The book is about Admiral Takeo Kurita and Admiral Matome Ugaki, on the Japanese side, and Admiral William Halsey and Commander Ernest Evans on the American side.
The book starts right off with Halsey's famous saying:
”Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs!
Later, Halsey told the papers: “We are drowning and burning them all over the Pacific, and it is just as much pleasure to burn them as to drown them.”
This gives a person a very good idea of just how intense some of the anti-Japanese feeling was on the part of the U.S. military. “Dehumanizing the enemy to make it easier to kill them is an ancient practice between warring nations, but rarely has it been practiced with more depraved creativity than in the Pacific war.”
I think looking at some of the racist cartoons and propaganda posters I have elsewhere on my site will give the reader a glimpse of how strong these feelings were.
The book says that the two countries were blinded by their racial and cultural bias (and lack of knowledge of each other), and this led to misjudging each other. The Japanese thought the U.S. would give up the fight quickly because they viewed us as “weak and decadent, a nation of frightened housewives, labor agitators, and greedy plutocrats.”
They figured that they would win the war easily and quickly; it came as a shock to them when the “weak” U.S. turned into a world powerhouse.
A Fifth Air Force intelligence circular from July, 1945, stated that “the entire population of Japan is a proper Military Target...THERE ARE NO CIVILIANS IN JAPAN.”
This approach made the firebombing of the Japanese cities all the easier in the eyes of military personnel.
Another really important point the book makes is this: “The job of an American soldier or sailor, to paraphrase Gen. George S. Patton, was not to die for his country, but to make the enemy die for his.” The Japanese already had the concept of surrender being unacceptable, so this led to the various “banzai charges” where hundreds of Japanese would charge U.S. positions at a time, knowing full well that they were outgunned and outmanned, and they died in the hundreds and the thousands. The kamikaze attackers died in a like manner, believing that, in death, their souls would journey to Yasukuni shrine. The Americans, on the other hand, emphasized trying to live through things; do the job, live, and fight another day.
Another interesting tidbit in the book is that if an enlisted man failed to salute an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, that officer was required to hit the man five times with his fist. This was part of the brutality in the Japanese military, a brutal pecking order that resulted in ordinary soldiers being just as brutal to civilians and enemy troops, something which led to the way to some terrible atrocities.
Another tidbit: the portrait of the Japanese emperor that hung in schoolhouses (and on ships) was always something that was to be rescued. The book says that some high school principals who had failed to rescue the portrait when their schools caught on fire were so shamed that they committed suicide.
The book does talk some about Yamamoto who was one of the very few in the Japanese military who knew just how much of a mistake it was going to be to go to war with the U.S. He wasn't listened to, of course.
In relation to the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, the book has something I have not seen elsewhere, and that is a division of labor. Political leadership and heavy industry was to be Japan's contribution; light industry and manual labor was China's; rice was for Korea, and animal husbandry was to be Manchuria's contribution.
Yamamoto was also against building the two superbattleships, Yamato and Musashi. He thought they would not be very useful, and they weren't.
Another Halsey quote: “Before we're through with 'em, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell.”
He also wrote in a letter that, after the war was over, he was in favor of neutering all the Japanese left.
In 1942, the Japanese lost about 1,000 planes. In another year, they would lose around 6,000.
In referring to sinking barges of Japanese troops, Halsey said “It was rich, rewarding, beautiful slaughter.” He also often ended his dispatches with the words KEEP 'EM DYING.
In early 1944, Hirohito berated his admirals, saying “When and where on earth are you ever going to put up a good fight? ... And when are you ever going to fight a decisive battle?” This tends to show that Hirohito kept up on what was happening with the war and was taking a fairly active part in it.
The book points out that there was not one single Tokyo Rose, but that it was a general name used for several women who did broadcasts.
One of the reasons why Japanese newspapers did not report American victories was that “Any newspaperman who praised the enemy's performance was officially branded a traitor, so the Japanese press never reported American success or improvement.”
The fleet that Ozawa used to decoy Halsey had a bunch of pilots who were so inexperienced that, if they took off from the carriers, they were unable to land because they did not know how to do so.
In relation to the sinking of a Japanese ship and picking u survivors, Halsey ordered: “I ordered our destroyers, 'Bring in cooperative Nip flotsam for an intelligence sample. Non-cooperators would probably like to join their ancestors and should be accommodated.'”
In relation to a possible invasion of Japan itself, the book says that Japan was preparing for mass suicide. The battle for Okinawa cost 12,000 American lives, and the lives of 200,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians. “The death toll for the Battle of Kyushu alone would be many times that.” It also points out that Japan had lost almost 3 million people in the war, and that as many as 10 millipn were suffering serious malnutrition.
aaweigh.mp3
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