After defeating Russia in 1904–05, Japan took the south half of Sakhalin and the southern tip of Manchuria known as the LiaotungPeninsula. The successful war with China in 1894–95 added Formosa and the nearby Pescadores islands to the Japanese Empire.
For the next fifty years Japan’s conquest and absorption of Asia and the Pacific islands has continued, step by step, with time out to consolidate the gains and gather strength for the next move. In July of that year Japanese naval guns fired on Chinese ships without warning. Moving cautiously, while its modern navy and army were still in the infant stage, Japan took over several groups of small islands not far from its homeland without having to fight for them.īy 1894 it was strong enough to challenge the weak and aging Chinese Empire. Japan started in business as a land-grabbing power in a small way. But that was not the starting point of Japanese aggression. The new contributions to the volume discuss operations in the Indian Ocean, the battle of the Philippine Sea, the protection of merchant shipping, submarine warfare, and Japan’s overall naval strategy.World War II really began when the Japanese army seized Manchuria in 1931.
Captain Mitsuo Fuchida describes how his bombing group unleashed “devils of doom” on Battleship Row, and Mitsuru Yoshida gives an eye-witness account of the sinking of the famous battleship Yamato. Here, Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukudome comes to grips with allegations that the assault on Pearl Harbor represented strategic folly, political blundering, and tactical stupidity. They provide valuable information on the strategy, tactics, and operations of the Japanese fleet, as well as insights into the personalities and motives of its leaders. Most of these moving accounts were written in the 1950s and retain the immediacy felt by the writers when they participated in the events. This second edition adds five articles to the original twelve to present a full picture of the Japanese navy’s role in the war.
In it, top-ranking Japanese officers offer their personal perspectives of the Pacific War. First published in 1986 and lauded by historians and World War II buffs eager for the Japanese viewpoint, this collection of essays makes significant contributions to the field of World War II literature.
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