Japan's Greatest Victory, Britain's Worst Defeat: Capture and Fall of Singapore, 1942 [Paperback]

Colonel Tsuji was an example of the field-grade officers who so influenced Japanese foreign policy in the 1930s. He literally wrote the book on the outbreak of December 1941--"Read This Only and the War Is Won," which appears as an appendix to this narrative history of the Malaya campaign. Tsuji later turns up in the Philippines, Guadalcanal, and China, where he earned immortality of sorts by cooking and serving the liver of an American pilot. He was a tactical genius and a monster, and this was only one of his campaigns, and only one of his books. Later he became a respected politician--until he mysteriously disappeared on a trip to China and perhaps Vietnam.

Reference the excellent review by Glen Buchanan, "Why Japan fought the White Races of Asia in WWII?" ... which underscores Colonel Tsuji's claim that Japan went to war to "emancipate" the oppressed peoples of Asia. Tsuji further claims that "... Singapore was indeed the hinge of fate for the peoples of Asia ... and as if by magic, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippine Islands one after another gained independence overnight." I wonder ... and am unconvinced that emancipation was the real reason. Perhaps one of the reasons, but surely not the sole, nor primary, reason.

A bit of a personal background, please. I am a Nisei, second-generation Japanese-American, born (1938)and raised in Hawaii. My parents were from Hiroshima and Kyoto and were puzzled and angered that their country of origin would attack America and throughout Southeast Asia. They asked, and I have too, just "why did Japan go to war"?

Tsuji writes that "war must have a morality and a reason which is understandable at home and abroad." (pg 11) Later, he offered the reason, "the emancipation of the oppressed peoples of Asia" (pg 13-14). This explanation does not fly for me in face of: 1) Japan's militarist past, including the aborted invasion of the Korean peninsula in the 15th century; 2) the 1937 full-scale invasion of China; and, the attack on Pearl Harbor, a legitimized Territorial entity of the United States (albeit, the British "takeover" of the Hawaiian Islands in late 1890's.)

Furthermore, to add to my confusion, Tsuji makes reference to Mr. Tojo's statement in the International Court of Justice, "the war activities of Japan were really unavoidable for self-defense"; and, Tsuji writes, " I, too, firmly believe that it was a war without preparation and a war which was forced upon us." I wonder ... why would a nation go to battle for the emancipation of the oppressed without "preparation" and then say that "the war was forced upon us".

So ... what would I conclude? I would not nor take offense to the conclusions of my friend, Glen Buchanan, who is much more knowledgeable regarding these matters, but I believe he gives much too much credence to the claim of emancipation. Rather, I would suggest that Japan was as much, if not more, concerned with the "anti-Japanese economic measures of Great Britain and the United States".

Admittedly, much of my thinking stem from my military background ... a geo-military/political basis for why nations make war against each other. I get the sense from reading Tsuji's book that he was motivated by altruism (an unselfish interest in or care for the welfare of others ... other yellow-skinned people, in this case), and translating that altruism to justify the Japanese military actions in China, etc ... and simply the desire for expansionism for whatever the reason ... power, ego, protectionism, etc. The latter has often been used to justify attacking Pearl Harbor (extending the "borders" of Japan as far out as possible to protect the homeland).

I am still "wondering" ... and have come to accept the inevitable; that theories abound depending on one's perspective borne of many factors (i.e., race, ethnicity, economic/social influences, experiences, training, readings, etc.

Colonel Tsuji's book is worth reading ... especially if you are interested in military strategy and tactics.

Signing off ... Tom Tamura, Colonel USAF (Ret.)

In the matter of Singapore during the Pacific War, Masanobu Shuji should not be remembered for whatever tactical "brilliance" he tends to attribute to himself in this book (and for which he was always known to take more than his share of credit for.) The primary action that Shuji should be, and is known for in Singapore, is the Sook Ching Massacre, which took the lives of up to 50,000 Chinese men, women, and children. In the aftermath of the Surrender of Singapore, Masanobu Shuji was tasked by General Yamashita to "stabilize" the city by whatever means necessary. Shuji directed the Kempetei in a systematic pogrom from late February to early March 1942, "screening" able-bodied men, along with some women and children, who all "disappeared" and whose remains were eventually found in mass graves around Singapore during the 1960s.

Masanobu Shuji was a clever and vicious fanatic for the Imperial Japanese Army who helped to instigate the Nomonhan Incident along the Soviet border with disastrous results for the Japanese; Superseded and countermanded orders by his superiors while in Guadalcanal to make questionable troop movements that he himself admitted likely led to the deaths of at least 20,000 Japanese soldiers (one situation the Allies were grateful for his bungling); Through many anonymous calls to field commanders, Tsuji ordered the massacres of all Allied and Filipino POWs captured after the fall of Bataan, resulting in a number of brutal slaughters carried out by unsuspecting junior officers; And while in Burma, continually interfered and intimidated his superiors to force a "die in place" mandate on all Japanese units remaining in Burma, that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths of both Allied and Japanese soldiers. During this period, he is said tomhave ordered the death of a captured American pilot, whereupon he ordered the pilot's liver to be served for dinner and consumed the first portion.

Tsuji was a supremely evil instigator and dogmatic racist who encouraged atrocities by his subordinates wherever he was posted during WWII. He manipulated and riled up hatred in his fellow officers, while also encouraging insubordination against their superiors, a tactic known as "leading from below." Tsuji was despised by most conventional IJA commanders for his disrespect in their presence and his tendency to exaggerate his actions on the battlefield, but also feared for his suspected connections to Tojo and the Kempetei. He escaped prosecution after WWII by hiding with the Natuonalist Chinese until the majority of war crime trials had already started.

Praising Masanobu Tsuji for his military tactics is like praising Mengele for a book on medicine, or the commanders of SS Das Reich and Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler for their "brilliance" and "bravery" on the battlefield. One should not confuse psychopathic brutality with the profession of arms. And those who have posted such extravagant praise for this war criminal's bloated prose here should become really more informed on who this wicked man truly was, and the extreme suffering he caused to so many people, both Allies, Japanese and civilians.