Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War II (27 page)

15
Hoyt,
Japan’s War

16
Churchill in a letter to Sir Hastings Ismay, chief of the imperial defence staff, in early 1941

17
Quoted p.
101, Dower,
War Without Mercy

18
See p.
72, John Keegan (ed.),
Times Atlas of WWII
edited by John Keegan

19
Quoted p.
1009, 1.C.B Dear and M.R.D Foot (eds.),
The Oxford Companion to the Second World War
, Oxford University Press, 1995

20
Quoted p.
310, Behr, Hirohito,
Behind the Myth

PRISONERS OF THE JAPANESE

1
See p.
93, Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors

2
Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors
, p.
12

3
Yoshio Tshuchiya was imprisoned after the war by the Chinese for war crimes

4
Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors
, p.
66
.
Note that Murozimi’s evidence was disputed.
See
Hidden Horrors
, pp.
11—78, for a full analysis of the war crimes at Sandakan and Professor Tanaka’s own compelling analysis

5
Statistics quoted p.
2, Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors

7
See p.
60, Rees,
War of the Century

8
Quoted p.
112, Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors

9
Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors
, p.
121

10 Tanaka,
Hidden Horrors
, p.
129.
Order issued 18 November 1944

LURCHING TOWARDS DEFEAT

1
Quoted p.
432, Bix,
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

2
Quoted p.
36, Dower,
War Without Mercy

3
Quoted p.
1103, Dear and Foot (eds.),
The Oxford Companion to the Second World War

4
Quoted p.
71, Dower,
War Without Mercy

5
Quoted p.
188, Drea,
In the Service of the Emperor

6
After the war Michael Witowich had years of treatment for post-traumatic stress as a result, in particular, of his experiences on Saipan

7
The kamikaze interview material in this chapter (with the exception of the interview with Kenichiro Oonuki) is taken from the BBC film
Kamikaze
, shown in the
Timewatch
series in 1995 and published here for the first time.
The present author is the editor of the series and the film was written and produced by Jonathan Stamp

ENDGAME

1 Though note that the most often quoted number of marines killed in the battle of Iwo Jima is around 6000

2
This testimony, and the testimony of Charles Sweeney, Suzuko Numata and Akihoro Takahashi that follow, come from interviews contained in
Hiroshima — the Decision to Drop the Bomb
, transmitted on BBC1 on 6 August 1995.
The executive producer of this programme for the BBC was the present author and the film was a production of Antelope (UK) Ltd, written and produced by Jeremy Bennett, executive producer for Antelope Mick Csáky

3
Figures quoted p.
197, Keegan (ed.),
The Times Atlas of WWII

4
See p.
214, Drea,
In the Service of the Emperor

POSTSCRIPT

1
I am aware of the academic debate about the use of the word ‘perpetrator’ and — as much of the current academic thinking emphasizes — that there were ‘perpetrators’ during the war who did subsequently become ‘victims’.

2
Quoted p.
591, J.
Noakes and G.
Pridham (ed.),
Nazism 1939-1945, Vol. 2: State, Economy and Society 1933-1939
, University of Exeter Press, 1984

3
Public Record Office, London, PREM 3/89, quoted pp.
127-9 in Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman,
Higher Form of Killing
, Chatto and Windus, 1982

4
Quoted pp.
55-6, Robert Gellately,
The Gestapo and German Society
, Oxford University Press, 1991

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As this is a book based on a television series there are a large number of people I need to thank.
Jane Root, Controller of BBC2, commissioned the series, and without her commitment and subsequent help there would have been no television series and no book.
My other bosses, Paul Hamann, then Head of Documentaries and History, and Glenwyn Benson, Controller of Specialist Factual Programmes, were both also extremely supportive.
My co-producers at History Channel in America, particularly Charlie Maday and Joe La Polla, were always a fount of good advice, as was my German co-producer Volker Zielke of NDR in Hamburg.

Professor Akira Iriye of Harvard University was a wonderfully understanding and academically incisive series historical consultant; Professor Yuki Tanaka and Professor Sheldon Harris made a similarly essential contribution to the project.
In Japan Professor Tokushi Kasahara, Professor Yutaka Yoshida and Professor Herbert Bix (author of the brilliant recent biography of Hirohito) were especially helpful to us.
In Hong Kong we benefited greatly from the work of Jason Wordie, in Borneo Jon Rees and Doris Wong proved of invaluable assistance, in China Hong Qian did a terrific job, in Japan Miho Kometani did fine additional research for us, whilst in Australia Ian Affleck was of sterling aid.

Based in London, Martina Balazova was the Associate Producer on the series — she conducted many of the interviews herself and always proved to be a first-rate journalist on whom I could depend absolutely.
Our Japanese Assistant Producer, Fumio Kanda Lai-Hung, also did essential work — much of the original journalism in this project is a direct result of her tenacity and commitment.
Tanya Batchelor did a first-rate job as a researcher.
Archive research was diligently completed by Jane Mercer, and John Kennedy devised powerful graphics for the series.
Alan Lygo edited both programmes with the great artistry we have come to expect.
Of the many camera crews who worked with us special mention must be made of Martin Patmore and Brian Biffin, who once again travelled to inhospitable parts of the globe with me and kept their cheerful dispositions intact.

Lorraine Selwyn was a dedicated Production Manager of the project and Nancy Strang, my own assistant, was always generous in her support.
Ann Cattini, Unit Manager of the series, and now Production Executive of BBC History Programmes, was also an essential part of the production team, so much so that this book is dedicated to her.
For many years now she has not just managed financially all the history productions with which I have been involved, but has also made a vital creative contribution to each one of them.
It is important for me to recognize here her vital work on this project (and the previous ones).
Any success that these series have had is to a large extent thanks to her.

At BBC Books Sally Potter, Sue Kerr and Nicholas Brett were always kind and helpful, and Andrew Nurnberg also gave sound advice as ever.
My dear friend Professor Ian Kershaw kindly read a draft of the Postscript to this book and made a number of useful comments.
Professor Iriye not only wrote the generous introduction to this book, he also read the work in manuscript and corrected a number of errors (any that remain are my responsibility).

Of course, I also thank all of the interviewees whose names appear in the body of the book.
It is a privilege to be able to question people who have had their kind of extraordinary experiences, and I am grateful to every one of them for agreeing to be interviewed.

Finally, as this is the last of this trilogy of projects, I reserve my closing thanks to my family; to Oliver, Camilla and Benedict, but most of all to Helena.
What I owe her can’t be put into words.

INDEX

'2.26 Incident'

air-raids, Japanese cities

atomic bomb

Ali, Hatam

'Anti-Comintern Pact'

Bando camp

battle fatigue, US marines

biological warfare research

Borneo

marches to Api

Sandakan camp

brothels, military

cannibalism

Chamberlain, Neville

Channel Islands, occupation

chemical weapons

'Cherry Blossom' society

China, war in

Churchill, Winston

civilian suicides

colonial expansion

communist arrests

Coral Sea battle

Doolittle, James

Drewery, Irene

Dutch East Indies

Eagleton, James

economic depression

emperor, role of

see also
Hirohito,

Emperor

Enomoto, Masayo

excuse for actions

First World war

Floating Chrysanthemums

foreign policy

alliance with Germany

colonial expansion

documents

Geneva Convention

geri,
concept of

Gilbert Islands

Grant, Ulysses S.

Guadalcanal, island of

Gulf of Siam

Hashimoto, Yoshiko

Hay, Ronald

Hayashi, Fujio

Hedges, Bill

Henderson Field airstrip

Hewitt, Anthony

as POW

Hirohito, Emperor

'2.26 Incident'

accession to throne

death

false briefings

knowledge of army actions

poem reading

reaction to air-raids

surrender

under US occupation

Hiroshima

Hitler, Adolf

Hong Kong

attack on

POW camps

Hosokawa, Hachiro

human medical experiments

Human Rights codification

Imperial Rescript

Indochina

'infected-rat air-raids'

Iwo Jima

Java

kamikazes

Karashima,Toyoshige

Kempeitai

Kettle, Hans

Kinjou, Shigeaki

Kobayashi, Masaji

Kondo, Hajime

Konoe, Prince Fumimaro

Korea

Kumagaya, bombing of

Kure, bombing of

La Roque, Gene

Le May, Curtis

League of Nations

Lee, Peter

Leyte Gulf

London Naval Treaty

McArthur, Douglas

Magee, Rev.
John

Malaya

Manchuria

Manson, Frank

Marco Polo bridge

Matthews, Lionel

Meiji, Emperor

Midway, battle of

Millner, Jim

Mills, Frank,

Montgomery, Paul

Müller, Heinrich

Murphy, Fred

Nagasaki

Nakajima, Tadashi

Nanking massacre

naval disarmament confer-

ence,

neutrality agreement, Soviet

Union

New Guinea

Numata, Suzuko

occupation of Japan

Ogawa, Shoji

oil embargo

Okinawa, island of

Okumiya, Masatake

Oonuki, Kenichiro

Ota, Shoichi

Pearl Harbor

Perry, Matthew

Philippines

poison gas

population density, Japan

postscript

Potsdam conference

Potsdam Declaration

POWs

Borneo

Dutch East Indies

First World War

Hong Kong

New Guinea

Soviet at Eastern Front

propaganda films

Rabe, John

racism and hatred

American soldiers

British soldiers

German soldiers

Japanese soldiers

Ranau

rape

Nanking

US troops

see also
brothels, military

Red Army

Roosevelt, Franklin

Ruff, Jan

Saipan, island of

Sandakan camp

Sanko 'pacification'

Sham Shui Po camp

Shanghai

Shinto (religion)

Shinto, Sol

Shogun

Silesian mission massacre

Singapore

situational ethic

Solomon Islands

'souvenirs'

Soviet Union

Soviet-German Non-

aggression Pact

Stalin, Joseph

Stanley camp

Suchow city

suicide

in Japan today

Okinawa

Saipan

Taiwanese guards

Tokashiki

see also
kamikazes

Sully, Connie

surrender, Japanese inability

to

ancient warrior code

Suzuki, Kantaro