General Kuribayashi Tadamichi 栗林忠道

The man who led one of the most iconic and fierce struggles in the latter days of the Empire of Japan was General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, an accomplished soldier, writer and diplomat who had a level of understanding of the enemy Japan faced that most of his fellow officers did not. He was born on July 7, 1891 in Hanishina District, Nagano Prefecture to an old samurai family. Given his family background, a military career was only natural for Kuribayashi, though in his early days at school he was most known for literary talents as a writer of speeches, poetry and inspirational works. He was also known for being somewhat rebellious and was almost expelled from school for organizing a students strike. In fact, he had initially planned on becoming a journalist but was finally persuaded by his instructors to attend the Imperial Japanese Army Academy after graduating from Nagano High School in 1911. He graduated in 1914 as a cavalry officer and went on to the Army Cavalry School in 1918 to further perfect his skills. He showed such promise that he went on to the Army War College and had an outstanding record, graduating in 1923 with high praise and receiving the coveted military saber from His Majesty the Taisho Emperor of Japan.

In 1928 Kuribayashi was sent as a deputy military attaché to the United States in Washington DC and during his two year stay in America he studied at Harvard University. He gained a valuable perspective there and was most impressed by the massive economic and industrial strength of the United States. He later said that, in his travels around the country, “…I knew the close connections between the military and industry. I saw the plant area of Detroit, too. By one button push, all the industries will be mobilized for military business.” Later he held a similar post in Canada but it was his time in the United States that gave him a first-hand understanding of the enemy Japan would ultimately face in World War II. He was one of the few Japanese military figures who understood just how massively outmatched Japan would be in any war with the United States and hoped that such a thing could be avoided. After returning from Canada, he served on the General Staff in Tokyo, continued to do some writing and by 1940 had been promoted to major general. When war broke out in December of 1941 he was serving as chief of staff of the 23rd Army tasked with the conquest of Hong Kong.

When the war came, Kuribayashi was one of the few men in the Japanese military who understood what the consequences would be. On numerous occasions he had said to his family that, “America is the last country in the world Japan should fight”. This, combined with his occasional remarks supportive of a negotiated peace, led some of the more radical militarists to accuse him of being a defeatist and lacking in support for the Japanese war effort. However, Kuribayashi was as loyal and committed a soldier as Japan ever had and his views were based on his understanding of American military might. He knew that it was a war that would be virtually impossible for Japan to win given the overwhelming American superiority in resources, manpower, economic and industrial output compared to Japan. Others had the bare facts but Kuribayashi had actually seen it for himself and fully grasped just how massive the imbalance was between Japan and America and he did not want to see the Empire of Japan wiped out in a war in which there was practically no chance of success. Nonetheless, once that decision was made, he was absolutely committed to doing his duty and would fight the Americans with the utmost of his abilities.

During the war, General Kuribayashi gained the reputation of being a ‘soldier’s general’. He visited his wounded men in the hospital, something which was rare at the time, showed great concern for keeping his troops properly supplied and was determined not to waste their lives needlessly. In 1943 he was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of a training division with the Imperial Guard and the following year was given the field command of the 109th Division. A few days later he was informed that he would be tasked with the defense of the island of Iwo Jima and was even granted an imperial audience before being flown to the island to assume command. When Kuribayashi arrived on Iwo Jima he already had a plan in mind for how to inflict a costly defeat on the Americans. However, he had been kept in the dark about the overall strategic situation for Japan and did not know, at the time, that he was essentially being sent to certain death with the assignment. The plan Kuribayashi had was of a type that would have been familiar to someone like American General George Patton. His idea was to set up a defense in-depth in the interior of Iwo Jima to lure in as many Americans as possible and pin them down with withering fire at which time the Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet would swing in from the sea and Kuribayashi and the navy would crush the Americans between them.

After arriving, Kuribayashi told Major Yoshitaka Horie, “When the enemy comes here, we can contain him, and then our Combined Fleet will come to slap his face. That is to say, our role here is a massive containing action.” However, Horie then informed him of recent events that Kuribayashi did not know about. The Combined Fleet had been practically annihilated at the Battle of the Philippine Sea only ten days before and the Imperial Japanese Navy would never launch a major offensive operation again. Additionally, Japanese naval air power had been wiped out as well with over 5-600 aircraft destroyed. Kuribayashi had been unaware of any of this and only upon learning of it did he realize that there was practically no hope for a Japanese victory on Iwo Jima. Still, it was his duty to try and that is what he would do. He inspected the defenses of the island himself, laid out new defensive positions and determined to fight on Iwo Jima regardless of the odds against him and to kill as many Americans as possible. His only hope was that if he could inflict horrendous losses on the American forces, the public in the United States might lose morale and be more agreeable to abandoning the war and making peace with Japan.

This was the only option Kuribayashi had and his reasoning was sound. However, the nature of World War II in the Pacific for the United States meant that it would not work. This, after all, is something that would happen to American overseas conflicts yet to come and which most people today are familiar with. However, this is partly exactly why President Roosevelt was adamant that Japan strike the first blow in bringing the United States into the war. That event galvanized the public and ensured that the mentality of the American people would be different than it would be in later conflicts such as the war in Vietnam for example. In a war that America chose to fight, even for laudable reasons, extreme loss of life could be enough to cause public support for the war to drop and force the government to pull out and end hostilities. However, in this case, because Japan had attacked American territory, regardless of the reasons, that was not going to happen in World War II. Losses in the Pacific islands campaign would be extreme for the United States but support for the war would never drop but a greater ferocity encouraged. That is not to say though that General Kuribayashi was wrong in his decision. Under the circumstances there was no other decision he could make other than to surrender without fighting at all.

Any Japanese strategy in the island campaigns were crippled from the outset by American naval superiority. Even if Japan had inflicted devastating losses on American forces, even to the extent of forcing the enemy off of an island like Iwo Jima, would have been only temporary setbacks for the United States which could have simply bypassed such islands, keeping them from being re-supplied until the Japanese garrison was forced to surrender or die of starvation. This was similar to the strategy used by General Douglas MacArthur of bypassing strong points and attacking weak points, leaving heavily fortified areas to wither in isolation. Unlike warfare on land, when it came to the Pacific islands, everything depended on maintaining naval superiority which, in turn, also guaranteed air superiority so that there was no way an island garrison could fight a war of attrition against an enemy that controlled the seas and skies around the combat area. Kuribayashi surely understood this but he was determined to do the best he could in an extremely difficult situation. As long as the Americans were intent on taking Iwo Jima he could at least delay the American offensive and buy time for the major, most heavily populated Japanese home islands. Every day he held out was one more day before American forces could invade Honshu or increase the bombing of the Japanese heartland.

General Kuribayashi made the best of a bad situation and learned from previous Japanese defeats to mount a more successful defense. Accepted thinking, in resisting an amphibious assault, was to put your strength up front and try to stop the enemy on the beaches when they were the least organized and the most vulnerable. However, General Kuribayashi decided against this. On Saipan, Guam and Tinian he had seen this tactic fail because of American naval superiority. Anything he placed on the beaches would be pulverized by the American battleships offshore so, instead, he placed his men farther inland in an intricate network of underground fortifications. Taking those fortifications would be a long, bloody and frustrating affair for the attacking Americans. Kuribayashi also knew that he could expect no help from Japan and he had to use his men and supplies conservatively. Lack of food, water and the prevalence of sickness because of a lack of proper supplies was a major problem for the Japanese from the outset. On February 19, 1945 the first elements of the U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima. Because of the great care and preparations taken by General Kuribayashi, it would be a grueling affair for the American forces, lasting five weeks and ultimately costing the American forces over 6,000 killed and over 19,000 wounded. The Japanese garrison of just over 22,000 men generally fought to the death with only 216 being captured.

General Kuribayashi ordered his men not to fire on the Americans as they came ashore but to draw them in close and then fight fiercely to the last man and urged his troops to set as their goal to kill at least 10 Americans before giving up their life. Given the popular perception of the war in the Pacific, it is important to note that General Kuribayashi did not favor what Americans called the “banzai charge”. The aggressive temperament of Japanese warriors repeatedly led them, in other battles, to launch suicidal charges when the situation became desperate. However, this meant that they would be out in the open and thus easily wiped out by superior American firepower. What Kuribayashi did was far more effective, urging his men to stay in their defensive positions and force the Americans to expose themselves to danger in trying to pry them out of their holes and earthworks one by one. Marine General Holland Smith noticed this and paid his enemy a typically Marine style of compliment saying of General Kuribayashi, “I don’t know who he is, but the Japanese General running this show is one smart bastard.” The Japanese resisted fiercely and took a heavy toll on the attacking Marines as the fight for Iwo Jima dragged on for days and weeks. General Kuribayashi was among the last still holding out.
Knowing that the end was near, he wrote,

“The battle is entering its final chapter. Since the enemy's landing, the gallant fighting of the men under my command has been such that even the gods would weep. In particular, I humbly rejoice in the fact that they have continued to fight bravely though utterly empty-handed and ill-equipped against a land, sea, and air attack of a material superiority such as surpasses the imagination. One after another they are falling in the ceaseless and ferocious attacks of the enemy. For this reason, the situation has arisen whereby I must disappoint your expectations and yield this important place to the hands of the enemy. With humility and sincerity, I offer my repeated apologies. Our ammunition is gone and our water dried up. Now is the time for us to make the final counterattack and fight gallantly, conscious of the Emperor's favor, not begrudging our efforts though they turn our bones to powder and pulverize our bodies. I believe that until the island is recaptured, the Emperor's domain will be eternally insecure. I therefore swear that even when I have become a ghost I shall look forward to turning the defeat of the Imperial Army to victory. I stand now at the beginning of the end. At the same time as revealing my inmost feelings, I pray earnestly for the unfailing victory and security of the Empire. Farewell for all eternity.”

General Tadamichi Kuribayashi died on or around March 26, 1945. As there were virtually no survivors, the exact nature of his death has been subject to some speculation. Some accounts say he was killed in action during an attack on an enemy camp, others say he committed seppuku near his headquarters after facing north and bowing three times toward the Imperial Palace after which his assistants shot themselves after burying him. Whatever the exact circumstances were, General Kuribayashi had died like a hero and more than fulfilled his duty to resist and defend Iwo Jima to the very end. He had taken a heavy toll on the U.S. Marines and Iwo Jima was the only battle in which total American casualties were greater than total Japanese casualties. He had also earned the respect of his enemies, Marine General Holland Smith wanted to give Kuribayashi a proper burial with military honors but his body could not be found. In his memoirs, General Holland wrote, “Of all our adversaries in the Pacific, Kuribayashi was the most redoubtable.” And, while public support for the war certainly did not fall off because of the battle, the staunch resistance of Kuribayashi did have an impact as many in the United States later questioned suffering such heavy losses to capture an island that was not very strategically significant. General Kuribayashi had been tasked with fighting a hopeless battle but he fought that battle with the greatest skill and heroism possible, accomplishing as much as could have been accomplished in such a situation. He stands as a figure worthy of the utmost respect and admiration.

Captain Fuchida Mitsuo 淵田 美津雄

Captain Fuchida Mitsuo will forever be remembered for the leading part he played in a pivotal moment of world history. It was he who led the first wave of planes into the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. He was instrumental in one of the greatest victories in the military history of Japan. Additionally, after the war, he would win another type of victory, a moral victory, in setting an example that helped many Americans see Japan in a new way and to realize that the Japanese were not enemies but valued friends. He was born on December 3, 1902 in Nara Prefecture and from early in life was filled with the zeal of a patriot who wanted to serve his country and the Emperor. In 1921 he enrolled at the naval academy in Etajima, Hiroshima and was passed as a midshipman in 1924. While there he befriended a brilliant fellow classmate, Genda Minoru, who would be the one to plan the intricate attack on Pearl Harbor two decades later.

Ensign Fuchida chose to specialize in naval aviation and as he worked his way up the chain of command, becoming a lieutenant by 1930, he was especially expert at horizontal bombing. His skill was so great that he was chosen to be an instructor in this field later in 1936. In the meantime, however, he gained his first combat experience during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1929, serving on the aircraft carrier Kaga and leading bombing missions in the Hankow region while stationed at Nanking. Further promotions and different assignments followed and he was also accepted into the Naval Staff College. In 1939, by then Lieutenant Commander Fuchida was transferred to the aircraft carrier Akagi, a ship that would always be special to him. In October of 1941 he was promoted to full Commander in charge of the Akagi's air group. When it became known that he would lead the attack on Pearl Harbor if a peaceful settlement with the United States could not be reached, he was honored. He knew the United States had Japan outmatched in military terms but was confident that Germany would win the war in Europe and that would enable Japan to win in Asia.

He trained his pilots diligently for the operation and on the morning of December 7 led them into the home base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Everything went exceedingly well. The American forces were taken by complete surprise and the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor was decimated. Commander Fuchida returned to the Akagi to wild cheers for the part he had played in the victory. Privately, however, he was disappointed that Admiral Nagumo decided to withdraw rather than sending in a third attack wave to destroy the naval infrastructure facilities. The problem was that no American carriers were found at Pearl and Admiral Nagumo was concerned that if they should appear while his planes were attacking Hawaii, the Japanese fleet could be wiped out. In any event, the victory had been great enough on its own and Commander Fuchida was a genuine war hero. Upon his return to Japan he was summoned to the Imperial Palace for an audience with the Emperor. Later, Commander Fuchida recalled how interested His Majesty was in the details of his report and that he was very concerned about any American civilian casualties. Fuchida assured His Majesty that no civilian areas were hit during the attack.

With the Greater East Asian War underway, Commander Fuchida participated in the bombing attacks on Darwin, Australia. Later he served with great success in the air attacks on British naval bases at Ceylon. He was wounded at the pivotal Battle of Midway, preventing him from flying afterwards and when the Akagi sank he broke both his ankles in an explosion. Afterwards, he served for the remainder of the war as a staff officer and in 1944 was promoted to captain. He was in Hiroshima the day before the atomic bomb was dropped for a naval conference but was called back to Tokyo on the day of the attack. The day after Hiroshima was destroyed, he was sent to the city to report on the damage. Everyone else in his party would eventually die of radiation poisoning but Captain Fuchida was spared. When the end of the war came, Captain Fuchida was most enraged by the last-minute declaration of war by Soviet Russia. It was a dishonorable "stab in the back" that he would never forget and it encouraged him to join with the rebel faction that wished to continue the war. However, he was able to speak to HIH Prince Takamatsu who told him that it was the will of the Emperor that there be peace and this convinced Fuchida, dutiful above all else, to accept the surrender. It probably saved his life.

After the war, things were difficult for him as they were for almost everyone. He resented the occupation and the Tokyo War Crimes Trials where he was called to testify. However, he also heard first hand accounts from close friends that caused him to see his old enemy in a new way. He heard from men who had been captured that the Americans had not tortured them and one group talked about a girl volunteer who helped take care of them even though her parents had been killed by the Japanese during the fighting in The Philippines where they had been working as missionaries. The story of an American veteran of the "Doolittle Raid" who had been captured by Japanese forces but who bore no ill-will toward his captors also intrigued him. After being introduced to Christianity, he began to study the religion further and in 1949, after reading the Bible completely for himself, Captain Fuchida converted to Christianity (Protestant Evangelical). This set his life on a new course from that time on.

Captain Fuchida came to be widely known in the Christian evangelical movement in Japan and the United States. He traveled extensively in America and became friends with the America's most famous evangelist Billy Graham. His story touched the hearts of Americans who had been taught during the war to view the Japanese as wicked and treacherous enemies. That a man like Captain Fuchida could become a Christian and view them as his brothers and sisters illustrated that they had allowed hatred to overcome them. This man from the outside had showed them what they should have known all along and Captain Fuchida became very famous and beloved in the Christian evangelical community in the United States. He also visited Europe and was horrified by the stories of the poverty and oppression from the other side of the "Iron Curtain". It reinforced his view that communism was a fundamentally evil doctrine, in the eyes of man and God alike. Although he lived in the United States for a time, Captain Fuchida lost none of his old loyalties. He said, "When I became a Christian, I remained a patriot of Japan. I still love my country and my people." He worked to convert people to Christianity all over the world and hoped for peace but he knew that the nature of man would mean war would not go away and so he also stated that he thought Japan should have its own nuclear weapons to deter any acts of aggression by other powers.

Fuchida Mitsuo died in Kashiwara on May 30, 1976 after a lifetime of dedicated and successful service. As a naval officer, he had served his country to the best of his ability and contributed to some of the greatest victories in Japanese military history. As an evangelist he had won hundreds of converts to Christianity by his sincerity and powerful personal story. His devotion, to his country and his God also helped to heal the wounds of war and bring Japan and the United States closer together on a personal level. From start to finish his life had been one of service and he pursued every goal, in war or peace, with zealous dedication.

Submarine Hero Kinashi Takakazu 木梨 鷹一

Human beings are very fond of ‘keeping score’. This is as true in warfare as it is in sports or other civilian activities. We rank tank commanders by how many enemy tanks they destroy, fighter pilots by how many planes they shoot down or, with submarine commanders, how much tonnage of enemy shipping they sent to the bottom of the sea. Lieutenant Commander Kinashi Takakazu (or in western order; Takakazu Kinashi) was a submarine captain of the Imperial Japanese Navy, yet, his name will not be found in any top ranking of “ace” submarine commanders based on the amount of tonnage he sank. However, sometimes a submarine commander gains fame for accomplishing a particularly difficult or dangerous goal, for sinking some major enemy warship or something which, in some way, gains attention for breaking some sort of record. This is the category that Commander Kinashi fits into. In fact, he never really knew just how incredible was the success he won in his military career. Nonetheless, he earned a place in naval history and a legendary status among the ranks of the submariners of the world for his achievement. It is unfortunate that he never knew just how famous he would become.

Kinashi Takakazu was born on March 7, 1902 in Usuki, Oita Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu in the Empire of Japan. After a fairly typical childhood, he decided on a career in the navy as a young man. Looking only at the start of his military career, no one would have expected him to rise to greatness. He studied and trained at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and graduated at the very bottom of his class, the very last of 255 cadets in 1920. After this less than impressive academic performance, his career path had nothing to do with submarines as he served as a passed midshipman on several cruisers on training exercises. From 1924 to 1925 he traveled around the Pacific stopping in at such places as Acapulco, Mexico, San Francisco, California, Vancouver, British Columbia and Hawaii. He received his promotion to ensign before returning to Japan where he underwent training in torpedoes and naval artillery. He was a dedicated and dutiful young officer but still did not seem to be at all exceptional. In 1926 he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the destroyer Harukaze. It was only after that assignment that he began to think about submarine service.

The following year, Kinashi volunteered for sub duty and gained important experience serving on the I-54, I-61 and I-66. It was certainly something different but he still did not stand out all that much and returned to the surface fleet to serve on a river gunboat in China (at the time, various foreign powers maintained naval vessels on the major rivers in China). He also served on the destroyer Fubuki and by December of 1937 had been promoted to lieutenant commander and posted to the minelayer Okinoshima, hardly a prestigious assignment. For any young naval officer of the time, serving on a battleship was always the most sought-after posting and, perhaps discouraged by his position in the surface fleet, Kinashi transferred back to the submarines. In 1938 he was finally given command of his own boat, becoming captain of the RO-59. The RO-type boats were smaller, second class coastal submarines that were largely neglected by the naval high command but, at least, it was a place to start. In 1940 Commander Kinashi was transferred to the Submarine Warfare School but this proved only temporary as six month later he was back at sea as captain of the I-3 until November of 1940 when he was given command of the RO-34 on which he served until July of 1941. The I-3 was one of the earliest ‘cruiser’ type submarines, a J1-type, which was later converted into a transport. The RO-34 was one of the first medium subs (a K5-type) since the 1920’s and would see service later in the war but with no success.

When Japan went to war with the United States (and others) in December of 1941, Kinashi was captain of the I-62 (later I-162), a small KD4-type sub that had some success in the Dutch East Indies and the Indian Ocean. However, Kinashi was soon transferred to command the I-19 where he would gain his greatest fame. This came during the titanic struggle for the island of Guadalcanal, perhaps the most pivotal land engagement of the Pacific War and coming on the heels of the stunning defeat for Japan at the Battle of Midway which had decimated the Imperial Navy. The fight for Guadalcanal was to be a turning point and Japan threw everything possible into defending the island which they had invaded in early 1942 (it was part of the British Solomon Islands protectorate).

I-19

The I-19 was a B1-type sub, one of the most successful types Japan would produce. In keeping with standard Japanese tactics, the I-19 and her sister sub I-15 were deployed to interdict American vessels approaching the island. Such vessels were coming as part of “Operation Shoestring” but the American forces had already suffered considerable losses for the greatest prize in the U.S. Navy: the aircraft carriers. In the Battle of the Eastern Solomons the USS Enterprise had been so badly damaged that it had to return to Hawaii for repairs and only a week later the Japanese submarine I-26 badly damaged the USS Saratoga (Admiral Fletcher’s flagship) which left only the USS Wasp and USS Hornet. These were the targets that Commander Kinashi and his counterpart on the I-15 wanted most of all. Kinashi in the I-19 would go after the WASP while the I-15 tried to engage the Hornet. It was September 15, 1942, a clear day with sunny skies and a 20-knot trade wind blowing. Kinashi submerged his boat and moved in for the attack. Displaying immense calm and skill, he took the I-19 through the rings of deadly destroyers escorting the American carrier. As these were the only two left, their escorts were all the more determined to defend them. Running as silently as possible, Kinashi slipped underneath the floating guard dogs and, amazingly, remained undetected.

Once well clear, Kinashi ordered his diving officer to bring the boat up to periscope depth. Scanning the surface, he spotted the USS Wasp, displacing 14,900 tons and capable of holding up to a hundred aircraft, she was a formidable target. The ship was part of a task force escorting the 7th Division of the U.S. Marine Corps to Guadalcanal which, along with the Hornet, included the battleship USS North Carolina and ten other warships. Kinashi knew the odds were against him. He would get only one chance to fire and would then, most likely, be destroyed by the counter-attacking American warships. Still, he had made it through the escorts and hoped that his good fortune would hold. He ordered the maximum salvo possible, all six forward torpedo tubes were made ready in all respects. As he watched through the periscope, passing along the necessary information, another bit of good fortune came his way; the Wasp began to slow down to launch 26 planes and allow another 11 to land that were coming back from patrol. It was the perfect time. Kinashi was determined that he would hit his target and moved his boat in closer and closer, even though this increased the risk of someone spotting his periscope and spoiling his attack but he did not want to miss. It took nerves of steel but Commander Kinashi and the I-19 silently swam to within 500 meters of the massive American ship. He wasn’t spotted and things could not have worked out better if he had been giving orders to the helmsman of the WASP himself. To launch the planes, the carrier began to turn to starboard, presenting its beam (and thus the largest possible target) to the Japanese sub.

USS Wasp CV-7

Finally, with the tension onboard at maximum, Kinashi gave the order to fire. Six deadly Type 95 burst from the bow and shot through the water. The Type 95’s were the fastest torpedoes in the world and at only 500 meters, the Wasp barely had time to react to the sudden attack. Lookouts spotted the incoming torpedoes and Captain Forrest Sherman tried to turn his ship toward but it was too late. In quick succession, three torpedoes slammed into the Wasp, one even shooting out of the water to strike above the waterline. Massive explosions went off and began to spread and almost immediately the huge ship began listing heavily to starboard. The torpedoes had hit exactly where the gasoline tanks and magazines were on the carrier. Within about 30 minutes Captain Sherman gave the order to abandon ship. The Wasp was finished.

Of course, as soon as Commander Kinashi fired his torpedoes, he slammed the periscope down and took his boat deep, knowing that a counter-attack by the circling destroyers was soon to come. The U.S. Navy did not disappoint as destroyers circled over head, groping the depths with sonar and lobbing depth charges at the unseen attacker. It was the I-15 which confirmed the sinking of the Wasp since Kinashi was deep below the surface trying to save his boat and his crew from being blasted into little pieces. The attack of the I-15 on Hornet, five miles away, had not been successful. For Kinashi and the I-19, they endured the worst experience possible for submariners as the American destroyers dropped no less than eighty depth charges in the frantic effort to destroy them. Yet, Kinashi and his men did not panic and amazingly managed to survive the ordeal and successfully escape from the American fleet. Once clear, Kinashi surfaced his boat and as the men came out, gasping for fresh air, they knew they were heroes. They had done what very few men in naval history had ever accomplished: sank an American aircraft carrier. They had even lived to tell the tale.

Kinashi and his men returned to Japan for a hero’s welcome. Kinashi, who had finished last in his class and whose career had always seemed rather lackluster, was promoted to full commander and summoned to the Imperial Palace to report on the sinking and receive the congratulations of His Majesty the Emperor. For a Japanese naval officer, there was no greater honor possible. Kinashi was formal and correct, he had done his duty as he had been trained to. In fact, being brought before the Emperor was probably a source of greater anxiety than facing a fleet of American warships had been. In terms of his naval career, Kinashi had reached his pinnacle and would not see such success again. The following year, near Fiji, he torpedoed and badly damaged an American liberty ship but inexplicably failed to finish it off. However, in December of 1943 he was tasked with a most dangerous mission. In command of the I-29 he would travel through three oceans to pay a visit to Japan’s Nazi allies in Europe. At the former British bastion of Singapore the I-29 was filled with rubber, tin, tungsten, opium and other items before sailing off for France. Thanks to their code-breakers, the Allies knew all about the voyage of the I-29 and where it was going, yet, Commander Kinashi skillfully avoided discovery.

Kinashi at a banquet given by the Germans

On March 11, 1944 the I-29 safely arrived at the port of Lorient, France where her cargo was unloaded and the crew were treated as the special guests of the Germans. Commander Kinashi was taken to Berlin to be congratulated by Adolf Hitler for sinking an American carrier, for which the Nazi dictator personally decorated Kinashi with the Iron Cross (second class). In April, filled to the top with important passengers and the latest German designs for everything from radar to rocket engines, the I-29 left France for the return trip to Japan. Unfortunately, none of the men on the I-29 would ever see their homeland again. American intelligence was tracking the Japanese submarine more closely this time and as the boat passed through the Luzon Strait near the Philippines on July 26, 1944 was hit by three torpedoes and totally destroyed by the American submarine USS Sawfish. Commander Kinashi and all his men and passengers were killed. When the naval high command in Japan realized that the I-29 had been lost, Commander Kinashi was posthumously promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in recognition of his outstanding service.

And yet, that service was more outstanding than anyone knew. On that critical day in 1942, I-19 had fired six torpedoes at what, in naval terms, was practically point blank range and yet only three had struck the WASP. What of the other three? It would be some time before the truth was known. On that same day, the accompanying battleship USS North Carolina had been struck by a torpedo on her port side, killing five men and causing considerable damage (only the quick and expert work of the damage control teams prevented the ship from sinking). The destroyer USS O’Brien was also hit on the port side by a torpedo and was so badly damaged that she later sunk. For years it was assumed that the I-15, targeting the Hornet, had hit these ships with the torpedoes she had fired at the carrier with but missed. Eventually, however, careful study showed that this was not possible, they could not have come from the I-15. Suddenly, the naval experts realized what an incredible thing had happened. When Kinashi fired his salvo at the WASP, three torpedoes struck and sank the carrier but the other three continued on, over the horizon, running for some twelve miles before slamming in the North Carolina and then the O’Brien. Everyone then realized that Commander Kinashi Takakazu had made the single more successfully destructive attack in naval history. With one salvo of torpedoes he had sunk an aircraft carrier, a destroyer and heavily damaged a battleship even if he did not know it at the time.

It is for that reason that the name of Rear Admiral Kinashi Takakazu is still a legend in the submarine community today and why he will always have a place in naval history. No one shot ever did so much damage to the enemy as the one he fired from beneath the waves on that sunny day in 1942 off Guadalcanal. Kinashi may not have the highest score among submarine commanders but he accomplished something that no one else ever did or is ever likely to and for that he holds a very singular place of honor.

Japanese Military Innovations in World War II

When it comes to military innovation, during and leading up to World War II the Empire of Japan was absolutely on the cutting edge. In terms of weapons for the army, there was not much that was very remarkable from Japan which tended to lag behind the other major powers in tanks and heavy weapons that were the latest trends in military technology. However, it made up for that by surpassing all others in terms of air and naval warfare innovations, possessing the best naval aircraft and the best torpedo at the start of the war by all accounts. Still, for the Imperial Japanese Army, while weaponry may have been lacking, innovation in strategy and skilled leadership was certainly not. One need only consider the fact that such major world powers as the United States and the British Empire both suffered their worst military defeats at the hands of Japan in the early days of the war. When it came to the latest in military weaponry, tanks, aircraft, naval aviation and submarine technology, Japan certainly had the most difficulty when it came to tanks. In border clashes with the Russians in Mongolia, the Japanese suffered severe setbacks even though, especially at that time, the Russians themselves were far from being up to the standard of other powers in terms of tanks. Japan was hampered in this regard by never fighting an enemy in which armored combat was really essential. The Chinese never fielded much of a challenge in that regard and the attacks on Southeast Asia were made against colonial powers that were already engaged in a fight for survival in Europe and they had no tanks to defend these colonies and most had only token military forces designed to maintain law and order rather than repel a determined invader. Still, in some of the island battles it became clear that some answer had to be made to the rugged and reliable American M4 Sherman and by the end of the war Japan did develop some tank types that would have posed a challenge, such as the Type 3 Chi-nu. However, it was produced so late in the war that it was reserved to defend the home islands against an invasion that never came so that none were tested in battle.

On the sea and in the air, however, things were very different. The Japanese were absolutely on the cutting edge of developing military aircraft. The famous Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter, mostly used in naval aviation but which was ground-based as well, was regarded by both Axis and Allied countries as the best carrier-based fighter in the world at the time. In the early weeks and months of the war, the Japanese Zero shot down 12 Allied planes for every one of their own lost. It gave Japan a marked advantage over anything the British or Americans had on hand to use against it. The only problem was that, once the war began, it became extremely difficult for Japanese industry to keep up as American fighters continued to improve. However, the biggest loss was in pilots. The most successful fighter pilots of the war, after the Germans, were the Japanese, the most successful being Lieutenant Hiroyoshi Nishizawa who, even by the most conservative of statistics, shot down far more planes than the best British, Russian or American pilots. An expert Japanese pilot in the latest aircraft proved to be capable of victory even against enemy forces that were considerably superior in number. The problem was that so many of these expert, remarkably well trained pilots were lost at the disastrous Battle of Midway that Japanese naval aviation was never able to recover. Pilots simply could not be trained and new planes designed and manufactured fast enough to keep up with what the war effort demanded.

Yokosuka "Ohka" rocket plane

However, it was the Japanese who proved the real value of naval aviation and the centrality of the aircraft carrier in modern warfare. As mentioned, they took a lesson from the British raid on Taranto, but not many others did. Too many military leaders around the world regarded Taranto as a fluke, a case of the British being lucky and later felt satisfied when it was shown that the damage to the Italian fleet had not been quite as extensive as was first thought. However, after the overwhelming, stunning, Japanese victory at Pearl Harbor (the worst defeat in the history of the United States Navy) no one could ignore the results. The innovative military thinking of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had been vindicated dramatically. Japan also developed, during the war, the Kawanishi N1K “Strong Wind” interceptor that proved more than a match for the American “Corsair” or “Mustang” and at least a match for the famous F6F “Hellcat”. However, it was impossible to produce these in sufficient numbers for them to have much of an impact. Production quality was also a problem for the Nakajima Ki-84 “Gale” fighter but when it was properly built, had good quality fuel and an expert pilot it was an extremely effective aircraft and was capable of such high speed (nearly 400mph) that it was able to intercept the B-29 Superfortress bombers. Using technical data supplied by Germany, Japan also had several designs for jet aircraft by the end of the war but they were too late to see service. Now, even if one were to discount these craft because none were completed and they were based on German technology, Japan developed craft independent that were very similar. Probably the most famous was the Yokosuka MXY7 “Cherry Blossom” (Ohka) which was a rocket-propelled suicide plane. Its speed was so great that it was virtually unstoppable in its final attack and forced the US Navy to re-organize their anti-aircraft defenses. They did not have much of an impact, as a suicide-weapon it was a weapon of desperation but showed how far “outside the box” Japanese military designers were able to go.

The one area where Japanese innovation stood out more than any other, and so much so that it really requires very little in the way of explanation, was in naval warships and submarines. Already pioneers in the utilization of aircraft carriers, the Imperial Japanese Navy pushed the boundaries of military technology for both traditional warships and in new fields such as the submarine fleet. The problem was that most of these never had the chance to really engage in the sort of battle for which they were intended. Nonetheless, the designs were positively astounding and some have never been surpassed even to this day. Undoubtedly the most famous Japanese naval vessel of the war was the battleship Yamato, though its sister ship, Musashi, was probably even more formidable. These were, quite simply, the largest battleships ever built and will probably always remain so. They were built as part of the thinking of the Japanese naval high command which was focused on a major, decisive, battle such as was won by Admiral Togo at Tsushima in the war against Russia. With these two monster warships, Japan was confident of being able to totally dominate any ship-to-ship engagement with any navy in the world.

super-battleship Yamato

The problem, of course, was that such a battle never came about, partly because of Japan’s own victory at Pearl Harbor which largely decimated the American battleship force. The US struck back with aircraft carriers and submarines and the two huge battleships remained in port, protected from such threats, for most of the war. However, they did finally come out to do battle, when the odds were irreversibly stacked against Japan, at Leyte Gulf. Coming under attack from the air, as opposed to from enemy surface ships which she was intended to combat, the Musashi was finally sunk but only after enduring an unbelievable 17 direct bomb hits and (believe it or not) 19 torpedo hits at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. The Yamato went out in 1945 on a suicide mission against US forces at Okinawa and was likewise sunk by American carrier planes but likewise it took no less than 7 direct bomb hits and being struck by 10 torpedoes before the massive ship went down. There was a third such ship planned but during construction it was decided to turn it into an aircraft carrier rather than a battleship and the result was the Shinano, the largest aircraft carrier in the world and the largest warship of any kind ever built up to that time. Unfortunately for Japan, it was sunk by an American submarine before it ever launched a single aircraft in combat, which at least goes to show that the cautious attitude towards the Yamato and Musashi had been justified.

Japan also broke plenty of records under the water as well. No one was as innovative as Japan when it came to submarine design, though Japanese boats were so poorly utilized that they never came close to scoring anywhere near the success that Germany or Italy did. This was partly due to an over-ambitious strategy combined with overly-cautious tactics (which meant few ever got the opportunity to score many victories) but also because of the level of innovation itself which resulted in Japan producing so many different types of subs that none were able to be mass-produced in the numbers needed to have any appreciable impact on the war effort. Nonetheless, Japan produced highly advanced boats that demonstrated immense creativity and technical know-how. One area Japan was famous for was in combining air power with submarines. Many Japanese subs were equipped with small scout planes that could be launched and recovered from the sub itself to serve as reconnaissance aircraft. One even took up a few incendiary bombs which were dropped on the west coast of the United States. However, as the war situation became more desperate, many subs were forced into carrying cargo to isolated, starving garrisons on the islands of the south Pacific.

super-submarine I-400

It is all the more remarkable though, given how Japanese subs were never used to their full potential, that some still did manage to pull off incredible successes. For example, in the Battle of Midway, Lt. Comm. Yahachi Tanabe of the I-168 daringly steered under a screen of US destroyers to sink the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Hammann. Even more incredibly, Tanebe and his crew then managed to survive the ensuing counter-attack and evade the US warships to return damaged but intact to Japan. Most famous of all was Lt. Comm. Takakazu Kinashi of the I-19 who, on September 15, 1943, scored the single most successful submarine attack in history when one salvo of torpedoes took down the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, damaged the battleship USS North Carolina and sank the destroyer USS O’Brien. In terms of boat designs, Japan produced the super-streamlined SenTaka class boats which actually had a higher underwater speed than even the most advanced late-war German Type XXI, making them the fastest submarines up to that time and which were also extremely deep-diving. However, they came too late to see action. Similarly, Japan produced the very famous SenToku class boats, I-400, I-401 and I-402 which were massive ‘double-decker’ submarines equipped with three Seiran bombers. Originally intended to be used for surprise bombing raids against Washington and New York they were later planned for an attack on the Panama Canal but the war ended before they reached their target. These had a longer-range than any submarine in history, giving them more endurance than any sub before the nuclear era and they were the largest submarines ever built up until the launch of the American nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Benjamin Franklin in 1965. In fact, some of the early American missile subs were probably based off of the I-400 design.

A Priestly Plan for Japanese and East Asian Security

Bishop Walsh

Prior to the outbreak of the Greater East Asian War, an attempt at Japanese-American reconciliation was made on the initiative of two Catholic priests; Bishop James E. Walsh, (a veteran of much missionary work in China) Superior General of the Maryknoll Society, and his assistant Father James M. Drought. It is important to note the experience Bishop Walsh had in China and his understanding of the threat posed by the communist insurgency (something which many in the United States did not understand). These two men were convinced that the rising tensions between Japan and the United States were ill-founded and unnecessary and that a lasting peace could be arranged by reasonable men on both sides of the Pacific. Knowing the threat posed by the communists in China and recognizing that Japan was the only power placed to deal with this crisis, they hoped that the Roosevelt administration in Washington DC could be shown that, far from being a problem, Japan was the solution in East Asia that America should support.

The two priests traveled to Tokyo and met with Tadao Ikawa, one of the directors of the Central Agricultural and Forestry Bank. They presented him with a memorandum which proposed a Japanese “Far Eastern Monroe Doctrine”. This, of course, was a reference to the Monroe Doctrine which established the American foreign policy that the United States would be neutral to existing European colonies in the Americas but would resist any effort by European powers to interfere in the affairs of the Americas to expand their colonial rule or hinder the newly independent countries established in Central and South America. It laid the ground work for the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain and essentially said that if there were any problems or threats in the Americas it would be the United States that would deal with them and not any non-American powers. The two Catholic priests proposed something similar with the Empire of Japan taking the position in East Asia that the United States took in the Americas.

Look! The cruel injustice of the Communists!

This would mean that the colonial holdings of Europe (the only American holding being The Philippines which was being given its independence) were not to be molested but could not be expanded and that no non-Asian powers could meddle in the affairs of East Asian countries. The Empire of Japan would be responsible for maintaining peace and order in the region and if any problems in East Asia should arise it would be Japan that would deal with them with no interference by non-Asian powers. If this should have also led to a “special relationship” between Japan and the United States, that would probably have been something the priests would have looked forward to. However, there was no doubt that the first problem that had to be dealt with was the spread of communism in China and the two Catholic clerics were adamant that Japan should be supported in taking the initiative to stop this “corroding social disease”, as the memorandum called it, before it became an “epidemic”. Ikawa had worked in the United States as part of the Finance Ministry and was impressed by the idea and confident that Japan would agree to it.

Colonel Iwakuro

The priests assured the Japanese officials that they had the support of leading men in America, which the Japanese assumed to mean President Roosevelt, which was not true, nonetheless Ikawa took the priests to meet with Prime Minister Prince Konoye and Foreign Minister Matsuoka. The Prince sent them to the War Ministry to speak to Colonel Hideo Iwakuro who was known for his position that an alliance with America would be the key to success for Japan. He was also an expert intelligence officer who had set up the Nakano School for intelligence agents and who had saved the lives of five thousand Jewish refugees by allowing them into Manchuria, persuading the Kwantung Army leadership that as it had been a Jewish-American firm that loaned Japan the money needed to win the war against Russia, abandoning them would be dishonorable. He introduced the priests to General Akira Muto, head of the Military Affairs Bureau who approved of their plan and gave it his full support.

At the start of 1941 the two priests returned to America in the hope of finding as much support in Washington as they had in Tokyo. Their first supporter was the Postmaster General, Frank C. Walker, one of the most prominent Catholics in America. He arranged for the priests to finally meet with President Roosevelt and Bishop Walsh presented his memorandum to the President. Unfortunately, when it came to Japan, Roosevelt seemed unwilling to ever take any action without the approval of his Secretary of State Cordell Hull who had an undeniable prejudice against Japan. Hull voiced skepticism in a note written by his senior advisor on Far Eastern Affairs Dr. Stanley Hornbeck who was one of the most anti-Japanese and pro-Chinese members of the administration. Still, Roosevelt empowered Walker to act as his agent in pursuing the idea. Likewise, in Japan, Colonel Iwakuro was dispatched to the United States with the support of General Hideki Tojo. He went to St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and met with Bishop Walsh where he was met with the disappointing news that the Roosevelt administration had decided that the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy prevented any such American agreement with Japan and Japan would not betray German and Italy. Colonel Iwakuro was also met with resistance by the Japanese diplomats in America who saw his actions as the Imperial Army interfering in matters that should be handled by their own office.

As negotiations went on the original intent of the memorandum, of the Japanese “Far Eastern Monroe Doctrine” was all but forgotten as the focus shifted almost entirely to China and the proposal that Japan withdraw all troops from China in exchange for the Republic of China recognizing the independence of the Empire of Manchukuo and forming a sort of coalition government with the rival regime of Wang Ching-wei. The American State Department, under Hull, rejected the proposal almost completely. To make matters worse, however, Hull gave the Japanese ambassador, Admiral Nomura, the impression that the proposal would be a basis for future negotiations when in fact he had no intention of doing so and the result was a long, fruitless series of negotiations or attempted negotiations that achieved nothing but to increase bitterness in Japan that the Roosevelt administration was not acting in good faith but was simply trying to put off the Japanese while Japan grew weaker and American forces in the region grew stronger. Which was, sadly, entirely correct. However, why does this history matter to us today? What can we learn from the peace efforts of two Catholic priests in 1941?

The relevance of this to the present time is that the basic idea put forward in their memorandum, of a “Far Eastern Monroe Doctrine” supervised by Japan is a viable foreign policy position today. In fact, there is far more likelihood of such a policy being workable today or at least in the near future than there was in 1941. The biggest question today would be whether or not the Japanese people are willing to take up the responsibility for East Asia. If there is the will in Japan to pursue such a policy, there is no reason why it could not be implemented. Unlike in 1941, there seems little doubt that such a move would have the full backing of the United States, Great Britain, Australia and most of the Southeast Asian countries. Of course, colonialism is no longer an issue but those portions could be replaced with similar assurances dealing with existing defensive alliances. Also, just as in the original memorandum, the preeminent focus of such a doctrine would be the communist forces in China who, unhappily, now happen to control much more than they did in 1941. Suppressing them would not be immediately possible but such a doctrine would allow for the containment of their expansionist impulses and a revived and involved Japan would be the power best placed to do it.

The biggest difference between today and 1941 is that the danger of Communist China has been demonstrated. In 1941, few of the major powers other than Japan took the threat seriously. The United States, most importantly, saw the China Incident only as the Japanese on one side and China on the other whereas, in fact, the Japanese government stated a willingness to make peace with the nationalists, even for the United States to broker that peace, and withdraw from China (Manchukuo being independent) so long as Japanese forces remained where necessary to deal with the communist insurgency. The United States chose to take the side of China and oppose Japan, the other major powers following along. However, though the American government would never openly admit it, American policy and actions have demonstrated that they understand that this was a mistake because today the United States supports Japan and opposes China, even more so than the Republic of China on Taiwan. Whereas in 1941 the Roosevelt administration was suspicious of Japan, today both the major political parties in the United States have welcomed the new policy of collective self-defense proposed by Prime Minister Abe and have encouraged Japan to strengthen the Self-Defense Forces. Today, the United States wants Japan to play a larger part in ensuring the peace and stability of East Asia.

This would be the perfect time for Japan to begin the shift to this new doctrine. The support for collective self-defense measures has been growing and more people on both sides of the Pacific have wanted Japan to take a more active part in its own self-defense. Japan is also protected by the most powerful and advanced military in the world, the United States, and so would be able to build up its own military strength in safety until fully prepared to take on this larger responsibility for the region. Australia has expressed its support for Japan strengthening the armed forces and other countries in the region could be expected to go along with it due to the growing fears of communist Chinese expansion. Under this doctrine it would be the duty of a revitalized Japan to keep communist aggression contained and to deal with any problems in East Asia that pose a threat to the security and stability of the region. The recent increased closeness between Russia and China would also be a reason why America and Europe would probably support such a doctrine for a more prominent Japan to keep watch over the region. To put it in terms that the two priests in 1941 might appreciate, Japan would be the “guardian angel” of East Asia in the same way that the United States is in the Americas and NATO is in Europe. Given the political climate of today, there is no reason why such a plan could not work, it would only require the Japanese public to be awakened to supporting a much larger and more assertive role for Japan on the world stage.

A Trustworthy Military Force