns of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Not knowing just what the Japanese were planning, the American carriers were standing at sea off Japan.

Occupation and Aftermath

American troops landed in Japan immediately after the Imperial Government surrendered on September 3. The American occupation was completely unlike the Japanese occupation of the countries that it had conquered. Most Japanese were stunded by the final year of the War and the massdive destruction. There was also widespread hunger. Many Japanese had been led to expect a brutal American occupation. The United States oversaw an occupation with fundamentally changed the nature of Japanese society, rooting out Japanese militarism and fomenting the development of democratic political regimes and social structures. Women were enfranchized and labor unions allowed to organize.

Individuals

We note an unidentified boy graduating in 1939. Japan had been at war in China for 2 years. While China was devestated by the Japanese onslaught, the Japanese people at home were not yet significantly affected as would be the case when Japan attacked the United States. A Japanese reader Fujioka Keisukeremembers his childhood during and after the War began with America.

Japanese Views of the War

Most countries that played important roles in World War II have come to terms with the War. Japan and the Soviet Union are the principal country today which keeps the truth of the War from their school children. What Japanese children are told about the War is a widely debated subject in Japan. Most Japanese children today believe that their country was a victim of the War and not the primary agressor nation. The atmomic boming of Hiroshima and Nagasaki receive wide coverage every year leading children to view theur country as a victim of the War. Few Japanese children have any ide of the enormity of Japanese war crimes. Important Japanese politicians, especially officials with nationalist sympathies in the Liberal Democratic Party, persist in perpetrating a number of myths and historical lies. This has caused considerable problems for Japan in countries they occupied during the War and wear war crimes were committed. One of the most persistent myths is that Japan was "tricked" in attacking the United States by a wiley American President. The truth of course is that the decision to go to war was made by a series of Japanese government after a lengthy study of the evolving military situation in Europe and Asia. The Japanese decided to hitch their star to the Germans and the decesion to attack the United States was made at a time when the NAZI Panzers were ranpaging through the Soviet Union and the Soviet collapse seemed inevitable. The defense of being "tricked" is unworghy of a great nation. It is the kind of defense used by petty criminals caught up in a sting opetation.

Sources

Pacific War Research Society (PWRS). Compiler Kazutoshi Hando. Japan's Longest Day.

Spector, Ronald H. At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century (Viking, 2001), 463p.

Thomas, Evan. Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign, 1941-1945 (Simon & Schuster: New York, 2006), 414p.

Created: 11:08 PM 4/10/2005
Last updated: 3:12 AM 8/1/2008