'Moral Lack of Courage' of 'Hell' Leaders After Imphal 31 Aug 11:55

A commander of the British army who fought against the Japanese army in the Pacific War described the constitution of the upper echelons of the Japanese army as follows.

“The fundamental flaw of Japanese military leaders is a lack of moral courage, as opposed to physical courage. I don't have the courage to admit that I am." (14th Army Commander William Slim *The person in the title image)

The stage of the battle was the Burma Front (now Myanmar), known for the Imphal operation.

In fact, far more lives were lost after the Imphal operation, which was said to be "the most reckless" in the Pacific War.

What kind of constitution of the leaders created further "hell"?

After 77 years, we will uncover the reality of the "lack of moral courage" that we should face.

(NHK Special "Battlefield of Despair in Burma" coverage group)

“Further Hell” after Operation Imphal

March 1942, 80 years ago.

At the beginning of the Pacific War, the victorious Japanese army invaded Rangoon (now Yangon) and occupied Burma, which had been colonized by the British.

However, with the loss of the Battle of Midway, the situation soon reversed, and the defeat became more intense.

Among them, the imphal operation, which was said to be "the most reckless" in the Pacific War, was carried out to retaliate.

Operation Imphal, which marched 470 km through mountainous areas from Burma and attempted to capture the British military base in Imphal, India.

A strategy that disregarded supply ended in a crushing defeat, and the road where 30,000 soldiers fell was called the "Skeleton Highway".

However, an analysis of the list of the war dead reveals that many more soldiers lost their lives after this battle.

Left image (July 1, 1944)

　⇒ Pale purple human figure is the war dead

until

　the end of the Imphal operation war dead

The focus was on the year from July 1944, when the Imphal operation was canceled, to the end of the war.

The death toll during that time accounted for nearly 80% of all casualties in Burma.

167,000 Japanese soldiers died after the invasion of Burma.

More than 100,000 more lives had been lost after the Imphal operation.

What happened after Operation Imphal?

It is the beginning of 1945, half a year after the cancellation of the operation.

On the south bank of the Irrawaddy River, which flows through central Myanmar, the Japanese army met the British army, which was aiming to recapture Rangoon.

In a village that was once a fierce battlefield, remains are still being discovered one after another.

Female villager at the battlefield:

“This area was a fierce battlefield. I heard that the Japanese soldiers hid in nearby trenches and died in the battle.”

Japan had completely lost air supremacy against the British air force of 500 aircraft.

In addition, the British land force is 260,000.

In contrast, the Japanese army had only 30,000.

Most of them were soldiers exhausted from the Imphal campaign.

Hajime Shigematsu (22 at the time), who had just been sent to Burma as a replacement soldier, vividly remembers the devastation of the Japanese army.

Hajime Shigematsu (99), former private of the 56th Infantry Regiment

, "When I asked, 'The battalion commander, a tank is coming. What should you do?' "Retreat" while running away.I'm just running away so that the enemy can't find me.Even if the Japanese army fires a single shot from a rifle, it won't do anything.There is no such thing as the Japanese spirit of Yamato."

"Imphal's failure lies in the weak commander" Bullish strategy guidance

The commander of the battle was Chief of Staff Shinichi Tanaka of the Burmese Army.

When he was the First Chief of the General Staff, he was a strong advocate of war with the United States.

Tanaka, the chief of staff, analyzed that the failure of the Imphal operation, which was defeated at the discretion of the military's upper management, was due to "a weak commander-in-chief," and advocated a bullish policy.

(From Shinichi Tanaka's "Memoirs of the Chief of Staff of the Burmese Army")

"I think it is absolutely necessary to seize the opportunity and make an effort to solve the problem by aggressively attacking instead of stagnation in passive defense."

Some officers suggested that the battle line should be drawn around Rangoon for a long, protracted battle.

However, Chief of Staff Tanaka established a defensive line in central Burma, where the Irrawaddy River is located.

He decided to meet the British.

However, the morale of the front line has dropped significantly due to the orders of the upper echelons who disregarded the difference in strength.

Tetsuo Sato (102), former sergeant major of the 58th Infantry Regiment

, "There was a burglary among the Japanese soldiers. They would take things from people who were about to die, saying, 'You're about to die.' At that time, the first priority was to protect oneself rather than war.”

They no longer had the strength to stand up to the Japanese army.

6,500 died in the Irrawaddy River.

The battle was "reckless" itself.

How did Chief of Staff Tanaka perceive the defeat at the Irrawaddy River?

Records were kept in the National Archives of England.

After the war, the British army conducted an interrogation report of 30 people, including staff officers of the Imperial General Headquarters of the Japanese army and senior officers of the local army.

Chief of Staff Tanaka emphasized the significance of his own strategy.

(From ``Interrogation Report of Chief of Staff Tanaka'')

``I didn't think the Japanese could hold the Irrawaddy line indefinitely. I thought.”

"Disappointment" spelled by a young officer

Having broken through Japan's defensive line, the British army aims at the capital Rangoon at once.

However, the upper echelons of the local army continued to act in a way that distracted them from the imminent danger.

Second Lieutenant Tokuji Wakai, who belonged to the anti-aircraft artillery unit and was fighting back in Rangoon, where the air raids were intensifying.

In his memoirs, he expressed his anger toward the military's upper echelons.

(From the memoirs of former Second Lieutenant Wakai)

“The chaotic behavior of high-ranking officers, centered on geisha, was something that covered my eyes. be"

A high-ranking officer used to go to the geisha restaurant "Suikoen" in Rangoon.

Originally, a restaurant in Kyushu opened a restaurant in Rangoon.

This time, we also found testimony records of Suikoen officials.

(Itamae's recollection)

"Soldiers from the Kiku Unit returned from the front line. They were all wearing worn-out military uniforms. However, Suikoen was lit up at night and there was a lot of commotion. One of them said, ``The army is so silly.

At that time, Ensign Wakai, who was 27 years old, was forced to graduate from university early due to the war and was enlisted.

His memoirs describe his disappointment with the army.

(From the memoirs of former Second Lieutenant Wakai)

“In the world of soldiers, I believed that only sincerity ruled, but things other than justice prevailed. I was exposing my sanomi."

I ordered you to hold on... The shock of the headquarters retreating

On March 27, 1945, as British forces approached Rangoon, the Burmese Army, which had a cooperative relationship with Japan, launched an uprising against Japan.

The rebellion quickly spread across the land.

A month later, an unusual situation occurs at the Burmese Army Headquarters in Rangoon.

Several members of the upper management suddenly withdrew from Rangoon, which was in danger of falling, by plane to the vicinity of the Thai border.

Local troops and civilians were left behind.

The decision to withdraw from the headquarters was made by Commander Heitarō Kimura of the Burma Area Army.

He was a vice-minister of the army in the Cabinet where Prime Minister Hideki Tojo concurrently served as Minister of War.

He was dispatched to Burma after Tojo fell from power due to the fall of Saipan.

The British had also heard in detail from Commander Kimura about this sudden withdrawal.

(From "Commander Kimura's Interrogation Report")

"We received a telegram from the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Army, Terauchi, saying that it was urgent to defend Rangoon to the end, but we could not follow his instructions. British forces. Given the tremendous advance of the Burmese Army, it should not be allowed to stand alone and cut off in Rangoon, and I am convinced that my decision to abandon Rangoon makes good sense. "

Meanwhile, the retreating leadership ordered the soldiers and civilians left behind to defend Rangoon.

At the Rangoon branch of the Japanese trading company Nicottsu Jitsugyo, 186 employees were hurriedly summoned to join the garrison of the capital as a defense force.

Mr. Keiichi Matsuoka, the branch manager who was ordered to be the platoon leader, was abandoned by his headquarters and wrote about the regret of losing many of his subordinates.

(From the memoirs of the head of the Matsuoka branch)

"The army commander gave us the order to 'defend Rangoon to the death,' but we, who were left behind in Rangoon, were stunned to learn that the headquarters had withdrawn a few days later. Our troops were always ambushed and attacked by the enemy, leading to the so-called ``Shirobone Highway Death March''. Out of the sixteen, fifty-two were killed in action."

The British army, which invaded Rangoon by sea and land, succeeded in recapturing the capital 11 days after the withdrawal of Commander Kimura and others.

Second Lieutenant Tokuji Wakai, who was writing his diary on the battlefield, was ordered to retake Rangoon.

(From the memoirs of Former Second Lieutenant Wakai)

"The headquarters, while only fleeing themselves, along with a few officers and soldiers in the Netherlands, said, ``You should hold on to this unprotected Rangoon.'' I'm leaving behind orders. Where can I find such contradictory thoughts?"

Hell near the end of the war Commander said, ``I thought it would be annihilated''

July 1945.

One month left until the end of the war.

The Burmese army was completely under British command.

The 34,000 soldiers, mainly from the 28th Army, who had been left behind by the sudden withdrawal of the headquarters, and many civilians who had fled Rangoon were surrounded by British and Burmese forces in the jungle.

The only way to survive was to break through the enemy and cross the great river Sittang that spreads out in front of you.

There was also malaria, starvation, and weakened and suicidal soldiers.

Second Lieutenant Tokuji Wakai was also hiding in the jungle to cross the Sittaung River.

(From the memoirs of former Second Lieutenant Wakai)

"Occasionally, explosions occur in the distance. This means that the number of suicides caused by hand grenades is increasing. Heavy rains are ruthlessly adding to the weakened, sick soldiers. This. Just how long must this transition into living hell continue?"

July 20th.

34,000 soldiers and civilians began to break through enemy lines all at once.

However, the British were quick to grasp this information.

They waited with the Burmese army and attacked all at once with overwhelming firepower.

Kaoru Shiozaki (101), former corporal of the 55th Division 2nd Field Hospital

. That's why, 15 or 16 of our troops were involved, and some of them died."

Another wall stood in front of those who managed to break through the enemy.

The river Sittaung swelled during the rainy season and was over 200 meters wide.

Takasuka Takasuga (95), Former Medical Petty Officer 1st Class, Navy 17th Guards Corps (95)

“The Burmese soldiers on the other side of the river are shooting at the Japanese soldiers. The corpses floated and drifted into the Indian Ocean.I still cry when I remember the battlefield.”

The soldiers and civilians continued to withdraw even in September, unaware of the end of the war.

The death toll eventually reached 19,000.

Regarding this tragedy, Commander Kimura, who had evacuated from Rangoon, said the following in response to questioning by British forces.

(Excerpted from ``Commander Kimura's Interrogation Report'')

``No matter where the 28th Army tried to break through the enemy in the Sittaung River, it would encounter serious difficulties, and I thought it would be difficult to endure. thought the 28th Army would be almost wiped out."

The last year after exhausting the imphal operation.

The Japanese military leader completely abandoned the situation even though he ordered a thorough resistance to the field.

The “cause of defeat” of the Japanese army as seen by the commander of the enemy country

"We don't have the courage to admit that we made a mistake and that we need to rethink our plans.

" British Commander William Slim.

He also analyzes the “strength and weakness” of the Japanese army in this way.

(From William Slim's "Defeat into Victory")

"The Japanese are ruthless and bold like ants when their plans are going well. It is true that in war some things can be achieved with determination alone, and flexibility without determination cannot produce results.However, the ultimate success It is the combination of the two that brings about.The hardest test of a commander is to balance this determination and flexibility.Decision scored high for the Japanese army. We paid a heavy price for our lack of flexibility.”

77 years ago, the constitution of the Japanese army was exposed in the midst of the greatest adversity just before the end of the war.

This is by no means a trivial matter for those of us living in the midst of various crises today.

It is a history that must be faced without looking away.