THE KNIGHTS OF BUSHIDO

The Shocking History of Japanese War    Atrocities >>>

             By Lord Russell of Liverpool

As in his “The Scourge of the Swastika,” detailing Nazi atrocities, Lord Russell presents here another picture of stark horror in word and illustration.

It is a grim record of massacre and murder, of torture, slave labor and starvation, even of vivisection, mutilation and finally cannibalism, inflicted on war prisoners, civilian internees and the queered populations, men, women and children alike, by the Japanese military. con-

It is perhaps late in the day to revive painful memories of deeds long since judged and atoned by the punishment of the guilty.

But it is well that the essence of the voluminous war- crimes records is put between the covers of books so that the world, and especially the nations in whose names the crimes were committed, may become more fully aware of them and take steps to prevent them in the future.

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At the same time this book would better serve this purpose if it were less of a lawyer’s brief for the prosecution (Lord Russell is one of England’s leading jurists) in which the author generalizes too much at times and in any case goes far toward doing what a British statesman once said cannot be done—namely, indict a whole nation.

However, having indicted our former enemies, Lord Russell is now challenged by his own works to right the balance and deal with the war practices of other belligerents, in particular with the monstrous war crimes of the Soviets, which may have special significance for the future.

The Japanese war crimes were almost inevitable and not because of the Japanese character. They were inevitable because of the doctrines and behavior codes fostered by the military for their own ends.

These doctrines and codes, imperfectly understood by the author, were comprised in the concepts of Hakko Ichiu, Kodo and Bushido.

Taken together they taught that Japan, as the only divine country with a divine Emperor, had 8 divine mission to rule the world and that it was the supreme virtue of every Japanese in loyalty to the Emperor to fight and die for such a rule.

In that fight there could be only victory or death, and surrender was an intolerable dishonor for the captive family. And though Bushido promised benevolence to those who submitted, it accorded no rights to the vanquished and punished disobedience with death.

These concepts, made the basis of Japanese national and military discipline, explain why the Japanese war lords rejected the Geneva convention on war prisoners, even though the Government promised to observe it toward Allied prisoners.

From this rejection it was but a step to drop all benevolence toward foreign beasts, to em- ploy terror as a weapon to cow the conquered populations, and to misuse war prisoners and the conquered as beasts of burden whose lives counted for nothing when it came to serving Japanese strategy and empire building.

In defense the Japanese accused often pleaded military necessity or a superior’s orders. But even Gen. Hideki Tojo, author of many brutal orders, found it impossible to defend wanton murders, and some Japanese not only repudiated them but even rebelled against them.

How many in the conquered populations perished will never be known. But the death toll among Allied war prisoners, which in spite of Nazi misdeeds was only 4% in Western Europe, reached 27% in the Pacific.

The New York Times / ABC Flash Point News 2026.