WAR RESPONSIBILITY--delving into the past (22) / Disregard for life led to huge damage, tragedy at home, abroad

The Yomiuri Shimbun

What should we learn from Showa War?

During the Showa War, individual lives and human rights were given scant regard in Japan, particularly so among military personnel. This apparently led to battlefield tragedies characterized by the never-surrender combat tactic known as "gyokusai," and the "tokko" suicide attacks.

The nation's disregard for lives and human rights during wartime in the Showa era (1926-1989) took hold as a traditional tactic of fighting in close quarters with swords and bayonets.

In the Battle of Guadalcanal, which continued for six months from August 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army repeatedly used the tactic against overwhelming U.S. firepower and manpower.

As a result, Japan suffered a massive defeat in the war against the United States.

The use of hand-to-hand combat style was originally outlined in the Infantry Training Manual that stipulated what actions soldiers should take. Focusing on hand-to-hand combat, the manual says, "The hallmark of infantry troops is to wage a battle and annihilate your enemies regardless of the terrain and time matters."

The second factor that led the nation to disregard lives and human rights was a mindset that placed priority on mental toughness, a trait peculiar to the Imperial Japanese Army.

Unlike the training manual for ordinary soldiers, instruction guidelines and command codes for officers and chiefs of staff pointed out that "winning or losing largely depends on psychological factors--this has not changed since ancient times."

This idea of mind over matter apparently led general staff officers to misread their enemies' situation and downplay information about the enemies.

"Gyokusai," which refers to a patriotic act of fighting to the death right down to the last man, in essence means the annihilation of an entire military unit.

The "gyokusai" tactic was used against enemy artillery since the battle in Attu, Alaska, in May 1943, but resulted only in piles of bodies.

"Tokko" attacks in which aircraft or manned torpedoes were crashed into enemy warships were regarded as "systematic suicides" as the missions were carried out on the assumption that the soldiers would die.

Weapons used for such suicide missions--such as Oka (Cherry Flower) manned glider bombs and Kaiten (Divine Fate) human torpedoes, both of which were developed and used by Japan's military during the war--embodied the army's inhumane treatment of soldiers.

Oppression of human rights also tightened domestically. Backed by fears of terrorism and coups that emerged in the public after the Feb. 26 Incident in 1936, politics buttressed by military police dominated the nation.

People who criticized the war or did not actively cooperate with the government and the military were quickly suppressed by the military police. Politicians, liberal theorists, social critics and scholars were targeted.

Writers were not allowed to publish their works unless they demonstrated that they believed the war would be won and they were willing to cooperate with the government and the military.

The national mobilization system introduced by the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe in 1938 was reinforced by the cabinet of Kiichiro Hiranuma in 1939 as a national movement in which the public should work with the government and military as a whole to ensure victory in the war.

When it was decided that the nation should fight on the mainland in the final months of the war, "kokumin giyutai" (national volunteer units) were organized at communities and workplaces to get ready for the battle against the U.S. forces.

Pamphlets were produced to encourage people to use bamboo spears, hatchets and kitchen knives as weapons. The pamphlets chillingly urged the people, "Each person should kill one enemy combatant."