Nigel Cawthorne
Page 24
THE GUADALCANAL OBJECTIVE
It was clear that the Japanese had overstretched themselves. The navy had already been defeated at the Battle of Midway in June. As the US went on the offensive in the Pacific, its first objective was the airfield the Japanese were building on Guadalcanal. A captured diary described the terrible fate of the Japanese soldiers left to defend it:
24 December 1942: Since the 14th two officers of the 2nd Company have gone insane. They probably had become pessimistic about the war situation. There is no other change in conditions. We passed the day as usual.
25 December: Today is Christmas day. Therefore we had many presents from the enemy such as intense bombardment by artillery and naval guns. On the other hand, not one of our planes came from the new airfield which was completed on the 15th. Even the soldiers in the front lines have become very disgusted and do not even talk about our planes any more. The 1st and 3rd Battalion (strength 90 men), commanded by the Usui unit commander are looking forward to New Year’s Day in the hope of getting supplies.
26 December: There are lice here and whenever we have time these days to hunt for these. My strength is exhausted and my ordinary pulse [at rest] is around 99, which surprises me very much.
A normal pulse rate is between 50 and 85.
28 December: My body is so exhausted that one go of rice is all that I can eat, and walking is very difficult. No relief comes for this unit. The army doctor will not even send us to the rear. At present we are very sick men. Even if we were relieved, not one of us may recover, in fact, we are left to die from exhaustion and malnutrition rather than from bullets.
31 December: Since the 28th not a single grain of rice has been distributed, and during this time three pieces of hard tack were issued. Today there were three cigarettes and only a bite of nutrition ration …
1 January 1943: During these days of the New Year on Guadalcanal Island, we have lived on one piece of hard tack, and this morning got one go of rice. In the evening, one compressed ration was divided between two. Now we are eating rice gruel twice a day, and sleeping in trenches as we are not able to walk.
2 January: The enemy has finally become very active and the front lines are dangerous. I wonder if that relief will come about the middle of the month. It seems that friendly planes will be coming over after the 15th. Sergeant Sato Kame died of illness.
3–4 January: The enemy is getting extremely active and the front lines are dangerous. I wonder if that relief will come …
10 January: Enemy bombardment becomes increasingly intense. We can hold out for one more week. My body is in such a condition that I can barely walk. Food is five shaku (half a go) of rice and some compressed rations. This makes one month that we have been eating just rice gruel.
13 January: At 5.30 this morning we received artillery fire. First Lieutenant Oyara. Superior Private Abe and Lance Corporal Senori were killed. Lance Corporal Watave was wounded. Kato and I were the only ones left from the 1st MG. Won’t relief for the unit come soon?
Apparently not, as the Japanese had already taken the decision to withdraw from Guadalcanal. The diary of First Lieutenant Okajima, who arrived on Guadalcanal on 15 November 1942, was also captured.
24 December: Wakuda Noboru died of illness. That may be because he was unreasonably overworked.
25 December: Sawada and Uchida died of illness. In the end, those of us of weak will will die. He was always most eager to drink water.
26 December: Asabo Kasuo also died of illness. Malaria fever affected his mind and he acted peculiarly. After his meal he died suddenly. This death increased the large number of those killed in action and from disease to 18 men. This makes approximately the total of losses we received in the occupation of Hong Kong and Java. Even in the face of the enemy, the men’s minds were entirely occupied with the thought of eating. We are waiting for the spring sprouts to come out, and we dream of the joy of reducing Guadalcanal. Moreover, the airfield is finished and friendly planes will come over in large numbers.
27 December: Oba Fumio died of illness. It was not that he lacked energy, but he was drenched by rains which come regularly every afternoon in this life in the jungle.
28 December: Yamamoto Kyoicki died from a wound, such soldiers with weak wills are not good, for they die from slight wounds. His wound was trifling with hardly any bleeding. Now the casualties are 25 men.
29 December: First Lieutenant Tammy died of the wound he got the day before. Without seeing the fall of Guadalcanal, his spirit slipped eternally into the jungle. My tears overflow.
30 December: By the 15th of next month transportation of supplies and troops will be carried out, and we shall again have air superiority. After the 16th, units from the rear will pass us, and after preparatory bombardments by planes and artillery will carry out a general attack. In two months all Guadalcanal will return to our hands. Then the enemy will not be able to hold Tulagai. Then our combined fleet will concentrate in the Tulagai area. I believe that the decisive battle between the US and Japan will end in a complete victory for Japanese in the bright spring of 1943 and will be an everlasting light in military history.
1 January: Two officers of the company have died. One is ill and one is at the front. There is no one to be my rival as company commander. I went to see the company sergeant major and senior sergeant and had a long talk. I learned many things which I would not ordinarily have learned, such as the deficiency of ordinary training in recruits, deficiency of training in interior guard duties and lack of education. As company commander there is much of this that I can put to good use.
2 January: I am waiting for the battalion commander, Major Nojiri, and I am anxious to see what kind of person he is.
3 January: Rensio was ill, I stayed at battalion headquarters. The total of those who have died is 31.
4 January: Supplies are gradually improving and we only have to endure this for ten days.
5 January: In the evening the main force of the battalion arrived: although it is called the main force, it consists of only 59 men. The battalion must have taken a very serious beating.
7 January: Thirty-six more men departed for a battalion of Oke unit.
9 January: Hearing of conditions in each company from the NCO, it seems supplies are not coming in. Characteristics are revealed which are not known under ordinary conditions, such as the true nature of human beings. In a certain company it is said that the NCOs ate twice as much and the officers three times as much as the men. A certain battalion commander received 100 cigarettes to divide among his men but only gave one or two to his company commander and he lost almost all of his usual prestige. Thanks to my actions of equality like an ordinary soldier the NCOs of the company thanked me, as the supplies were starting to come in smoothly they brought me various extra things. There was good feeling all around.
10 January: Major Nishizura again drew men from the reserve unit this afternoon, although I am commander of the main force of the company there are only 19 men in all. It is terrible to see the electric lights go on at an enemy airfield …
11 January: By artillery fire three were killed and four wounded. It is too much to receive naval bombardment also. In four days the 3rd is expected to land. The number of men is now 12.
16 January: I heard one of the enemy talking busily in Japanese over a loudspeaker. He was probably telling us to come out. What fools the enemy are. The Japanese army will stick it out to the end. This position must be defended with our lives. There was no artillery shelling because of the broadcast. The enemy is broadcasting something vigorously at a distance. It will probably have no effect at all.
17 January: According to the enemy broadcast, today they are to attack our positions. However, we have no fear. I went to battalion headquarters and saw the enemy propaganda sheets which were found in First Lieutenant Kasahara’s area. The writing was poor. The enemy artillery shelling became fiercer and fiercer and the company’s area is riddled with craters – like a bee’s nest. The artillery st
opped at 1500, and then we suffered from the rain leaking into the foxhole.
18 January: About seven o’clock a messenger from the Hachi company came and said that there would be a meeting of unit commanders. I should like to make a suggestion but the battalion commander would probably not make use of it. Sergeant Major Muri gave his opinion on some communication matters. I became angry and told him to just do his own duties. In the evening the battalion commander came to inspect the company, so I expressed the opinions of all of us to him at that time. He told us not to worry because everything would be all right.
19 January: Ants’ nests are good to eat when one is starving … I received some meat from Battalion Headquarters. My orderly is sick and I had to cook it myself. Artillery began to fire about 1100 and there was an enemy with light machine-gun, I believe they got a surprise. I felt dazed and semi-conscious because of my empty stomach. At 1330 I prepared my equipment to put in my haversack so that it can be packed at a moment’s notice. It will be so heavy that I don’t think I’ll be able to carry it because of my run-down condition. Only my spirit will keep me going. A messenger from headquarters reported that part of the 8th Company’s position was occupied by the enemy and told us to be on the alert.
20 January: I heard that the 5th company commander died yesterday. The 8th machine-gun company has withdrawn a little and in the evening I prepared my equipment to be carried.
21 January: I’m sad at having to leave this foxhole in which I have lived so long.
And there the diary ends.
Things were just as bad for the Japanese all over the Pacific. According to a 1946 interrogation report:
The average Japanese soldier eats about 700 grams a day … The allowance of rice per man per day was approximately 200 grams.
However, in places where there was no fighting it was possible to live off the land. According to Colonel Kazuyoshi Obata on Hollandia (now Jayapura):
We used flour from coconut trees and herbs from the mountains and fields. We dried salt at the shore and either detonated grenades ourselves off-shore or waited until after Allied bombings to gather up dynamited fish.
But few places had it so good. Out in the jungle, Mitsuo Ragino of the 29th Field Hospital wrote:
28 December: … Enemy planes have been flying over frequently. Heard about Tabe receiving sweets and my stomach yearned for some. Received about eight shaku of rice. Due to lack of rain, the well dried up. Went to get water from the stream. On the way the jungles were full of dead, killed by shrapnel. There is something awful about the smell of the dead. The planes that fly overhead are enemy planes and the guns that roar day and night continuously are also those of the enemy. When considering these conditions, we must have hope for the future. Even though I know we are members of the Imperial Army, there are times when things look very black. I definitely have that feeling, but it is useless to think of these things. I must do my best to the last with the noble spirit of dying for the Emperor. Was a little late and could not treat Hagino and take care of him. I cannot leave him behind. I have decided to stay. I do not think for a minute that this is the wrong thing to do.
At the present time, all officers, even though there is such a scarcity of food, eat relatively well. The condition is one in which the majority are starving. This is indeed a deplorable state of affairs for the Imperial Army. I took out the picture of my parents and looked at it. Ah, I wonder how things are at home. Artillery shelling commenced again towards evening.
29 December: Last night’s gun-fire was fierce but at dawn we were still unharmed. As it grew light, enemy planes came. The sound of rifle-fire seemed very close. What a discouraging and miserable state of affairs – especially with the New Year just ahead … What is going to happen to us? I pray to the morning sun that our situation of battle will be reversed. All of the patrol unit has fled and, at the present time, there are only four of us – the platoon leader, Makano, Hagino and myself. There isn’t a single person who will come to help. I am in difficulty since I took over Hagino who is a stretcher case. I pray only for divine aid. I pray with the charm of the clan deity in my hand.
ATTACK ON DAMPIER STRAIT
Bunroku Yamamoto was an engineer on the Uranami, one of eight destroyers protecting a convoy of cargo vessels carrying some 20,000 men destined for Lae in New Guinea. On 2 March 1943 it was attacked by some 280 Allied aircraft in the Dampier Strait between New Britain and Umboi Island.
The attack continued for around 13 minutes … The greater part of the Japanese destroyers and convoy were in flames and sinking. Those in the water were crying for help. At first, we lowered ropes and pulled them up. However, this method did not progress satisfactorily. We then used the boats which had been assigned to us. These were collapsible, made from two plywood sections, the bow and stern, which were joined. An engine was attached to the stern, which I operated. We were carrying out rescue work when another air attack occurred.
There were three Allied air attacks that day. The 20 Japanese fighters assigned to protect the ships were hopelessly outnumbered and the entire convoy, with the exception of two destroyers, was sunk. Of the 200 men on his collapsible, Yamamoto was the only survivor.
Another survivor from the convoy was Takeo Yamagisawa. With the help of a lifebelt, he made it ashore after 11 days at sea.
The island was a place where walking was impossible due to the steep, stony cliffs. I was found by the natives who showed me where to get water. I had to eat the same food as the natives. They fed me enough but it was of no use as Japanese need rice, so I was in a weak physical condition, barely able to walk. I stayed with the natives for about half a year when the Allied forces arrived and told the natives they were not supposed to hide any Japanese. After that, they did not take care of me. I left the natives and went to an area that was grassy and slept there … I was betrayed and taken to the Australians by the natives. I could not resist as I was weak and had malaria. They took me to a barter station. There I was given malaria medicine and had my hair cut and washed.
Uchiro Watanabe from Ikeda, Hiroshima prefecture, was also captured after being shipwrecked and in a diary written in a messenger’s book taken in Singapore in 1942 he outlined his ordeal:
3 March 1943: Our convoy was attacked by 40 enemy planes in formation at 0800 hours. Almost all of the ships were sunk and the troops aboard dispersed in all directions. Seven of us were able to reach a collapsible boat, which was strafed by enemy planes two hours later. We gave up all hope of life then, but nothing happened.
4 March: The sea was very calm today. Checked the provisions carried by each man. We found that we had four canteens filled with water, six pieces of compressed food, eight cans, nine bars of sweet paste, four bags of condiments, four bags of dried noodles and one can of oranges. To avoid the danger of exposing ourselves to enemy air raids, we tried to get out of the tidal current. We improvised two oars, one with the shovel we had picked up.
5 March: We were hoping that we might be rescued by dawn but we were disappointed. We now faced a shortage of water. I ordered the others to drink some water if necessary. We sighted a triangular island on the horizon to the south. We did our best to reach this island, but due to lack of water and the direct rays of the sun, we became weak as time went on. Two men at a time rowed in one-hour spells, day and night.
6 March: We neared the island considerably, after pulling hard since yesterday without rest or water. By this time, our mouths were so dry that the spittle hardly formed. And then, as if by the grace of Heaven, a squall came. We filled up the four canteens with water. A smile was now seen on the face of each man. We gave thanks to God, and gained confidence in ourselves that we might be able to land today. However we were afraid that it might turn out to be a hostile island or may be uninhabited, so we planned to land at night. Although we did our best to reach the island, we could not do so despite our hard work the whole night long.
7 March: We hoped to reach the island at 2pm. We met an enemy patrol plane, bu
t nothing happened. We were surprised to meet Sergeants Makamura and Saikawa and others – nine men in total – on landing on the island. They all looked healthy, unlike we seven. The chief of the natives informed us that this island is located to the west of the strait between New Guinea and the island of New Britain. We gave unwanted things to the chief. He was so pleased that in return he gave us ten coconuts. Because of the strict want over the island, we planned to leave for the second destination five days later. In the daytime, we prepared for our next stop in the jungle and collected food.
But they were not to move on. That day, 7 March 1943, Uchiro Watanabe was captured and taken to Port Hennessy. He had been lucky. A Japanese soldier captured on Goodenough Island in March 1943 recalled being attacked while in the water:
Blast from bursting bombs was felt up to a kilometre away and shook the body heavily. Concussion from bombs bursting in water was much worse, as it travelled through the water and administered a sickening jar to the abdomen. Allied bombing of life rafts was responsible for many deaths from water concussion and was certainly a primary factor in lowering the resistance of men clinging to life rafts.
Making it through the Dampier Strait to New Guinea offered no safe haven, as another captured diary revealed:
26 May: Since our landing the enemy has had command of the air. It has been a tragic three months. During that period the enemy airplanes have dominated the skies over our lines appearing as often as ten times a day and never less than three times, either by daylight or by night. Many of us were exasperated to the pitch of cold fury at this and were thirsting for vengeance …
Allied air superiority after the Battle of Midway was a constant scourge to Japanese soldiers in the Pacific. As early as November 1942, a diarist in Giruwa noted: ‘Today’s bombing was so terrific I did not feel as if I was alive.’ And an infantryman on New Georgia recalled:
I will remember this New Year under the title of the ‘American New Year’! The unceasing Boeings, North Americans and Airocobras! Regardless of what one might say, the Boeing is the seed of trouble and agony. Three and a half hours of bombing during the night affected my nerves.