I seem to recall that Japanese soldiers were especially trained to fight to the bitter end because failure against the Americans was the worst thing imaginable, etc. Can anyone point me to decent historical documentation of this, if this is indeed what happened?
Many of them committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner or surrender there are many articles and such on the war in the pacific theatre and almost all of them mention that. Although the ones with veterans interviews would be most helpful.
I seem to recall that Japanese soldiers were especially trained to fight to the bitter end because failure against the Americans was the worst thing imaginable, etc. Can anyone point me to decent historical documentation of this, if this is indeed what happened?
Many of them committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner or surrender there are many articles and such on the war in the pacific theatre and almost all of them mention that. Although the ones with veterans interviews would be most helpful.
I’ve read—and this may be pure anecdote—that false claims about how the American forces were treating prisoners of war may have contributed to that.
I guess the value system can be more important here. They had an order and they did what they were ordered.
Look at http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/soldiersurr_2.htm—the soldier surrendered immediately after receiving the order to do so read by his cmmander, but ignored all evidence of Japanese defeat before that.