“The Best Equipped Army in Asia”?: U.S. Military Intelligence and the Imperial Japanese Army before the Pacific War, 1919–1941

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Ford
Keyword(s):  
Pacific War ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Imperial Japanese Army

Richard Sorge, the GRU and the Pacific War

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W.M. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
German Army ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Armed Services

Sorge’s activities between 1930 and 1942 have tended to be lauded as those of a superlative human intelligence operator and the Soviet Union’s GRU (Soviet military intelligence unit) as the optimum of spy-masters. Although it was unusual for a great deal of inside knowledge to be obtained from the Japanese side, most attention has always been paid on the German side to the roles played by representatives of the German Army in Japan. This book, supported by extensive notes and a bibliography, by contrast, highlights the friendly relations between Sorge and Paul Wenneker, German naval attaché in Japan from 1932 to 1937 and 1940–45. Wenneker, from extensive and expanding contacts inside the Japanese Navy (and also concealed contacts with the Japanese Army) supplied Sorge with key information on the depth of rivalry between the Japanese armed services.

Gold-Eating Monsters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Orbach
Keyword(s):  
Future Development ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Japanese Military ◽  
The Future ◽  
Imperial Japanese Army

This chapter focuses on the supreme prerogative system (tōsui-ken) and how it secured the independence of the Japanese armed forces from any civilian institution apart from the imperial throne. In the postwar years, the “prerogative of supreme command” became a bogeyman to be blamed for all disasters from early Meiji to the end of the Pacific War. The novelist Shiba Ryōtarō claimed that the Imperial Japanese Army, entrenched within their own “supreme prerogative country,” became as wild and murderous as the Pixiu, a gold-eating monster from Chinese mythology. The chapter first considers the Japanese military reforms of 1878 and the motives behind them before discussing the flaws of the supreme prerogative system, arguing that it created a rich background for the future development of military insubordination.

Curse on This Country

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Orbach
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Modern Japanese History ◽  
The Government ◽  
Imperial Japanese Army ◽  
Blind Obedience ◽  
The Military

Imperial Japanese soldiers were notorious for blindly following orders, and their enemies in the Pacific War derided them as “cattle to the slaughter.” But, in fact, the Imperial Japanese Army had a long history as one of the most disobedient armies in the world. Officers repeatedly staged coups d'états, violent insurrections, and political assassinations; their associates defied orders given by both the government and the general staff, launched independent military operations against other countries, and in two notorious cases conspired to assassinate foreign leaders despite direct orders to the contrary. This book explains the culture of rebellion in the Japanese armed forces. The consequences were dire, as the armed forces dragged the government into more and more of China across the 1930s—a culture of rebellion that made the Pacific War possible. This book argues that brazen defiance, rather than blind obedience, was the motive force of modern Japanese history. The book follows a series of dramatic events: assassinations in the dark corners of Tokyo, the famous rebellion of Saigō Takamori, the “accidental” invasion of Taiwan, the Japanese ambassador's plot to murder the queen of Korea, and the military–political crisis in which the Japanese prime minister “changed colors.” Finally, through the sinister plots of the clandestine Cherry Blossom Society, we follow the deterioration of Japan into chaos, fascism, and world war.

The Imperial Japanese Army in the World War II Era

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Ford
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
English Language ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Combat Motivation ◽  
Imperial Japanese Army ◽  
Domestic Law

The vast majority of the English language sources on the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) concentrate on its activities during the Pacific War of 1941–1945, with a small but nonetheless valuable collection of works written on its earlier campaigns against China and Russia in the late 1930s. The availability of quality academic works has been significantly limited by the language barrier, which has meant that scholars face considerable difficulties in translating Japanese texts and documentary sources. Nevertheless, when one includes the historical works on the Allied experiences in combating the IJA during the Pacific War, one is able to access a rich array of literature. The existing historiography explains many of the key factors relating to the Imperial Army, including its role in the Japanese political system and its wartime strategy, the development of its tactics and weapons technologies, and the state of morale and combat motivation among its troops. Recent works have covered some contentious issues, including the Japanese army’s policies regarding the treatment of POWs and the motivations which lay behind the war crimes that its officers carried out during the course of the conflict. The army’s role in maintaining domestic law and order in wartime Japan is also a subject of sustained academic interest.

Richard Sorge, the GRU and the Pacific War

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W.M. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
German Army ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Armed Services

Sorge’s activities between 1930 and 1942 have tended to be lauded as those of a superlative human intelligence operator and the Soviet Union’s GRU (Soviet military intelligence unit) as the optimum of spy-masters. Although it was unusual for a great deal of inside knowledge to be obtained from the Japanese side, most attention has always been paid on the German side to the roles played by representatives of the German Army in Japan. This book, supported by extensive notes and a bibliography, by contrast, highlights the friendly relations between Sorge and Paul Wenneker, German naval attaché in Japan from 1932 to 1937 and 1940–45. Wenneker, from extensive and expanding contacts inside the Japanese Navy (and also concealed contacts with the Japanese Army) supplied Sorge with key information on the depth of rivalry between the Japanese armed services.

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