General Yamashita was convicted and executed solely at the insistence of British authorities and General Douglas MacArthur. The British were attempting to wipe out the bitter memory of the greatest defeat in the history of the Empire, MacArthur who ignorantly imagined himself to be a great soldier, simply wanted to exterminate the glory of one who actually was. And killing the dirty yellow “nips” after the war wasn’t particularly difficult.

The Malayan Campaign which ended when the British surrendered the fortress of Singapore and 130,000 troops to the 30,000 exhausted, starving men of the 25th Imperial Japanese Army, who were at that moment not only out of food and medicine but also out of both rifle and artillery rounds was one of the greatest military accomplishments in the war annals of human history.

Yamashita’s victory was an extraordinary feat, perhaps the greatest victory of any general in the entirety of WW II and it broke the back of European colonialism in Asia forever.

Long Live the Tiger of Malaya!

Banzai!

They were dropped on 2 heavily populated cities. These were not strategic bombs or dropped strategically, say on military or other targets. They were dropped onto heavily populated areas. Just how many Japanese civilians died and how many others suffered a fate worse than hell no one can accurately say, but the figure is astounding by any measure.

The man who made the decision to drop them was as guilty as any Japanese officers who gave orders to massacre filipino or any other South East Asian civilians. Two such bombs wiped off twice as much the total number of people the Japanese troops massacred. The Americans can claim they atomic bombs were used in order to bring peace.

But the facts speak for themselves – 2 series of massacre and crimes against humanity were commited. One was done in the name of war and the other in the name of peace. By whatever name it was called – a massacre is still a massacre. This sought of American justification seemed to rule even decades after WW2.

During the My Lai massacre (the Vietnam War) one US army general was quoted as saying (as a matter of army policy at that time and referring to mass destruction of people and property pertaining to targeted villages) that “… in order to save them (the villages) we had to destroy them.” This was their justification.

So after the 2 atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the My Lai (and other villages) Massacre, which American general or President was ever brought to trial for crimes against humanity?

I do not condone Japan for attacking South East Asia, nor the atrocities which their troops , both officers and men, had committed against innocent civilians in those vanquished countries. As final conquerors and victors, the Americans had the perogative of bringing to justice any enemysoldiers or civilians who had commited war crimes against humanity.

However, the manner in which the vanquished Japanese generals, especially Yamashita, were put to trial was questionable. Firstly it was the speed – with so many charges read against him the defence team was given only 3 weeks to put up his defence. Secondly, a lot of evidence against him were borne by both “hearsay” (if he had been tried under today’s laws and away from a combat zone I believed he would have a fairer trial) and circumstantial evidences. Thirdly, General MacArthur had already made up his mind on the guilt of Yamashita before the trial as most of the terms of references for his trial seem to suggest.

Some pertinent points raise by Yamashita in his defence were cast aside by most of the tribunal judges except for Justice Murphy and one other dissenting judge, both of whom were correct to point out that Yamashita’s guilty was questionable, i.e. reasonable doubts existed. How guilty can a commander be if after issuing orders for his forces to retreat (pull out of Manila) and such orders being not acted upon by dissenting unit commanders who chose to stay behind and exacting their last act of vengeance on the filipino population trapped in the city before the advancing American army advanced? Yamashita was not at the theatre of war at that time as he had already moved his main force to another hillside location in preparation of defending against the impending American forces.

Cut off from the remaining units in Manila, which included naval troops under the command of a Japanese admiral whose disobedience in carrying out his orders have been on record, some credibily on this defence should have been given. Yamashita was not that all notorious and merciless killing machine that General MacArthur portrayed him to be. While it can be said that he was ruthless in battles, it must also be said that he had honour and integrity also.

When the frontline Japanese troops advanced in Singapore and after advancing towards Alexandra Hospital they masacred most of the patients (wounded allied soldiers and civilians alike) as well as hospital staff. It was recorded that the following day, upon hearing of the massacre, Yamashita (who was commander of the Japanese forces in Malaya) went to the hospital and apologised to the remaining surviving patients who were there – he did this both vocally as well as formally by saluting them. I can attest to this record as being true because my father was a patient there (he being bayoneted by Japanese soldiers a couple of days earlier but survived. My dad even mentioned (which was not reported anywhere) that some of the japanese soldiers who came on the second day even offered cigarettes to the patients.

These are some of the testimonies which could have saved Yamashita from a death sentence had they been presented at the trial because they would show the defendant to be not totally devoid of human feelings. But the speed of the trial and a right wing hawkish prosecution team made sure that he would not have this privilege.

Granted, as an overall commander he would have to bear all responsibilities for the actions of the troops under him. This Yamashita did not deny. In fact he made it very clear that he would take all responsibilities. Which was the reason why he did not commit hara kiri (samurai’s code of honourable suicide) because if he did “some one else would have to take the blame”. He was referring to the Emperor of Japan.

So, if the tribunal held the view that he should be accountable for the crimes of his men (though not necessarily in their presence) then the same should be held for the Emperor in whose name the war was fought. The Americans were having double standards there.

I think Yamashita was guilt was indirect (his mitigating factor being not in physical control or command of those renegade Japanese troops stationed at Manilaat that time) in the same manner as the Emperor whose guilt was just as equal. But one was sentenced to hang while the other was allowed to continue to rule and absolved from all blame.

I think rightfully, Yamashita should have got a life sentence.