Like the special forces major countries, like Nazi Germany or the United States, the most experienced and skilled fighters were recruited into the special forces of Imperial Japan. These were battle-hardened soldiers and commanders, distinguished by their combat skills, lack of fear and irresistible hatred for their enemies. However, the command of the Japanese armed forces, unlike their opponents, did not care too much about their subordinates. Often, special forces units were “disposable” - they made desperate suicide missions and, characteristically, they were successful.
The combat experience and skills of the soldiers were multiplied by their weapons - samples created to perform certain narrowly focused tasks. The weapons of the special forces of Imperial Japan and their purpose will be discussed in this article.
Giretsu Kuteitai- "Heroic paratroopers" - the elite troops of Imperial Japan, who participated in a number of desperate special operations.
The main task of these fearless fighters was to cause the greatest damage to the enemy aircraft. Under the cover of night, paratroopers were supposed to land on enemy military airfields and bases, bring chaos to the enemy ranks, kill personnel and blow up equipment, fuel and ammunition depots, and provisions.
The paratroopers sewed their own equipment, preferring inconspicuous clothing without any body protection, but with pockets and pouches for placing grenades and ammunition.
They did not take provisions and medicines, making room for grenades and explosives. From small arms, paratroopers preferred compact versions of the Type-100 submachine gun with a folding stock, landing versions of the Arisaka “Type 99 TERA” rifles, which were assembled from three parts (barrel + forend and stock + bolt group), 8 mm Nambu pistols, Type 99 hand grenades and Type 99 mortars, which, after landing, were immediately unfolded and used for mounted fire over short distances.
Takasago volunteers Taiwanese volunteers are special units of the Imperial Japanese Army recruited from young Taiwanese aboriginal men. The Japanese command planned to use them to wage war in the jungle.
The experience of life in the tropics and special weapons, consisting of Type 99 rifles and special curved crescent-shaped knives that could be used as a melee weapon or a ritual object (associated with tribal beliefs), made it possible for these special forces to successfully fight against American and Australian soldiers.
Volunteers mined trails, made pit traps and made ambush attacks, accurately firing their rifles and, in case of close combat, attacking the enemy armed with a knife. Many soldiers of the Taiwan Volunteer Squads applied special insignia to their faces - with black paint, or scarred their foreheads - using the ritual knife described above, carving a dot on their forehead - a symbol of devotion to Japan. Such a custom is similar to the tradition of shaving a mohawk on your head from the US Army, in particular the fighters of the 101st division during the Second World War or the soldiers - "berserkers" during the Vietnam War.
Airborne Marine Corps of the Japanese Navy- the elite troops of Imperial Japan, the main use of which was sabotage operations and the capture of the coastline from the sea.
Depending on the task at hand, soldiers could be armed with a variety of weapons, including obsolete weapons such as Type 99 rifles, Type 26 revolvers, Type 96 and Type 99 machine guns, Type 100 submachine guns, grenades and bombs of various designs, 50 mm and 70 mm mortars.
Armor-piercers used 20 mm Type 97 anti-tank rifles. There are unconfirmed reports of the use of weapons supplied by Nazi Germany - Bergmann submachine guns and some samples of anti-tank grenades - by the Marine Corps.
Teishin shudan- Another special detachment of paratroopers of the Imperial Japanese Army, which distinguished itself in battles against the Americans in 1944-1945.
Due to the unpreparedness of the army for large landing operations and lack of experience, paratroopers often crashed to death or, upon landing, could not immediately begin an effective battle against their enemies.
However, it was for these units that some types of weapons were developed: the Type-100 variant with a folding butt, the Arisak, Type 2 and Type 99 “collapsible” rifles. The paratroopers used Type-4 70mm rocket launchers and Type-5 recoilless 45mm cannons as anti-tank weapons.
In ground operations, armored support for the paratroopers was provided by Type-95 Ha-Go light tanks armed with a 37 mm anti-personnel cannon and two 7.7 mm machine guns. The paratroopers' weapons and combat tactics proved to be quite effective - the fighters of this special squad caused serious damage to the United States army.
Fukuryu- "creeping dragons" - were fighters of special assault squads, the main task of which was to cause maximum damage to the enemy's navy. Combat swimmers were dressed in special suits that allowed them to be at a depth of up to 10 meters, and armed with Type 5 mines.
Mina was a five-six-meter bamboo tube filled with fifteen kilograms of explosives. The swimmers created a kind of minefield, waiting for the moment to detonate their bombs under the bottom of the passing landing craft. During the detonation of the charge, the combat swimmer received damage incompatible with life.
There are two episodes when combat swimmers effectively used their weapons - on January 8, 1945, the landing ship LCI (G) -404 was seriously damaged by a Japanese kamikaze swimmer near the Palau Islands, and on February 10, in the same area, swimmers attacked USS Hydrographer (AGS-2).
Unfortunately, the Imperial Japan Command was not able to use its special troops to their maximum potential. However, the American and Australian troops paid tribute to the heroism and selflessness of the Japanese soldiers, and the engineers of the victorious army admired the samples of Japanese weapons received in their hands, actively used the experience of Japanese designers in developing their own weapons.
For example, the Nambu 14 pistol served as the prototype for the .22 long rifle Ruger pistols, later used by the US Army as a silent special operations pistol.
1 - cotton working uniform;
2 - field uniform made of woolen fabric with white cotton lining. The lining was marked with the owner, model type (type 98) and the manufacturer's mark.
In a large inner pocket of his uniform, the soldier kept a soldier's pay book (2a), material allowance book (2b) and another document (2c) .;
3 - field cotton trousers with ribbons at the ankles;
4 - side bag sample 1938;
5 - the most common side bag of the 1941 model;
6a - leather waist belt (6b) type 30 (sample 1897) with two pouches for 30 rounds each and one "reserve" pouches for 60 rounds.
As a rule, two pouches were worn on a belt on the stomach, to the right and left of the buckle, and one on the back, the “rear” pouches were somewhat different in design from the front ones. An oiler (6c) was attached to the right end of the rear pouch. This pouch was larger in size and had not two, but three compartments for 20 rounds each, that is, a total of 60 rounds could fit in the pouch.
The infantryman had no right to use cartridges from the rear, reserve, pouch without a special order.
A loop is put on the belt, designed to fasten the sheath of a bayonet-knife. The scabbard had two narrow loops or one wide.
The belt was equipped with an open metal buckle - aluminum, copper or steel. The buckles were sometimes dyed dirty olive or black.
Throughout the war, the design of the waist belt did not change, but instead of leather, ammunition began to be sewn from fabric.
The belt was supported on the tunic by two loops sewn to it, one on the right and one on the left;
6c - oiler;
7 - an oval-shaped identification plate of a soldier measuring 32 x 50 mm; medallions were made of aluminum or copper.
Along the edges of the medallion there was one square-shaped hole.
The Japanese always cremated the dead, so a second medallion designed to identify the body of the slain was not required.
The medallion contained a minimum of information about the soldier (pictured below, on the left).
The inscription on the medallion was read from top to bottom: the top symbol is the type of troops, then the regiment number, the individual number of the soldier. On the officer's medallion (in the figure below, on the right), the surname and rank were also indicated;
8a - underwear;
8b - two pairs of socks;
8c - toiletries;
8g - small towel;
8d - a large towel;
8e - slippers;
9 - an early type backpack.
An infantryman's backpack was a simple shoulder bag with a large flap at the top.
On the inner surface of the backpack there were ribbons designed to fasten all sorts of things.
The old style backpack was made of leather and had a rectangular shape. The skin was stretched over a wooden frame.
Shortly before the start of the war, a cloth version of a bag backpack on a wooden frame appeared.
In wartime, such backpacks began to be made of waterproof fabric.
The dimensions of the backpack are 127 x 330 x 330 mm.
In the backpack they carried dry rations and personal items;
10a - an old type flask with a capacity of 1 pint;
10b - 2.5 pint type 94 flask.
The flask of the 1934 model was made of aluminum and painted in a dirty olive color, the lid of the flask was natural cork.
A metal lid-cup was put on top of the cork, connected to the flask with a ribbon - so as not to get lost.
The flask could be attached to the belt with vertical or horizontal straps.;
11 - a pot consisting of four items: a lid/plate attached to the side of a round frying pan, a bowl for soup and a bowl for rice.
The last two containers were connected by wire.
A simplified model of a pot with a capacity only for rice was also produced.
The bowler hat was placed in a quilted case, which did not allow the contents of the bowler to cool quickly in the cold.
Ilya Kramnik, military observer for RIA Novosti.
The war between the USSR and Japan in 1945, which became the last major campaign of the Second World War, lasted less than a month - from August 9 to September 2, 1945, but this month became a key one in the history of the Far East and the entire Asia-Pacific region, ending and, conversely, initiating many historical processes lasting decades.
background
Prerequisites Soviet-Japanese War arose exactly on the day when the Russo-Japanese war ended - on the day the Portsmouth Peace was signed on September 5, 1905. Russia's territorial losses were insignificant - the Liaodong Peninsula rented from China and the southern part of Sakhalin Island. Much more significant was the loss of influence in the world as a whole and on Far East, in particular caused by an unsuccessful war on land and the death of most of the fleet at sea. The feeling of national humiliation was also very strong.
Japan became the dominant Far Eastern power; it exploited marine resources almost uncontrollably, including in Russian territorial waters, where it carried out predatory fishing, crab fishing, sea animal hunting, etc.
This situation was strengthened during the revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil war, when Japan actually occupied the Russian Far East for several years, and left the region with great reluctance under pressure from the United States and Great Britain, who feared the excessive strengthening of yesterday's ally in the First World War.
At the same time, there was a process of strengthening Japan's positions in China, which was also weakened and fragmented. The reverse process that began in the 1920s - the strengthening of the USSR, which was recovering from military and revolutionary upheavals - rather quickly led to relations between Tokyo and Moscow that could be calmly described as " cold war". The Far East has long become an arena of military confrontation and local conflicts. By the end of the 1930s, tensions reached a peak, and this period was marked by the two largest clashes between the USSR and Japan in this period - the conflict on Lake Khasan in 1938 and on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939.
Fragile Neutrality
Having suffered quite serious losses and convinced of the power of the Red Army, Japan chose to conclude a neutrality pact with the USSR on April 13, 1941, and free its hands for the war in the Pacific Ocean.
This pact was needed Soviet Union. At that time, it became obvious that the "naval lobby", pushing south direction war, plays an increasing role in the politics of Japan. The position of the army, on the other hand, was weakened by offensive defeats. The probability of war with Japan was not very high, while the conflict with Germany was getting closer every day.
For Germany itself, Japan's partner in the Anti-Comintern Pact, which saw Japan as the main ally and future partner in the New World Order, the agreement between Moscow and Tokyo was a serious slap in the face and caused complications in relations between Berlin and Tokyo. Tokyo, however, pointed out to the Germans the existence of a similar neutrality pact between Moscow and Berlin.
The two main aggressors of World War II could not agree, and each waged his main war - Germany against the USSR in Europe, Japan - against the USA and Great Britain in the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, Germany declared war on the United States on the day of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, but Japan did not declare war on the USSR, which the Germans had hoped for.
However, relations between the USSR and Japan could hardly be called good - Japan constantly violated the signed pact, detaining Soviet ships at sea, periodically allowing attacks by Soviet military and civilian ships, violating the border on land, etc.
It was obvious that the signed document was not valuable for any of the parties for any long period, and the war was only a matter of time. However, since 1942, the situation gradually began to change: the marked turning point in the war forced Japan to abandon long-term plans for a war against the USSR, and at the same time, the Soviet Union began to consider plans for the return of those lost during Russo-Japanese War territories.
By 1945, when the situation became critical, Japan tried to start negotiations with the Western allies, using the USSR as an intermediary, but this did not bring success.
During the Yalta Conference, the USSR announced an obligation to start a war against Japan within 2-3 months after the end of the war against Germany. The intervention of the USSR was seen as necessary by the allies: to defeat Japan, it was necessary to defeat its ground forces, which for the most part had not yet been affected by the war, and the allies feared that landing on the Japanese islands would cost them great sacrifices.
Japan, with the neutrality of the USSR, could count on the continuation of the war and the reinforcement of the forces of the mother country at the expense of resources and troops stationed in Manchuria and Korea, communication with which continued, despite all attempts to interrupt it.
The declaration of war by the Soviet Union finally destroyed these hopes. On August 9, 1945, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council for the Direction of War, Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki stated:
"The entry into the war of the Soviet Union this morning puts us completely in a hopeless situation and makes it impossible to continue the war."
It should be noted that the nuclear bombings in this case became only an additional reason for an early exit from the war, but not main reason. Suffice it to say that the massive bombing of Tokyo in the spring of 1945, which caused about the same number of victims as Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, did not lead Japan to thoughts of surrender. And only the entry into the war of the USSR against the backdrop of nuclear bombings forced the leadership of the Empire to recognize the futility of continuing the war.
"August Storm"
The war itself, nicknamed in the West "August Storm", was swift. Possessing rich experience in military operations against the Germans, the Soviet troops broke through the Japanese defenses in a series of quick and decisive blows and launched an offensive deep into Manchuria. Tank units successfully advanced in seemingly unsuitable conditions - through the sands of the Gobi and the Khingan ridges, but the military machine, debugged over the four years of the war with the most formidable enemy, practically did not fail.
As a result, by August 17, the 6th Guards Tank Army advanced several hundred kilometers - and about one hundred and fifty kilometers remained to the capital of Manchuria, the city of Xinjing. By this time, the First Far Eastern Front had broken the resistance of the Japanese in eastern Manchuria, occupying The largest city in that region - Mudanjiang. In a number of areas in the depths of the defense, Soviet troops had to overcome fierce enemy resistance. In the zone of the 5th Army, it was carried out with special force in the Mudanjiang area. There were cases of stubborn resistance by the enemy in the zones of the Trans-Baikal and 2nd Far Eastern fronts. The Japanese army also made repeated counterattacks. On August 17, 1945, in Mukden, Soviet troops captured the Emperor of Manchukuo Pu Yi (formerly the last emperor of China).
On August 14, the Japanese command made a proposal to conclude a truce. But in practice, hostilities on the Japanese side did not stop. Only three days later, the Kwantung Army received an order from its command to surrender, which began on August 20. But even he did not immediately reach everyone, and in some places the Japanese acted contrary to the order.
On August 18, the Kuril landing operation was launched, during which Soviet troops occupied the Kuril Islands. On the same day, August 18, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East, Marshal Vasilevsky, ordered the occupation of the Japanese island of Hokkaido by the forces of two rifle divisions. This landing was not carried out due to a delay in progress. Soviet troops in South Sakhalin, and then postponed until the instructions of the Headquarters.
Soviet troops occupied southern part Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Manchuria and part of Korea. The main fighting on the continent was carried out for 12 days, until August 20. However, individual battles continued until September 10, which became the day the complete surrender and capture of the Kwantung Army ended. fighting on the islands completely ended on 5 September.
Japan's surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
As a result, the millionth Kwantung Army was completely defeated. According to Soviet data, its losses in killed amounted to 84 thousand people, about 600 thousand were taken prisoner. The irretrievable losses of the Red Army amounted to 12 thousand people.
As a result of the war, the USSR actually returned to its composition the territories previously lost by Russia (southern Sakhalin and, temporarily, Kwantung with Port Arthur and the Far East, subsequently transferred to China), as well as the Kuril Islands, the southern part of which is still disputed by Japan.
According to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan renounced any claims to Sakhalin (Karafuto) and the Kuriles (Chishima Retto). But the treaty did not determine the ownership of the islands and the USSR did not sign it.
Negotiations on the southern part of the Kuril Islands are still ongoing, and there are no prospects for a quick resolution of the issue.
Until December 7, 1941, there was not a single military conflict with the Asian army in the history of America. There were only a few minor skirmishes in the Philippines during the war with Spain. This led to the underestimation of the enemy by American soldiers and sailors.
The US Army has heard stories of the cruelty that the Japanese invaders inflicted on China's population in the 1940s. But before the clashes with the Japanese, the Americans had no idea what their opponents were capable of.
Regular beatings were so common that it's not even worth mentioning. However, in addition, the captured Americans, British, Greeks, Australians and Chinese had to deal with slave labor, forced marches, cruel and unusual torture and even dismemberment.
Below are some of the more shocking atrocities of the Japanese army during World War II.
15. CANNIBALISM
The fact that during the famine people begin to eat their own kind is no secret to anyone. Cannibalism took place on the Donner-led expedition, and even on the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed in the Andes, which is the subject of the movie Alive. But this always happened only in extreme circumstances. But it's impossible not to shudder when hearing stories of eating the remains of dead soldiers or cutting off parts from living people. The Japanese camps were in deep isolation, surrounded by impenetrable jungle, and the soldiers guarding the camp often starved like the prisoners, resorting to horrendous means to satisfy their hunger. But for the most part, cannibalism was due to mockery of the enemy. A report from the University of Melbourne states:
“According to the Australian lieutenant, he saw many bodies that were missing parts, even a scalped head without a torso. He argues that the condition of the remains clearly indicated that they had been dismembered for cooking."
14. NON-HUMAN EXPERIMENTS ON PREGNANT WOMEN 
Dr. Josef Mengele was a famous Nazi scientist who experimented on Jews, twins, dwarfs and other concentration camp prisoners, for which he was wanted by the international community after the war for trial for numerous war crimes. But the Japanese had their own scientific institutions, where no less terrible experiments were performed on people.
The so-called Detachment 731 conducted experiments on Chinese women who were raped and impregnated. They were purposefully infected with syphilis so that it could be known whether the disease would be inherited. Often, the state of the fetus was studied directly in the mother's womb without the use of anesthesia, since these women were considered nothing more than animals for study.
13. COLLECTION AND SUITATION OF THE GENITALS IN THE MOUTH 
In 1944, on the volcanic island of Peleliu, a Marine soldier, while having lunch with a comrade, saw the figure of a man heading towards them across the open terrain of the battlefield. When the man approached, it became clear that he was also a Marine Corps soldier. The man walked bent over and moved his legs with difficulty. He was covered in blood. The sergeant decided that it was just a wounded man who had not been taken from the battlefield, and he and several colleagues hurried to meet him.
What they saw made them shudder. His mouth was sewn shut and the front of his trousers was cut open. His face was contorted in pain and horror. Having taken him to the doctors, they later learned from them what really happened. He was captured by the Japanese, where he was beaten and severely tortured. The Japanese army soldiers cut off his genitals, stuffed them into his mouth, and sewed him up. It is not known if the soldier could survive such a horrific abuse. But the reliable fact is that instead of intimidation, this event had the opposite effect, filling the hearts of the soldiers with hatred and giving them additional strength to fight for the island.
12. SATISFYING THE CURIOSITY OF DOCTORS 
People involved in medicine in Japan did not always work to alleviate the plight of the sick. During World War II, Japanese "doctors" often performed brutal procedures on enemy soldiers or civilians in the name of science or simply to satisfy curiosity. Somehow they were interested in what would happen to the human body if it was twisted for a long time. To do this, they put people in centrifuges and twisted them sometimes for hours. People were thrown back against the walls of the cylinder, and the faster it turned, the more pressure was exerted on the internal organs. Many died within a few hours and their bodies were removed from the centrifuge, but some were twisted until they literally exploded or fell apart.
11. AMPUTATION 
If a person was suspected of espionage, then for this he was punished with all cruelty. Not only were the soldiers of the enemy armies of Japan tortured, but also the inhabitants of the Philippines, who were suspected of intelligence intelligence for the Americans and the British. The favorite punishment was simply cutting them up alive. First one hand, then maybe a leg and fingers. Next came the ears. But all this did not lead to a quick death in order for the victim to suffer for a long time. There was also a practice of stopping bleeding after cutting off a hand, when several days were given to recover in order to continue the torture. Men, women and children were subjected to amputations, for no one there was no mercy from the atrocities of Japanese soldiers.
10 Drowning Torture 
Many believe that drowning torture was first used by US soldiers in Iraq. Such torture is contrary to the constitution of the country and looks unusual and cruel. This measure may or may not be considered torture. It's definitely an ordeal for a prisoner, but it doesn't put his life at risk. The Japanese used water torture not only for interrogations, but also tied prisoners at an angle and inserted tubes into their nostrils. Thus, water entered them directly into the lungs. It didn't just make you feel like you were drowning, like drowning torture, the victim actually seemed to drown if the torture went on too long.
He could try to spit out enough water to keep from choking, but this was not always successful. Drowning torture was the second most common cause of death for prisoners after beatings.
9. FREEZING AND BURNING 
Another kind of inhuman study of the human body was the study of the effects of cold on the body. Often, the skin peeled off the victim's bones as a result of freezing. Of course, the experiments were carried out on living, breathing people who, for the rest of their lives, had to live with limbs from which the skin had come off. But not only the effect of low temperatures on the body was studied, but also high ones. They burned the skin on a person's hand over a torch, and the captive ended his life in terrible torment.
8. RADIATION 
X-rays were still poorly understood at the time, and their usefulness and effectiveness in diagnosing disease or as a weapon was questionable. The irradiation of prisoners was especially often used by Detachment 731. The prisoners were collected under a canopy and exposed to radiation. They were taken out at intervals to study the physical and psychological effects of exposure. At particularly high doses of radiation, part of the body burned and the skin literally fell off. The victims died in agony, as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki later, but much more slowly.
7. BURNING ALIVE 
Japanese soldiers from small islands in the southern part Pacific Ocean there were hardened, cruel people who lived in caves where there was not enough food, there was nothing to do, but there was a lot of time to cultivate hatred for enemies in their hearts. Therefore, when American soldiers were captured by them, they were absolutely ruthless towards them. Most often, American sailors were burned alive or partially buried. Many of them were found under rocks where they were thrown to decompose. The captives were tied hand and foot, then thrown into a dug hole, which was then slowly buried. Perhaps the worst was that the head of the victim was left outside, which was then urinated on or eaten by animals.
6. DEHEADING 
In Japan, it was considered an honor to die from a sword strike. If the Japanese wanted to disgrace the enemy, they brutally tortured him. Therefore, it was good luck for those captured to die by decapitation. It was much worse to be subjected to the tortures listed above. If the battle ran out of ammunition, the Americans used a rifle with a bayonet, while the Japanese always carried a long blade and a long curved sword. Soldiers were lucky to die by decapitation, not by a blow to the shoulder or chest. If the enemy was on the ground, then he was hacked to death, and not cut off his head.
5. DEATH BY THE TIDE 
Since Japan and its surrounding islands are surrounded by ocean waters, this type of torture was common among the inhabitants. Drowning is a terrible kind of death. Even worse was the expectation of imminent death from the tide within a few hours. The prisoners were often tortured for several days in order to learn military secrets. Some could not stand the torture, but there were those who only gave their name, rank and serial number. For such stubborn people, a special kind of death was prepared. The soldier was left on the shore, where he had to listen for several hours as the water was getting closer and closer. Then, the water covered the prisoner with his head and within a few minutes of coughing, filled the lungs, after which death occurred.
4. BAMBOO TORTURE 
Bamboo grows in hot tropical areas and its growth is noticeably faster than other plants, several centimeters per day. And when the diabolical mind of a person invented the most terrible way to die, then it was impalement. The victims were impaled on bamboo, which slowly grew into their bodies. The unfortunate suffered from inhuman pain when their muscles and organs were pierced by a plant. Death occurred as a result of organ damage or blood loss.
3. COOKING ALIVE 
Another activity of Unit 731 was to expose victims to small doses of electricity. With a small impact, it caused severe pain. If it was long, then the internal organs of the prisoners were boiled and burned. An interesting fact about the intestines and gallbladder is that they have nerve endings. Therefore, when exposed to them, the brain sends pain signals to other organs. It's like boiling the body from the inside. Imagine that you swallowed a red-hot piece of iron in order to understand what the unfortunate victims experienced. Pain will be felt throughout the body until the soul leaves it.
2. FORCED LABOR AND MARCHES 
Thousands of prisoners of war were sent to Japanese concentration camps, where they led the lives of slaves. A large number of prisoners was a serious problem for the army, as it was impossible to supply them with enough food and medicine. In concentration camps, prisoners were starved, beaten, and forced to work to death. The life of the prisoners meant nothing to the guards and officers watching them. In addition, if labor was needed on an island or another part of the country, then prisoners of war had to march there hundreds of kilometers through unbearable heat. Countless soldiers died along the way. Their bodies were dumped into ditches or left there.
1. FORCED TO KILL COMRADES AND ALLIES 
Most often, during interrogations, beatings of prisoners were used. Documents claim that at first they spoke to the prisoner in a good way. Then, if the interrogating officer understood the futility of such a conversation, was bored or simply angry, then the prisoner of war was beaten with fists, sticks or other objects. The beating continued until the tormentors got tired. In order to make the interrogation more interesting, another prisoner was brought in and forced to continue under pain of his own death by decapitation. Often he had to beat the prisoner to death. Few things in war were so hard on a soldier than inflicting suffering on a comrade. These stories filled the Allied forces with even greater determination in the fight against the Japanese.
When we talk about World War II, we most often think of the European theater of operations. Meanwhile, in the vastness of Asia and the Pacific, where the Japanese were allies of the Germans, battles unfolded, which also had a considerable influence on the outcome of the war and the further fate of the Asian peoples.
lightning strike
Military operations in Asia began for the Japanese a few years before they entered Poland. Taking advantage of the weakness of China, where there was a struggle for power between several military groups, Japan already in 1932 successfully captured Manchuria, creating a semblance of an independent state there. After 5 years, the descendants of the samurai started a war already for the capture of all of China. Therefore, the main events of the Second World War in 1939-1940 took place only in Europe, and not in the Asian expanses. The Japanese government was in no hurry to disperse its forces until the leading colonial powers capitulated. When France and Holland were under German occupation, preparations for war began.
The Land of the Rising Sun had very limited resources. Therefore, the main emphasis was on the rapid capture of territories and their colonization. It can be said that Japan in World War II used tactics similar to the German blitzkrieg. After the capitulation of the French and Dutch, the USSR and the USA remained the most serious opponents in this region. After June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union had no time for Japan, so the main blow had to be delivered against the American fleet. On December 7, this was done - in the attack on Pearl Harbor, almost all American aircraft and ships in the Pacific were destroyed.
This event came as a complete surprise to the Americans and their allies. No one believed that Japan, occupied with the war in China, would attack some other territory. Meanwhile, military operations developed more and more rapidly. Hong Kong and Indochina quickly found themselves under Japanese occupation, in January 1942 British troops were driven out of Malaysia and Singapore, and by May the Philippines and Indonesia were in the hands of the Japanese. Thus, under the rule of the descendants of the samurai, there was a vast territory of 10 million square kilometers.
Japan's early successes in World War II were also aided by well thought-out propaganda. it was suggested that the Japanese had come to liberate them from white imperialism and build a prosperous society together. Therefore, the occupiers at first supported the local population. There were similar sentiments in countries that had not yet been conquered - for example, in India, to which the Japanese prime minister promised independence. It was only later, when they saw that “their own” at first glance, the newcomers were no better than the Europeans, the locals began an active insurgency.
From victories to defeats
But the Japanese blitzkrieg collapsed with the same crash as the Barbarossa plan. By the middle of 1942, the Americans and the British came to their senses and launched an offensive. Japan, with its limited resources, could not win this fight. In June 1942, the Americans inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy at Midway Atoll, not far from the famous Pearl Harbor. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and the best Japanese pilots went to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. In February 1943, after several months of bloody fighting, the Americans occupied Guadalcanal.
For six months, the United States, taking advantage of the lull at the front, increased the number of aircraft carriers many times over, and launched a new offensive. The Japanese left the Pacific archipelagos one by one under the onslaught of the enemy, who outnumbered them in armament and numbers.
At the same time, it is worth saying that these victories were not given to the Americans easily. The battles that Japan lost in World War II brought many losses to the enemy. Soldiers and officers imperial army, in accordance with samurai traditions, were in no hurry to surrender and fought to the last. The Japanese command actively used this resilience, a vivid example of which is the famous kamikaze. Even the besieged units blocked on the islands held out to the last. As a result, by the time of the surrender, many soldiers and officers of the Japanese army simply died of starvation.
But neither heroism nor selflessness helped the Land of the Rising Sun survive. In August 1945, after the nuclear attack, the government decided to capitulate. So Japan was defeated in World War II.
The country was quickly occupied by American troops. War criminals were executed, parliamentary elections were held, and a new constitution was adopted. The agrarian reform carried out forever eliminated the samurai class, which already existed more in tradition. The Americans did not dare to abolish the monarchy, fearing a social explosion. But the consequences of the Second World War for other Asian countries were such that they forever changed the political map of this region. The peoples who fought against the Japanese no longer wanted to endure the colonial authorities and entered into a fierce struggle for their independence.