The 1945 Raid of Cabanatuan, Luzon Island, Philippines stands fast in history as a battle of wits between Imperial Japanese Army and the partnership of the United States Armed Forces and the United States Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE) Filipino Guerilla Forces. Americans and Allied Armed Forces used distraction tactics and precise human collected intelligence to successfully free over 500 Prisoners of War (POW) held by Japanese forces. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a battle analysis of the Raid of Cabanatuan and to provide an alternate outcome based on applicable intelligence assets using intellectual standards and elements of reasoning. The Raid of Cabanatuan was a multinational effort to rescue allied POWs held in Japanese captivity …show more content…
The Raid of Cabanatuan occurred during the U.S. pursuit of Japanese held territory during the Battle of Luzon, Philippines Campaign (1944-1945). The Battle of Luzon was the “largest American campaign in the Pacific War” (Staff, 1966). The Imperial Japanese Army comprised the vast majority of the adversary. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Invaded the Philippines, and committed war crimes concerning POWs without a clearly identifiable end state in mind. Japan’s motivation behind their attacks was assumed to be linked to their economy, oil sanctions, and an overall complex of superiority of other nations. However, the U.S. Army War College suggests Japan’s end state was to seize Pacific countries to negate their dependency on U.S. trade and oil for to decrease their deficit (Record, …show more content…
Their cultural bias cultural stance fueled their mentality that they were superior to non-Japanese people. This cultural rift was further divided by Japanese and American propaganda, which kept emotions high following the attack on Pearl Harbor. More specific to the Raid of Cabanatuan, Japanese officials were ordered to kill POWs upon receiving news of the successful U.S. invasion of Luzon. Information about Japan’s mission to kill off allied POWs was provided by a prisoner that escaped POW Camp Palawan. U.S. Intelligence debriefed the escaped POW on Japan’s order to kill and the methods in which they were to kill POWs. The terrain consists of a blend of open farming fields and mountainous regions dominated the terrain in Luzon, accompanied by a few rivers and sporadic lakes. Comparatively, Cabanatuan is primarily farm land and is located just south of the Pampanga River, with a mountain range off to the distant east. The weather in Cabanatuan during the month January typically ranges from 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit, with 7mm of rainfall (Climate-Date.Org, n.d.). The tropical climate enabled crops and vegetation to flourish throughout the year and impacted infiltration and exfiltration routes to provide the most amount of cover
In 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor began the second World War for the United States. This act started the conflict of thousands of American soldiers being killed or captured for years to come. Today it is called the most daring rescue mission of World War II, the saving over five hundred captured soldiers. The documentary American Experience, “Bataan Rescue" summarizes the surrendering, life in captivity, and the rescue that these men went through. It was only a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor that American soldiers stationed in the Philippines knew they could not win against the Japanese forces there.
But fortunately for the United States, they were able to intercept and decipher the Japanese code. This gave the United States enough time to gather up forces to fight against the Japanese. The Japanese goal was to end the United States involvement in the Pacific. A couple months before the Battle of Midway the United States was able to launch a surprise Attack against the Japanese which they were launched from the island of Midway. The United States was able to successfully bomb the Japanese mainland.
This paper focuses on the failure of diplomatic decisions made by Japan that is national in nature most particularly when they chose to fight in the midst of an embargo made by the American government. The attack of Japan against Pearl Harbor is a result of an erratic, egoistic and irrational behavior blinding the Japanese Military Personnel and Officials of the destructive outcome of the World War 2 and a lack of diplomatic strategies that misled the communication between USA and
Was their more to the story? Did the military hear japans threats but just ignore them? There are so many questions people ask and I’d like to open your eyes and help you look from a different prospective and try to help you find out, who was to blame for pearl harbor?
During the time of 1941 the Japanese economy began to bloom exponentially in the industrial and militarily fields. Japan’s growth occurred due to the trade provided to the country due to its low resources. Acquiring Oil and Metals it allowed the Country to become a contender in their cause against the Allies. However, during this period Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) had his own interests and goals of the war time.
The Japanese launched the war with the United States with a secretive attack
Even though most of the people were innocent and weren’t involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor, not all the ethnic Japanese Americans were loyal to America. Michelle Malkin, the author of a book ‘In defense of Internment’ claimed that a year before the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan was sending messages to U.S consulates that they are recruiting Japanese American spies on the West Coast and it failed as it was decrypted by U.S top officials. If this move from Japan was successful and U.S didn’t ordered the internment of Japanese Americans, it was definitely a threat for the safety of citizens. This proves that every Japanese individuals were suspected and Japanese internment was an inevitable or best choice to solve this problem. In fact, there were lots of people who were recruited by spies of Imperial Japan during war but they weren’t able to make their moves or complete their mission due to this order executed by John F.
Unjust Treatment During Japanese Internment Picture this, thousands of people forced to leave everything behind to live in internment camps. On February 19, 1942, this nightmare became a reality for Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. Before this, on December 7th, 1941, Japan attacked the naval bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This act of war by Japan killed over 2,400 and injured 1,000 Americans. Shortly afterward, the United States involved itself in World War II.
On the early morning of December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed the U.S naval base at Pearl Harbor. American fear of Japanese espionage would soon lead to the internment of over 110,000 Japanese-American citizens on the west coast of the U.S. The internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII was not justified because their rights were stripped from them, they were forced to face unnecessary conditions, and the reasons they were interned were racists and unconstitutional. The U.S government used racist and unconstitutional reasons to intern the Japanese-Americans.
The new order is becoming a reality shown on the map where Japan has control of most of East Asia which consists of Manchuria, China, and French indochina by 1940 (Doc.B). So in order to carry out their plan, United States needed to be removed leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. was becoming a threat with their rapid growth in their Navy. Naval Expansion Act was passed on July of 1940 which would allow the U.S. to triple their naval ships by 1944 (Doc.C). This starts to worry Japanese prime minister and war minister Hideki Tojo, who later meets up with top Japanese officials on November of 1941, to secretly talk about the United States Naval Expansion and how it is a danger to Japan future
In conclusion, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of their nationalist mentality, America’s embargo of oil to Japan and fearing that the United States will attack them first. The first reason why Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor was because the Japanese had nationalistic and narcissistic political mentality. The Japanese believed the Yamato race was a superior race to the other Asian race(Document A). They also believed they will become the “new order” once Europe and America crumble and become the “old orders”(Document A).
The battle of Pearl Harbour caused racial discrimination that negatively impacted Japanese-Americans socially and economically. The racism stemming from the battle of Pearl Harbour generated negative social impacts on the Japanese-Americans by leading them to believe that since the Japanese attacked, their heritage inherently puts them at fault. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour, rumours that Imperial Japan was planning an attack on the West Coast of the United States caused widespread paranoia and uproars from the public calling for the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans. Despite over 60% of civilian deaths from the battle being Japanese-Americans and 38% of the Hawaiian population having Japanese ancestry, many Americans believed all
The United States and Japan fought in World War II during 1941 to 1945. Japan planned to expand their land and gain resources- which led them to invade China whom was an ally of the U.S. In result, the United States cut off the supply of oil to Japan. On December 7th 1941, Japan’s air force did a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor because that is where their military base is located.
“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.
Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were killed left and right (Document O). Eventually, the lead perpetrators were prosecuted and received the proper punishments. Japan led numerous attacks of extreme brutality on countries near and far. America was tuning into the disgust of the Japanese through propaganda.