page_title: Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War
section_title: Tactics
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War / Tactics
context_page_description: The Pacific War lasted from 1941-1945, with the Empire of Japan fighting against the United States and the British Empire. Most of the campaign was fought largely on a variety of small islands in the Pacific region. Compared to the European Theater, Pacific combat was brutal, marked by illness, disease, and ferocity. The Imperial Japanese Army typically fought alone in these engagements, often with very little naval or aerial support, and the IJA would quickly garner a reputation for their unrelenting spirit.
  At the beginning of the Pacific War in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army contained 51 divisions, 27 of which were stationed in China. A further 13 divisions defended the Manchurian-Soviet border, due to concerns about a possible attack by the Soviet Union. From 1942, troops were sent to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Dutch East Indies, and Malaya. By 1945, there were 5.95 million men in the Imperial Japanese Army.
context_section_description: Though numerically, materially, and logistically, the cards appeared to be stacked against Japan, they were confident that they would emerge victorious, based upon their greater spirit (seishin) compared to their enemies. Their tactical doctrine relied on unrelenting attack and surprise, to the extent that the word 'retreat' was de facto banned. Instead, it was a repositioning, or a transfer.
  In Japanese military culture, honor surmounted all else, which is why so exceptionally few Japanese soldiers willingly surrendered - during the Battle of Kwajalein, of the 5,000 Japanese men on the island, 4,300 were killed, and only 166 were captured. If a force was in danger of being overwhelmed, it would not be unusual for a commander to issue a banzai charge - all soldiers would charge directly at the enemy, the name coming from their battle cry, ""Tennōheika Banzai" (天皇陛下万歳, "Long live His Majesty the Emperor"). Bayonets were standard issue for all Japanese rifles and light machine guns, and though psychologically powerful, most banzai charges ended in a one-sided slaughter of the Japanese forces.
caption: Dead Japanese soldiers lie on the beach after a failed banzai charge on Guadalcanal, 1942.
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