The Shadow Warriors of Nakano: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army's Elite Intelligence School

353 Pages·2002·2.46 MB·English

by  Stephen C. Mercado

The Shadow Warriors of
NAKANO
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The Shadow Warriors of
NAKANO
A History of the Imperial Japanese Army’s
Elite Intelligence School
STEPHEN C. MERCADO
Brassey’s, Inc.
Washington, D.C.
Copyright(cid:2)2002byBrasseyP’so,toInmca.cBooks,Inc.
PublishedintheUnitedStatesbyBrassey’s,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthis
bookmaybereproducedinanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwrittenpermissionfrom
thepublisher,exceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalarticlesand
reviews.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
TK
ISBN978-1-57488-443-2(hardbound,alk.paper)
MapbyJayKaramales
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaperthatmeetstheAmerican
NationalStandardsInstituteZ39-48Standard.
Brassey’s,Inc.
22841QuicksilverDrive
Dulles,Virginia20166
FirstEdition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the memory of
my grandfather, Ramon C. Mercado,
who inspired and encouraged me
to study Japanese.
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Contents
Preface ix
ANoteonSources,Spelling,andNames xv
Introduction xvii
Map xx
1 PlanningtheNakanoSchool 1
2 EarlyVictories 25
3 Winning,ThenLosing,HeartsandMindsinBurma 45
4 India:Subversion, Invasion,Retreat 63
5 Philippines:SpiesinManila,CommandosintheJungle 87
6 NearingtheEnd 109
7 BattleofOkinawa 129
8 PreparingFinalDefenses 147
9 EndingtheWar,Finding NewAllies 165
10 FromCachestoKorea 201
11 OldBoysinNew Japan 233
12 Legacies 259
Notes 275
Bibliography 299
Index 321
AbouttheAuthor 332
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Preface
On2September1945,theSecondWorldWarcametoanendinAsia
as Japanese delegates signed the articles of surrender in the presence
of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and other representatives of the victori-
ousUnitedNations.Markingthesurrenderceremony,heldonboard
the mighty battleship Missouri, hundreds of American warplanes
roared past in a display calculated to impress on the Japanese their
utterdefeat.Tokyo’sambitionstoextendtheJapaneseempireoverall
ofAsiahadturned toashes.
Japan’s crushing defeat seemingly opened the way for the Euro-
pean members of the alliance to restore their own Asian empires.
While the United States had promised before the war to grant inde-
pendence to the Philippines, Washington’s European allies intended
to resume their rule in Asia. After all, Europe’s Great Powers had
dominated Asia for more than four centuries. In the years since the
Portuguese maritime explorer Vasco da Gama had reached India in
1498, Europeans had conquered or informally controlled nearly all
of Asia. Only Japan had succeeded in escaping Western subjugation,
building its own empire, and joining the imperial club. Gambling on
Hitler’s early victories in the Second World War, Japan’s leaders had
gone to war to dispossess Great Britain, Holland, France, and the
United States of their Asian colonies. In the First World War, Tokyo
had joined the winning side, sharing with London the Pacific island
territoriesofadefeatedimperialGermany.IntheSecondWorldWar,
however, Tokyo had backed the wrong horse. Worse than a crime,
to borrow the phrase of a French statesman, Japan had committed a
blunder. The fateful choice had taken the Japanese down the path of
destruction.
Ingoingdowntodefeat,however,imperialJapanendedcenturies
of European rule over Asia. The Japanese military had uncorked the
genie of Asian nationalism during the war. Asians had seen the colo-