Japan at war : A beginner's guide
The Pacific war
Pearl Harbor – December 1941
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/pearl_harbour.htm
Thoughtful article on
the events of early December 1941 when Japan attacked the US fleet at Pearl
Harbor. Also considers the evidence that is said to show that the Americans
knew of the attack but let it happen in order to bring the US into the
war.
Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War: A brief history with
documents and essays by Akira Iriye (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999).
US edition only; may be available from online bookshops.
Assembling
over 30 primary documents including proposals, memoranda, decrypted
messages and Imperial conferences, Iriye invites readers to view the
diplomatic exchanges from both American and Japanese perspectives to
determine how and why the US and Japan went to war. The introduction
provides background on Japanese aggression in China and south-east Asia
during the 1930s and on the economic unrest and isolationism in the US.
Pearl Harbor is placed in global context with essays from American, Japanese,
Chinese, Soviet, German, British and Indonesian perspectives, which explain
how various countries applied pressure, offered assistance, exacerbated
rifts and significantly affected negotiations and Japan's ultimate decision
for war.
My Guadalcanal
www.gnt.net/~jrube/Genjirou/cover.htm
The translated diary of a Japanese
veteran of the battle of Guadalcanal from August 1942 to February 1943.
The Battle of Saipan: The final curtain
www.battleofsaipan.com/seabee.htm
Personal memoir of former US Navy Seabee David Moore.
Lost Evidence: Saipan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5FWyib4icU&NR=1
History Channel documentary on the invasion.
The Battle for Okinawa by Hiromichi Yahara (Wiley, 1997) £11.95
This
is an account of the battle for Okinawa by a senior Japanese officer
who was both the architect and the executor of the entire Japanese
defence during the military encounter that lasted from April to August
1945, the last battle in the Pacific theatre during World War II. It
was Yahara who proposed a war of attrition, unique in the history of
Japanese World War II island defences, and he was shunned by his peers
in the military for being the only high-ranking officer to leave Okinawa
without later committing suicide. This account gives insight into the
mind of the Japanese military in World War II and how they regarded their
duties.
Tennozan: The battle of Okinawa and the atomic bomb by George
Feifer (Houghton Mifflin, 1994). Out of print; may be available from
libraries or second-hand bookshops.
Feifer's book looks at the collision
of the American, Japanese and Okinawan cultures during the battle of
Okinawa, and examines why the battle lasted longer than it should have.
Japanese army aces
www.warbirdforum.com/aces.htm
How the Japanese credited victories and gave
out awards and citations.
An afternoon with Saburo Sakai
www.warbirdforum.com/sakai.htm
Interview in the late 1990s with a Japanese
ace in World War II.
Interview with a Zero pilot
www.warbirdforum.com/komachi.htm
The memories of Komachi Sadamu, an Imperial
Japanese Navy pilot, from December 1941 to August 1945.
Kamikaze Pilots
www.2worldwar2.com/kamikaze-pilots.htm
Suicide warfare in World War II and its military and cultural rationale.
Ascent of the Fireflies
www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/
0,13673,501020902-344136,00.html
Article
from the Asia edition of Time magazagain.
Kamikaze: Japan's suicide gods by Albert Axell and Hideaki Kase
(Longman, 2002) £19.99
The use of the Japanese kamikaze pilots was
one of the most dramatic and chilling developments of World War II. But
who were they and what motivated them to make the ultimate sacrifice?
Using interviews with kamikaze survivors and unpublished memoirs and
other documents, the authors of this book look into the hearts and minds
of the pilots, viewed in the full context of the war and the Japanese
cultures and traditions out of which they emerged.
