Tank Tracks to Rangoon Read Free Page A

into an enemy’s hands was utterly disgraceful, but to surrender voluntarily was literally unthinkable, since the dishonour would not only taint one in the afterworld, where eternal abhorrence would be shown by the prisoner’s ancestors, but would also involve his family in this world in such loss of face that if they were high
bushido
, atonement would have to be made by at least one member committing
hara kiri.
    The code of
bushido
was accepted by Japanese officers as part of the natural order of things, and symbolized this acceptance by the constant wearing or carrying of the
samurai
sword, which was intended for use and not merely for ceremony. Similarly, the rank and file, already held in the vice of iron discipline, accepted these standards quite unequivocably, for since birth the virtues of
bushido
had been rammed well and truly home, and it would never have occurred to the average soldier, brought up in a hierarchal and ceremonious society, to question them.
    To this already formidable philosophy must be added the quite sincere belief that Japan was first among the nations of the world, and that the very Spirit of Japan existed in the physical sense in the person of the Emperor. If the Emperor demanded sacrifice, the Spirit of Japan, the essence of its life, both religious and secular, would benefit, and the sacrifice must be made, however painful and personal; the family photograph in the tunic pocket existed in the Japanese Army, like any other.
    These then, were some of the moral forces at work in the mind of the Japanese soldier during World War II, and whilst it is almost impossible for the occidental to grasp the power of such forces on human behaviour, I cannot emphasize them too strongly, since what motivates the soldier is often more importantthan the weapons he fights with. Even today, thirty years after the events of which I am writing, there have been isolated cases of Japanese soldiers who have had to be convinced that the war ended a generation ago before they will submit. Perhaps there are some who will never submit.
    Physically, the Japanese are a small but hardy race, used to extremely hard work and a simple basic diet which is all that their harsh environment will sustain. The cult of physical fitness played an important part in their daily life, and even in civilian life most men belonged to some organization which practised certain aspects of the ancient martial arts of
jujitsu
or
kendo
, or to an athletic club. Sickness in the Japanese Army was barely tolerated, and the medical element of any formation was totally inadequate for service in areas where the men would be at the mercy of a dozen virulent tropical diseases; for this omission a terrible price would be paid.
    The Japanese Army of World War II was basically an infantry army, and tactics which it favoured were those of Ludendorff’s 1918 storm troopers. The offensive spirit was something of an obsession, and if opposition was encountered the attack simply flowed round it until it was eliminated by the follow-up troops. Mechanization of transport had a low priority in the Japanese order of battle, and supplies were carried on mules, bicycles or by the men themselves if they could not impress local labour. This enabled them to take to the jungle tracks which their opponents considered unsuitable for use by a modern army, and suddenly appear several miles in their rear, setting up ambushes and road blocks which paralysed movement of troops and supplies along the motor roads which formed the vital arteries of the defence. Both in Malaya and Burma this method jangling the nervous system of the British defenders led to the abandonment of position after position, and represented a classic application of the principle of the indirect approach.
    Generally, road blocks were sited in a defile or similar position which could not be by-passed. The favoured method of construction was to snap up the first vehicles to pass, which then formed the basis