Three Human Bombs
Shanghai, 1932
爆弾三勇士
Bakudan Sanyushi
Supposedly, they sacrificed their lives to blow up the tanglefoot barbed wire ...... Now, for the rest of the story:
Actually, the supervising officer cut the fuze of the bangalore torpedo one meter too short [Google Books].
--Guy
Thanks, Guy-san!
爆弾三勇士 (Bakudan Sanyushi)- Three Bomb warriors. Also known as 肉弾三勇士 (Niku-dan San-Yuushi) Three "Meat Bomb" Warriors.
Song of Bakudan Sanyushi: 爆弾三勇士 - YouTube
The Event
Time: February 22nd, 1932
Location: Baoshan District, Shanghai (宝山区)
Unit: IJA 18th Independent Engineering Battalion
Warriors: 江下武二 - Takeji Eshita (Private 1st Calss), 北川丞 - Susumu Kitagawa (Private 1st Calss), 作江伊之助 - Inosuke Sakue (Private 1st Calss).
Photo (Left): Newspaper photo shows the Three Bomb warriors, (From Left to right) Takeji Eshita, Inosuke Sakue, and Susumu Kitagawa. (Osaka Asahi Newspaper)
Last edited by SHINDENKAI; 08-27-2013 at 06:22 AM.
Bravery Medal Honoring Three Brave Men
"The Meat Bomb Three Brave Lads" Medal:
The front (right photo) says chu-kon across the top (all writing is right to left). This means "the loyal dead", or "faithful spirits". Just below that is niku-dan-san-yu-shi, meaning "three brave men who were human bombs" (literally "meat-bombs-three-brave-guys").
During the First Shanghai Incident of 1932, three combat engineers made their way towards some Chinese barbed wire with a Bangalore torpedo, a long tubular bomb used for clearing a path through barbed wire. The thing exploded and killed them. They were immediately made into heroes for having valiantly sacrificed themselves to clear the way for their fellow soldiers. Many people nowadays believe it was an accident and they had no intention of killing themselves, but the story fit so well into the Japanese idea of total self-sacrifice that there was a whole industry making items immortalizing them .
On the back, the second line is go-koku-no-kami, "gods defending the country", an allusion to these men (great men were thought of as gods or kami after death).
The third line is 7-2-22 refers to the date, Showa 7, second month, 22nd day, i.e. February 22, 1932.
The last bit of writing is the family names of the three men written in three vertical columns: Enoshita, Kitagawa and Sakue.
OMSA Source
Excellent thread, Taka!
I've always had an interest in this, but finding translated material from the Japanese perspective isn't easy to come by. I think you've gotten off to a great start by defining the terms around it. I think everyone will learn a lot from this thread
A question I have is where would the infamous infantry "Banzai charges" fit in? Many veteran accounts and media here in the West describe the reasoning as specifically going to die on the battlefield rather than be captured and dishonored. Then I read elsewhere that they were intended as desperate attacks with the hope of survival. Would these acts be considered Ketshi? Or rather as the war became bleak for Japan did the mentality of the Kamikaze spread to the regular units?
John
Take, this was a great idea to start this thread. You're correct about not many knowing the truth or really much of anything about these brave soldiers. I heard the midget-subs were hell to operate. The temperature in them was about 120 degrees, Fahrenheit ! I bet to the men inside them, death was welcomed after a short time riding in them. There were blades on the front so they could cut through the torpedo nets under water. One made it into Pearl Harbor, from what I remember.
Daniel1234: I love that move,"Empire of the Sun". Starring Christian Bale as a young boy. When I was about eight years old, my aunt bought a used VCR and this video tape was still inside, so we watched it. It was my favorite movie and I watched it over and over. I really identified with the boy in the film at the time. If you have not seen it yet, then I HIGHLY suggest it!
Wolfe:
I was also wondering the same thing about the banzai soldiers when reading this thread. It seams logical to some extent. They sacrificed they're lives but only after all hope was lost as opposed to training specifically for the day they knew they would die.
Hi John-san and Dean-san,by Wolfe1165
Excellent thread, Taka!
I've always had an interest in this, but finding translated material from the Japanese perspective isn't easy to come by. I think you've gotten off to a great start by defining the terms around it. I think everyone will learn a lot from this thread
A question I have is where would the infamous infantry "Banzai charges" fit in? Many veteran accounts and media here in the West describe the reasoning as specifically going to die on the battlefield rather than be captured and dishonored. Then I read elsewhere that they were intended as desperate attacks with the hope of survival. Would these acts be considered Ketshi? Or rather as the war became bleak for Japan did the mentality of the Kamikaze spread to the regular units?
John
Thank you for commenting.
I think "Banzai Charges" are more on Hit-shi because for sure they (know) won' t be able to survive under the immense attack from the Allies. "Banzai Charges" also conduct in a normal way of attack (without using specialized weapons or attacks). The final method or attack. There is a term used by the IJA/IJN Officals, 玉砕 Gyoku-sai - completely losing the power to attack or basically wiped-out. However this does n' t mean everyone dies, some or few did survive or captured after Gyoku-sai.
Thank you for providing us some ideas, as this also relates to Kamikaze topic. Will be discuss in the future of how this also relates to Kamikzae.
Regards,
Taka
Hi Dean-san,
There was no wire cutting blades installed on the Midget Submarine (Kou-Hyouteki) during the Pearl Harbor attack. It was not until attacks on Sydney that the wire cutters were installed on the subs. (Lesson from Pearl Harbor)
Kou-Hyouteki (Left: Pearl Harbor), (Right: Sydney) Notice the extra blades installed at the front and the conning tower.
The "Empire of the Sun" is a very good movie. I think my most favorite scene is when Christian Bale was touching the Mitsubishi Zero and saluting at the three pilots.
Regards,
Taka
If anyone gets the chance to go to Tokyo Yasukuni Shrine The museum here has some very interesting items(very limited English translations)..the war in Japan is discussed in a very different way to how it is in the west,from my very bad Japanese translations i think it gets to like 1942 and basically says "some mistakes were made"...I always go to Yasukuni Jinja when im there,but it remains a very controversial place as convicted war criminals ashes are there..on a side note, there is an almost permanent presence of modern militarists dressed in ww2 garb singing period songs ..it really is unlike any other shrine/museum ..another Japanese shrine and memorial garden is in Cowra Australia where the Japanese orchestrated a mass breakout Cowra breakout, 1944 - Fact sheet 198 many choosing suicide rather than recapture
Revisionist History, too ....
I've been there a couple of times and never saw the modern militarists -- is this something new? Last time I was there was on a weekday in 2005, I think.
What I remember most (and it REALLY struck me) other than the poignant "Kamikaze Last Letters Home" -- was a book sold in the giftshop. The book was a revisionistic history of the atrocities done in China and attempted to explain how all the photos of beheadings and other atrocities were photo-manipulations. Disgusting! Hell, just say "we did wrong, Mea Maxima Culpa!"
I think it is this book (now in English) What Really Happened in Nanking --but it was in Japanese.
I recall seeing photos of executions, or post execution, with highlighted areas to "show" why the photo was "photoshopped". I recall something like "A decapitated head held by the ear would not hang at this angle. This photo was manipulated by Communists." [NB: That may not be an accurate memory on my part -- but it illustrates what the book was trying to convey.]
--Guy
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