Picture of the Day - Miscellaneous

[Shinpachi]

Saga for the Japanese kids in 1938.
My postwar generation had few chances to encounter this kind of patriotic books in the school library.
Some left-wing teachers taught us "Don't die for your country but your people !". That was another brain wash.

 

[Shinpachi]

Some more.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That's just fascinating, thanks for sharing those!

 

[fubar57]

Great posts

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely shots shinpachi!

 

[Shinpachi]

Korean postcards issued under Japanese occupation circa 1935.

Full collection :
国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション - Timbres-poste de l'ancienne Corée,Cartes postales commémoratives et timbres à date spéciaux.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Shinpachi]

From a book titled "Memorandums of Enemy POW (大東亜戦争敵俘虜の手記)".
Published in 1944.

Data source:
NDL Digital Collections - 大東亜戦争敵俘虜の手記

 

[michaelmaltby]

This is a trove of insights into the mindset and imagery of 'The Empire'. Thanks, Shin.

 

[Shinpachi]

Thanks MM.
I am attempting translation of Maj General King's full text back to English now.
Let me post later.

 

[Shinpachi]

The End of Bataan

Bataan Army Commander
US Army Major General King


My Command

As an artillery commander under the command of MacArthur, I was on Corregidor from December 24, 1941 to March 14th, 1942. As my duties during this period were exclusively related to the artillery of Bataan, I had neither any relationship nor responsibility for the defense of Corregidor, except for parts which depended on the equipments of Bataan. In fact, I was little concerned about the armament and garrison of Corregidor Island.

On March 14, 1942, General MacArthur evacuated Philippines and at the same time I was transferred to Luzon as artillery commander under the command of General Wenwright of Luzon Unit of Bataan Garrison Corps.

On March 21 in the same year, General Wenwright was promoted to Lieutenant General and became the commander of Corregidor on the same day. He was given the authority to command all US-Philippine troops in the Philippine. At the same time, I succeeded the command of Luzon and Bataan troops and was in this duty until we surrendered to the Japanese army on April 9. So, what I can write is about the fall of Bataan only. (During the entire attack period of Corregidor, I was a prisoner of war but the day of the fall of Corregidor was just the first month since I became a prisoner of war).


Sanitary Condition at the Time

Fall of Bataan and surrender of Luzon troops would not be comprehensible to those who do not know the sanitary condition at the time. Battle of Bataan broke out contrary to the anticipation of Filipinos. At the time, the defense plan of the US troops had just been changed to renew the troops with newly organized Philippine troops. It was incorporated into the defense troops. Therefore preparation of food and the like others were also based on the old plan (Philippine troops was not incorporated). As food which could be purchased in the market was limited, it was not possible to increase storage sufficiently.

As a result, on January 5 1942, MacArthur declared to halve food to all troops of Bataan and Corregidor. Anyhow, compared with the food that could be obtained, the number of personnel was so high that it was inevitable that food reduction continued to be a problem later. As a result, weeks before surrender, ration had been reduced to about a quarter of normal volume.

From a calm point of view, the reduction of food like this was nothing more than that would barely maintain the life of those who constantly sleep and avoid even a little physical labor. For soldiers of the Bataan front who continued physical efforts without momentary spiritual rest and was forced to consume violently, it should be said that such underserved food was exposed to the line of "starvation" rather than "nutrition".

This starvation produced several unfortunate consequences. Here are two facts to be emphasized specifically. The first is the serious physical weakness of the soldiers and the second is the increased susceptibility to their illness. When discussing the attack of Japanese army, this physical weak points can not be excluded. The place of Bataan is not a healthy land. Dysentery and toxic malaria are prevalent. Also, we had to be bothered by malignant duodenal dropweeds. Needless to say, this caused these diseases to interfere with the actions of our units.

Food - in particular the shortage of vitamin sources, brought beriberi (without exception) in the US-Philippine troops. Military doctor of our troops reported in early April that all soldiers of Luzon troops, to some extent, suffered from beriberi. Even in such environments, only serious patients were admitted to the hospital. Patients of initial symptom and mild cases had to be left on the front line as they were. The blockade by the Japanese army was so effective that the US-Philippine troops was unable to get even medicines to cure dysentery, malaria and malignant duodenal dropweeds. It was impossible to supply the vitamin tablets that saved beriberi either. As a result, on April 8, more than 12,000 patients were overcrowding the two major central hospitals in the posterior position of southern Cabcaben.

Even if vacated the medical office of the division as quickly as possible, the number of patients increased drastically with a furious force. So, on April 8, the hospital had been filled with enormous number of patients and got into confusion that could hardly be controlled.


Awesome Bombing and Shelling

The total attack of the Japanese army was cut off from around April 1 by the awesome bombing and shelling. On April 3, they added more and more intenseness. On the 4th, the infantry charges began and the main force rushed to Mount Samatt, a key point of the US-Philippine troops. The front line of the US-Philippine troops was unable to prevent the powerful Japanese attacks at all. The position at the foot of Samatt was breached through and, on the following day of 5th, the steep mountaintop had been occupied to be filled with the cheering of the Japanese army.

Like the front line, our reserve unit also had an extremely poor sanitary condition. It was important to take prompt arrangement so that we could make a timely counterattack but it was not easy. Even if our counterattack was started, no sooner we encountered the resistance of the Japanese army than our soldiers were unable to concentrate on the attack because of their fatigue. This was not unusual.

The Japanese army quickly strengthened, deployed and structured the driven "wedge". Especially the maneuver to the east side was skillful. It would be sufficient to explain the battlefield that, until the evening of April 8, there were no controlled forces that could resist Japanese attacks in my hands.

In the early morning of April 9, I sent out a messenger for surrender to ask meeting with the Japanese commander. By noon the Luzon troops ceased to resist and surrendered.

This was the end of the Battle of Bataan.

 

[Wurger]

 

[vikingBerserker]

Awesome!

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots shinpachi!

 

[fubar57]

Tank Mk.II Matilda II of the 2 / 9th Australian armored regiment with soldiers on armor is landed on the island of Labuan

Operation Oboe Six

 

[Wurger]

 

[Shinpachi]

Interesting pic

 

[Wayne Little]

Cool...

 

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent!

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shot!