THE JAPANESE ARMY AND NAVY WWII RESTRICTED U.S. ARMY MOVIE 23514

[Music] la the code of the Samurai is the code of Japan's modern Army its officers and men have modeled themselves after Japan's feudal Warriors their Traditions glorify Frugal Living Devotion to duty and a loyalty to a Divine emperor that gives in death its last full measure of Allegiance in the training of personel for the Japanese officer Corp Kendo or kenjutsu an ancient style of fencing is preferred to the Western type Sports ordinarily used in civilian schools for physical conditioning Japanese officers who have charged enemy machine guns while brandishing their Sabers believe that fencing is invaluable training for the modern Battlefield no that these young men developing suppleness of wrist through a ritual sword dance wear the hakama or divided skirt traditional garb of the nation the Japanese concentrate on fencing not for the exercise alone but for the accuracy alertness decision and physical stamina deemed desirable in an officer compulsory in Japanese schools fencing is also required in police training and is carried on with religious punctiliousness by soldiers in barracks and camps the samurai saber itself wielded with both hands is a famous weapon of remarkably keen and tough steel the guard is almost half as long as the blade officers will pay large sums of money to get a fine saber and have been known to throw their entire families into debt in order to pay for these expensive swords Judo or Jujitsu is demonstrated in this Japanese melodrama not unlike an American Western in which the hero defeats the villains One By One Juda is considered not only a sport but a system of mental training ethics and social behavior It's featured in budo the Japanese Collective term for martial arts if kandoo reveals the mentality of the Japanese military Judo which means the way of the meek or the gentle may be said to betray the basic psychology characteristic of Japanese diplomacy thousands of Judo students have flocked to the kodokan school in Tokyo national headquarters for for this military sport the popular but tricky and deceptive Judo has a definite influence on the Japanese character Japanese girls go through the maneuvers of sojutsu the art of handling a spear prescribed for girl students this demonstration is indicative of the military regimentation imposed on the nation as a whole but for Japan's Masters women have only one militarily useful function to produce Suns for the Army and Navy another group of Japanese school girls are put through bayonet drill and rifle practice under the eye of an army officer although it is doubtful whether these maidens will ever seek combat they undergo part of the same Stern training their young Brothers receive in preparation for induction into Japan's conscript Army the exercises conducted by these girls reflect the training which Begins for the Japanese boy at the age of six at 12 he is in uniform and may even carry a light rifle and participate in annual Maneuvers involving light field guns and Hand Grenades by the time he's ready for induction at the age of 19 the young Japanese has years of rigorous military training behind him for a mass Kendo exhibition soldiers wear traditional breastplate divided skirt and helmet Western diplomats join rank Japanese officers in observing War Games designed to show Japan's preparedness soldiers and seamen of the special Naval Landing forces Japanese Marines engage in competition and Maneuvers these men as they have amply proved during this war are capable of great endurance and exertion Most Japanese soldiers are of peasant stock and have a background of hard work and privation a demonstration of strength and teamwork soldiers and Marines tug heavy skids in relays the physical hardihood of the average Japanese recruit is enhanced by his constant rigorous training the obstacle course is familiar training in all the world's great armies its purpose of course is to simulate the physical hardships of the Battlefield and force men to use all their energies in meeting them firm Believers in this type of conditioning the Japanese in Wartime have also given conscripts the bulk of their training in operational areas in the Chinese Theater raw Japanese troops have been given actual combat experience during their training period in no other nation has the feudal glorification of military ideals been carried over so completely into the modern civil state in this sequence from from a Japanese entertainment and morale film we see Hometown farewells for commissioned and enlisted reservists leaving civilian life for active service in Japan whole Villages customarily turn out to cheer reservists and conscripts when they leave to join the colors from its Inception as a modern military force the Japanese Army has won from the Common People a confidence never given to the nation's greedy politician or foxy diplomats when the young wife presents the soldier with a Battle Flag autographed by his neighbors she embodies the faith which has strengthened the role of the military as spokesman for the masses the public claims the Army as its own and looks to it for leadership the civilian in the kimona has just summarized the sentiments of the soldiers well-wishers by telling him we will look after your family Japan's Army has never been separated from the nation by the Gulf of its profession under a peacetime system of compulsory military training The Peasant the fisherman's son the factory worker filled its ranks each year the Army sent an equal number of trained reservists back to their rice patties boats and factories to draw the Army closer to the people a brass band stes up to speed The Village's contingent of troops off to fight for the emperor paradoxically the very conscript Army that destroyed the last major class distinctions of the feudal system has continued to bask in the homage of a people who in their thinking reflect that same feudalism which exalted the warrior to be a soldier or sailor has always been a distinction it appeals strongly to young men who see in a military career a chance for high social Prestige and for personal advancement while the laws of the modern State no longer require the peasant to Bow Low in the dust of the road as the samurai pass the nation makes a voluntary obeisance to Japan's modern Army wrapped in the inherited mantle of feudal Knighthood there are no tears from mother and wife as the soldier departs the sumurai women were trained to register Delight on hearing their sons or husband had been killed in battle in modern Japan too the sword is the source of conventional Morality In the Imperial Navy special and regular Maneuvers are as important in training as they are in the Army in his farewell address to the fleet in 196 Admiral heiro Togo naval hero of Japan said when we understand that one gun which scores 100% in hits is a match for 100 of the enemy's guns which score only 1% % each it is evident we Sailors must have recourse to strength over and above externals Togo added Heaven gives the crown of Victory only to those who by habitual training win without fighting and forth with deprives of that Crown those who content with one success give themselves up to the ways of Peace Togo concluded with this Japanese adage tighten your helmet strings in the hour of victory for the combined operations necessary for her Pacific conquests Japan subordinated air and Naval units to ground forces the chief function of the Navy even when Japan held the offensive was to act as a troop and Supply carrier and escort the Japanese military thought of fighting in terms of land action the Navy had the independently important function of protecting home Waters and communication lines even so it was not expected to see seek fullress Naval action there have been no signs of a separate Strategic Air Force the Japanese Army Air Service is an integral part of the army while the Japanese Naval Air Service has its own organization under Navy offices despite many defeats by Allied air power the Japanese Air Services showed great recuperative strength Japanese Marines members of the rku Sanai or special Naval Landing forces go ashore on a drive run preparing for the Pacific War Japan gained experience in Surf Landings on hostile Shores through a series of raids on the China Coast during 1940 and 41 until the late 1920s Naval Landing parties were organized temporarily from Fleet Personnel for a particular Mission this practice was made possible by the fact that every Naval recruit was given training in land Warfare concurrently with training in seamanship because this depleted Crews and lowered their efficiency for Naval action rusen Tha units were formed at the four major Japanese Naval bases the field uniforms worn by these marines are similar to those of the army for dress they wear Navy Blues with canvas leggings from Maneuvers to actual assault of the weakly defended Chinese Coast there seems to be little difference as Japanese Naval units stand close in shore without drawing counterfire in scenes which appear to be authentic Japanese artillery and infantry operate with little or no opposition constant insistence upon the superiority of the offense is the dominant consideration of Japanese infantry tactics the primary objective is to close with the Enemy as soon as possible so that the assumed inherent superiority of the Japanese soldier in hand-to-hand fighting may be exploited with maximum Advantage insistence upon the necessity of keeping artillery well forward in support of advancing infantry amounts almost to a fetish with Japanese artillery officers the enlisted Gunners too seem eager to demonstrate that they are just as ready as the infantrymen to Brave the dangers of Frontline combat positions are cited within a few hundred yards of foremost enemy defense points command posts in many cases are located right beside the guns to make voice control of fire possible like this small battery of converted 75 mm Mountain guns Japanese artillery is allocated sparingly because combat is conceived as essentially an infantryman's task here in a sequence from a feature motion picture we see the storming of a Chinese strong point by Japanese infantrymen the fervor of these Motion Picture extras is not overdone Japanese tactical theory and practice insistently and egotistically stress the superiority of the Japanese offense note the two civilian Red Cross workers looking behind the wall waiting for a chance to demonstrate their knowledge of first aid their enthusiasm May draw smiles from westerners who are less prone to exaggeration in these matters many Japanese soldiers are so determined to die on the battlefield that they conduct their own public funerals before leaving for the front this holds no element of the ridiculous for the Japanese rather it is admired as the spirit of the true samurai who enters the battle with no thought of return unless Victorious the three Japanese Engineers who carried a live torpedo into a Chinese barbed wire barrier before Shanghai have earned glory and fame in Japan for their self-sacrifice while evidence uced at the time indicated that the three human bombs were simply victims of a premature explosion Japanese propagandists elaborated the story for obvious morale reasons bronze and stone statues of the suicidal Engineers are to be found in shrines all over Japan to the average Japanese Soldier death is a small price for such immortality the function of providing support for armored elements and ground troops has been assigned to the Japanese Army Air Service as a major mission in preparation for this assignment Pilots got training which resembles the nursing along from Bush leagues to minors to Majors received by American baseball players at after primary basic and Advanced Training in southern Japan and Manchuria the typical Japanese pilot was moved to Formosa for operations over the Chinese Coast next was the Hong Kong Canton area where he could expect to meet American interception after a dozen missions there the pilot went with combat experience to Burma the Philippines and the South Pacific Islands the pilot took the same route home that he took out he got AR rest in Japan if he got there the easily stormed walled Cities of China were not Japan's only Proving Ground for the war in the Pacific in the two years before Pearl Harbor extensive Maneuvers in Formosa and hyan gave the troops familiarity with jungles experiments with camouflage later paid off in jungle warfare the soldier was trained to conceal himself putting Shrubbery around his helmet and pack disguising his Vehicles as well as his person in completely different terrain on at two in the Illusions he also displayed great skill using grass moss and other natural material as camouflage because of the limitations of her economy Japan had to choose between a few heavy weapons or many comparatively small field pieces Japanese combat orders in both attack and defense generally carry the the admonition that the enemy forces will be annihilated to Japanese officers like this one holding his drawn sumarized saber in Readiness considerations of face and toughness are most important they are therefore prone to such Indulgence in paper heroics as leading this charge into what would be certain death if a well equipped foe were entrenched in the woods in bivak the Japanese officer of company grade shared shares the rations and discomforts of his men actually despite a very formal system of Officer procurement there isn't too much difference between officers and enlisted personnel at the shikuan gako the Japanese West Point no courses are taught in comparative governments international law foreign exchange or economics limited by the narrow confines of his military education but moved by dreams of Japan's Mastery of the world the typical Japanese officer thinks amazingly like the peasant He commands it is interesting to note that male call is received as enthusiastically by the Japanese as it is by American troops discipline is good in the Japanese Army it has to be for it is the ultimate reflection of the emphasis Japan's military Masters Place upon the sein Kyu or spiritual training of the entire people the elaborate military training serves as a means to an end through the Youth of Japan the Army seeks to build within the nation a denial of self an Ardent loyalty a devotion that glorifies death for the Emperor as life's greatest reward the larger purpose is to identify in spirit the Army and the people it's ultimate goal is to instill the soul of the soldier in the youth and the nation the sein Kyu of the soldier is based primarily on the rescript of Emperor Mai literally regarded as holy ripped it is the religion of the Japanese soldier for the Army it has proven a cohesive and motivating force of inestimable value rescript or code for Soldiers and Sailors Emperor maiji said the Supreme command of our forces is in our hands and although we may entrust subordinate commands to our subjects yet the the ultimate Authority we ourselves shall hold and never delegate to any subject Soldiers and Sailors we are your Supreme commanderin-chief whether we are able to guard the Empire depends upon the faithful discharge of your duties as Soldiers and Sailors Japanese troops March through the streets of Tokyo on route to the Chinese front disciplined and sober in Japan even during the excitement of embarcation the typical Japanese soldier demonstrates that he lives by a double code as soon as he sets foot on foreign soil at home the soldier is a unit of Japanese Society living in a rigid social framework surrounded by prohibitions when he is sent abroad he is taken out of his environment separated from all his social restraints he becomes the armed representative of the master race compensating himself for the inhibitions he endured at home the contrast between the soldiers un intrusive behavior in Japan and his conduct abroad has been especially marked in the present War the Japanese Navy's recent record shows that despite repeated defeats the fleet has had considerable recuperative power Japan developed her Navy over the past 70 years with the aid of those very Nations at whom she struck in December 1941 it was with a navy built entirely in foreign shipyards that Japan defeated zaris Russia in 194 and in a newsreel sequence Japanese Blue Jackets form an honor guard as high Navy and army officers escort the Emperor Hirohito arrives at an Anchorage for a review of the Imperial Fleet in the harbor of Yokohama the emperor's barge leaves for the flagship it is difficult to determine when these scenes were photographed but it is known that prior to Pearl Harbor the Japanese Navy had a total tonnage of major combat units amounting to about 1 million tons at the same time the total seagoing Personnel was about a quarter of a million men Japan has been a world Naval power ever since Admiral Togo revered as a veritable Nelson in Japan annihilated the Zars Eastern and Baltic fleets but for 300 years until Commodore Perry sailed into yo Bay the rulers of feudal Japan had prohibited the building of any seagoing vessels in the belief they'd exposed the nation to dangerous intercourse with the outside world curiously it was a man of war ordered and built in the United States which enabled Emperor Magi to break the last power of the shogunate and unify his Empire not until the war with Russia when Japan found herself unable to purchase more warships from abroad because of a neutrality policy did Japan determine to try to build her own ships since then the Japanese Navy has been built entirely in Japanese yards which have produced some of the largest Capital ships in the world the Personnel of the Japanese Navy in general is of a higher grade than that of the army the pressing need for Replacements caused by high casualty rates has resulted in a definite lowering of quality of Naval personnel a board a transport a Japanese Army infantry unit stands formation it is interesting to note that there has always been Discord between the Japanese Services because the Army's leaders have been more political minded than the Navies they have been in a better position to control Appropriations as well as public and governmental support for their ideas because of their smaller numbers and the nature of their activities naval officers were forced to take a less influential position in top policy development while it was more evident in the higher echelons interservice jealousy carried on down to the ranks paradoxically the Sailor gets a much more generous portion and higher grade of food than the soldier because the limited size of the Navy permitted greater selectivity and Personnel the Sailor felt himself superior to the soldier American rescued from Japanese prison camps report that an enlisted Japanese Marine will seldom salute an army officer in this sequence from seized Japanese film we see the completion of a railroad bridge replacing a bombed Chinese crossing over the Yellow River Japanese Engineers who are well equipped and armed as infantry have shown outstanding ability in both the construction and demolition of bridges they are skilled in the construction of wooden Trestle spans which they can erect with great rapidity from materials prepared beforehand or available locally despite their appearance these improvised trestles are capable of supporting artillery and other heavy equipment on the other hand Japanese built airfields and Roads so far encountered do not come up to Allied standards in speed of construction or serviceability this may be attributed to the fact that the Japanese have depended more on manual labor than on heavy equipment which they have not taken into forward areas in any quantity in the Japanese Army signal Corp wire communication receives the most emphasis radio assumes a secondary role as a standby link after wires have been strung before the war the functions of the signal core were performed by units of the core of engineers in 1941 however an inspectorate of communications amounting to a separate signal core was set up directly subordinate to the war department general staff this model 92 field telephone is inferior by Allied standards Japanese infantry on the march in French Indochina recalling Japan's attack in 1940 on the French Colony it is ironical to remember that when the Japanese war office was created in 1871 a staff of French officers was brought to Japan to serve as instructors they began the westernization of the Japanese Army after the Franco Prussian war Japan was quick to change MERS replacing the French instructors with German drill Masters the Japanese Army was modeled on German lines right up to the first world war at that time Japan thought it best to align herself with the Allies still sympathy in Japanese military circles remained strong for Germany the anti-com turn PCT of 1936 which created the Rome Berlin Tokyo AIS and the wartime impact with Germany of 1940 demonstrated that Japan's militarists had lost none of their taste for opportunism Japanese troops stand Retreat before baking for the night at an advanced position in China this is a sequence from a feature motion picture production like many Japanese propaganda films this selection will shortly show the Japanese Army as an irresistible Force overcoming all obstacles and these resting soldiers as conquering lions at whose approach the enemy flees in Terror although Japanese enlisted men such as these could at first see little sense in the China Warfare operations on the Asiatic Mainland provided valuable experience for the war which was to come indeed in many ways the logic of the war in the Pacific sprang from the logic of the War in China while it meant little more than hardship and death for the common Soldier Japanese Army leaders were able to sharpen their tactical and strategic will wits during more than four years of constant fighting it gave an opportunity too to develop Cades of highly trained fighting men to whom must be credited in part Japan's initial successes in the Pacific when the hour struck to dispatch a task force against Pearl Harbor the Japanese militarists already had built a war economy and had elaborated a philosophy of Conquest into the minds of Japanese conscripts conditioned from birth to acceptance had been dimmed the feudal interpretations of loyalty and bravery into the spirits of soldiers like these had been infused The Savage exhilaration of battle a shot rings out the Japanese infantry men are surprised apparently they hadn't been expecting callers this late at night the death of a Japanese picket or Sentry it is interesting to note that Japanese film producers had so little regard for authenticity that they showed the Sentry making the best possible Target of himself and only a Japanese movie director would call for this ancient faank formation against a foe equipped with more modern weapons than Spears and clubs kneeling in close formation Chinese regulars fire volley after volley into the position just vacated by the Wy Japanese in the meantime of course the Japanese are stealthily outflanking the foe from this it would appear that the Japanese in the early stages of their China campaign were skillful at improvisation the facts however are that the Japanese soon learned that they could use elastic Chinese tactics to better Advantage than their own formalized Maneuvers but only by giving up their relatively heavy equipment they had to maintain their superiority in equipment for the Chinese had superiority in Manpower despite the contrived evidence of this sequence quence the Japanese Army composed of farmers so trained in obedience that all individuality was erased labored under a psychological handicap as compared with the Chinese Irregulars Farmers too but notorious individualists who could think through a situation on their own given an even break by the Japanese scenario writers the Chinese in this engagement probably would have wiped out the Japanese Detachment for it is a fact that the Chinese are given to improvisation while the Japanese do best when following detailed plans to the letter Japanese troops board a hospital ship Bound for their home Islands these soldiers have been identified as wounded of the 10th infantry division note that the wounded wear their White hospital kimonas with their uniform caps making them readily recognizable the Japanese Army medical service which cares for them is a separate service functioning under the Medical Bureau of the war Ministry wounded from China arrive at a Tokyo railroad station they will be routed to the Army hospitals existing in each home divisional District which meet the requirements of the various units in peacetime these as well as other government and private hospitals are utilized as base hospitals in Wartime the gauze masks worn by many of these walking wounded are popular in Japan they're used to prevent the spread of the common cold very obviously this Pleasant arrival of wounded was staged for morale purposes this sequence from a feature Motion Picture probably shows the Army hospital at its best while Japanese civilian medical practices have been considered relatively modern it is a fact that Japanese Army medicine is no more than reasonably adequate many of the drugs dispensed have been discarded in European and American Medical circles very extensive use is made of drugs that have to be injected field kits contain ampols of a wide variety of sizes and shapes Japanese military surgeons surprisingly make much use of proprietary or patent medicines of course standard drugs such as quinine aspirin and iodine are employed vaccines and serums are comparable with those used in other armies although there are indications that some of them are not very effective vitamin products are used extensively in the form of powders or tablets as well as in solutions for injection a potent morale factor is the existence of the Yasukuni Shrine Japan has no equivalent of the western world's unknown sold soier all are known and deified at Yasukuni an endless stream of Japanese visits this immense Shrine located on kudan Hill north of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo the names of those who have died on the field of battle are inscribed with great ceremony on the tablets of the inner Shrine thus each dead soldier becomes a Lesser God living forever as a guarding deity of the nation to the average Japanese Soldier no higher honor could be the lot of mortal man it is one of the Prime motives for his fatalistic resignation to death when two uniformed Japanese part there is no light-hearted farewell such as the American so long instead the Japanese soldiers salute Gravely and say to each other until we meet at Yasukuni it is they believe a trist with Destiny the Japanese Army has long been aware of the difficulties of a winter campaign each winter in Japan infantry like these ski Troopers left Barracks for the taikon koun cold endurance marches regiment stationed in northern and western Japan specialized in Maneuvers which prepared them for winter Duty along the Siberian Manchurian border this demonstrated High winter efficiency of the Japanese Army is a far cry from that Army's performance in the Allied intervention in Siberia following World War I American and other observers noted that the highly touted Japanese winter campaigners were amazingly ill equipped and ill- adapted to the rigorous Siberian climate this humiliating weakness made Japan concentrate on such tactics as the taon koun since the outbreak of The Manchurian Incident Japanese military forces have fought virtually every type of action under the widest variety of terrain and climatic conditions The Experience they have gained has led to important changes in tactical doctrines and practices definite reverses not withstanding the Japanese are still in a strong position it will require a great effort to defeat this closely knit fanatically stubborn power Allied operations of great magnitude will be required to keep the enemy under pressure and to assemble and drive home the preponderance of force necessary to assure the complete defeat of [Music] Japan

Channel: PeriscopeFilm

Views: 793,195

Keywords: Periscope Film, Stock Footage, World War II, Japanese Navy, Japanese Army, Office of Strategic Services, OSS, Yokohama

Id: 6NgIlvuWe1s

Length: 34min 48sec (2088 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 19 2016