Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

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Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 Page 68

by Ian W. Toll


  78 all of the “small selves”: Ikki Kita quoted in Buruma, Inventing Japan, p. 78.

  78 “supreme and only God”: Goro Sugimoto, “The Emperor,” quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 117.

  78 “The Empire of Japan”: The Meiji Constitution (1889) can be found online at the Hanover Historical Texts Project, http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1889con.html.

  79 “Specimen collection”: Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, p. 60.

  79 As a young man: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 52.

  80 Upon his return: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 10.

  80 “Crown Prince Hirohito”: Ibid.

  81 “one mind united”: Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, p. 195.

  81 The dreaded Kempei Tai: Deacon, Kempei Tai, pp. 160–61.

  83 Naval spending: See Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, Table 1, for summary of costs, pp. 99–102.

  83 Some 1,700 commissioned: Ibid., p. 100.

  84 A brand-new 40,000-ton battleship: Yoshimura, Battleship Musashi, p. 11; Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, p. 12.

  84 “It is as if Japan”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 157.

  85 “It is a most high-handed”: Ibid., p. 143.

  86 The cabinet and the genro: Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, p. 269.

  86 “If, as Hirohito later stated”: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 13.

  86 In Manchuria, gangs: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 94.

  86 Minister Osachi Hamaguchi: Shillony, Revolt in Japan, p. 8.

  87 spoke of a “Showa Restoration”: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 103.

  87 Parliamentary party democracy: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 15.

  87 “Such a movement”: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 142.

  88 “We cannot afford”: Quoted in ibid., p. 168.

  88 “In Japan there is a tradition”: Morita, Reingold, and Shimomura, Made in Japan, p. 27.

  89 According to statistics: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 8.

  89 Japan was poor in natural resources: Kase, Journey to the Missouri, p. 25.

  89 The seizure of territory: Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, p. 256.

  89 Millions of Japanese: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 7.

  89 The main building of the Asahi Shinbun . . . “Japan now confronts”: Storry, The Double Patriots, pp. 185–87.

  90 There is considerable evidence: Ibid.

  90 On February 29: Shillony, Revolt in Japan, p. 206.

  91 None of the leaders was above: Storry, The Double Patriots, pp. 183–84.

  91 The conspirators enjoyed broad: See Shillony, Revolt in Japan, p. 203.

  92 navy built a full-size mock-up: Peattie, Sunburst, p. 41.

  93 The story of the development: Yoshimura, Zero Fighter, p. 47.

  93 The Zero’s control surfaces: Ibid.

  94 “The naval air corps”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 109–10.

  95 “It was they who did”: Tagaya, Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator, 1937–45, p. 4.

  95 “I guess they did it”: Hideo Sato account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 233.

  95 A contemporary photograph: Photo reproduced in Tagaya, Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator, 1937–45, p. 7.

  96 “Because of the friction”: Ens. Takeshi Maeda account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, p. 100.

  96 instant retribution: Description of beatings in Kiyosawa, A Diary of Darkness, p. 136.

  96 dragged out of his hammock: Sakai, Caidin, and Saito, Samurai!, p. 18.

  96 “How could a human being”: Maeda account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, p. 100.

  97 “beatings were a form of education”: Quoted in Gibney, ed., Senso, p. 28.

  97 “human cattle”: Sakai, Caidin, and Saito, Samurai!, p. 19.

  97 the most violent instructors: Maeda account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, p. 101.

  97 Recruits could not fight back: Tetsu Shimojo account in Gibney, ed., Senso, p. 31.

  97 “was feared far more”: Sakai, Caidin, and Saito, Samurai!, p. 23.

  98 They were required to hang: Ibid., pp. 23–24.

  98 “With every pilot-trainee”: Ibid., p. 22.

  98 “Gradually”: Ibid., p. 25.

  99 the ancient principles of kendo: See Kiyosawa, A Diary of Darkness, p. 118.

  99 the trainee sat in the front cockpit: Tagaya, Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator, 1937–45, p. 11.

  99 “You’re so stupid!”: Maeda account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, pp. 100–101.

  100 Having logged an average: Peattie, Sunburst, p. 31.

  100 A popular song: Tagaya, Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator, 1937–45, p. 45.

  101 In mock air battles: Peattie, Sunburst, pp. 44, 43.

  102 “The main strength”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 186.

  102 “should be either scrapped”: Peattie, Sunburst, p. 83.

  102 “The battleship squadron”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 163.

  102 Genda found a patron: See ibid., pp. 164–66, 182–84.

  102 “I don’t want to be a wet blanket”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 93.

  103 “We’ve got to go through with it”: Yoshimura, Battleship Musashi, p. 33.

  103 The ships were to be: Skulski, The Battleship Yamato, pp. 10, 17.

  103 Shells fired: Yoshimura, Battleship Musashi, pp. 18, 77.

  104 The launch of the Musashi: Ibid., p. 114.

  105 Their decks were covered: Skulski, The Battleship Yamato, p. 22.

  105 “Their superstructures” and the details that follow: Ibid., p. 182.

  105 Yamato’s first sea trial: Ibid., p. 25.

  105 These colossal weapons: See ibid., p. 19, Tables 10 and 12.

  106 their “guts had suddenly”: Yoshimura, Battleship Musashi, p. 127.

  107 Correct thoughts and beliefs: Slogans cited in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 169; see also Dower, War Without Mercy, p. 215; Shigeru Sato letter to Asahi Shinbun in Gibney, ed., Senso, p. 288.

  107 Lachrymose ballads: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 138.

  107 In the cinema: Ei Hirosawa account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, pp. 242–43.

  107 “To hell with Babe Ruth!”: Wheeler, Dragon in the Dust, pp. 210, 140.

  107 In a popular newsreel: Atsuo Furusawa letter to Asahi Shinbun in Gibney, ed., Senso, p. 15.

  108 a nationwide anti-luxury campaign: Shigeko Araki account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 320.

  108 On the final night: Kiyoshi Hara account in ibid., p. 63.

  108 Schoolchildren were taught: Chigaku Tanaka, “What Is Nippon Kokutai?” (1935–36), cited in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 14.

  108 one of his teachers had explained: Hideo Sato account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, pp. 232, 236.

  108 It was Japan’s purpose: Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, p. 11.

  109 “As in the heavens”: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 2.

  109 “If Japan had declared”: Koshu Itabashi account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 78.

  109 “Excavations of ancient relics”: Chikao Fujisawa, “The Great Shinto Purification Ritual and the Divine Nation of Nippon,” February 1942, cited in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 17.

  109 they had even reached Europe: Shinajin wa Nipponjin nari (The Chinese Are Japanese), Asiatic Problems Society (June 1939), cited in ibid., p. 18.

  109 “all mankind became estranged”: Fujisawa, “The Great Shinto Purification Ritual,” cited in ibid.

  109 “The Pacific, Indian”: Professor T. Komaki on Japanese radio, Feb. 22–27, 1942, cited in ibid., p. 19.

  110 “mutual existence of nations”: Matsuo, How Japan Plans to Win, p. 13.

  110 “the colored races constitute”: Hidejiro Nagata, Nippon no Senshin (The Advance of Japan), Tokyo, 1939, cited in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 83.

  110 When Japan fought: Daisetz T
. Suzuki’s principles explained in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 30.

  110 “its unreasonableness corrected”: Hayashiya and Shimakage, The Buddhist View of War, quoted in ibid., p. 90.

  110 “the gospel of love”: Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture, quoted in ibid., p. 110.

  111 “Three-All” policy: Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 75.

  111 “I had already gotten”: Yoshiro Tamura account in ibid., p. 164.

  112 “When I looked at”: Shozo Tominaga account in ibid., pp. 40, 42–43.

  112 “commented with deep bitterness”: McIntire, White House Physician, p. 198.

  113 The Foreign Ministry at Kasumigaseki: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 6.

  113 “The diplomats in fact”: Kase, Journey to the Missouri, p. 16.

  113 “Events sometimes overwhelm you”: Toshikazu Kase account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 95.

  113 “What does it all matter?”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 10, 125, and 128.

  114 “I have serious doubts”: Ibid., p. 168.

  114 “Orders must naturally come”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 212.

  114 Ensconced in his Navy Ministry office: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 120.

  114 Yamamoto had presented himself: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 217.

  114 In 1939, the conflict: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 246.

  115 The ultranationalist right: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, pp. 162–72.

  115 “Japanese youth at that time”: Harumichi Nogi account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 51.

  115 The military triumphs: Kase account in ibid., p. 92; see also Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 167; Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 28.

  115 “given the existing state”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 217.

  115 “I want you to tell us”: Ibid., pp. 225–26.

  116 “We are prepared”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 159.

  116 “a competition of mediocrities”: Quoted in Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 296.

  117 “It is too late now”: Ibid., p. 276.

  118 “It makes me wonder”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 200.

  118 “What a strange position”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 278.

  118 Genda . . . had been studying the possibilities: Minoru Genda account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 24.

  118 there were two significant problems: Shigeru Fukudome account in ibid., pp. 60–61.

  119 “Don’t keep saying”: Lord, Day of Infamy, p. 11.

  119 “Unless it is carried out”: Fukudome account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 63.

  119 “It is obvious that”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 277.

  120 “Inwardly we felt”: Ibid., pp. 239, 216, and 271.

  121 “Will you decide for war”: Ibid., p. 273.

  122 “do your best”: Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 89.

  122 “I cannot yield”: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 288.

  122 At an Imperial Conference: Fukudome account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 63.

  122 “no compromise”: Buruma, Inventing Japan, p. 118.

  122 “Sometimes people have to shut”: Ibid., p. 119.

  122 “I did have doubts”: Nogi account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 54.

  123 “I held the view”: Hirohito’s postwar “monologue” quoted in Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 89.

  123 “straining at the leash”: Browne, Tojo: The Last Banzai, p. 100.

  Chapter Four

  124 “Main Navy”: Main Navy Building: Its Construction and Original Occupants. Washington, DC: A Naval Historical Foundation Publication, series 2, no. 14, Aug. 1, 1970.

  124 “unadorned offices”: Whitehill, “A Note on the Making of This Book,” in King and Whitehill, Fleet Admiral King, p. 647.

  124 “an ant hill”: Buell, Master of Sea Power, p. 152.

  125 “Rear Admiral John Wainwright”: H. Arthur Lamar account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 259.

  125 “a guard lowered”: Cooke, The American Home Front, p. 27.

  125 “We were busy as bird-dogs”: James L. Holloway account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 107.

  126 “An enormous crowd”: Diary entry for Dec. 15, 1941, Perry, “Dear Bart,” p. 27.

  126 He admitted that: “Heroic Acts Cited,” New York Times, Dec. 15, 1941.

  126 damaged “in varying degrees”: “Defense Shake-Up,” New York Times, Dec. 18, 1941.

  126 “very cleverly organized”: “Heroic Acts Cited,” New York Times, Dec. 15, 1941.

  127 angry rumblings: Childs, I Write from Washington, p. 247.

  127 a “formal investigation”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 336.

  127 “the land and sea forces”: “Defense Shake-Up,” New York Times, Dec. 18, 1941.

  127 “Tell Nimitz”: Potter, Nimitz, p. 11.

  127 “insulted that anyone”: Lamar account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 259.

  128 Like most of his colleagues: Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 259.

  128 “We have suffered”: Potter, Nimitz, p. 8.

  128 “From the time the Japanese”: Nimitz letter to William H. Ewing, in Ewing, “Nimitz: Reflections on Pearl Harbor,” Fredericksburg, TX: Admiral Nimitz Foundation, 1985, p. 11.

  129 “You always wanted”: Potter, Nimitz, p. 12.

  129 “a tanned, white-haired”: “Careers of Men Shifted in Service,” New York Times, Dec. 18, 1941.

  129 “Washington reaction”: Diary entry for Dec. 17, 1941, Perry, “Dear Bart,” p. 28.

  129 “to catch up on my sleep”: Nimitz letter to William H. Ewing, in Ewing, “Nimitz,” p. 9.

  130 “At no point”: Potter, Nimitz, p. 14.

  130 “two good slugs”: Lamar account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 259.

  130 “really refreshed”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, p. 46.

  132 “A man he seems”: Lucky Bag, 1905—entry on passed midshipman Chester W. Nimitz, Naval Historical Collection, Washington, DC.

  133 “I was asked once”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, p. 43.

  133 “If you love me at all”: Chester Nimitz to Mrs. Anna Nimitz, Aug. 18, 1912, in Potter, Nimitz, p. 118.

  133 “Chester, if there was”: Ibid., p. 120.

  134 “through lovely rolling country”: Ibid., p. 13.

  134 “As I get more sleep”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, p. 47.

  134 The admiral spent long hours: Details of Nimitz’s rail journey drawn from “Along Your Way: Facts about stations and scenes on the Santa Fe,” pamphlet distributed to passengers on the Santa Fe Super Chief, 1946; online at www.titchenal.com/atsf/ayw1946.

  134 “Don’t let this out”: Lamar account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 259.

  135 “It could have happened”: Ibid. See also Lamar, “I Saw Stars,” Fredericksburg, TX: Admiral Nimitz Foundation, 1985. Foreword, p. 2.

  135 “My life in the Navy”: Potter, Nimitz, p. 185.

  135 In 1915: Ibid., p. 126.

  136 “he was convinced”: Ibid., pp. 1–2.

  136 “working with young”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, p. 43.

  136 the controversial policy: Potter, Nimitz, p. 3.

  137 “Admiral Nimitz never raised”: Lamar, “I Saw Stars,” p. 43.

  138 “This is one of the responsibilities”: Ibid., p. 16.

  138 “Had a fine sleep”: Potter, Nimitz, p. 17.

  138 They rolled on: Details of Nimitz’s rail journey from “Along Your Way.”

  139 “I only hope”: Hoyt, How They Won the War in the Pacific, p. 47.

  140 At noon on December 8: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 230.

  141 “flames licking over them” . . . “broken bodies”: Cunningham, Wake Island Command, p. 60.

&
nbsp; 141 “Our planes on the ground” . . . Seven of the eight Wildcat: Kinney, Wake Island Pilot, pp. 57–58.

  141 Pilots and mechanics: Commander NAS Wake to Commandant, 14th Naval District, Dec. 20, 1941.

  142 The wounded were transported: Cunningham, Wake Island Command, p. 63.

  142 “The destruction”: Kinney, Wake Island Pilot, p. 61.

  143 “They were like black ghosts”: Urwin, Facing Fearful Odds, p. 320.

  143 Commander Cunningham was alerted: Cunningham, Wake Island Command, p. 86.

  143 “Stand quiet till I give”: Urwin, Facing Fearful Odds, p. 316.

  143 “We were scared to death”: Ibid., p. 320.

  145 “Knock it off”: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 232.

  146 “Nothing could bother”: Cunningham, Wake Island Command, p. 89.

  146 “Their deflection was perfect”: Urwin, Facing Fearful Odds, p. 330.

  146 “Well, it looks as if”: Ibid., p. 331.

  147 “When the Japanese withdrew”: Ibid., p. 334.

  147 “I am very certain”: Ibid.

  147 “They had no illusions”: Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 235.

  147 “instantly and without question”: “Martial Law Declared,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 3rd extra, Dec. 7, 1941, p. 1, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 17.

  147 Curfew violators: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 41.

  148 “No one has much aloha”: Paradise of the Pacific (November 1942), quoted in Dye, ed., Hawai’i Chronicles III, p. 9.

  149 “We absolutely refused”: Peggy Hughes Ryan account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 234.

  149 “I could see the look”: Evelyn W. Guthrie account in ibid., p. 241.

  149 “The Japanese are good”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 61.

  149 living “day to day”: Ryan account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 235.

  149 “Those terrible, dreadful rumors”: “Soldier” Burford quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 349.

  150 “but my family”: Excerpt from Oral History of Lt. Horace D. Warden, MC (Medical Corps), USN, Medical Officer aboard USS Breese (DM-18) on Dec. 7, 1941; “Overview of the Pearl Harbor Attack,” www.history.navy.mil.

  150 “thus offering us”: CINCPAC to OPNAV, April 18, 1941, quoted in Morison, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 227.

  150 “She would be crowded”: C. H. McMorris recommendation to CINCPAC for action against Wake, Dec. 11, 1941; CINCPAC Grey Book, Bk. 1, p. 75.

 

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