DK - World War II Map by Map

JAPAN GOES TO WAR 109

Faced with a trade embargo

that threatened to strangle

their economy, Japan’s leaders

came to the conclusion that war

was the only option remaining

open to them. As Admiral

Osami Nagano, Chief of Staff

of the Imperial Japanese Navy,

declared in September 1941,

“Since Japan is unavoidably

facing national ruin whether it decides to fight the United States

or submit to its demands, it must by all means choose to fight.”

The Japanese leadership also believed that time was against them,

and that the longer they delayed in mobilizing for war, the smaller

their prospects of success would be.

The Japanese war plan

Japan’s leaders planned to strike in Southeast Asia in order to

win control of the US-held Philippines, the oil-rich Dutch East

Indies, and the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore. The

Japanese recognized that such a move would almost certainly

provoke an armed response by American forces, and so decided

to take preventative action by planning a surprise attack on the

US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941 (see

pp.110–111). The Japanese intention was that, by turning the central

and southwestern Pacific into an impregnable military bastion, they

would force the US into fighting an island-by-island war of attrition,

the cost of which would break the Americans’ will to fight. However,

the reality of the situation proved to be very different.

JAPAN GOES

TO WAR

In July 1941, the US imposed sanctions on Japan in

retaliation for their occupation of French Indochina,

and Britain and the Dutch East Indies followed suit.

For Japan, making concessions was not an option.

HIDEKI TOJO

1884–1948

Born in Tokyo to a family of the former

samurai caste, Hideki Tojo enlisted as a

cadet in the Imperial Japanese Army in

1899 and rose to the rank of general.

He went on to serve as prime minister

of Japan from 1941 to 1944, and during

this time he ordered the infamous

attack on US forces at Pearl Harbor.

At the end of the war he was arrested

shortly after a botched suicide attempt

and was tried for war crimes. He was

executed in 1948.

△ Type 14 Nambu pistol

This model was designed in 1925

and was used by officers of the

Japanese army during World

War II. It fired an 8 mm round.

US_108-109_F_Japanese_decision_for_War.indd 109 04/03/19 10:47 AM