The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42So many histories of the War in the Pacific focus on the Allied experience. This title reverses this trend by examining the year of Japanese victory, when the might Japanese naval and ground forces swept all before them both throughout the Pacific and on mainland Asia. The German offensives which crushed Poland in 1939 and swallowed most of Western Europe in less than two months in 1940 have been well documented and heavily studied, however, the overall picture of the remarkable Japanese offensive land campaign in 1941–42 has received less attention. In this fascinating book, Bill Yenne documents the years when the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) was conducting its equally unstoppable ground campaign in the Far East, and unlike other books on this subject, he studies the campaign from the Japanese point of view. He reveals how the IJA were able to conquer huge swathes of Southeast Asia in a little over eight weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Using first-hand accounts from Japanese sources, Yenne reveals the tactics and mindset of the IJA during their offensive, detailing the capturing of Manila, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies. Exploring the infrastructure and technical challenges of waging war across such a huge area, Yenne delves into the hardships that faced individual Japanese soldiers in theatre and explains how the Japanese were able to remain undefeated and establish the aura of invincibility that marked their campaign between 1941–42. |
Contents
Two Senior Officers and the Emperors Armies | |
The World at | |
Taking the Southern Road | |
December 8 1941 | |
The First Week | |
Black Christmas | |
Tightening the Noose in the Java | |
The Axe Falls on Java | |
Four Days on Java | |
The Conquest of the Dutch East Indies | |
THE UNSTOPPABLE FIRE OF THE RISING | |
The Battle of Australia | |
The Battle of America | |
Climax in Burma | |
A New Year in Malaya | |
A New Year in the Philippines | |
The Ploesti of the East | |
Indies Stepping Stones | |
The Tiger of Malaya Strikes at Singapore | |
War Comes to Burma | |
A CROWN JEWEL FROM ONE EMPIRE TO ANOTHER | |
The Heart of the Dutch East Indies | |
Tightening the Noose Across the Indies | |
Beautiful Bali Stepping Stone to Java | |
Bataan and Corregidor the Final Days | |
THE SETTING OF THE | |
The End of the Beginning | |
Under the Emperors Roof | |
The Beginning of the | |
The | |
Epilogue | |
Bibliography | |
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14th Army 18th Division 25th Army ABDA Admiral aircraft airfield Allied Ambon American artillery ashore Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere attack Australian Bali Balikpapan Bandoeng base Bataan Batavia Battalion battle bombers Borneo Brigade British Burma campaign captured Celebes China Chinese coast colonial command contingent cruisers December defeat defense destroyers Detachment Dutch East Indies East Asia Co-Prosperity Emperor Empire February fighting German Greater East Asia Guinea guns Hideki Tojo Homma Imamura Imperial General Headquarters Imperial Japanese Army Indian Indochina Infantry Regiment island January Japan Japanese Army Japanese troops Java KNIL Kwantung Army later Lieutenant Colonel Luzon MacArthur major Malaya Manchukuo Manchuria Manila March Masanobu Tsuji Meanwhile miles military officers operations ordered Pacific Palembang Pearl Harbor Peninsula Percival Philippines Rangoon River ships Singapore Southeast Asia Southern Road Soviet staff Sumatra Surabaya surrender tanks Tarakan Thailand Timor Tokyo Tomoyuki Yamashita United weeks World