A worthy attempt to explain the inexplicable

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	• Japanese Infantryman 1937-45: Sword of the Empire (Warrior) Gordon Rottman Osprey Publishing, 2005 - 64 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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A worthy attempt to explain the inexplicable

I wanted to learn more about the Japanese soldier of World War Two from the viewpoint of the private. Gordon L. Rottman didn't disappoint. He describes squad and platoon organization, individual clothing and equipment, and follows a fictional soldier through his career. Most readers will find the Imperial Japanese soldier alien--because they expect the product of early 20th-Century Japan to think, feel, and act just like themselves. Let go of prejudice and it will be easier to see what life was like for a son of Nippon.

To be crudely blunt, life was Hell for the Imperial Japanese soldier. Japan was too poverty-stricken to support her soldiers in the field. The Japanese war machine took over the nation and bogged it down in a land war that made America's Vietnamese nightmare seem gentle. Don't forget--the utter fanaticism of the Japanese soldier led to Harry Truman dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese cities so that American soldiers and sailors and Marines wouldn't have to die storming the home islands. Death, and the promise of a Japanese Vahalla, must have been a blessed relief from disease, starvation, and boredom--and the terror of pre-invasion bombardment by the American Navy.

I really liked the detail on the light machine gun team and its equipment. Apparently, only four 30-round magazines were issued for the Type 96 and Type 99 light machine guns--and between 450 and 750 rounds of ammunition. The flexible nature of Japanese small unit organization was well presented. For a 64-page book targeting an English-speaking audience, this book is an excellent reference on the life and equipment of the lowest level of the Japanese military machine.

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This book examines in detail the Japanese Infantryman who was, despite comparisons with the notorious German Waffen SS, an enigma to Westerners. Brutal in its treatment of prisoners as well as the inhabitants of the areas that it conquered, the Imperial Japanese Army also had exacting standards for its own men - strict codes of honor compelled Japanese soldiers to fight to the death against the more technologically advanced Allies. Identifying the ways in which the Japanese soldier differed from his Western counterpart, the author explores concepts such as Bushido, Seppuku, Shiki and Hakko Ichi-u in order to understand what motivated Japanese warriors.

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