book: Japan at War

[U-Dog]

A few years back I read "Japan at War: An Oral History." The many different interviews gave me an insight into the mind set of the Japanese during the war that no other book ever has. IIRC there is only one story about subs and thats about a Kaiten(?) sailor(manned torpedo.) Nothing on battle tactics or military history in that sense. But it did help me answer the question "What the heck were they thinking!?!?"

[Torplexed]

Sounds like an interesting book. I know Japan found it necessary to cultivate some serious martial fervor to compensate for a lot of material deficiencies. Being the world's only Asiatic power at the time and resource-poor they viewed themselves as a nation fighting for a sphere of influence as the other great powers already had. After the war they finally found a way to channel that fervor into more peaceful endeavors. A lot of national leaders in WW2 extolled their soldiers to fight to the last man and bullet. With the Japanese that was pretty much a given.

[U-Dog]

Torplexed, It is a good book and it helped me imagine how brainwashed(for lack of a better word) most Jpanese were. The most horrific part of the book for me was a description of civilians killing their own family members so the evil American Demons wouldn't take them prisoner. The book also has interniews with some unrepentant japanese Nationalists. Its good in providing a wide range of views. Not perfect, not enough on Japanese atrocoties IIRC but naturally no-one want to talk about those on tape.

BTW I also had an old lady approach me at a train station in Japan. She asked if I was American and then THANKED me for the B-29 raids.....I was confused. She said that was the proof that their government was lying to them, and to her, they were the cause of the end of the war, in which she'd already lost her husband.

War sucks, but I still like wargames for the mental challenge and the insight into history.
:ping: