Britain Secret War Against Japan (Studies in Intelligence)

273 Pages·2006·1.87 MB·English

by  Douglas Ford

BRITAIN’S SECRET WAR
AGAINST JAPAN,
1937–1945
This book provides the first comprehensive account of the pivotal role that
intelligence played in shaping Britain’s conduct of its campaigns against the
Japanese at a multitude of levels – strategic, operational and tactical.
The British held an erroneous view of Japanese military capabilities prior
to 1941. This was largely due to the high level of secrecy surrounding Japan’s
war planning and the absence of prior engagements with the Japanese armed
forces. The fall of ‘Fortress Singapore’ in February 1942 dispelled any notion
that the Japanese were incapable of challenging the West, and British military
officials had to acknowledge the fact that their forces in the Far East were
inadequate. Here, Douglas Ford explains how Britain’s defence establish-
ment drew upon the Allied experiences in the Asia-Pacific theatres, and
learned how to fight the Imperial Japanese Navy, Army and their respective
air services. By the closing stages of the Pacific War, the effective use of intel-
ligence on the strategy, tactics and morale of Japan’s armed forces played a
key role in enabling the British to conduct a successful war effort in the
Far East.
This book will be of much interest to students of the Second World War,
intelligence studies, strategic studies and military history in general.
Douglas Ford is a Lecturer in Military History at Salford University. He
holds a PhD in International History from the LSE (2002).
STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE SERIES
General editors: Richard J. Aldrich and Christopher Andrew
ISSN: 1368–9916
BRITISH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE IN THE PALESTINE
CAMPAIGN 1914–1918
Yigal Sheffy
BRITISH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE IN THE
CRIMEAN WAR, 1854–1856
Stephen M. Harris
SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE IN WORLD WAR II
Edited by David Alvarez
KNOWING YOUR FRIENDS
Intelligence inside alliances and coalitions from 1914 to the Cold War
Edited by Martin S. Alexander
ETERNAL VIGILANCE
50 years of the CIA
Edited by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones and Christopher Andrew
NOTHING SACRED
Nazi espionage against the Vatican, 1939–1945
David Alvarez and Revd. Robert A. Graham
INTELLIGENCE INVESTIGATIONS
How Ultra changed history
Ralph Bennett
INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT
Edited by David Charters, A. Stuart Farson and Glenn P. Hastedt
TET 1968
Understanding the surprise
Ronnie E. Ford
INTELLIGENCE AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE
British intelligence and the defence of the Indian Empire 1904–1924
Richard J. Popplewell
ESPIONAGE
Past, present, future?
Edited by Wesley K. Wark
THE AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION
An unofficial history
Frank Cain
POLICING POLITICS
Security intelligence and the liberal democratic state
Peter Gill
FROM INFORMATION TO INTRIGUE
Studies in secret service based on the Swedish experience 1939–45
C. G. McKay
DIEPPE REVISITED
A documentary investigation
John Campbell
MORE INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE CENTRE
Christopher and Oleg Gordievsky
CONTROLLING INTELLIGENCE
Edited by Glenn P. Hastedt
SPY FICTION, SPY FILMS AND REAL INTELLIGENCE
Edited by Wesley K. Wark
SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE IN A CHANGING WORLD
New perspectives for the 1990s
Edited by A. Stuart Farson, David Stafford and Wesley K. Wark
A DON AT WAR
Sir David Hunt K.C.M.G., O.B.E. (reprint)
INTELLIGENCE AND MILITARY OPERATIONS
Edited by Michael I. Handel
LEADERS AND INTELLIGENCE
Edited by Michael I. Handel
WAR, STRATEGY AND INTELLIGENCE
Michael I. Handel
STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL DECEPTION IN
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Edited by Michael I. Handel
CODEBREAKER IN THE FAR EAST
Alan Stripp
INTELLIGENCE FOR PEACE
Edited by Hesi Carmel
INTELLIGENCE SERVICES IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Michael Herman
ESPIONAGE AND THE ROOTS OF THE COLD WAR
The conspiratorial heritage
David McKnight
SWEDISH SIGNAL INTELLIGENCE 1900–1945
C. G. McKay and Bengt Beckman
THE NORWEGIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE 1945–1970
Olav Riste
SECRET INTELLIGENCE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Edited by Heike Bungert, Jan G. Heitmann and Michael Wala
THE CIA, THE BRITISH LEFT AND THE COLD WAR
Calling the tune?
Hugh Wilford
OUR MAN IN YUGOSLAVIA
The story of a secret service operative
Sebastian Ritchie
UNDERSTANDING INTELLIGENCE IN THE
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Journeys in shadows
Len Scott and Peter Jackson
MI6 AND THE MACHINERY OF SPYING
Philip H. J. Davies
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY INTELLIGENCE
Edited by Wesley Wark
INTELLIGENCE AND STRATEGY
Selected essays
John Robert Ferris
THE US GOVERNMENT, CITIZEN GROUPS AND THE COLD WAR
The state–private network
Edited by Helen Laville and Hugh Wilford
PEACEKEEPING INTELLIGENCE
New players, extended boundaries
Edited by David Carment and Martin Rudner
SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE
A new instrument of war
Edited by Mark Seaman
MUSSOLINI’S PROPAGANDA ABROAD
Subversion in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, 1935–1940
Manuela A. Williams
BRITAIN’S SECRET WAR AGAINST JAPAN, 1937–1945
Douglas Ford
THE POLITICS AND STRATEGY OF CLANDESTINE WAR
Special Operations Executive, 1940–1946
Neville Wylie
BRITAIN’S SECRET
WAR AGAINST
JAPAN, 1937–1945
Douglas Ford
First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
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© 2006 Douglas Ford
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ford, Douglas, 1972–
Britain’s secret war against Japan, 1937–1945/Douglas Ford.
p. cm.–(Studies in intelligence series, ISSN 1368–9916)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. World War, 1939–1945–Military intelligence–Great Britain. 2. World
War, 1939–1945–Campaigns–Pacifi c Area. 3. World War, 1939–1945–
Japan. 4. Strategy. I. Title. II. Series: Cass series on intelligence and military
affairs. Studies in intelligence series. III. Series.
D810.S7F63 2006
940.54(cid:1)86410952–dc22 2005036630
ISBN10: 0–415–35846–9 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–00465–5 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–35846–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–00465–4 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1 Ambiguity and complacency: Britain’s assessment of Japan
prior to the outbreak of war 12
2 The lessons of defeat and limited victories, December 1941
to January 1943 44
3 Gauging the balance of an unpredictable war: the evolution
of British intelligence on Japanese strategy, January 1943
to August 1945 76
4 Material and technology versus methods of use: intelligence
on the tactical and technical capabilities of Japan’s
armed forces 113
5 Racial contempt or logical analysis?: British intelligence on
Japanese military morale 152
Conclusion: the intelligence war in Asia and the Pacifi c,
1937–1945: the British and Japanese experiences in
comparison 176
Notes and references 193
Bibliography 234
Index 250
vii

ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
I.1 Organization of intelligence in Whitehall and East Asia, c.1940 9
I.2 Organization of army intelligence at SEAC, 1944 9
I.3 British naval intelligence organization, Eastern Theatre 10
Maps
1.1 The Far East and the Pacific, c.1937 18
1.2 The Imperial Powers in the Far East, September 1939 22
1.3 Japanese war plans, December 1941 30
2.1 Height of Japan’s conquests, summer 1942 50
3.1 Campaign in Burma, 1943–1945 93
3.2 Allied strategic plans, 1943–1944 99
3.3 Allied plans for the invasion of Japan 110
ix