August 20, 1945
Posted on 08/20/2015 4:23:09 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Over the last couple of days I’m struck by some of the apparent differences between our occupation of Germany and the impending occupation of Japan. I don’t know exactly how the two defeated countries would compare in terms of the actual physical destruction, but Japan seems to me to quite a bit more intact, in terms of how it is governed, and by whom.
Essay in the works about similarities and differences. However, the main point is that that Japan was not “crushed” in the way Germany was in the second war. We were able to co-opt a devastated but still functioning country, and the Japanese were left much to their own devices in the way that Germany was in 1919.
Got it.
August 20, 1945
Imperial army ex-cadet remembers public’s about-face in August 1945
by Toshimitsu Sawai
One of the last cadets of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy vividly remembers how popular attitudes toward military officers in the final days of World War II seemed to change overnight.
In 1943 when Italy, which formed part of the Axis alliance with Japan and Germany, signed an unconditional armistice with the Allies “I thought something grave had happened and decided I should go to war like a man,” said 86-year-old Arata Totsuka, referring to his decision to take the entrance examination for the academy.
Competition for entry was tough, as a large number of young people were eager to attend the school for free education to become army officers.
The naval academy was much more popular as its uniform was “better looking,” Totsuka said. But he applied for the army academy because “I didn’t want to die by drowning.”
Totsuka passed the exam and joined the academy as a member of the 61st class in February 1945. On his first day at the academy, he recalled an instructor telling him: “If U.S. forces land tomorrow, each of you should die after killing 10 Americans, and we will fully teach you how to kill them.”
The instruction was shocking enough but Totsuka was more shocked several days later when he heard a company commander say: “You shouldn’t wish for a glorious death like suicide-mission pilots because you will become regular army officers.
“Glorious death is for reserve officers who were university students,” the commander continued. “You should die like bugs crushed under the sole of a shoe.”
The commander’s words “undeniably had lingering effects on the rest of my life,” Totsuka said.
The academy decided in late July of that year to conduct military drills for the cadets in the absence of U.S. air raids at the foot of Mount Haruna in Gunma Prefecture. They left the academy building, then located in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, on Aug. 10, as the Soviet Union was reported to be entering the war against Japan.
“We were aboard a north-bound train and passengers thought we would go to fight against the Soviet forces. They encouraged us to fight on their behalf,” Totsuka said.
But the war ended before the cadets engaged in any actual fighting.
“I was totally at a loss as I never thought the war would end without soldiers such as us dying,” he said.
“I don’t remember what I did on the afternoon of Aug. 15 after listening to the radio broadcast” by Emperor Hirohito, who announced the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies.
U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed at Atsugi Airfield in Kanagawa Prefecture two weeks later.
“Contrary to our trip from Tokyo, passengers looked down on us on the train back. I wondered how people could change their attitudes so much in only two weeks,” Totsuka said, recalling his experience being demobilized and sent home.
Upon returning home, Totsuka visited the Imperial Palace and met a large number of servicemen there.
“When I saw U.S. B-29 bombers, with open bomb bays, fly over us one after another, I could really understand our defeat,” Totsuka said.
An amazing collection of photos I found.
The first couple are of the Japanese surrender party deplaning in Manila on August 20th.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/5372450010/in/photostream/
Worth browsing through the rest of the pictures as well.
Official ceremonies in Hamilton (Ontario) to mark the end of the war and remember those who lost their lives- August 20, 1945.
http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/wwii-photo-archive-captures-the-realities-of-the-world-at-war/
Neither would I, but I don't consider hiding in a dank cave, waiting to be burned to a crisp by a flamethrower, to be much of an alternative.
Found a link in the comments to a video:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/manila-and-rangoon-japanese-surrender
Thanks for posting that photo of Temple Emmanu-El (on p. 18). My wife and I got married there, 35+ years ago.
Fortunately, my case was mild, although I still feel its after-effect daily.
Did a little searching and it seems to be true:
Doc 2701, Exhibit O — The order to murder all the POWs Source: NARA, War Crimes, Japan, RG 24, Box 2015 Some claim the author of this “policy memorandum” from the war ministry did not have the authority to issue such an order, but the memorandum was transmitted to every POW Command and POW prison camp commander. Other documents in this same file prove that commanders had solicited from all commands suggestions for “methods to dispose of the POWS” in the preceding months.
Wow. Great film. Thanks!
The order to “liquidate” POWs does not surprise me.
Over the years I have read sentiments from Japanese to the same effect, that we were not defeated but betrayed. We have seen that the last few days from 1945 contemporaries.
There is a variation that we were not defeated but were forced to surrender by the Americans committing war crimes and dropping A-Bombs on us. Unfortunately, many leftie loonie Americans like to join in that one.
By the time of Midway, the islands were too well defended and Japan did not have enough unengaged forces to do it. Plus, they didn't have enough sealift to supply a prolonged operation in Hawaii. Another question was air support. It's one thing to do a quick hit but quite another to support sustained air and sea operations within range of land based defenders.
Another thing that emerged was that for a time the IJN wanted to invade Australia but the Army said absolutely not; it didn't have the forces to spare.
So, somewhat surprisingly, Hanson Baldwin committed multiple violations of henkster' law!
I was thinking that very thing when I read it! :-)
Sometimes I think my essays get overly wordy, and by looking at his article today, in that sense Baldwin and I are kindred spirits. He could have conveyed the true accurate meaning of World War 2 in the Pacific by trimming down and editing his first paragraph to read:
In their challenge to the United States the Japanese grossly underestimated the industrial strength of the United States and the moral will of its people. The raid against Pearl Harbor, and the war as whole…should not have been made at all.
He should have stopped there, but when you bill by the word, well....
True of most writers. When I edit, I usually force myself to reduce it 30+%, and I find myself liking it more the leaner it is. And, as I noted previously, I try to apply Ephesians 4:29.
Nevertheless, your writing has certainly been worth wading through all that extraneous, pompous, self-aggrandizing liking-the-sound-of-his-own-voice blowhard-itis reading. As I've said, I've learned a lot in spite of the unbelievable pretentiousness--and you're not even getting paid for this inflated bloat. Thanks so much for your condescension in sharing your eternal thoughts with us mere mortals efforts.
You are so bad. lol...
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