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In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army (Studies in War, Society, and the Militar)

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Good English-language materials on the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in World War II are disappointingly rare. With the passing of Alvin Coox, Edward Drea is definitely the foremost Western authority. This volume collects a number of very valuable articles that he published in the 1980s and early 1990s. While recent work has brought clarification and amendment in some details, the value of his judgments and perspectives remains undimmed.

A unique and very valuable feature is the many direct comparisons between the U.S. Army and IJA, which do a great deal to illuminate both forces.

The articles are: "Tradition and Circumstances: The Imperial Japanese Army's Tactical Response to Khalkhin-Gol, 1939"; "The Development of Imperial Japanese Army Amphibious Warfare Doctrine"; "Imperial Japanese Army Strategy and the Pacific War (1941-1945)"; "An Allied Interpretation of the Pacific War"; "U.S. Army and Imperial Japanese Army Doctrine during World War II"; "'Trained in the Hardest School'"; "Adachi Hatazo: A Soldier of His Emperor"; "A Signals Intercept Site at War"; "Leyte: Unanswered Questions"; "Japanese Preparations for the Defense of the Homeland"; "Intelligence Forecasting for the Invasion of Japan: Previews of Hell"; "Chasing a Decisive Victory: Emperor Hirohito and Japan's War with the West (1941-1945)". Every one is very worthwhile.

This book is all but indispensable to a clear understanding of the Pacific War. The publishing of a more affordable paperback edition is very welcome.

Will O'Neil

PS. Virtually the only other comprehensive work in English on the Japanese Army in World War II is _Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War_, by Saburo Hayashi and Alvin Coox. (It is out of print and hard to find, but a text file is available on the Web.) Virtually anything written by Alvin Coox on the subject is well worth reading, and particularly his article "The Pacific War" in Vol. 6 of _The Cambridge History of Japan_, and of course his masterful book, _Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939_ (available from Amazon). For an understanding of the Japanese Army as an institution, see Leonard Humphreys, _The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920's_ (also available from Amazon) as well as Shin'ichi Kitaoka, "The Army as a Bureaucracy: Japanese Militarism Revisited," _J. Mil. Hist._, 57/5: 67-86. And by all means be sure to remain on the lookout for further work by Edward Drea.

While there has been quite a few histories of individual battles of the Pacific War, there have been few studies of the Imperial Japanese Army. This is not only in striking contrast to the various studies of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS, but even in comparison with the Imperial Japanese Navy (Evans and Peattie's Kaigun comes to mind).

Drea's book is an admirable effort to start filling in some of those blanks. His essay on General Adachi, for example, provides interesting background into how a typical Japanese officer's career went; in this case, an officer who was not heavily politicized.

Similarly, his discussion of how Japanese recruits underwent training provides important background into the mindset of soldiers. This is indispensable in understanding the IJA as an institution and organization.

Good English-language materials on the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in World War II are disappointingly rare. With the passing of Alvin Coox, Edward Drea is definitely the foremost Western authority. This volume collects a number of very valuable articles that he published in the 1980s and early 1990s. While recent work has brought clarification and amendment in some details, the value of his judgments and perspectives remains undimmed.

A unique and very valuable feature is the many direct comparisons between the U.S. Army and IJA, which do a great deal to illuminate both forces.

The articles are: "Tradition and Circumstances: The Imperial Japanese Army's Tactical Response to Khalkhin-Gol, 1939"; "The Development of Imperial Japanese Army Amphibious Warfare Doctrine"; "Imperial Japanese Army Strategy and the Pacific War (1941-1945)"; "An Allied Interpretation of the Pacific War"; "U.S. Army and Imperial Japanese Army Doctrine during World War II"; "'Trained in the Hardest School'"; "Adachi Hatazo: A Soldier of His Emperor"; "A Signals Intercept Site at War"; "Leyte: Unanswered Questions"; "Japanese Preparations for the Defense of the Homeland"; "Intelligence Forecasting for the Invasion of Japan: Previews of Hell"; "Chasing a Decisive Victory: Emperor Hirohito and Japan's War with the West (1941-1945)". Every one is very worthwhile.

This book is all but indispensable to a clear understanding of the Pacific War. The publishing of a more affordable paperback edition is very welcome.

Will O'Neil

PS. Virtually the only other comprehensive work in English on the Japanese Army in World War II is _Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War_, by Saburo Hayashi and Alvin Coox. (It is out of print and hard to find, but a text file is available on the Web.) Virtually anything written by Alvin Coox on the subject is well worth reading, and particularly his article "The Pacific War" in Vol. 6 of _The Cambridge History of Japan_. For an understanding of the Japanese Army as an institution, see Leonard Humphreys, _The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920's_ (available from Amazon) as well as Shin'ichi Kitaoka, "The Army as a Bureaucracy: Japanese Militarism Revisited," _J. Mil. Hist._, 57/5: 67-86.

This book is a welcome addition to anybody's library on WW2 Japan but as always, the information is not quite up to date. That has always been the problem with books on the Japanese Army because only a limited number of wetern historians can actually understand Japanese. The book says, for example, that only 60 type 3 tanks were built during the war when the newest research suggests that over 200 rolled off the production lines. Also the photo of Lieut.General Adachi does not show him as a General but as a Colonel. Still, better than what usually hits the market with "The author has read the Japanese official history" on this or that battle with the author thanking his Japanese interpreters elsewhere in the book.

Edward Drea's study of the Imperial Japanese Army is highly recommended for anyone in search of a basic understanding of the Japanese ground forces. With so much written on the German military machine, a book like Drea's is most appreciated. It provides a clear and concise description of the IJA's experience in China, and on the institutional failures which made defeat inevitable. The author also provides much needed insight into why the Japanese continued to fight on in the face of seemingly hopeless odds. Finally, the part on Japanese preparations for the US invasion of the home islands cannot be missed by anyone interested in the debate over the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This book is a welcome addition to anybody's library on WW2 Japan but as always, the information is not quite up to date. That has always been the problem with books on the Japanese Army because only a limited number of wetern historians can actually understand Japanese. The book says, for example, that only 60 type 3 tanks were built during the war when the newest research suggests that over 200 rolled off the production lines. Also the photo of Lieut.General Adachi does not show him as a General but as a Colonel. Still, better than what usually hits the market with "The author has read the Japanese official history" on this or that battle with the author thanking his Japanese interpreters elsewhere in the book.