Japan News No. 237- 15 December 1944 (Kamikaze Pilots, Paratrooper Training, Advance in China) 

If you like my work and want to support the channel, consider subscribing to my Patreon for more, exclusive content! patreon.com/GermanWWIIArchive Or buy me a Kaffee here: www.buymeacoffee.com/germanwwiiarchive Remarks: 00:25 The Gokoku Unit (Gokoku roughly translates to “defenders of the country”) was the 4th Unit of the Hakko Special Attack Unit, which was formed in late 1944 to intervene in the Battle for the Philippines. The Gokoku unit was formed on November 6th, 1944, out of pilots of the 10th Flying Division, which itself was only formed in March 1944, and was responsible for air defense in the Kanto area in Japan. Due to the dire war situation, planes and pilots designated for homeland defense were often assigned to frontline units/suicide squads from late 1944 onwards. They flew two attacks on American ships, one on November 17th and one on December 7th. 00:30 The General giving the speech here is Joichiro Sanada (1897-1957), a Major General of the Japanese Army. He graduated from the Japanese Army Academy in 1919, and the Army Staff College in 1927, serving in various staff positions in the Army Ministry in the 1930s. In February 1941, he became a director in the Military Service Bureau, and from December 1942 onwards, chief of the Planning Bureau of the Japanese Army General Staff, during which he pushed for the Japanese evacuation of Guadalcanal. Further promoted within the Army Ministry, his last position was head of the Military Service Bureau in December 1944, before becoming deputy chief of staff of the Japanese 2nd General Army in April 1945. After the war ended, he remained a staff officer, overseeing demobilization of the Japanese Army and retired in December 1945. He died in August 1957, aged 59. 01:51 I am not sure who this Endo is supposed to be. There was a rather famous Japanese fighter pilot by that name, but he was never in a Kamikaze unit, and since Endo is a rather common name in Japan, I was not able to find out who exactly this man was. 02:10 “Inland Base” refers to the Philippines. Most Japanese Kamikaze units which were used in the Battle of the Philippines were set up in Japan or Korea, then transferred to a base in the Philippines, and then launched their suicide attacks from there. 02:33 Prince Naruhiko of the Higashikuni Royal Family (1887-1990) was a Japanese Prince and officer in the Japanese Army. Born in 1887, originally of the Asahiko family, he was allowed to start a new branch of the Imperial Family, the Higashikuni branch, in 1906. He graduated from the Japanese Army Academy in 1908, serving as an officer in various infantry units, and was sent to France to study there from 1920 onwards, but was recalled due to several scandals (including him having a French mistress) in 1926. He continued his career as an officer, including as commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade from 1930 to 1934 and 4th Division from 1934 to 1937. He returned to Japan in 1939, and was a harsh opponent of the war with the Allies. From December 1941 to April 1945, he was commander of the General Defense Command, controlling all Japanese land and air units in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. This post was initially not that important, as the fighting happened far away from Japan, but when the Allies moved in closer to Japan, it became an important command. After the war, he was Japan’s first postwar prime minister, serving from August 17th, 1945 until October, when he resigned over a dispute with the Allied Occupation Force. When the branches of the Imperial House were abolished in October 1947, he lost most of his wealth, and undertook several business enterprises, including a secondhand store, and even started his own religious sect (which was quickly banned). He died in January 1990, aged 102 years. 03:01 Kyoji Tominaga (1892-1960) was a Japanese General during WWII. He graduated from Military Academy in 1913, as part of a group later known as “Crows of the 25th Army Cadet School”, due to their aggressiveness after the Manchuria Incident. He served as an infantry officer, later staff officer, and eventually became part of the General Staff, in August 1936 Chief of the 2nd Section of the General Staff. In 1940, he organized a Japanese military attack on French-Indochina, despite France and Japan agreeing before for a peaceful advance of Japanese units into French-Indochina; an action for which he was reprimanded and removed from the General Staff. He nevertheless continued his career in army politics, eventually rising to the rank of vice-minister of the Army in March 1943. In August 1944, he was made commander of the 4th Air Force, which was fighting in the Philippines. Tominaga had never fought on the battlefield and only commanded actual units for a few years in the 1910s and 1920s, so this appointment was rather unusual. Nevertheless, he performed well in his new task, bonding with his soldiers by having dinner with Kamikaze pilots, sending handwritten letters and handing out medals personally to distinguished soldiers, leading to him becoming well-liked by his soldiers. On January 16th, he evacuated with part of his staff to Taiwan, despite having no official order to do so, but he was severely weakened by fever and was not even able to stand up himself, so he was not reprimanded for that. He was made part of the reserve on May 5th, 1945, spending the rest of the war curing his recovering in Taiwan. 03:05 A Hachimaki is a Japanese headband, usually made of cloth and featuring writing on it. It was regularly worn by Kamikaze pilots when departing for their suicide missions. 03:12 Yosegaki, in full Yosegaki Hinomaru, was a Japanese flag with good-luck wishes written on it, which was traditionally given to Japanese soldiers by their relatives and friends before departing. They were considered a valuable souvenir by Allied soldiers. 03:46 The Kaoru Paratrooper Unit was a late war formation of the Japanese Army, used in a raid on American airfields on Leyte. Originally, this unit was formed in December 1943 in Taiwan as a Guerilla unit, made up of people from Taiwanese indigenous people, which were recruited by the Japanese for being skillful jungle warriors. Out of the 192 men, 152 were indigenous Taiwanese people, only the officers were Japanese. Two companies of these Guerrillas were formed, and the 1st Guerrilla Company, which was under the command of the 4th Air Army, was re-formed into the Kaoru Paratrooper Unit in October 1944, to be used in an air raid on American-held airfields on Leyte. They were given brief paratrooper training, and on the night of November 26th/27th 1944, four Showa L2D aircraft, each carrying ten men, set off to their attack. However, no plane reached the target: One was shot down and all onboard killed, the other three landed near the target, but after brief firefight with American patrols, the Japanese soldiers escaped into the jungles, making their way back to Japanese lines, and the operation was a failure. 4:08 “Kaoru” means something like “scent” or “smell”, hence these sentences are a play on words on the units name. 04:16 There were no Koreans in the Kaoru unit, only Taiwanese indigenous soldiers and Japanese officers. 07:03 Guilin is a city in southern China, which was a major industrial and infrastructure hub for the Chinese Army during WWII. It was captured by Japanese troops in the Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou, which lasted from August 16th to November 24th, 1944. Guilin itself was attacked by the Japanese on November 1st, with only 20,000 Chinese troops remaining in the city. The Chinese knew they wouldn’t be able to hold the city, but tried desperately for political reasons, as Guilin was a major city, and it was important to hold it. The fighting lasted for 10 days, after which Japanese forces controlled the city. During the fighting, more than 215,000 civilians died, either as collateral or killed by Japanese forces, with around 400,000 being wounded. 07:09 This gun is most likely a Type 41 75mm mountain gun, a Japanese licensed copy of the German Krupp M1908 mountain gun. Built between 1908 and 1945, it was the standard Japanese mountain gun during WWII, with around 3,500 built. It was supposed to be replaced by the Type 94 75mm mountain gun from 1934 onwards, but the Japanese industry was not able to produce enough guns, so the older Type 41 remained in production and service. It was generally considered a decent gun, it was light, weighing only 544 kilos, and had a maximum firing range of 7 kilometres. 07:27 One of the main goals of Operation Ichi-Go was to capture American airfields in southern China to remove the capabilities of American planes to conduct bombing raids on Japanese territories. While these goals were achieved, it didn’t matter much, as the Americans were able to use airfields on captured islands instead. 07:43 During the Japanese offensive, they regularly destroyed and captured a few American planes which couldn’t evacuate in time, as shown here. 08:17 The 12th Air Service Group was a unit of the American Army Air Force serving in China, arriving in January 1944. They were not a fighting unit, rather responsible for maintaining all aircraft of the 14th Air Force and providing food and accommodation to the soldiers. When the Japanese advanced, they organized the evacuation of American airfields in late 1944.

As a WW 2 buff since the late 70's I have studied and watched and own copies of Die WochenSchau . I love to find their axis counterparts from Japan and Italy. Thank you.

Fascinating footage. Mechanic apologizing to kamikaze pilot for the maintenance seemed very japanese.

7:03 桂林攻略を含む大陸打通作戦は、一応はその目的である中国内陸部にある米軍飛行場の制圧は達成し、日本としては久々の大規模な作戦での「勝利」ではあったけど、そもそも米軍からしたらサイパン島などを制圧していて中国内陸部の基地の戦略価値が低下したから撤退しただけだったという…。この映像のナレーションでは「皇軍は完膚なきまでに基地を粉砕した」と言っているけど、撤退前に米軍自ら基地や資材を爆破したらしい…。

imo the funniest thing is, the later the film was made, the faster the intro lol

Thank you for upload❤

Listening to this while playing japanese faction on Enlisted 😎👌

I watch these in Japanese, but the English subtitles are pretty useful. Historic films. Danke.

THX FOR VIDEO

Very interesting

まだこの頃は、昨年亡くなった親父は 海軍特別年少兵には、翌年昭和二十年に、海軍特別年少兵として入隊 その頃には、連合艦隊無く、戦艦大和も沖縄特攻で無く、それでも神奈川県藤沢に有った、海軍電測学校に入校してます😢はてさてどんな気持ちだったやら😢

What is NHK? Why are the films quality always degraded? Great video.

Can I use your restored film, remove the voices, and remake it in another language?

🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

Guten Tag,keine Ahnung,was die Wehrmacht an den Alliierten Japan sah. Mein Opa war Heeresgruppe B Westfeldzug.

If the army and the navy doesn't hate each other it maybe a different story in the ww2. Japanese may win and prolong this ww2 after Germany surrender. And also if Germany italy and japan managed to organise the war properly it will be different story too maybe it is the end of USSR and china. No more communism.

Will there be Italian propaganda on the channel?

I wonder... are there any of film reels, or otherwise propagandistic footage from the Hungarian Fascist nation, post-Horthy? (Government of National Unity, 1944 and onwards--)?

Guys, guys...why so serious? Lighten up :P

Most kamikaze were forcibly recruited from the top elite universities. Many wrote diaries after being conscripted. Their diaries are available in book form. They are such a sad indictment of the miltary Govt in power then. Young men who wanted no war, didn't want to die, didn't hate the enemy, young men who read western classics in several languages, who wrote essays on western philosophy. If they had lived they woud have been the leaders of post war Japan.