Authors remarks regarding the Far East Chapter
Before publishing the Essay on The Far East, it is only fair to say that this was a hard Essay to write. It is particularly harrowing in parts and some areas could have been glossed over to save anyone being upset.
In the end, after taking advice, I decided to tell the raw truth just as it is so that you can makeup your own mind.
The Far East
We all think that the fighting with Japan began in December 1941 with the Japanese soldiers landing at Kota Bahru in Northern Malaya but Japan had already been at war in China from 1937.
They invaded North East China and because of their behaviour the Chinese Army just melted away in front of the Japanese. China had two Armies fighting each other as well as fighting the Japanese. They had the Nationalists and the Communists. That situation weakened both Chinese Armies but after difficult discussions they agreed to combine in order to beat the Japanese. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians fled from the Japanese and so did the Chinese soldiers. They had all seen and heard about the Japanese treatment of anything and anyone who got in their way, especially Prisoners of War.
As they approached the Nanking Area the locals, along with the Red Cross, prepared a non-military Zone in the Ambassadorial District to protect all the people in the Zone. When the Japanese arrived they totally ignored the non-military zone. In fact the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, told a Japanese Prince, Asaka who was also a Nephew of the Emporer, to “kill all captives”. Asaka was at that time the most Senior Japanese General in China. This Order changed the Ambassadorial Zone into a Killing Zone. Chinese soldiers and civilians thought they were safe in that Zone but they were all killed and all women were gang-raped. 75% of the Chinese population had left Nanking and the remaining 25% were slaughtered. HENCE THE RAPE OF NANKING where 200,000 Chinese and Europeans were killed.
This event in China promoted an enormous sense of FEAR throughout the world, so when the Japanese invaded Malaya at Kote Bahru in December 1941, FEAR preceded them. In a large way this FEAR caused other countries armies to crumble even before the Japanese arrived. Britain should never have lost Malaya and Singapore. The Japanese were desperate for Raw Materials from China, rubber from Malaya and the Port facilities of Singapore. Britain had 136k people in Malaya and Singapore including Australians and Naval personnel. So, Britain had many more Troops than the Japanese and yet Britain surrendered.
The 90k Japanese soldiers regarded Prisoners of War as sub-humans and treated them as such. Perhaps it was that FEAR of what happened in China that was partly to blame. However, the Japanese continued their “Chinese Policy” and started by bayonetting all the Hospital Staff at Singapore General Hospital. Many Historians blame General Percival, who was in charge of all British Troops in Malaya and Singapore, for this terrible situation. He was accused of spreading British Troops too thinly across Malaya and he tried to utilise the Geneva Convention to protect POW’s but the Japanese ignored the Convention and became far worse instead. Records even show that two Japanese officers held a competition to see which one of them could kill 100 Chinese soldier POW’s within one day.
Remember that the war in China was still going on with the Japanese carrying out acts of atrocity such as live burials, roasting Chinese people and even burying them up to their waist and then setting dogs onto them.The captured British and Australian soldiers were put into camps across Malaya and Changi in Singapore under terrible conditions, made to work with little food (rice), then left to die. All this was done in the name of the Japanese Emperor Hirohito. He knew what was happening and he ratified the situation.
You have all heard or seen the Film with Alec Guinness, the Bridge over the River Kwai. Well, it is not a true record of what took place. Reality was far worse to such a degree that it was basically glossed over. Hundreds of soldiers were killed by the Japanese including beheadings. Often the Australian men were beheaded simply because they were much taller than the Japanese. The slightest misdemeanour created more murder.
The Japanese had too many prisoners but not enough manual workers in Japan, so they transported thousands to Japan in the holds of cargo ships mainly to work in factories and coal mines. The prisoners were not fed for long periods and most of them lost at least half of their body weight.
It was only after the Atomic Bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that Japan surrendered and the POWs were released. When the British POWs were returned to the UK, many were unrecognisable. Most of them carried bad injuries and a large portion of them did not recover.
Although General Percival took the blame, he had not been given material support by the British Government. For example, he had no real air-support and two British capital ships were sunk by Japanese dive bombers, namely HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. Also, the Japanese soldiers had forced their way through the ‘thin line’ and attacked from behind.
The Japanese had far more troops in China than in Malaya but could not defeat the 2 x Chinese armies at the same time. The Japanese were over-stretched, the world was amazed when they attacked the US at Pearl Harbour in December 1941. From then on, the Japanese could not keep up supplies to its own forces in China, Malaya, Indonesia and all the Pacific Islands. It was only the fanaticism of the Japanese soldiers that kept the war going. That fanaticism was caused by the worshipping of their Emperor. The soldiers willingly died for Hirohito in suicidal fashion and he encouraged it.
Looked at from a different angle in Europe, we all know that Hitler poisoned himself and Eva Braun to avoid capture by the Russians. Otherwise, he would certainly have been hung after a military trial. The question is “Why was Hirohito allowed to carry on in Office with no punishment at all for all the atrocities carried out in his name”? His soldiers (usually camp commanders) were bestial at least, and they were often hung after a Trial – but not their Emperor.
When the War was over, something called The Marshall Plan was produced in the U.S. which was basically a Financial Loan System to be offered mainly to the defeated nations from the second world war. It was intended to be used to rebuild Industry within those countries. During the War many of the foreign Companies abroad had factories that were destroyed by Allied Bombing and most of them were American owned. For example, General Motors of the US had its German factories blown apart and required rebuilding as well as needing new Machinery and Tools. These companies were offered huge loans under the Marshall Plan at low interest rates providing they bought the new Machinery from the U.S. The sums involved were multi-billions of US Dollars. The same principle was used in the Far East for Japan. The question is “Were the Billions of Dollars used to spread US influence across Europe and the Far East?” In the end the main beneficiaries were US Companies who supplied the Machinery and Equipment. They were guaranteed their money and a full Order Book. So, the US definitely did influence Policies across those regions.
The next question is “Was the non-prosecution of Japan’s Emperor connected to Japan’s acceptance of these Loans from the US?” Was a secret Deal made by General Macarthur, who was in charge of the Pacific area, to save the Emperor? Japan was almost bought by the US and was and still is occupied by them. Japan had to agree that it would not build a large Army, Air Force and Navy and that still prevails to this day. So, the victims suffer while the accused get away with murder, quite literally.
Nowadays the US Dollar remains supreme and it is the principle currency used for international trade, particularly in oil. Back in the 1930’s Japan was starved of oil by a US Embargo and sanctions were used to prevent Japan having access to any oil to fuel its industries. Japan’s target by invading China, Indonesia and Malaya was definitely oil and now we are back to the same old story that the world is ruled by the countries that have access to their own oil. The US and the Middle East both have sufficient oil reserves for many years to come.
As we have seen, Japan was driven to fight for its oil, but no one expected that millions of people would have to die so that Japan could try to achieve its aims. Japan failed militarily. Its main weapon used in fighting other countries was FEAR.
Nothing spreads as fast as FEAR.