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Japanese Banzai Charges

• Message 1.Μύ

  Posted by pc1973 (U13716600) on Wednesday, 14th April 2010

  against fixed defensive positions.
  
  Who instigated them? Senior Offices, Junior Offices, NCO's or the men themselves.
  
  As you would think that any decent senior commander would have banned them outright.
  
  I believe on Iowa Jima the commander there did just that and fight lasted a lot longer as a result.
  
  Any one know why they persisted with this tactic? did they think there soldiers super-human or just expendable?

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Grumpyfred (U2228930) on Wednesday, 14th April 2010

  But is it any different to fixing bayonets and marching across no mans land, or for the Zulu to face massed guns armed only with spears. During the Second Afghan War, the survivors of the 66th fixed bayonets and charged to their deaths, as did members of the French F L against the Mexicans.A charge can have the desired effect, tipping the balance.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by Spruggles (U13892773) on Thursday, 15th April 2010

  Ah, yes GrumyFred,
  If only all those commanding officers had been blest with the foresight(care for the future - not the little thing at the end of the barrel).

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Mutatis_Mutandis (U8620894) on Wednesday, 21st April 2010

  There certainly was a problem in terms of training and ethics of some Japanese commanders. A notorious example is that of colonel Ichiki, who after the first Japanese counter-landing on Guadalcanal chose to attack immediately and at the strongest position in the American lines -- without waiting for his reinforcements, although his first echelon was less than a thousand men strong and he had received several warnings that the Marines might be present in divisional strength (as they were). At the time, senior Japanese commanders did not have a much higher opinion of such actions than we do.
  
  However, you have to make some allowance, later in the fighting, for the desperate condition the Japanese soldiers on these islands were in. They were often short of food and ammunition, lacked the medical supplies to survive tropical diseases, and had no hope of winning the battle. Many a Japanese commanders may have considered holding out for a longer time, only to conclude that if he did that, his men would simply die of starvation or tropical fevers. Surviving diaries of Japanese soldiers and officers who fought in the Pacific, often tell a grim tale of exhaustion and death.
  
  Banzai attacks, wasteful and pointless as they were from a strictly military point of view, offered the option of a quick and honorable death, which many men may have preferred. Those to weak to participate in them often committed suicide, or were killed by their comrades if they were too weak even for that. Of course the Japanese military culture was unwilling to even consider surrender.
  

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• Message 5

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  Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Thursday, 22nd April 2010

  nearly all the banzai attacks came when the japs were beaten - and when they knew it - as surrender wasnt an option what else could they do ??
  
  makes u wonder why they didnt hide and swap one US life for their own
  lucky or what
  
  these were the same people us brits considered racially inferior
  the same people - myopic and riding bicycles wuth flat tyres who inflicted a humiliating defeat at singapore
  
  st

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by White Camry (U2321601) on Friday, 23rd April 2010

  stalti,
  these were the same people us brits considered racially inferior
  Μύ
  
  They considered anyone who wasn't Japanese inferior and thus fair game.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by baz (U14258304) on Friday, 23rd April 2010

  these were the same people us brits considered racially inferior Μύ
  
  'Us' Brits? Don't you mean 'you' Brits? A lot of people tend to use 'we' or 'us', when they really mean 'you' or 'those'. A classic tactic, used by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown all the time.

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 7.

  Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Friday, 23rd April 2010

  It wasn't just a WWII tactic, of course. Consider the Seige of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese were neither desperate nor starving then.

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• Message 9

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Saturday, 24th April 2010

  hi white camry
  
  
  
  stalti,
  
  these were the same people us brits considered racially inferior
  
  Quoted from this message
  
  
  
  
  
  They considered anyone who wasn't Japanese inferior and thus fair game.
  Μύ
  
  maybe they were correct - everywhere they fought us they beat us - hong kong singapore malaysia - they fought us to a standstill
  we only started to win when the overwhelming industrial power of the usa was applied to them
  
  st
  

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• Message 10

  , in reply to message 9.

  Posted by RedGuzzi750 (U7604797) on Sunday, 25th April 2010

  We did defeat them at the Battle Of Milne Bay, without the use of overwhelming industrial power. But it helped later on for sure.

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• Message 11

  , in reply to message 10.

  Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010

  ha
  but when u say we u mean aussie troops in small engagements
  the japs didnt realise that at milne bay they would be fighting an enemy who didnt seem to care about their supposed invincibilty
  
  for once the airpower was on the allies side and one to one the aussies were far better than the japs - the kokoda trail proved this
  
  st

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