Warrior Japanese Infantryman 1937-1945 Sword of the Empire Osprey Books

Despite comparisons with the notorious German Waffen SS, no country other than Japan had an army that presented such an enigma and was as perplexing to Westerners as the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) was. Brutal to both prisoners and inhabitants of the areas that it conquered, it was an army that had exhausting standards for its soldiers too. With strict codes of honour it was an army that would fight to the death and which, heavily influenced by tradition, fought a war against the more industrially capable Allies that it was destined to lose. This book aims to identify in which ways the Japanese solder was different from his Western counterparts and why. Concepts such as Bushido, Seppuku, Shiki and Hakko Ichi-u will be examined to explain what motivated the soldiers. The book will follow a soldier through his experiences in fighting in China and later the Pacific, from his arrival in the army through to his final fight to the death. His brutal training and the psychological and physical resilience this engendered will be covered, culminating in his fighting experiences at the hands of the allies' overwhelming strength.