Banzai charge
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Banzai charge (or banzai attack) is a term related to the Japanese samurai spirit and ideology of not accepting the shame of defeat. Instead, it is considered honourable to do a last desperate charge at the enemy and perish together with them instead of dying in cowardice. Used during World War II against the opposing U.S. ground forces, the term referred generally to the Japanese tactic of attacking with infantry over open ground against entrenched troops while using loud screams and yells to bolster courage and gain a psychological advantage over the enemy.
Gyokusai (玉砕?), literally "shattered jewel" is a Japanese term for suicide attack, or suicide (seppuku) in the face of defeat. It is based on a quote of the 7th century Chinese text Book of Northern Qi, 寧大丈夫可玉砕何能瓦全 "a great man should die as a shattered jewel rather than live as an intact tile". It was applied to an honourable death in defeat by Saigō Takamori (1827–1877), and employed as a slogan ichioku gyokusai (一億玉砕?) "one hundred million broken jewels" by the Japanese government during the Pacific campaign.
It is important to note that the terms banzai charge or banzai attack were used by Westerners to describe this type of desperate action. Though banzai is a Japanese term, it was never used this way by the Japanese.[1]
Banzai (万歳?) is literally translated as "Ten thousand years", but more accurately "Long Live", and was a Japanese battle cry during the war. They honour their emperor by shouting Tennōheika banzai ! (天皇陛下万歳！?), meaning "Long live the emperor!".[2]
The banzai charge was used mainly by Japanese infantry, although the Kamikaze strategy used in World War II could be considered an airborne variant of the banzai charge. Early in World War II, Japanese banzai charges had proven effective as an offensive infantry tactic against poorly-trained Chinese soldiers armed mostly with bolt-action rifles and hand-to-hand combat weapons. Against Allied troops armed with semi-automatic rifles and machine guns, the banzai charge proved to be costly, despite having a chance of success, and its use was largely discontinued, except as a final suicidal gesture by surrounded Japanese forces.
A banzai charge was used during the Cowra breakout.
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[edit] References
[edit] Books
- Bergerud, Eric M. (1997). Touched with Fire : The Land War in the South Pacific. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-024696-7.
- Harries, Meirion; Susie Harries (1994). Soldiers of the Sun : The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
[edit] Web
- Banzai charge in Saipan Gyokusai (Japanese)
[edit] Notes
- ^ John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936-1945, Random House, 1970, p. 513
- ^ Tennōheika banzai ! p.3, The Cambridge history of Japan, by John Whitney Hall, 1988 Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521223520
