Read This Alone-And The War Can Be Won
I've referred to this book elsewhere on my pages, and I finally managed to find it reproduced. It was basically written for the soldiers to explain in as simple language as possible everything they needed to know about going to war. They could read the book while on transport ships.
What I will do is comment on a few portions of the booklet.
Sections IV and V note how the book is simple, easily read, and for all ranks of soldiers. That approach makes a lot of sense, of course.
A good table of contents is included which is another good idea if you want to make a really readable document. After the table of contents is done, each section is explored in greater depth.
Chapter 1: This refers to the history of Japan and how it was isolated for a long period of time by the Tokugawa regime. It refers to the various Western nations that sailed to Japan during that time “as if it were theirs by natural rights.” It notes how various territories were taken by “white men”, and how millions of Asians have “suffered constant exploitation and persecution at their hands.”
This is setting up the idea of the Sacred War to free the Asian peoples from their enslavement by the evil Western powers. The Japanese tried to present their actions as something for the good of everyone rather than what it really was, an attempt to establish their own empire and secure the natural resources that they wanted.
The next paragraph talks about “the august power and influence of His Majesty the Emperor,” showing how important the Emperor was considered to be; he was actually thought to be divine, directly descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu. The paragraph goes on to talk about how the Far East countries look at Japan, and how they can achieve independence with the help of Japan.
Section 2 notes how India and other areas are dominated by a minority of white men from England, France, the US, and the Netherlands. As far as this part goes, the Japanese were absolutely correct. The various countries had been taken as territories and colonies by England and other countries despite the fact that the countries really had no right to do that. There were millions of Asians under the control of a white minority, and that is a basic fact of the times.
The section goes on to describe the fancy homes of the whites and how the whites expect “from the moment they issue from their mothers' wombs, to be alloted a score of so of natives as their personal slaves.” Again, the Japanese are speaking what is basically the truth for the times. The Western countries looked down on the peoples of the Asian countries, living a life of wealth extracted from the natives who, theoretically, should be the ones who own the country.
The third section of this part talks about how the Western countries have been working to prevent Japan from getting the raw materials that it needs, and again that was true at the time. The embargoes that were put into effect against Japan could reasonably been seen, from the viewpoint of the Japanese, as a very offensive action taken against their country to deny them the same types of things that the Western nations take for granted.
Chapter 2, section 1. “Its task is the rescue of Asia from white aggression, the restoration of Asia to the Asians...” Again, the idea of Asia for the Asians is shown as a cause for the Japanese actions in the Far East.
A part that shows just how unrealistic parts of the document can be, though, is shown when the section talks about how Japan had “rescued” Manchuria from the ambitions of the Soviets, “and set China free from the extortions of the Anglo-Americans.” Manchuria was not “rescued.” It was invaded, taken over, and made a puppet state of Japan.
The constant referring to the “Emperor's will” shows again the attempt to link the war to a sacred cause; since the Emperor was considered to be divine, then his desire to have “the peoples of the world...each be granted possession of their rightful homelands” would thus be a divine mission.
This section says that, from the viewpoint of the natives of the Far East countries, the British, Dutch, Americans and French are “armed robbers.” It also says that many of the natives have become “tools of the white men”, and that this group is more numerous in the civil service. Such people are to be “eliminated” if they cause the Japanese “mischief”, but “if they come to offer submission, we must have the magnanimity to welcome and pardon them.
Section 4 talks about how the Japanese and others have been treated as an inferior race, and that, again, is simply a statement of fact. There is no doubt at all that the Japanese and Chinese, especially in the US, were treated as being inferior to whites.
”The present war is a struggle between races...” This supports the idea that the Pacific theater, at least, was a racial war.
The part that is most significant is this, though:
”But pillaging, molesting women, and the heedless slaughter or maiming of people who offer no resistance, or any action which may sully the reputation of Japan as a country of moral rectitude, should be condemned by all in the strongest terms. You must do nothing to impair your dignity as soldiers of His Majesty the emperor in His Majesty's Army. You must in particular show compassion toward the old and toward women and children.”
This was a section that was massively ignored, of course. The Rape of Nanking is a prime example, but things like that were done by the Japanese army in numerous areas including the Philippines. The internment camps for women and children, in the way that they were run and the suffering of those in them, also goes against this section. You don't win the hearts and minds of a people you are trying to “liberate” from some other country by killing untold thousands of innocents, raping women, or putting large numbers of people in camps that are filthy, disease-ridden, and giving them little food and water and beating them.
Section 5 talks about the Chinese in Java in a rather nasty way. The section says that the Chinese in the area were basically tools of the Western powers, and that they have “no enthusiasms outside the making of money.”
Section 6 works to reinforce section 4, saying that “troops who are really efficient in battle do not plunder and rob, chase after women, or drink and quarrel.... Bear in mind that the misbehavior of one soldier reflects upon the good name of the whole Army, and discipline yourself.” Again, it sounds nice, but it was something that was not at all followed by the Japanese soldiers.
The section goes on to say “You must discipline yourselves to correct behavior, that your meritorious deeds and feats of endurance may not be turned to nothing by a moment of dissipation...”
Again, something that was not followed.
Section 7 returns to the them of Japan not being able to buy the natural resources it needs due to the activity of the British and the Americans.
Section 9 has a particularly strong put-down of “native” women:
”...you would do well to consider that native women are almost all infected with venereal disease, and that if you tamper with them you will also make the whole native population your enemy.”
Chapter 3, section 4, notes how difficult it is for the Japanese soldiers to be supplied all the way from Japan. This goes along with the idea of living off the land that was mentioned earlier.
Chapter IV, section 2: An acknowledgment that the bodies of the dead might not be recovered; therefore, each person is to put a lock of hair and some fingernail clippings in a box so those, at least, can be sent home if they are killed.
On part 4, there's a reference made to “Our opponents are even more feeble than the Chinese Army, and their tanks and aircraft are a collection of rattling relics. Victory is certain, and the only problem is how to win in the cleverest way.” From what I have read, the Japanese army was able to push the Chinese army around fairly well, but not with complete ease, so they weren't all that weak. I'm not sure what the term “other opponents” refers to unless it's the defenses of the British and Dutch.
Chapter 7, part 2, refers to the Native inhabitants and gives another good idea of just how little the Japanese thought of them. “Native settlements-since the natives' standard of living is extremely low, and their ideas on hygiene are non-existent-are nests of fleas, lice, bedbugs and infectious disease.”
This is continued when it says that the army is to separate an area usable only by troops, and “remove all natives from that area, clean it thoroughly,and disinfect it.”
The bloodthirsty nature of the army comes through when it talks about landing and facing the enemy. “Here before you is the man whose death will lighten your heart of its burden of brooding anger. If you fail to destroy him utterly you can never rest at peace.”
A strong put-down of Westerners is contained in section 2 where it says that Westerners are “...very effeminate and very cowardly-have an intense dislike of fighting in the rain or the mist, or at night.” This is one of the areas where both sides made the same mistake – they underestimated the ability of the soldiers of the other side.
There an entire chapter on the use of poison gas which, fortunately, did not end up being a weapon that was used frequently. I've read where it might have been used in China by the Japanese army, but the greatest threat was during any invasion of the Japanese homeland where it is almost sure that both sides would have used poison gas. The US definitely had plans for its use.
Another put-down of the natives where it notes that “Since the natives defecate and urinate quite freely in all lakes and streams, and even the water which the natives use for drinking is full of germs, it is safest to drink only water which has been properly purified by filtering.”
”At stake in the present war, without a doubt, is the future prosperity or decline of the Empire. Slowly, little by little, like a man strangling his victim with a soft cord of silken floss, America has been prohibiting the export to Japan of oil and steel.”
There doesn't seem to be any doubt that the US attempt to control oil, scrap iron and other shipments to Japan was regarded as a very hostile action and one which the Japanese deeply resented. That they were planning to use the materials to continue their aggression, and that the US didn't want to support that aggression, didn't seem to be of much concern to them.
This section talks about all the soldiers Japan has lost on the mainland of China, and how the weapons used to kill them were supplied by England and America, and that those two countries want to keep the Far East “...in a permanent state of subjugation and colonization...”
This is a very interesting pamphlet, especially in that it gives the reader a good idea of one of the reasons Japan was going to war, Japan's view of the “natives,” and the instructions that were most ignored, those being how to properly treat defeated people and captured prisoners.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
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