Something often overlooked...

Something often overlooked when dealing with the Japan of the war period. That is the status of the God-Emperor; Hirohito.

As the U.S. pivoted its great war effort from Europe to the Pacific, it came face to face with a startling fact—it was waging war against a god. Its sea armada had already crushed his island outworks. Its planes were pulverizing his cities. Now its armies were preparing to invade the sacred soil of his homeland.

To the god's worshipers this would be a sacrilege such as the desecration of a church would be to the invaders. Most Americans were unaware of the sacrilege.* To them this god looked like a somewhat toothy, somewhat bandy-legged, thin-chested, bespectacled little man. But to 70 million Japanese he was divine. He was the Emperor Hirohito. (bold mine)
　
See;

JAPAN: The God-Emperor - TIME

Be sure to read the entire article, there are six pages in the link.

 

I quite agree brndrt1. This was what largely motivated many Japanese to go on fighting and devoting their lives to their emperor despite impossible odds.

Essentially, these men and women wouldn't want to disappoint a god and that's why they acted the way they did. This is largely a simplistic explanation but I think it covers the bare bones.

 

This is true and actually there might be no other answer to why they acted as they did as simple as it is. We have so many examples from history and from present day that when man's beliefs are strong enough, he can do anything.

 

How many Japanese soldiers are listed as executed for desertion?

How many Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner?

How many Japanese infantry soldiers were "thrown out of their units", as was standard practice when no longer suitable fighting material...?

When we can answer all of these questions, and express the figures as percentages of the overall number of Japanese in uniform, it may be possible to gauge the level of national will behind the war effort. What kind of measures did the IJA resort to for avoidance of the above three occurrances?

Did the IJA run their equivalent of 'blocking detachments', or impose capital punishment on the spot for desertion in the face of the enemy?

Is it possible to estimate the number of Japanese, civilians as well as soldiers, who were simply 'going along for the ride', held to discipline by the rules of the regime?

 

Those numbers will not show you what you are looking for.

For instance, the US executed one man for desertion during World War II, Private Edward "Eddie" Donald Slovik. However, there were many deserters from US forces during WW2, they either returned to their units or received jail time and a dishonorable discharge.

As to Japanese prisoners, you would have to look at how many willfully surrendered as opposed to those who didn't(badly wounded, unconscious, etc.)

Also, I don't see soldiers deserting or surrendering as a matter of national will, so much as it is a matter of personal willpower. How much a soldier can cope with before he "cracks". Each and every soldier has his own "breaking point," whether he is led by a god or a president has little to do with where that breaking point is. Although the Japanese military did a thorough job of indoctrinating, or dare I say "brainwashing," their troops and the civilians at home, it may have given them an extra edge. However, once the early disasters of 1941-42 were over, there was little surrendering done by either side during the bloody fighting in the Pacific.

The Japanese were strict disciplinarians. Severe beatings were handed out for the smallest infractions of the rules. Other times the whole unit would be punished for the failing of an individual. That said, I believe, the common Japanese soldier was less inclined to disobey orders.

AFAIK, the Japanese did not have or use Penal battalions.

Were the civilians "going along for the ride" held there by discipline? Or where they "going along" because the government was telling them, even into 1945, that the Japanese were winning incredible victories. I would say that the Japanese civilians were still going along, because until the B-29s started fire bombing their cities, the Japanese civilians thought they were winning the war. The Japanese military government hadn't told them of the disastrous losses that they had suffered. Heck, the Japanese Army and Navy were not even honest amongst themselves, and did not tell each other of disasters suffered.

 

I have Colonel Hiromichi Yahara's history of the 'Battle for Okinawa' on my desk here. Col Yahara was a staff officer with the 32d Army that defended Okinawa. From his description of the actions of individual in & near the 32d Army HQ, and of the behavior he observed amoung the Japnese PoW after the battle, it is clear there was a growing minority of Japanese who could not persuade themselves to 'die honorablly'. Unlike many of the smaller islands there were opportunities for the determined individual to avoid the final days or hours of killing. Yahara's text is not simple & I've not read it throughly, so I cant say much more here without risking error.

 

Greetings Carl,

Your post reminded me that I had this page buried in my bookmarks.
Japanese Deserters in Okinawa

While it deals mostly with Okinawan conscripts and civilians, it did have some figures that Volga might be looking for.

 

..not all or most of the Japanese wanted to die for the Emperor or even for Japan..they were humans also.....like the Germans in 1945, they knew what was up ......

 

good call
..I just saw this picture as I searched yesterday --hahahahaa....
I would think, the '''willingness''' to die would be less than the opposite
..key words are '''not all or most''' ....you always have fanatics
..also, not all were stupid .....of course their culture was different than the Germans, but I just read yesterday [ as a matter of fact ] of a lot of German civilians and soldiers who did not obey orders to fight to the death/destroy '''undestroyed''' German cities/etc ....
....wouldn't some fight to the death for their families more so than the Emperor?

 

Never argue with a woman with a sharp object..the results can have consequences...wasn't for the a-bombs...Japan wasn't going to surrender...civilian waves with sticks and shovels was the last defense.

 

..I thought that was the tactic Ichiki used at Guadalcanal--with disastrous consequences? at Betio also--and they had rifles/bayonets

 

..I don't know when I'll be able to do that
..can you explain/etc?

 

Does Kershaw only discuss the war in the west...Or does he also look at the Eastern Front?

AFAIK, the Eastern Front was fought just as bitterly as that in the Pacific.