Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
First published in Japan in 1973, this personal account of the last great battle of WWII is from the viewpoint of the Japanese Army officer in charge of plans and operations. Yahara reveals how his battle plan, based on a strategy of attrition, was overruled by Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima in favor of a wasteful offensive policy (``absurd suicide tactics''). He describes how orders for retreat-and-attack forays were developed and issued and explains how the site of the spectacular last stand was chosen. When defeat by the Americans was perceived as inevitable, Ushijima ordered a final charge, delivered a formal speech and submitted to the expected ritual beheading. All this is vividly described by the observant Yahara. Disinclined toward suicide himself, he evaded capture for a while by mingling with refugees but was eventually arrested by the Americans. His independence of mind illuminates this interesting narrative; his interpretive comments on the workings of the high command in a series of underground headquarters will be of interest to students of the military art. Gibney, president of the Pacific Basin Institute, was one of the intelligence officers who interrogated Yahara after his capture. Illustrations. Doubleday Military Book Club main selection. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Translated from Yahara's 1973 memoir, Okinawa Kessen, this book offers the Japanese perspective on the Pacific war's greatest land, air, and naval battle, the Battle for Okinawa, April-July 1945. Yahara was the senior staff officer of the Japanese 32nd Army defending Okinawa and the only senior officer to survive the battle. He was the operational architect of the Japanese battle of attrition, which ultimately cost a quarter-million Japanese, Okinawan, and American casualties in World War II's last great battle. Written 28 years after the war, this book provides penetrating insight into the Japanese high command's strategy and decision-making process in its final, futile defense of the home islands. Most riveting is Yahara's account of his survival and escape attempts and his disgrace for not committing the customary suicide at the battle's end. Recommended for public libraries.-William D. Bushnell, U.S. Marine Corp., ret., Sebascodegan Island, Me. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A rare eyewitness account of the final battle of the Pacific war, from the vantage point of the embattled Japanese generals: Yahara was senior staff officer of the 32nd Japanese Army on Okinawa. The author describes the ancient, highly emotional code of the samurai, Bushido (the Way of the Warrior), which ruled the Japanese military psyche. He argues that this mindset suppressed more rational thinking, culminating in ``honorable'' but self- destructive banzai charges when Japanese soldiers, cornered and faced with surrender or annihilation, chose the latter option. Yahara maintains bitter feelings against Japanese leaders who started the war in China to enhance their own prestige, power, and honor, sacrificing the lives of millions of Japanese soldiers in the process. He indicates that Imperial Headquarters in Japan also considered the lives of Japanese soldiers on Okinawa expendable. His description of the US naval and air bombardments is devastating, but his narrative of Japanese cave defenses illuminates the human side of the enemy: the respect and camaraderie of high-ranking Japanese officers during the long wait for the US attack and their eventual suicides. Yahara's account is deficient in some respects: For instance, it fails to record the ruthless exploitation of native Okinawans by the Japanese, who drafted them into the army for use in combat or as slave labor and lied to them about probable American cruelty if they were captured (Yahara admits that his own treatment as a prisoner of war was fair and even kindly). He is also silent about the Japanese army's forcing women into prostitution in the caves. Yahara did not do his duty to commit hara-kiri after defeat, thus making possible this fascinating, highly intelligent glance behind the Japanese lines.
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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
