Evening star., 1945-10-14

Typical leafet ,0arning Japs of RI
campaign against enemy.
1.-THE tolloaring story toas toritten
by member OF the Army Public Re-
lations Stat. 1t tells for the first
time some OF the aspects OF our
psychological warfare against the
japanese and the part it played in
bringing pictory.)
Now that World War II has ended In
victory, some Of the stories sealed for
security reasons can be told. One such
story concerns our psychological war
fare against Japan.
This war of thought, as the Japanese
call 1t, was started in the Pacific by
the Japanese themselves. AS they
pushed us out of the Philippines, Burma
and Singapore, they turned on the
propaganda heat with leaflets, radio and
loud speakers. But their propaganda
was clumsy and primarily source of
amusement for the Allies.
The themes employed were: Disunity,
sex, death, President Roosevelt, and
some minor departures that probably
represented individual brainstorms of
japanese officers.
All of it was ineffective and, in the
case of broadcasts, actually irritating
because our boys tuned in the Japanese
stations for the excellent American
swing band recordings that were Of
fered nightly, and propaganda inter-
ruptions were not welcomed. --,..-
On the Allied side, the Australians
used some leaf1et warfare in the early
days of the war around New Guinea,
but 1t was not until comparatively re-
Gently that a full-scale psychological
attack was begun.
First Weapon q Dud.
The first weapon, the surrender
leafiet, turned out to be a dud. There
were two reasons.
First, our soldiers had lost all interest
in taking prisoners, because of Japanese
treachery and torture. A period of in
doctrination began and the simple truth
was hammered home that even though
we can kill Japanese at the ratio of
l. to 80, there was still one precious
American life lost. Many did not be-
leve that the ratio was indicative of
true value and the troops soon agreed.
In addition, soldiers were given
bonuses for captures-a typical divi-
sional bonus was a case Of beer and a
three-day pass to Manila. The effec-
tiveness of this campaign is evident
from the fact that soon the bonus had
to be called off: Manila would not hold
all the soldiers who had captured enemy
soldiers.
Second, our first surrender leaflets
were not good. 1t was noticed that even
when soldier surrendered, he did not
carry a leaf1et. Yet, by all standards
the letflet seemed good. A typical one
stated In Japanese that any soldier who
surrendered was guaranteed food, cloth
ing, shelter, medical care, cigarettes and
recreation in accordance with interna-
tional law. The pictures on the leaflets
were obviously genuine photographs of
Japanese POWs eating good chow smok-
ing, or engaged in recreational activities.
And there was no question of these be-
ing surrender leaflets in large red
japanese characters they stated, "I sur
render" What, then, was wrong?
Couldn't Swallow Surrender.
Skilled scout observers were sent into
the field to find out. A japanese soldier
was seen to examine one Of the leaflets
and then throw it to the ground, grind
ing it in. with his heel as he muttered,
| "mujoken kofuku"-the most despised
term japanese soldier can utter. sur
render" From the time japanese
| child can understand the meaning of
simple words it is driven into his mind
| that the worst crime he can commit is
| to surrender. For this there is no for
| giveness and one who surrenders sac
rifices everything property, honor
| rights in life and after-life. and the
respect of his fellow man.
Our experts in psychological warfare
| held a huddle and came up with new
one:
Replacing the "I surrender" on the
leafiet was the phrase, II cease resist
ance."
1t worked:
The Japanese indoctrination was
not based on logic or intelligent thought;
| the Japanese knows that he must not
@mujoken kofuku" and that Is all.
There is nothing In his learning that
prohibits the cessation of resistance.
There is even good japanese express
sion used In normal daily living that ex-
| presses the same idea shikata- ga mai
freely translated, "the he'll with It,"