Japanese Mein Kampf
Actually, the book is not a Japanese translation of Mein Kampf, but a study on Mein Kampf which originally came in several volumes between 1941~1942.
The version that you have is an economy version (probably less expensive binding) of a consolidated version (合冊普及版）which was first published in 1943.
The author, Junjurou Ishikawa was a Japanese national socialist who introduced Nazism to Japan according to Wikipedia; 石川準十郎 - Wikipedia
I had a copy of 我が闘争 (上巻) Wagatōzō Vol1. that was captured on Attu. It had the "Passed in the Field" red intel stamp on the inside cover.
Wish I kept it since I found out later that my father-in-law was on Attu then Kiska, departing on 28 July 1943. One of those who got out.
-- Guy
Akira,
Great information about the book. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Would make sense that the Japanese at that time would want to know what their German counterpart Leader (Adolf Hitler) was like and his vision for Germany..
Smitty
With the mentioning of both Mein Kampf and Kiska, one name that comes to mind is that of Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi.
General Higuchi is said to have saved as many as 20 thousand Jewish refugees between 1938 and 1940 by allowing them to pass through Manchuria in defiance of Nazi racial policy although whether there is any truth in this claim is hotly debated.
Then, in May 1943, as the Commander of the Northern Army which included the Army forces occupying Kiska, he not only authorized the evacuation of the troops from the island but also consented to the Navy's request to order soldiers to ditch their rifles into the sea to make room and allow for a speedy evacuation of more than 5,000 troops in only 55 minutes.
It was also General Higuchi, who in August, 1945 ordered the units under his command to fight the Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands after Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and saved Hokkaido from becoming split into the U.S. and Soviet occupations zones.
I will attach a link to the Japanese version of Wikipedia on General Higuchi whcih can be easily translated into English by Google as it is much more complete than the English version including disputes against claims that he saved Jewish lives: 樋口季一郎 - Wikipedia
So I have General Higuchi to thank for my father-in-law's evacuation -- and for keeping Hokkaido Red-free! Thanks for passing along that information.
Oh, the Japanese web page you linked in #2 mentions the Battle of Sakhalin .... my father-in-law wrote he was on Shumshu, but that was 1941~1942 (his military record says 海上機動第3旅団 S.19.3.25); said the Boeing B25s and B17s kept bombing them. During an evacuation the ship he was on was sunk but he survived -- I think this was his 2nd time being sunk.
Cheers,
-- Guy
Yes, Guy-san, you owe it doubly to General Higuchi; without his orders to ditch rifles before boarding the destroyers, there is a good chance your wife wouldn’t have been born, and even if she was, without his orders to fight the Soviets despite the Army High Command’s order to the contrary, she may have been in the wrong sector teaching Japanese to Russian soldiers.
Douglas MacArthur was also well aware of the risk and there is another fascinating story leading to the signing of the formal surrender document on the Missouri.
By the way, that is a very nice photo of your father-in-law; he seems to be wearing the longest unit designation badge I have seen (6 characters?) and some stitched insignia on his pocket flap. The note on the photo says that he was on Shumshu Island (it is more commonly written in Kanji these days as”占守島” but maybe old timers were used to writing it in katakana as “シュムシュ島”) until his transfer in 1944 and that most of those who remained were killed by Soviet tanks, so your father-in-law had a close call. It must have been a rude shock to the soldiers on the island to find them being attacked by the Russians on August 18th when they thought the war was already over.
(The Russians were not a party to and were thus not bound by the Potsdam Declaration as they had a non-aggression pact with Japan in effect when the declaration was made.)
Kindest regards,
Akira
I forgot to mention that there is a fascinating movie starring Toshiro Mifune depicting the evacuation of Kiska titled “Taiheiyou Kiseki no Sakusen, Kiska”, “Kiska, the miracle operation in the Pacific” which I would highly recommend. I don’t know if it is available for viewing outside Japan, but there is at least an IMDb article on the movie: Taiheiyo kiseki no sakusen: Kisuka (1965) - IMDb
The movie depicts the operation mainly from the perspective of the commander of the Navy Destroyer squadron tasked with the rescue operation but does show the deprivations the soldiers on the island went through until their rescue.
What an interesting thread, I have learned a lot reading this and the links.
Kind regards,
Will.
I am glad if you enjoyed the thread although it had veered widely off its original topic.
Kindest regards,
Akira Komiya
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