Imperial Rescript Anaylsis and Explaination - Part 1

The imperial re-script is modernly a very contentious and politically charged topic. And while it is often understood in it's basic tenants, the details are often not. This will also provide details on some of the very archaic Japanese vocabulary that definitely does not exist today.

The format of will consist of original lines, then the vocabulary, and then followed by the translation and ends with notes and contexts.

As to why the rescript is important to understand, all IJA/IJN personnels were expected to be able to memorize the rescript, with officers needing to memorize the whole rescript.

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Original and Pronunciation:
我國の軍隊は世々天皇の統率し給ふ所にそある
Waga Kuni no Guntai wa Yoyo Tennou no Tousotsushi Tamau Tokoro nizo aru

Vocabulary:
1. 世々 - Yoyo
Throughout the ages

2. 統率 - Tousotsu
To lead

3. そある - Zo aru
Be (Literary copula); Similar in usage and meaning to "De aru", but stronger emphasis

Translation:
Our country's military is lead throughout the ages by the emperor.

Notes:
To be said at the very beginning of the rescript is the language that emphasizes the fact that the emperor has been, and will continue to be holding the military power directly. That the military is in it's essence an extension of the emperor direct power, and not the civilian government that the emperor has delegated his responsibilities to. This concept is also echo'd in the Imperial Japan Constitution in article 11, "The Emperor Shall Command the Army and the Navy". Interpretation during the 20s in the article 11 crisis was largely the result of different political opinions on this specific interpretation.

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Original and Pronunciation:
昔神武天皇躬つから大伴物部の兵ともを率ゐ中國のまつろはぬものともを討ち平け給ひ高御座に即かせられて天下しろしめし給ひしより二千五百有餘年を經ぬ此間世の樣の移り換るに隨ひて兵制の沿革も亦屢なりき

Mukashi Jinmu Tennou Mizukara Otomo Mononobe no Tsuwamono tomo wo Hiki, Nakatsukuni no Matsurowanu monotomo wo Uchi Tahirage Tamai, Takamikura ni Tsukasarete Amanoshita Shiroshimeshi tamai shiyori nisen gohyaku yonen wo ehnu, Kono aida yonozama no Utsurikaeru ni Shitagatte Heisei no Enkaku mo Mata Shibashiba Nariki

Vocabulary:
1. 大伴 - Otomo
A name of an ancient clan. It was said that they are the decendents of Ameno-Oshihino-Mikoto. According to ancient mythology, their ancestor Michi-no-Omi-no-Mikoto assisted Jinmu Emperor in his Eastern conquest. During the ancient era they served as the emperor's personal body guards.

2. 物部 - Mononobe
A name of an ancient clan. Much like the Otomo clan, their ancestor (And god) Nigi-Haya-Hinomikoto also assisted in the Eastern conquest. I won't be going into details but it was quite convoluted. Their clan originally was famous for weaponsmithing and carry weapons. Thus became another name for Samurais and Bushi, as Mononofu (Co-opted in the modern day by an idol group)

3. 中國 - Nakatsukuni
While the kanji can be read as China, that is not the case here. In here it means the "country of the center", referring to Japan.

4. まつろはぬ - Matsurowanu
Does not follow; the whole phrase "Matsurowanu tomo" means "The ones who do not follow"

5. 高御座に即かせられて - Takamikura ni Tsukasarete
To ascend to the throne; Takamikura means the emperor's seat.

6. 天下 - Amanoshita
The world; in this case, Japan.

7. しろしめし - Shiroshimeshi
To know ( -su); the polite and archaic form of "Shiru"

8. 二千五百有餘年を經ぬ - Nisen gohyaku yonen wo Ehnu
2500 something year has pass; The year the rescript was written was in Meiji 15, equaling to the Imperial year 2542.

9. 移り換る - Utsuri Kawaru
To advance.

10. 兵制 - Heisei
The organization of the military.

11. 沿革 - Enkaku
To evolve.

Translation:
In the old days, the emperor Jinmu led the Otomo and Mononobe clan and successfully united the Yamato area of Japan. 2500 something year has past after his ascendance to the seat of the emperor, and the organization of our military has continued to evolve.

Notes:
The first sentence was to focus on the fact that the emperor leads his military, while followed by the history. This gives the reader context that the very first emperor lead his military, and is doubling down on that being a tradition. While in the end letting the reader know that while the organization of the military has changed and will always change, the emperor is a constant that will not change. The mentioning of the years that has past also serves as a reminder that this constant has not changed in 2500 years.
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Original and Pronunciation:
古は天皇躬つから軍隊を率ゐ給ふ御制にて時ありては皇后皇太子の代らせ給ふこともありつれと大凡兵權を臣下に委ね給ふことはなかりき中世に至りて文武の制度皆唐國風に傚はせ給ひ六衞府を置き左右馬寮を建て防人なと設けられしかは兵制は整ひたれとも打續ける昇平に狃れて朝廷の政務も漸文弱に流れけれは兵農おのつから二に分れ古の徴兵はいつとなく壯兵の姿に變り遂に武士となり兵馬の權は一向に其武士ともの棟梁たる者に歸し世の亂と共に政治の大權も亦其手に落ち凡七百年の間武家の政治とはなりぬ

Inshi-e wa Tennou Mizukara Guntai wo Hikitamau Onokite ni-te toki arite wa Kougou Koutaishi no kawarase-tamau koto mo aritsuredo, Oyoso Heiken wo Shinka ni Yudane Tamau Koto wa Nakariki, Nakatsuyo ni Itarite Bunbu no Seido Mina Karakuni Buri ni Narawase tamai, Rokue-fu wo Oki Sa-u Meryo wo tate, Sakimori nado Maukerareshikaba, Heisei wa Totonotaredomo Uchi-tsuzukeru shou-hei ni narete Choutei no Seimu mo Youyaku Bunjyaku ni Nagaredereba Heinou onozukara Futatsu ni Wakare, Inishi-e no chouhei wa Itsutonaku Souhei no Sugata ni Kawari, Tsui-ni Bushi to nari, heiba no ken wa hitasura ni sono Bushi-domo no Touryou tarumono ni Kishi, Yo no rmidare to tomoni Seiji no Taiken mo Mata Sonote ni Ochi, Oyoso Shichi Hyakunen no Aida, Buka no Seiji to wa Narinu

Vocabulary:
1. 御制 - Onokite
Imperial Rule

2. 皇后皇太子の代らせ給ふ - Kougou Koutaishi no Kawarase Tamau
The Empress or the Prince leading in the emperor's stead; "Se" here is used as a polite form modifier. Several historical examples are referenced here, such as Empress Jinku's conquest of Korea.

3. ありつれと - Aritsuredo
While there was such example; Archaic form of "Attakeredo"

4. 大凡 - Oyoso
All

5. 兵權 - Heiken
Military Power

6. 委ね - Yudane
To delegate

7. 中世 - Nakatsuyo
The era starting from the Taika reform to the end of the Heian era.

8. 文武の制度 - Bunbu no Seido
The organization of the government, a combination of "Bun", literary, and "Bu", the military.

9. 唐國風 - Karakuni Buri
The style of the Tang dynasty; The style of china. The tang dynasty was so ubiquitous to the chinese culture that it was used colloquially the same as china, or shina.

10. 傚はせ給ひ - Narawase Tamai
To copy; To imitate. "se" and "tamai" are both polite form modifiers here, making this a double "Keigo"

11. 六衞府 - Roku-e Fu
The 6 guard offices. Originally a Chinese concept. Consists of the left imperial guard, the right imperial guard, the left soldier guard, the right soldier guard, the left gate guard, the right gate guard. The imperial guards are the emperor's personal body guards. the soldier guards were tasked with the cart security and palace guards, while the gate guards were tasked with the gates of the palace

12. 左右馬寮 - Sa-u Meryo
The left and right stable officials. An office that was tasked with the handling of all stable businesses in the palace.

13. 防人 - Sakimori
Soldiers that were selected to be on duty in far away lands such has Tsushima. Essentially an ancient form of border guards. The very first "drafted" soldiers, you usually need to serve three years in that capacity if selected. (Note: quite a few modern right wing groups have co-opted the term)

14. 昇平に狃れ - Shouhei ni Nare
Fallen peaceful and became complacent.

15. 政務 - Seimu
Political matters.

16. 文弱 - Bunjyaku
Adjective describing being weak and lost the respect towards martial capabilities. To become complacent in peacetime and to lose the will to become brave.

17. 兵農おのつから二に分れ - Heinou onotsukara futatsu ni wakare
The soldier and the farmer split into two different roles. During ancient times soldiers and farmers are both the same thing. However near the end of the Heian period, the two roles became more and more separate. (Note: While they still did drafted civilians into battle, the noble military class begun its rise right around here) "Onotsukara" means "Naturally becomes"

18. 壯兵 - Souhei
Volunteer soldiers.

19. 武士となり - Bushi to nari
Become bushi(Soldier). As the old style of drafting was replaced, a new class emerges from the noble warrior class.

20. 棟梁 - Touryou
The pillar.

21. 歸し - Kishi
To belong

22. 其手に落ち - Sonote ni Ochi
Fallen into ones hands.


Translation:
In the ancient times, the imperial rule was that the emperor personally leads his army. While there are cases of the empress or the prince leading an army in his place. Giving his follower the ability to lead an army was never heard of. As the time goes on into the medieval era, our political structure and organization started to imitate the Chinese. Those changes led to the creation of the 6 palace guard offices, the stable offices, the border guards. Our military became more structured. As we approach the nara, heian periods. People became complacent in the peaceful times and the court come to not relying on it's military strength. While in the old days, a farmer was a soldier at the same time. But they changed the old ways of drafting soldiers and our military became a volunteer army. In this volunteer army rises the new noble class. As they passes on their power into their successor, the power of the military falls more and more into the hands of the leaders of the warrior class. From the begging of the Kamakura shogunate to the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, the next 700 or so years the power became focused on the noble warrior class instead of the emperor.


Notes:
While there are a few historical mistakes, this is a short summary on how the emperors powers fell into the hands of the shoguns. It's trying to draw the parallels between the ancient drafting system to the new drafting orders. As if reminding the readers that drafting is an ancient tradition of Japan that was only lost because of the rise of the shogunate and the noble warrior class. Also makes a jab towards the Nara, Heian periods as it blames the peaceful era leading to a complacent court that gave rise to the warrior class and inadvertently caused the military power to fall into their hands.

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This is just the first two paragraphs and I am hoping to continue writing more. There is a LOT more to cover and we aren't even close to the tenants yet!

Japanese Pre-war Government Official System

The pre-war Japanese system of government bureaucrats is quite an un-intuitive system that resembles nothing from the western world.

All government employees are subdivided into a multitude of levels. Keep in mind while the military actually used the same system of different levels, they usually kept to referring to their respective military rank rather than their government official rank.

To begin with, government officials are seperated into roughly 4 seperate levels. The Koutoukan, the high ranking officials; the Hanninkan, the junior officials; Ko-in, Hired personnel; and the Younin, the servants.

All of those above are government employees, but their salary and jobs vastly varied from one another. And among Koutoukans, other than the highest rank Shinninkan, they are subdivided into 9 different levels that have different monthly salary, with the top two level counted as Chokuninkan, and the rest Souninkan.

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• Shinninkan 

This is the highest of the high ranking officials, they are the top 3 level of the high ranking officials, and their position may only be appointed by the Emperor himself. Some examples of this position are as follows. For the military, army division commanders, navy fleet commanders. For the civilian government, prime ministers, state secretary, first justice of the supreme court, attorney general.

Among the weirdness of the government official system, there is also a system for lower rank officials that have long year of services to receive "Shinnin Kan Treatment". Some examples include imperial college chancellors, police superintendent general. This rule extends to all the following ranks, and serves as a sort of award to long term veterans that didn't get promoted or plateau'd.

• Chokuninkan

Chokuninkan consists of the first two levels of Koutoukan, they are positions appointed by the government directly. The candidates are submitted by the prime minister and submitted to the Emperor for approval. The Emperor usually rubber stamps these appointment unless something was really out of place.

Some examples of Chokuninkan are, deputy of the ministry of the imperial palace, prefecture governors and deputy governors,  police superintendent general.

• Souninkan

Souninkan consist of the remaining 7 levels of Koutoukan, they are appointed directly by the prime minister using power vested in him by the Emperor. (In theory, in actuality the deputy does most of the appointment).

Those that made it into this catagory are usually promoted from a junior official, a Hanninkan. Or if your official examination was particularly high ranked, you might get appointed to one of these positions. (Nothing too priestige though, if you didn't have a family history in the government)

They are usually the supervisors in each ministry, and government organizations. 

• Hanninkan

Hanninkan are the lowest rank of the government officials, they are usually hired through passing the official government examination for various organization. Police patrolmen, government accountant, and navy dockyard engineers are all Hanninkan. They consist the largest amount of government officials.

They are subdivided into 10 separate levels and all have different levels of salary.

• Ko-in

Ko-in are the hired personnel of the government. Usually that means they aren't actual government officials, just specialized skills. Examples include, drivers, guards, nurses, document translators. For military hired personnel, sometimes they are sent out on deployments alongside the actual military as support roles.

• Younin

Younin are the lowest of the lowest of the government personnel. They translates to "servants" literally. Some examples of them are, boot shiners, cooks, copier, receptionists, laundry. Basically the most basic functions of the government. While working under the military they may also be deployed, and are usually as coolies, builders.

There are also two more levels beneath them, but I am going to simplify them here and just give a short description as they are not relevant to the topic at hand. Shotaku, temporary hires of the government, these CAN be high level officials, just temporary. Kouin, non-specialized labor, manual laborers hired by the government, most commonly work as factory labor.

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That's about it, there are also intricacies about ones actual rank but the "treatment rank". And military personnel actually fit into this system as I earlier said, but rarely refer to themselves into any of the category. But they still follow the appointment system for the high ranking officials. Generals are Shinninkan so they must be appointed directly by the Emperor.

Government officials across different agencies all use the same ranking system,  each of them having different way of hiring, and appointments. However, due to the universal system they can assign pay in a fairly straightforward way. Much similar to the modern US Federal GS pay levels. But since Japan was a centralized government, individual prefectures also follow it and simplifies it a lot.

And since we are a military focused blog. We have to mention the civilian government workers in the military. Government officials working under the Army and the Navy follow the exact same rule, but have their own unique uniforms and regulations to follow. The army due to having most of their inner bureaucracy filled in by actual army members, have relatively few post for their civilian hires. The navy in contrast have a lot of civilian hires that do much more specialized jobs. The navy's base security, criminal investigation are all done by their civilian hires, unlike the army which had their military police to do those jobs.

For the Army, most do wear a distinct other type of uniform, especially on the field during deployments. They are separate from regular army uniform, and have a star patch with different coloring signifying their ranks on their shoulder. Before the uniform was designed and order they wore regular suits with the shoulder patch.

For the navy, while a distinct set of uniforms was designed, for the actual officials their uniform was incredibly similar to the actual navy officers. The only difference was their rank, and their cap badge having a wave chevron across the anchor instead. This led to a lot of confusion, and a lot of the navy civilian personnel instead opted to wear suits with a civilian employee pin badge on their lapel. Each different rank of official corresponded to different lapel pins. However, while on deployments they can not wear the pins. And instead are required to wear their utterly confusing uniforms. (The reason for the design of the uniform was for uniformity during formation) Discounting the base guards of course, they have their own unique uniforms. For our purposes the main changes to the navy civilian official uniforms were in showa 6, and showa 17. With the 17 regulation changing to a open collar 4 button jacket, with double chest pocket and 2 bottom pockets, much like a Kokumin wear.

Pins from the regulations

The civilian officials in the military, as in Hanninkan and above, consist of a really small population of the military. Only ending at 3% of the total population of the military. With the vast majority of those being Hanninkan.

And onwards, while I did mention that the Hanninkan are mostly those that past an agency official examination. In the military civilian employee world that is not often the case, as there really was no official examination for either branch. Of course, I am discounting the cases where the officials are hired based on their specialized skillsets. Most officials rose through the ranks as an Kouin or Ko-in, written as 雇員, 工員. The military branches are surprisingly merit based, as far as the civilian employees are concerned. And the ranks are quite fluid, as long as you got the skills to prove them. Both branches also set up specialized schools to further train, and promote those that show potential. 

In a way the working as a civilian employee for the military may be one of the best careers one could make in pre-war Japan. Simply due to the fluid nature of the ranks and tendencies to quickly promote those that show merit. Working as a hired personnel and factory labor can then be seen as some sort of on the job training for the employees, with the later schools set up to further train you ahead.

While in the military culture, these civilian workers are considered to be below that of a soldier. There is a saying in the army that the ranking of the military goes like this, Officers > Military Horse > Military Dogs > Enlisted men > Civilian Employees. But the merit based culture, the quick promotion, and free training might just be good enough to offset that.

References:
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Government Official Hiring Rules and Regulation - Taisho 2nd Imperial Order 261, 1914
Ministry of Navy, Order 252 of Showa 14, 1934 
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Military and Civilian Government Official Level Order - Meiji 43 Imperial Order 267, 1910
Ministry of Navy, Yearly Report of Showa 17, 1937
Ujike Yasuhiro, On the hiring and the appointment of government officials, JSDF Historical Division, 2006

Battle of Hill 81, Okinawa

Battle of Hill 81 on Okinawa.

It's quite possibly one of the most insignificant battle in the Pacific in the grand sense.

While it couldn't really be called a battle in the true sense, there was a (tiny) struggle to take this tiny little hill on June 22nd, 1945.

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Most of us who are a bit more knowledgeable about the battle knows how it started, but what about the it ended? Or more specifically, what happened on the last day of organized defense of Okinawa?

For that, we need some information on how the final Japanese organized resistance ended up on this tiny little hill no one knows about.

Let's take a look at the modern day Okinawa just to get sense of the scale we are looking for. Courtesy of Google maps.

The southern tip of island of Okinawa is only about several square kilometers, and by this time most of the Japanese forces are already either eliminated or completely exhausted from the earlier fighting.

We are going to use a combination of original sources from JACAR, US Army publication "Okinawa: The Last Battle", USMC publication "Okinawa: Victory in the Pacific" to illustrate this.

In early June, the IJA 32nd Army set up it's final defensive plans based on the southern tip of the island and awaited the Allies to attack, they expected the allies to come in from the west flank and the possibility of an amphibious landing from the south.

With 24th division HQ around in Maehira(Referred to as Medeera in US literature) and the 32nd Army HQ in Mobumi, the last 2 remaining Japanese command in Okinawa.

Most of 32nd Army's independent infantry companies were deployed to the South west in the village of Kyon.

The IJA 32nd Army also placed the IJA 44th independent mixed brigade in charge of the defense of the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment. These hills were the final Japanese observation points that could be used to direct artillery fire.

On June 15th, the Americans successfully broke through both Yaeju Dake and Yuza Dake. Japanese lines immediately crumbled the following days.

The little icons that look like spiders with a circle and two bars are actually enemy tank units they spotted. While the Americans didn't particularly noted them, the Japanese made sure they did.

4 days later, On June 19th, the allies have completely broke through from the west, and the east. Completely encircling what was left of the remaining elements of the IJA 24D in the hills of madeera. While also forcing what remains of the IJA 22nd independent infantry company in the village of Kyon to flee and break through towards IJA 24D's final position as well.

Those that stayed were later encircled in the fields of Tsukazato and decimated.

One day earlier, on June 18th, IJA 24D HQ organized all personnel that remained into 3 companies of 30-35 men for the final defense in the town of Uegusukujyo. Most of these that remained were primarily non-combat MOS.

1/381 working in concert with 184th infantry assaulted this final stand from the members of the IJA 24th Division HQ, totaling of 95. This attack and containment on the 24D HQ would last until June 28th.

The singular hill on the right side is hill 66 (Name not referenced in US literature) where IJA 24th Search regiment ended up on, the two to the west are hills 85 and 81 respectively. Along with hill 79 further to the north west, these 4 hills are the last concentrated forces where the Japanese were located on the last days of the defense. Hill 79 was a tiny hill of 100 square meters filled with caves, and the same could also be said for hills 81 and 85 right next to it.

Defensive positions around 24D HQ

Hill 79 was secured by the IJA 32nd Infantry regiment HQ about 70 men or so, and hills 81 and 85 were secured by the remenants of IJA 42nd field artillery regiment, consisted of about 80 or so men, and had the last operational anti-tank cannons on the whole island. With the IJA 24th search regiment on the south eastern side of hill 85 (Hill 66 in Japanese literature), consisted of around 20 men.

IJA 42nd Artillery's position on June 13th, you can see the cannons set on both hill 81 and 85. 32i on hill 79 can also be seen as well/

1/5 Marines launched their attack on hill 79 from the west on June 18th, and with armored support was able to advanced till the lower slopes of hill 79.

On the same day, the 24th search regiment from the north east suffered heavy casualties from 1/381, with more than 20 injured. They retreated to the south eastern tip of hill 85, named hill 66 in Japanese literature.

Hill 79 from South West, ~3 km out, unfortunately was unable to get a good angle from Google maps from the north west direction.

On June 19th, the 1/5 attempted to take the hill again. However even with armored support they were unable to advanced to the hill crest. During this attempt 3 tanks were taken out by the IJA 42nd Artillery's howitzers as well. 

To support and relieve the 1/5, 2/5 was ordered to attack hill 81 from the south. At 1700, 2/5 arrived some distance away from hill 81 through the town of Makabe, which was secured by 3/5 earlier.

Hills 79 and 81 when viewed from the south ~300m away. Hill 79 and Hill 81 are roughly 400m away from each other. Well within rifle shot range.

However, every time the 2/5 attempts to attack hill 81, they received heavy sniper fire from IJA 42nd Artillery on the east side of hill 79 and were unable to advanced forward. Even though 2/5 was ready to commit Company F to assault the hill, (Company G, the leading company were exhausted from the earlier failed assault) the volume of fire coming from both hills 79 and 81, combined with the lateness of the hour forced them to call off the assault and to wait until the next day.

Hill 81 and 85 viewed from the town of Makabe, which was secured by 3/5 earlier during the day. Hill 85 can be seen just a short distance away separated by the road in the middle.

On June 20th, 1/5 renewed their efforts on hill 79 with supporting tanks. Approaching from the north western side of the slope, and advanced towards the hill crest once again.

By this time the IJA 42nd Field Artillery regiment had run out of their limited cannon ammunition as well.

32nd Inf HQ cave west entrance

1/5 with company A, B, C launched an assault from the North West direction of the hill at 0730 with tank support, and by 1300 Charlie company got within 75 yards of the hillcrest.

Able company reported the hill taken at 1635 but two hours later were forced to withdraw to the north western slope side due to accurate enemy small arms fire and dug in for the day. Most of the hill was secured by this point and decisions were made to secure the hill on the following day. 

On the same day the IJA 32nd infantry regiment HQ received their final order from 24th Divison command.

"The divisional command structure, after the destruction of all radio communication equipment will cease to exist. All men of the 24th division are to hold on to their current positions and to fight until the very last men. Keep in your hearts to not taste the shame of becoming a prisoner, and to execute our final purpose to bleed the enemy in the strongest ways."

The IJA 32nd Infantry's 1st company commander Captain Itou wrote in his post-war memoirs "The fate of Okinawa's ground combat" about his thought when he received this final order.

"To bleed the enemy? Our entire company has maybe 10 working rifles at this point, what more can we possibly do?"

Capt. Itou, during his Lt. years

Capt. Itou later survived and surrendered with other remnants of the 32nd infantry on August 29th.

On the same morning, 2/5 marines supporting tanks were to come in from the town of Makabe. However, a rain from the previous night muddied up the roads in the town of Makabe and delayed 2/5's support. Unfortunately, after they cleared the mud road they ran into a series of road block in the town constructed by the IJA 24th Search regiment and had to wait until 1400 when the bulldozer cleared the road blocks.

Hill 81 when viewed from the direct south from the town of Makabe. Closer to where Fox Company would have launch their attack from.

The tanks arrived and at 1520 and the assault was launched from the southern side of the hill. Fox company was immediately pinned down by MG fire and was unable to advance, while Easy company was able to come in from south west and towards hill 66/85 was able to advance to about 100 yards in the eastern slope along with Golf company before MG and mortar fire from the 24th search regiment from the right rear and the 42nd Field Artillery regiment main force from the front was able to stopped them in their tracks. As the tanks ran out of ammunition at 1910 and withdrew, the US tried tried for about an hour more before being pulled back to more defensible positions.

Hill 85 from the south western side viewed from Easy company's perspective, Hill 66 which was occupied by the 24th Search regiment towards the right side of the hill.

On June 21st, significant effort was made to clear up hills 79 and 81.

1/5 was able to secure the hill top of 79 by late afternoon following the previous day's success with the support of 1/305. With the surviving forces of the IJA 32nd Infantry HQ stuck in their caves within the mountains. The 32nd infantry would continue to venture out of the caves until they surrendered on August 29th. With their regimental flag burning ceremony on August 28th.

The top of hill 79 where the regimental flag was burned. Now a monument called "Yamagata's tower" as most men in the regiment were from Yamagata prefecture.

 

2/5's assault on hill 81 was delayed to take advantage of a rocket barrage on hill 81, as the location of the hill was not under coverage by traditional artillery. Easy company were to move in from the east once again and Companies F and G were to come in from the west flank.

2/5 slowly move towards the hill crest while burning and blasting caves they come across. At 1500, 3/5 also joined in to effort to clear the hill as well. At 1700, hill 81 was reported secured.

This marked the last record of the IJA 42nd Field Artillery.

3/305 advances towards hill 85 on June 22nd.

1/305 of the US Army launched their attack on hill 79 from the east under cover of heavy mortar barrage from both 1/305 and 3/305 at 1200. They successfully attacked the crest at 1630. With 3/305 following in 1/305 and was slated to attack hill 85 on the following morning.

IJA 21st Search regiment did their final 3 banzai yells and salute to the emperor for the last time.

During the encirclement of the Makabe ridge (Hills 79, 81, 85), one unit was able to slip through and reach Madeera to the IJA 24th Divisions position.

The IJA 22nd Independent Infantry Company from 62nd Division would arrive on the same day on June 21st, and ended up slightly north of the 24D's position from the village of Kyon, unable to continue to the 62nd Division HQ as their original plan due to significant American forces in the area. They gathered all their remaining members and launched a final suicide attack towards Madeera in 381st's direction.

The following morning of June 22nd, elements of 3/305 successfully took hill 66 and 85 without much effort. The IJA 24th Search Regiment's commander was killed by a grenade into the cave.

Infantrymen of Company K, 3/305 advance against the last organized enemy position on Okinawa on 22 June. (Army Photograph)

With hill 85 secured, the island's final organized defensive was also silenced. While the some remaining hold outs continue to combat, some would attempt to flee northwards in belief of a rumor of a organized guerrilla warfare being conducted in the northern tip of the island.

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IJA 24th Division HQ would continue to fight on June 22nd from their position east of the Makabe ridge (Hills 79, 81, 85). They evacuated the injured when the 24D 2nd Field Hospital retreated through the east came through. On June 25th, their northern flank was overran by the 381st and the cave system was discovered and filled in by the 381st. The breathing vents were also found and gasoline poured into them, followed by grenades and ignited gas. The bottom of the cave however, was a underground water way so those that were trapped in there(By this time about 200 or so from around the area) were able to survive.

On June 28th, all remaining members launched their final assault by digging out of the entrance. On June 30th, the remaining division commander, staff officers, and company commanders committed suicide in the cave.

The remains of the cave entrance to the 24th Division HQ

As for the 24th division 2nd field hospital, immediately after retrieving the wounded from the cave near HQ, they were surrounded near the town of Makabe, and fought to breakthrough the lines for 3 days straight.

On June 27th, while they were able to breakthrough the encirclement, most of the members were wounded or dead during the breakout attempt. The unit made it to a cave in the next town over about 200 meters out in Itosu. The following day on June 28th, the unit commander, Major Koike, disbanded the unit in the cave and committed suicide soon afterwards.

The cave where Major Koike committed suicide

A formal ceremony by the US 10th army on the 22nd of June marked the official end of organized resistance on the island of Okinawa.

Japan's actual surrender would come in 2 months later.

The History of Captured items and policies

I was prompted lately by a question about how the Japanese dealt with captured weapons. And while answering that the Japanese military didn't really specifically had a written rule on the usage of captured weapons, the question did reminded me of their policies on bring back weapons and equipment.

We've all seen the funny captured weapons that the Japanese use, but this post is not going to address those. Sorry to those that expected an in-depth writing on captured weapon. No P14s, thompsons, or even the ZB-26 here.

On to the main topic.

We all know the big import of weapons and equipment the Americans did after the war (And to be completely honest here, thank god they did.). So most of us probably wouldn't be too familiar with other countries rule on captured equipment here.

I focus on equipment here because weapons aren't really the only thing soldiers bring back. War trophies include a LOT of variations.

While the Americans seemingly had a lax rule on captured items (Tightened up during subsequent conflicts I believe, feel free to add in additional info as I am not too familiar with them.) The Japanese military did have extremely strict rules on captured equipment, not just weaponry.

Below is the document (ref. C01000558000/JACAR) that the military police command issued out regarding bring-backs and war souvenirs from soldiers in August, 1943.

"In accordance to Army secret order 2010 on June 11th, 1941, the following rules must be apply to in regards to captured equipment.

1. Captured weapon, uniform, equipment and gear that are over the individual allowance must be reported to the battalion commander in accordance to Army confidential order 1425 and delivered to the Army supply depot or armory, which ever is appropriate. However, and exception may be allowed if an authorization is given by a Brigadier Gen. or above.

2. Captured items without relevant military purpose must follow the above rule as well. (For example, electric fan, radio receivers, and refrigerators.)

3. Captured commodity, food, or any items under ration must be reported to the Army Minister with it's amount, type, original method of obtaining, and the individual carrier in the detailed investigation report.

4. Any items that does not fall into the former criteria are to be treated in the case of either number 1 or number 3, depending on situation.

5. If the situation is deemed appropriate, a separate investigation report must be submitted to the Army Minister."

A strict rule in comparison to US at least, while also leaving a large enough interpretation room for individual military police member to determine. In reality they do attempt to crack down on these rules pretty hard. While higher ranked officer could claim unit use for some items, most lower enlisted had no such excuse.

The process for the search is simple, when an IJA unit is recalled back home they need to go through a decontamination process, while the decontamination process is going on, the military police goes through the transportation boat and searches for contraband. Since Japan was fighting wars overseas there really was no other way to get back into mainland Japan as a soldier besides boats.

A detailed write was followed after that about how lately soldiers returning from the southern front has a tendency to bring back items that are not allowed per army policy, and that these contraband will lead to a rise in criminal behavior in the mainland, and that the previous order has it clear on when an exception may be made with an emphasis to crack down on these behaviors.

Now the interesting part, they followed the policy with an example on what items are NOT allowed and how to deal with it by providing a real world example.

View post on imgur.com

Note: The translated table was too large to be fitted onto the blog so I had to use imgur to rehost it. Feel free to click the link for a more clear read.

In any case, some interesting things. First the obvious one, people, or rather units, tried to bring back vehicles to various successes, mostly failures and resulted in confiscations.

Second, the MP/Kenpei Tai kept a lot of contraband, and I wonder if they actually just used them or not.

There must also be all kinds of weird stuff that they came across in a daily basis, but bringing back a vehicle must be a really funny thing to see, especially as the transport boats loaded these vehicles back.

I wonder what the boat commanders said to themselves when they saw units loading all these vehicles up, knowing that other units have tried and failed.

Anyways, that's it for this long overdue post. I'm not dead folks, just ran out of ideas and Q/A before.

Feel free to ask me questions as well, if they resulted in anything interesting I will always post them here with the results.

Or in this case, a not so relevant result.