War in Asia Notes

8/13/2019 War in Asia Notes

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The Far East 1941 to 1945

The war in the Far East truly internationalised the war being fought inEurope.The war taking place in

Europe took on a new dimension in December1941when Japan attacked the American naval base

atPearl Harbor.War in the Far East now made theSecond World Wartruly global.

Today it seems astonishing that a country as small as Japan would attack America but this is what

happened inDecember 1941.Why did Japan attack America ?1) The Japanese at this time had a very low opinion of the Americans who they saw as drunks who were

incapable of hard work. It was believed in Tokyo that the Americans would be an easy target as they

lacked fighting spirit. There were those in Japan who actually believed that America could be defeated by

Japan. In particular, the military high command was far more influential in Tokyo than politicians who were

seen by the public to be weak and ineffective. 2) Japan was expanding throughout the whole of the Far East following her invasion of Manchuria and in

1941 it seemed that America would use her economic muscle to stop Japan; Japan greatly depended on

American oil and America was on the verge of stopping all oil exports to Japan which would have crippled

Japans military machine. Japan needed to hit America hard and it was believed in Tokyo that a

devastating attack would put America off of having any influence in the Pacific leaving Japan with a free

hand.On December 7th 1941, a large bomber force attacked the American Pacific Naval force based at Pearl

Harbor, Hawaii.Three battleships were sunk and sixteen other ships damaged. Over 120 plane s were

destroyed and 2400 people were killed and many more were wounded. But the vital aircraft carriers stationed atPearl Harbourwere all out on manoeuvres and the oil reserves

kept at Pearl Harbor had been drained into underground reservoirs. This has lead some to believe that

the American government knew about the raid all along and let it go ahead so that the American public

would be so angered by it that when the president, Roosevelt, announced that he had declared war on

Japan it would be warmly received by the public.

At the time before Pearl Harbor there was no obvious evidence that Americans wanted to get involved in

a war despite her aid to the Allies fighting Nazi Germany. On December 8th, 1941 America declared war

on Japan and Roosevelt received a standing ovation in the American Congress Why werent hundreds of Japanese planes seen flying into Hawaii? America had radar so they should

have been spotted. But an American B17 bomber force was also flying into Pearl Harbor and it is

probable that the radar spotters knew this and ignored the sighting of Japanese planes on the radar

screens thinking that they were US bombers. In fact, the radar crew did report their sighting only to be

told to ignore it.

Did America crack Japans secret code giving details of the raid ? Many think that they had but the official

reason given in Washington for not informing Pearl Harbor earlier was that American Intelligence forgotthat Hawaii was in a different time zone to them and did not realise this until too late and this delayed

Washington informing Hawaii. An important message to the base commanders was received after the

raid on Pearl Harbor had finished.However, it is strange that all the aircraft carriers were out at the same time - it had never happened

before - and that all the oil (which would have been a vital loss) was drained into safety. The ships that

were lost atPearl Harborwere replaceable and so were the planes. The carriers would have been much

more difficult to replace.Ultimately, the raid may well have been a surprise. It did infuriate America and Japan found that she had

woken a "sleeping tiger". The "dastardly attack" (Roosevelt) did not defeat America but it was to plunge
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the Pacific and the Far East into a horrific war that was to end in the use of the atomic bombs

onHiroshimaandNagasaki.Why were the Japanese so successful at the start of the war?

1. Both the Americans and British - the major colonial powers in the Far East - were unprepared for war.

The Japanese had been fighting in Manchuria andChinafor nearly ten years and they had developedbattle tactics needed for modern warfare. Japan's economy revolved around the military and she was

simply more prepared for a full-scale assault on the Far East than either the British or Americans.2. No soldiers fought like the Japanese. A senior British commander in the Far East - General Slim -

commented that every nation spoke about fighting to the last man, but only the Japanese did this. The

Japanese soldier lived by the Bushido belief. His life was unimportant and he dedicated his life to the

emperor who was a god. To die for the emperor was a great honour and guaranteed a soldier a place in

heaven. Therefore the Japanese fought in a manner never seen before. The sheer ferocity of an attack

and the failure of the Japanese to surrender or retreat took the Allies by surprise. A Japanese soldier

could not understand how or why a soldier would want to surrender and bring shame on his family and

emperor. This is why captured Allied soldiers were treated so harshly by the Japanese - they had

committed the ultimate sin in the eyes of the Japanese.Japanese soldiers were trained to live off the land so that supplying troops was never a major problem at

the outset of the war. Obedience to officers was total - this had been physically punched into the

Japanese soldiers during their training. This culminated in the thousands of young Japanese who

volunteered for thekamikazes- either through the use of planes or as 'human torpedoes'.In contrast to the Japanese approach to war, the British still fought 'by the rules'. An example was the

British base ofSingapore.Britain fully expected Singapore to be attacked once war had started, but we

expected an attack to come from the sea. Hence 50 million defence improvements to Singapore faced

out to sea. When the Japanese attacked Singapore, they came through the jungles to the north. The

newly placed guns to attack Japanese shipping did not face inland. We simply did not expect a military

force to come through jungle as we had never experienced anything like this before. The loss of

Singapore and the troops stationed there was a huge blow to Britain - both militarily and psychologically.3. To some extent, the Japanese had the local population on their side to start with as they played on the

fact that the British and Americans were the colonial masters of the region and the Japanese offered

these people freedom from colonial rule. Such a promise was never kept, of course. 4. America's military might was based in America itself and any deployment of this might would take time

to organise thus giving Japan more of a free hand in the area with regards to conquering land. Japan took vast sections of the Far East in a matter of months. However, once America got her military

act together, such swift Japanese advances had to come to a halt. Why did Japan eventually lose the Pacific War?

Analysis: A sensible starting point to explain the failure might be Midway in 1942, with emphasis on

faulty Japanese strategies and a variety of approaches by their enemies that led to Japan's defeat.

Those who allude alone to the nuclear attacks of 1945 have only partially responded to the question's

demands and will require a mark in the lower category

1) The sheer massive power of America overwhelmed Japan once the USA got itself fully organised. Her

ability to produce war goods and her man power totally outstripped Japan. Also all her factories were on

the US mainland so they were free from any fear of bombing. Do note that the attack onPearl

Harboursunk a number of ships including 3 battleships -this made great propaganda for the government

but the ships were not critical from a military point of view and were easily replaced in the numerous

shipyards in America.
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2) Japan only had 10% of Americas economic might and was very short of basic and vital minerals

especially iron and oil. America had both of these in huge quantities. If the Americans lost a capital ship

(a battleship or aircraft carrier) it was simply a loss. If the Japanese lost a capital ship it was a disaster as

it could not be easily replaced. After the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct1944)the Japanese Navy all but ceased

to exist. The navy minister, Admiral Yonai, said with regards to the result at Leyte Gulf, "I felt that that

was the end."

3) The American submarine service targeted Japanese merchant ships transporting goods from mainland

Asia to Japan. She had 8.9 million tons of shipping of which the submarines alone sunk 55%. Thus

Japan was starved of needed commodities. She only had 3% of America's farmland so food was a real

problem. When America had the range she bombed Japanese cities and factories. 43,000 tons of bombs were dropped on factories in Japan and 104,000 tons on 66

cities. Thebombingof factories was effectively a waste of time as they were already starved of raw

materials anyway. The fire bombing of Tokyo made it clear to the Japanese government that it was facing

complete destruction.4) US forces in the Pacific were commanded byDouglas MacArthur.He realised that the Japanese

Imperial Army would take years to defeat if every island in the Pacific was fought over. The Americancasualties would be massive. Her forces atIwo JimaandOkinawahad taken many deaths from just a

handful of defenders. He adopted a policy of taking the main islands only and ignoring the smaller ones

which could be ignored and isolated with the troops on them being left without any transport to get off of

them. This was called "island hopping" and the small islands were "leftto wither on the vine". This

does explain why Japanese troops were found on Pacific islands some years after the war but it also

confirmed to those who had fought that the Japanese were fanatics who would have inflicted massive

casualties on Allied troops if each island had been taken. In mainland Asia, British and Commonwealth forces had pushed back the Japanese as they approached

India. Fierce fighting took place on the mainland though it was rarely reported back home in Britain and

the men who fought out in the Far East frequently referred to themselves as "The Forgotten Army". Orde

Wingates's'Chindits' fought the Japanese using what would now be calledSpecial Forcestactics -dropping by parachute behind enemy lines, disrupting their supply routes and generally causing the

Japanese the maximum damage.

5)American intelligence estimated that if a land invasion of Japan was to take place i.e. if Japan refused

to surrender, then America would have to expect at least one million casualties which would be politically

and militarily unacceptable. It was thought that the Japanese would get together a Home Guard of at least

14 million to guard both the country and the emperor. With the example of kamikazes, many generals in

America feared that the war would go on for a long time and that a surrender would have to come from

the emperor for all Japanese to obey it. With this background, President Truman authorised the use of the

atomic bomb. On August 6th,1945Hiroshimawas attacked and on August 9th,Nagasaki.The emperor

ordered a surrender.6. Once America had got herself prepared, Japan could not have won the Pacific War. Her overwhelming

industrial might, her vast food producing capacity, her huge manpower and her freedom from bombing,

meant that Japan had to take on the world's most powerful nation. The fact that it took so long for this

victory can be explained by the ferocious commitment of the Japanese soldier and the geography of the

region. But nearly all historians are of the opinion that an Allied victory was inevitable.
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Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway was an important naval battle of World War II, between the United States and the Empire of

Japan. It took place from June 4, 1942 to June 7, 1942, more or less one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea,

and about six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that had made war break between the United

States and Japan. During the battle, the United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll

(northwest of Hawaii) and destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser, and losing a carrier and adestroyer.

The battle was a clear victory for the Americans, and usually considered the most important naval battle of World

War II. The battle weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy for the rest of the war, mostly because Japan lost more

than 200 pilots

Both nations suffered losses in the battle, but Japan could not build up its forces again. The Japanese industry had

little resources and was very poor compared to the American industry. For this reason, the United States replaced

their lost ships and planes with better ones, very quickly; but Japan could only make few, and of poor quality.

The Japanese plan of attack was to bring America's carriers into a trap and sink them. The Japanese also tried to

take Midway Atoll, to build Japan's defenses as far away from their homeland as possible. This operation was

considered a previous step before attacking Fiji and Samoa, as well as an invasion of Hawaii.

The Midway operation, like the attack on Pearl Harbor, was not part of a campaign for the conquest of the United

States, but was made by the Empire of Japan to destroy the American strength in the Pacific Ocean. This way,

Japan could become the biggest power in the area and create a great government of Asia, under its rule. It was

also hoped that another defeat would force the U.S. to ask for peace soon, with good terms for Japan.[2]p33

After the clear defeat, the Japanese forces retired. Japan's loss of four out of their six carriers, plus many number

of their best air pilots, stopped the expansion of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, and the Americans slowly

began to advance towards Japan.

The Battle of Midway has been called "the turning point of the Pacific". However, even after Midway, the Japanese

continued to try to get more territory in the South Pacific. The U.S. did not become the more powerful navy until

after several more months of hard combat. Midway was the Allies' first major victory against the Japanese.

However, it did not change the course of the war by itself. It was the combined effects of the battles of the Coral

Sea and Midway that reduced Japan's ability to domajor attacks. In addition Midway helped make US landings on

Guadalcanal possible. The prolonged attrition warfare (a type of battle in which each side tries to wear down the

other side) of the Solomon Islands campaign allowed the Allies to take an offensive stance for the rest of thePacific War. Finally, Midway bought the United States time until the first of the new Essex-class fleet carriers

became available at the end of 1942. The battle also showed the worth of pre-war naval code breaking and

intelligence-gathering. These efforts continued in both the Pacific and Atlantic areas of war. There were many

successes. Navy code breaking made possible the shooting down of Admiral Yamamoto's airplane.

Some authors have stated heavy losses in carriers and veteran aircrews at Midway permanently weakened the

Imperial Japanese Navy. Parshall and Tully, however, have stated that the losses in veteran aircrew, while heavy ,

just under 25% of the aircrew embarked on the four carriers), were not as bad for the Japanese naval air-corps as a

whole. The Japanese navy had 2,000 carrier-qualified aircrew at the start of the Pacific war. A few months after

Midway, the JNAF sustained similar casualty rates at both the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and Battle of Santa

Cruz. It was these battles, combined with the constant death of veterans during the Solomons campaign, which

weakened Japan. However, the loss of four large fleet carriers, and over 40% of the carriers' aircraft mechanics and

technicians, plus the flight-deck crews were very damaging to the Japanese carrier fleet. After the battle Shkaku

and Zuikaku were the only large carriers of the original Pearl Harbor strike-force left for offensive actions. Of

Japan's other carriers, Taih was the only Fleet carrier that could be used with Shkaku and Zuikaku, while Ryj,

Junyo, and Hiy, were second-rate ships.[130] By the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, while the Japanese

had somewhat rebuilt their carrier forces, the planes were flown by inexperienced pilots. In the time it took Japan

to build three carriers, the U.S. Navy commissioned more than two dozen fleet and light fleet carriers, and

numerous escort carriers. By 1942 the United States was already three years into a shipbuilding plan which aimed

make the navy larger than Japan's. The greater number of USN aviators survived the Battle of Midway and

subsequent battles of 1942, and combined with growing pilot training programs, the US had many skilled pilots.

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War in Asia Notes