Fighter pilots didn’t cook as meals were organized by the mess crew. We usually got milk and eggs for lunch. After flight drills we were given a special bag containing a small bottle of rice wine, tobacco, chocolate, adzuki-bean jelly, caramel and other treats. Every so often we were given time off to boost morale.
It was wise to be considerate to the maintenance staff. They never got treat bags like us, so we shared our provisions with them. This was how we ensured our Zeros got the care they needed. Particularly in the Army, rank-based hierarchy was very strict. Even one rank up was carte blanch to torment juniors. This was not the case among airmen where rank was not as important as how many flight hours you had under your belt. Anyone with 1,000 hours or more was first-class. Although I had only been in training for one-and-a-half years, I managed to accumulate 6 to 700 hours. This wasn’t bad going considering the hurry the Navy was in to get us to the front.
CHAPTER THREE
Blooded in Taiwan
Lead-up to the Second World War
The Kamakura period marked the onset of the first samurai government of Japan in 1185. Samurai hegemony lasted throughout the Muromachi and Tokugawa (Edo) periods, finally coming to an end in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration. Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan’s new imperial government embarked on a path of rapid modernization to catch up with the West.
At that time, most Asian and Pacific countries were controlled by Western colonial powers. As Japan started to flex its political muscle on the international stage, it came into conflict with the gigantic Qing dynasty of China, and Russia, which was seeking hegemony over China and the Korean peninsula.
Japan won the Sino-Japanese war of 1894, and then managed to subdue Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 with a lauded naval victory in which the Russian Baltic feet was decimated. This result signified Japan’s entry as a force to be reckoned in international politics and inspired Asian countries who had long suffered under colonial oppression.
Japanese leaders at the time had experienced the turbulent days leading up to the Meiji Restoration. They were aware that Japan was out of its depth against Russia in terms of its military power and resources. In order to stop the war as quickly as possible, they engaged early on in diplomatic discussions with Russia with American President Theodore Roosevelt serving as mediator. The Japanese leaders were men who embodied the ancient proverb by Sun Tzu, “Know your enemy, know thyself, and you shall not fear a hundred battles.”
Nevertheless, Japan’s victories made future military leaders arrogant. A couple of decades later, this culminated in Japan’s aggressive military, economic and political machinations in China resulting in Chinese antipathy toward Japan and growing distrust among former allies such as Great Britain and the United States, who also had stakes in China.
In the Great Depression from 1929, powerful nations aimed for the formation of a bloc economy. Japan was undergoing significant population growth but lacked resources. Faced with serious economic and social challenges, Japan opted to advance its interests in Manchuria and other parts of China. Although losing 100,000 men and using a massive proportion of the national budget in the Russo-Japanese War, victory enabled Japan to legitimately secure a foothold in South Manchuria. At the time both the Japanese government and her people considered Manchuria to be a “lifeline.”
In addition, many Japanese opinion leaders were of the belief that Japan had an obligation to bring independence and prosperity to Asian countries oppressed under Western colonial rule. As the first modern state in Asia, Japan saw itself as the region’s leader, and sought to establish a new Asian cooperative scheme to counter traditional colonial powers. Firm in their resolve, Japanese leaders became oblivious to growing anti-Japanese sentiment throughout Asia, and a cruel war ensued that pitted Japan against China and other Asian countries.
Chiang Kai-shek aimed for unity in China and from the early 1920s and began advancing through to the north to subjugate military cliques in the region. He reached Beijing in 1928, causing considerable tension with the Japanese Army in Manchuria. In 1931, Japan sparked the Manchurian Incident in northeast China. The following year, the Japanese Army initiated the establishment of “Manchoukuo” (the State of Manchuria) with the “Last Emperor” Pu-Yi of the Qing dynasty on the throne. This action was heavily criticized by the League of Nations and led to Japan’s withdrawal from the organization.
Japan plotted to broaden its interests and influence Beijing and Tianjin in northern China. The main purpose was to cope with the growing influence of Communism exerted by the Soviet Union over northeast China, and to prepare for war with the Soviet Union in the future. Tension continued to escalate between Japan and the anti-Japanese front led by Chiang Kai-shek of the Chinese Nationalist Party, as well as Mao Zedong of the Chinese Communist Party. On July 7, 1937, a confrontation between the Japanese and Chinese armies known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out in the outskirts Beijing at midnight.
At the time the Japanese Cabinet and Army were divided into factions supporting either all-out war or peaceful negotiation. The pro-war faction looked down on the Chinese Army as lacking vitality and fighting spirit, and assumed that victory could be attained in a relatively short period of time. They took the initiative which led to further repercussions in Shanghai and middle China along the Yangtze River. The Shanghai Incident broke out in August 1937, and military aggression started to intensify. In December that year, Japan invaded Nanjing, the capital of China. Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Chongqing in Sichuan Province to the west of China, thereby establishing a secure center for all out resistance backed by the Americans, British, and the Soviet Union. The second Sino-Japanese War was now in full swing.
The Second World War was fought between the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allies. It was triggered In September 1939 with Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in spite of having had its independence guaranteed by Britain and France. In September 1940, the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Japan, and Italy was concluded under the Fumimaro-Konoe Cabinet. It provoked a strong reaction from the United States and the Allies who enforced strict economic sanctions against Japan such as an embargo on oil and iron exports.
In the spring of 1941 Prime Minister Konoe maximized efforts to negotiate with the U.S. and avert hostilities. A major reason for conflict between Japan and the U.S. was economic competition in China, especially after the Russo-Japanese War. The U.S. grew evermore distrustful of Japan after the Manchurian Incident, and so the crucial issue at the heart of negotiation for the Americans was the withdrawal of the Imperial Japanese Army from China.
In the middle of negotiations in July 1941, the Japanese Army moved into the southern region of French Indochina making the situation extremely volatile. Konoe tried urgently to talk directly with President Franklin Roosevelt. According to the dictates of the Meiji Constitution, however, the prerogative of supreme command for both the Army and Navy was wielded by the Emperor and was completely independent of the Cabinet or Diet. Even the Prime Minister had no mandate to command the nation’s military.
Roosevelt and Churchill were already determined to wage war with Japan at that time, and the slow pace of the negotiations under Konoe gave the Americans ample time to prepare for war. Konoe pleaded with Army Minister Hideki Tojo to withdraw the Army from China. His pleas were rejected outright, resulting Konoe dissolving his cabinet in October 1941. Tojo succeeded Konoe as Prime Minister.
Tojo did not jump immediately into hostilities with the United States as Emperor Hirohito still sought a peaceful resolution. In both the Army and Navy, especially in the Navy, there were staunch opponents to waging war against America. It was acknowledged that Japan had neither the military power nor the resources to match the United States in all out armed conflict. Nevertheless, the line of thought that favored immediate military action in order
