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http://www.historynet.com/i-will-fight-to-the-last-wwii-japanese-soldier-diary-june-1943.htm

I love reading soldiers diaries. Especially ones like the above that show not only a completely different mindset and point of view to us, but also have real hardship. The sense of futility in many of the Japanese Diaries I have read from the war have this feeling. Optimism that quickly diminishes.

From memory usually the Americans lost 3-4 thousand while the Japanese lost 10,000 per battle. (off the top of my head...) and after reading accounts its easy to see why. I think Iwo Jima was shocking because it was a battle where 10,000 US soldiers died while only 3-4 thousand Japanese died. The only battle in the war where the Japanese lost less than the US (I think...).

Was just an interesting read so thought I would share.

Off the top of my head Japan lost like 20K soldiers on Iwo Jima

Very right... Americans still suffered more casualties though.

Wow, I need to reread my history books. Im getting rusty.

Excellent find, OT. Thanks for putting this up.

There were way more Japanese KIA at Iwo Jima, but more American casualties overall.

 Hordini wrote:
There were way more Japanese KIA at Iwo Jima, but more American casualties overall.

Yea just had a quick re read. I dont know where the figures I had in my head came from. Waaay off.

feth them feth them hard. I lost a grandpa at Tarawa and my dad grew up without a dad, and they had to put him in an orphanage they were so poor. Again feth them and everything they hoped and dreamed for you murdering bastards. You killed millions of Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Singaporeans, Malaysians, and Phillipinoes in your little dreams of glory. feth you and the horse you rode in on. I'm glad your empire burned you murdering savages.


Frazzled has nothing against the Japanese, just their dead empire.

 Frazzled wrote:
feth them feth them hard. I lost a grandpa at Tarawa and my dad grew up without a dad. Again feth them and everything they hoped and dreamed for you murdering bastards.

Thats a horrible thing to say.

bs. They were the enemy. They killed millions. Only by killing them did their reign of terror end. Ask the Chinese, Filipinos, and Indochinese of their view of the Greater Co Prosperity Sphere. My other grandfather was one of the ones who helped smuggled out pictures from Nanking. I have a few originals. It is ghastly. These were animals. Best they die and die hard.

Again I have nothing against the Japanese, nor the Germans. This is not about them. They had nothing to do with it.

Muslims aren't responsible for Isis or Al Qaeda or 9/11
Christians aren't responsible for the Crusades.
Russians aren't responsible for the gulags.
Americans aren't responsible for what happened to the Indians.
Spanish aren't respponsible for the Aztecs.
Germans, Italians, and Japanese aren't responsible for WWII.

But feth those guys. They were.

 Frazzled wrote:
bs. They were the enemy. They killed millions. Only by killing them did their reign of terror end. Ask the Chinese, Filipinos, and Indochinese of their view of the Greater Co Prosperity Sphere. My other grandfather was one of the ones who helped smuggled out pictures from Nanking. I have a few originals. It is ghastly. These were animals. Best they die and die hard.

Oh ok, so I take it you think all the Germans where murdering animals, or all the American soldiers, or all the (insert any army from any time here).

Most soldiers probably just wanted to go home. I know full well what war crimes where committed. But im not daft enough to put the whole nation of certain countries in the "hope they died" bracket.

I have seen pictures of what US soldiers have done in many battle fields. Yet I do not sit here and wish death and the end of your prosperity on the basis of those horrific actions. Just ask anyone in the countries you bomb etc etc. I bet they would say the same thing.

It would have been more reasonable to simply say im glad the war is over. And just hope those responsible have been punished in one way or another. On all sides.

 Frazzled wrote:
feth them feth them hard. I lost a grandpa at Tarawa and my dad grew up without a dad, and they had to put him in an orphanage they were so poor. Again feth them and everything they hoped and dreamed for you murdering bastards. You killed millions of Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Singaporeans, Malaysians, and Phillipinoes in your little dreams of glory. feth you and the horse you rode in on. I'm glad your empire burned you murdering savages.


Frazzled has nothing against the Japanese, just their dead empire.

Just pointing something out to you Swastakowey....

Horse gak and as I said current Japanese and Germans are blameless except for world domination of good beers and the horror of sushi.

Americans, Brits didn't perform live autopises on prisoners. Americans, Brits didn't slaughter millions of Jews and untermensch. Nazis and Imperial Japanese did.


Your moral eqivalence is sadly misplaced.

EDIT: I do blame the Germans for their Porsches, and their dominating my dreams of youth with their Aryan uber cars! Curse you 928 perfect car of my youth!!!

 Jihadin wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
feth them feth them hard. I lost a grandpa at Tarawa and my dad grew up without a dad, and they had to put him in an orphanage they were so poor. Again feth them and everything they hoped and dreamed for you murdering bastards. You killed millions of Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Singaporeans, Malaysians, and Phillipinoes in your little dreams of glory. feth you and the horse you rode in on. I'm glad your empire burned you murdering savages.


Frazzled has nothing against the Japanese, just their dead empire.

Just pointing something out to you Swastakowey....

Only just read the edits. I was trying to watch what I was saying so was in the type screen for a while...

Still, I think thats a bit unnecessary. I mean, he is pretty much saying he is glad that all the people who roasted in the firebombings burned, because some general in some distant land had issued orders of the most heinous kind. Or some ordinary people had their shadows burned into the pavement because some soldiers had a decapitating contest in china etc. I dont know.

Incorrect. I'm glad all the German and Japanese soldiers in WWII did. The loss of civilians in the war on all sides is a terrible thing, poor innocents on all sides, just trying to survive.

 Frazzled wrote:
Incorrect. I'm glad all the German and Japanese soldiers in WWII did. The loss of civilians in the war on all sides is a terrible thing, poor innocents on all sides, just trying to survive.

Conscripts?

They helped maintain the death machines.

Going to bed now. This is a real sore point for me and your mileage may vary. But WWII scared my family deeply and I have no regard for the soldiers of those murdering regimes. The sight of the the Nazi symbol being blown up by my kinsmen always makes me a little giddy.

 Frazzled wrote:
They helped maintain the death machines.

So you would rather they where shot by the authorities? So if you are conscripted in the next big war your country will inevitably be involved in, you will die rather than try survive?

No nation is free of blood guilt. None.

Anyway, this is not what I wanted to discuss. I just found the insight into the life of an officer in his final days interesting.

I dont know if you noticed, but he harbors no resentment, no love for the cause, mentions he is fighting not for some emperor but for his family at home. Other soldiers in his unit are visibly upset at how their relatives are doing at home (you know, the place they would all want to be at instead of a hole in the jungle) and more importantly how futile he felt it was.

Did you actually read it? Because im pretty sure this guy was just like you and me and probably wanted it all to end so he can go home to his family. Obviously, like most soldiers on his side, he was slaughtered and probably didnt die in a dignified way.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Frazzled wrote:
They helped maintain the death machines.

Going to bed now. This is a real sore point for me and your mileage may vary. But WWII scared my family deeply and I have no regard for the soldiers of those murdering regimes. The sight of the the Nazi symbol being blown up by my kinsmen always makes me a little giddy.

Fair enough. I have not been affected by war (my grandparents and their parents where deaf so neither got conscripted into any wars etc) so I have neutral feelings. I will never understand I guess, but im glad I dont. I personally just see it as a horrible situation for all involved.

I have stacks of Civil War letters from my great, great uncles. It was sad reading as he talked about friends and relatives that died(mainly from disease) over the years of fighting.
His last letter, close to the end of the war, was a one liner to his sister saying they were moving out and he would write her the next day when he had time.
The letter after that was from his platoon seargent informing the family of his death and eulogizing him as a man who he was proud to have known.

Relapse wrote:
I have stacks of Civil War letters from my great, great uncles. It was sad reading as he talked about friends and relatives that died(mainly from disease) over the years of fighting.
His last letter, close to the end of the war, was a one liner to his sister saying they were moving out and he would write her the next day when he had time.
The letter after that was from his platoon seargent informing the family of his death and eulogizing him as a man who he was proud to have known.

Thats (and excuse my language) fascinating. Have you considered scanning them and putting them online? Many people many benefit from having those somewhere accessible. Imagine if a fire broke out and they are lost forever etc. Unless you have uploaded it? I would love to read it.

But what you just said sums up how war seems to be. Just a horrible situation for the majority of people involved.

 Swastakowey wrote:

Relapse wrote:
I have stacks of Civil War letters from my great, great uncles. It was sad reading as he talked about friends and relatives that died(mainly from disease) over the years of fighting.
His last letter, close to the end of the war, was a one liner to his sister saying they were moving out and he would write her the next day when he had time.
The letter after that was from his platoon seargent informing the family of his death and eulogizing him as a man who he was proud to have known.

Thats (and excuse my language) fascinating. Have you considered scanning them and putting them online? Many people many benefit from having those somewhere accessible. Imagine if a fire broke out and they are lost forever etc. Unless you have uploaded it? I would love to read it.

But what you just said sums up how war seems to be. Just a horrible situation for the majority of people involved.

We have them scanned and copies spread throughout the family. He was in some pretty tight spots and fer sure, like the time a charge he was in failed and he ended up on the ground by a stone fence with a Confederate defenders shooting vollys over his head at his retreating regiment. He escaped that situation by noticing that, in their excitment, the Confederates were shooting their rifles before they brought them all the way down. He started timing the volleys(muzzle loader days) and took off running back to his lines between shots, diving for cover just before he knew the shooting would happen, then get up and run again.
I know from his letters he wasn't in it for the slaves,nor were most of his regiment, but to hold the Union together.

Thats pretty interesting mate. Especially that last sentence. The tiny amount of the US civil war thats taught here focuses on slavery as the drive for the fighting. Never thought to look into it much.

im having trouble understanding Frazzleds position on this, he says he doesnt hold x group responsible for y, but he does hold some other group, z, responsible... however group z is a subset of group x, and given the scale of the events, youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x at the time who wasnt also a part of subset z, and in the modern day youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x that isnt descended from someone who is a part of subset z... so essentially Frazzled is saying that he does t hold anyone accountable for events perpetrated at a national and institutional level by a group they are part of or are descended from, and thus effectively otherwise accountable for...

chaos0xomega wrote:
im having trouble understanding Frazzleds position on this, he says he doesnt hold x group responsible for y, but he does hold some other group, z, responsible... however group z is a subset of group x, and given the scale of the events, youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x at the time who wasnt also a part of subset z, and in the modern day youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x that isnt descended from someone who is a part of subset z... so essentially Frazzled is saying that he does t hold anyone accountable for events perpetrated at a national and institutional level by a group they are part of or are descended from, and thus effectively otherwise accountable for...

You can hate the WW2 Japanese/German army and their actions, but habor no ill-will towards non-military Japanese/Germans.

 whembly wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
im having trouble understanding Frazzleds position on this, he says he doesnt hold x group responsible for y, but he does hold some other group, z, responsible... however group z is a subset of group x, and given the scale of the events, youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x at the time who wasnt also a part of subset z, and in the modern day youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x that isnt descended from someone who is a part of subset z... so essentially Frazzled is saying that he does t hold anyone accountable for events perpetrated at a national and institutional level by a group they are part of or are descended from, and thus effectively otherwise accountable for...

You can hate the WW2 Japanese/German army and their actions, but habor no ill-will towards non-military Japanese/Germans.

No I dont think so.

If you are gonna hate a whole nations army because some did horrible things, then you should hate all armies really.

Why is the whole Japanese army (for example) ok to hate (this means ALL members, no matter background, actions or circumstance) but then not hate the NZ army?

Its a huge blanket statement to make really, and is pretty disrespectful to those who died at the cruel hands of someone else.

 Swastakowey wrote:

 whembly wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
im having trouble understanding Frazzleds position on this, he says he doesnt hold x group responsible for y, but he does hold some other group, z, responsible... however group z is a subset of group x, and given the scale of the events, youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x at the time who wasnt also a part of subset z, and in the modern day youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x that isnt descended from someone who is a part of subset z... so essentially Frazzled is saying that he does t hold anyone accountable for events perpetrated at a national and institutional level by a group they are part of or are descended from, and thus effectively otherwise accountable for...

You can hate the WW2 Japanese/German army and their actions, but habor no ill-will towards non-military Japanese/Germans.

No I dont think so.

If you are gonna hate a whole nations army because some did horrible things, then you should hate all armies really.

Why is the whole Japanese army (for example) ok to hate (this means ALL members, no matter background, actions or circumstance) but then not hate the NZ army?

Its a huge blanket statement to make really, and is pretty disrespectful to those who died at the cruel hands of someone else.

Well... Frazzled is going to have to answer you then.

It's like when Al Queda orchestrated 9/11.

I hated everything what Al Queda did and what they stood for... and wanted them obliterated.

But, I didn't hate, nor want to obliterate the Afganistanis.

See what I mean?

 whembly wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 whembly wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
im having trouble understanding Frazzleds position on this, he says he doesnt hold x group responsible for y, but he does hold some other group, z, responsible... however group z is a subset of group x, and given the scale of the events, youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x at the time who wasnt also a part of subset z, and in the modern day youd be hard pressed to find a member of group x that isnt descended from someone who is a part of subset z... so essentially Frazzled is saying that he does t hold anyone accountable for events perpetrated at a national and institutional level by a group they are part of or are descended from, and thus effectively otherwise accountable for...

You can hate the WW2 Japanese/German army and their actions, but habor no ill-will towards non-military Japanese/Germans.

No I dont think so.

If you are gonna hate a whole nations army because some did horrible things, then you should hate all armies really.

Why is the whole Japanese army (for example) ok to hate (this means ALL members, no matter background, actions or circumstance) but then not hate the NZ army?

Its a huge blanket statement to make really, and is pretty disrespectful to those who died at the cruel hands of someone else.

Well... Frazzled is going to have to answer you then.

It's like when Al Queda orchestrated 9/11.

I hated everything what Al Queda did and what they stood for... and wanted them obliterated.

But, I didn't hate, nor want to obliterate the Pakistanis.

See what I mean?

Yes, but thats not what he said. Which is what im trying to get across to this frazzled guy.

Im sure, you will find someone in the organization you hate thats being forced into storing weapons, or have had their kids taken into fighting against their will etc. Yet, surely you do not hate those unfortunate enough to be forced into aiding them yes? Well frazzled, thinks that those unfortunate enough to be helpng the japanese army (conscripts from occupied countries, conscripts in general, labor battalion etc) all should die and deserve it.

I outright hate Insurgents but do not hold ill feeling towards the general Muslim population

Frazz hate the Japanese Imperial Military and the Nazi/SS of Germany from WWII.

I'm ball parking his view

Well in this case he basically said, "I dont blame the Japanese or hold them accountable, but I do blame their empire and their military." One of the hallmarks of world war 2, something that we havent seen since, is the concept of total war. The civilian population is indistinguishable from the military, because as was the case for all major combatants, the civilian populations were 100% devoted to maintaining the war effort.

In one post, Frazzled basically said "feth the conscripts who had no choice too, they helped maintain the death machine." Well, newsflash, those "death machines were built and maintained by civilian industries at civilian facilities by civilian laborers.

What im trying to say is he cant cherry pick who hes blaming because its an all or nothing affair.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also his little spiel about how Christians werent responsible for the crusades and the russians werent responsible for the gulags etc is inaccurate in and of itself. Not all christians or russians were responsible, but ultimately, yes the Crusades were somehing perpetrated by Christians and likewise Gulags and progroms were carried out by Russians.

@OP if you like that sort of stuff, try and find a copy of 'No Surrender" by Onada. It's the memoires of the last Japanese solider to surrender in the Philippines in the early 70s. The book is probably out of print, but a library might have a copy about.

 Khornholio wrote:
@OP if you like that sort of stuff, try and find a copy of 'No Surrender" by Onada. It's the memoires of the last Japanese solider to surrender in the Philippines in the early 70s. The book is probably out of print, but a library might have a copy about.

I defiantly know of this man and his story, however I have not read his book. I have heard its bias but im sure its worth the read if I can find it. I may very well look for that tomorrow