KILLERS IN COLD BLOOD (True Crime) by Gordon Kerr, Ray Black, Rodney Castleden, Ian Welch, Clare Welch Page B
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offensive. Hideki had laid plans for attack as war minister in August of the same year. Initially, the emperor was reluctant to go along with his ambitions as he held the British Empire in high esteem, but he was swayed by the success of the Nazis in Europe.
The Japanese war plan was to take control of as many territorial possessions from the Western nations as possible. They included lands that belonged to France and Portugal, as well as the USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands. In addition, they planned to move in a north-westerly direction to take communist-held territories.
Like the Nazis in Europe, the Japanese initially did well with their invasions, but they too spread themselves too thinly, so that inevitably the scales tipped in the favour of the Allied Powers. The Japanese forces began to lose ground and were slowly but surely pushed back towards their place of origin. By early 1945 the USA had developed the atomic bomb and opted to use it to end the war. They reasoned that it would save hundreds of thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost in a continued military push to force the Japanese to capitulate.
In addition, the US knew, from intelligence reports, that Japan and Germany had been working on nuclear weapons, so they didn’t want to give the Japanese any more time, just in case they too managed to reach nuclear capability. In August 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hit by nuclear explosions. They had such a devastating effect that Hideki and Hirohito had no choice but to give in to the demands of the Allies. The bombs fell on August 6 and 9, Japan surrendered within a week and the hostilities of World War II had been truncated by several months, if not years.
Following the war it quickly emerged that the Japanese had behaved atrociously towards their captives. Hundreds of thousands had died unnecessarily due to the most appalling treatment in prison camps, at construction sites and on forced marches. The Japanese had displayed a blatant disregard for peoples of all other nations, creeds and races. Many millions more civilians had been summarily executed on the Japanese trail of conquest as though it were too great an inconvenience to deal with them alive. In many ways they had been even worse than the Nazis, because their callousness was a cultural phenomenon that had infused the entire Japanese population due to centuries of isolation. Consequently they genuinely regarded themselves as a divine people, above all others. For example, at school they famously compared the Chinese with domestic swine.
In September 1945, the Allies began rounding up those military officers and politicians who had not already committed honourable suicide – hara-kiri or seppuku . On September 8 they caught up with Hideki Tojo, but he had managed to shoot himself in the chest only minutes beforehand. Hideki had missed his heart, however, and recovered from his injuries to stand trial for war crimes. In May 1946, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal was convened. Hideki was one of twenty-eight defendants tried for a number of different crimes. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging in 1948. His execution was carried out in December of that year.
In many ways Hideki Tojo is seen as having taken the rap for Emperor Hirohito, who was granted immunity from prosecution. Before his hanging, he repented and admitted ultimate responsibility for all of the atrocities committed by the Japanese military during the war, because he insisted that the buck stopped with him. In so doing he saved the emperor from disgrace in the eyes of the Japanese people in their hour of need. In the postwar years they benefited from having their figurehead still in place – it gave them something to remain proud of to counter the humiliation of losing the war.
It is undoubtedly true that Hideki was a political aggressor, so it shouldn’t be thought that he lacked responsibility by any means, but in truth the buck
The Japanese war plan was to take control of as many territorial possessions from the Western nations as possible. They included lands that belonged to France and Portugal, as well as the USA, Great Britain and the Netherlands. In addition, they planned to move in a north-westerly direction to take communist-held territories.
Like the Nazis in Europe, the Japanese initially did well with their invasions, but they too spread themselves too thinly, so that inevitably the scales tipped in the favour of the Allied Powers. The Japanese forces began to lose ground and were slowly but surely pushed back towards their place of origin. By early 1945 the USA had developed the atomic bomb and opted to use it to end the war. They reasoned that it would save hundreds of thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost in a continued military push to force the Japanese to capitulate.
In addition, the US knew, from intelligence reports, that Japan and Germany had been working on nuclear weapons, so they didn’t want to give the Japanese any more time, just in case they too managed to reach nuclear capability. In August 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hit by nuclear explosions. They had such a devastating effect that Hideki and Hirohito had no choice but to give in to the demands of the Allies. The bombs fell on August 6 and 9, Japan surrendered within a week and the hostilities of World War II had been truncated by several months, if not years.
Following the war it quickly emerged that the Japanese had behaved atrociously towards their captives. Hundreds of thousands had died unnecessarily due to the most appalling treatment in prison camps, at construction sites and on forced marches. The Japanese had displayed a blatant disregard for peoples of all other nations, creeds and races. Many millions more civilians had been summarily executed on the Japanese trail of conquest as though it were too great an inconvenience to deal with them alive. In many ways they had been even worse than the Nazis, because their callousness was a cultural phenomenon that had infused the entire Japanese population due to centuries of isolation. Consequently they genuinely regarded themselves as a divine people, above all others. For example, at school they famously compared the Chinese with domestic swine.
In September 1945, the Allies began rounding up those military officers and politicians who had not already committed honourable suicide – hara-kiri or seppuku . On September 8 they caught up with Hideki Tojo, but he had managed to shoot himself in the chest only minutes beforehand. Hideki had missed his heart, however, and recovered from his injuries to stand trial for war crimes. In May 1946, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal was convened. Hideki was one of twenty-eight defendants tried for a number of different crimes. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging in 1948. His execution was carried out in December of that year.
In many ways Hideki Tojo is seen as having taken the rap for Emperor Hirohito, who was granted immunity from prosecution. Before his hanging, he repented and admitted ultimate responsibility for all of the atrocities committed by the Japanese military during the war, because he insisted that the buck stopped with him. In so doing he saved the emperor from disgrace in the eyes of the Japanese people in their hour of need. In the postwar years they benefited from having their figurehead still in place – it gave them something to remain proud of to counter the humiliation of losing the war.
It is undoubtedly true that Hideki was a political aggressor, so it shouldn’t be thought that he lacked responsibility by any means, but in truth the buck
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