Kenpeitai
The , also known as Kempeitai, was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945 that also served as a secret police force. In addition, in Japanese-occupied territories, the Kenpeitai arrested or killed those suspected of being anti-Japanese. While institutionally part of the army, the Kenpeitai also discharged military police functions for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the direction of the Admiralty Minister (although the IJN had its own much smaller Tokkeitai), those of the executive police under the direction of the Home Minister and those of the judicial police under the direction  of the Justice Minister. A member of the Kenpeitai corps was called a "kenpei" (憲兵). History. The Kenpeitai was established in 1881 by a decree called the , figuratively "articles concerning gendarmes". Its model was the National Gendarmerie of France. Details of the Kenpeitai's military, executive, and judicial police functions were defined by the "Kenpei Rei" of 1898, which was amended twenty-six times before Japan's defeat in August 1945. The force initially consisted of 349 men. At the beginning, enforcement of new conscription legislation was an important part of their duty, largely due to resistance from peasant families . In 1907, the Kenpeitai was ordered to Korea, where its main duty was legally defined as "preserving the peace", although it also functioned as a military police for the Japanese Army stationed there. Its status remained basically unchanged after Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910. The Kenpeitai maintained public order within Japan under the direction of the Interior Minister, and in the occupied territories under the direction of the Minister of War. Japan also had a civilian secret police force, "Tokkō", which was the Japanese acronym of "Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu" ("Special Higher Police"), that was part of the Interior  Ministry. However, the Kenpeitai had a "Tokkō" branch of its own, and through it discharged the functions of a secret police. When the Kenpeitai arrested a civilian under the direction of the Justice Minister, the arrested person was nominally subject to civilian judicial proceedings. The Kenpeitai's brutality was particularly notorious in Korea and the other occupied territories. The Kenpeitai were also abhorred on the Japanese mainland, especially during World War II when Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, formerly the Kenpeitai Commander of the Japanese Army in Manchuria from 1935 to 1937, used the Kenpeitai extensively to ensure everyone's loyalty  and commitment to the war effort. According to the US Army "Handbook on Japanese Military Forces", there were over 36,000 regular Kenpeitai members and numerous ethnic "auxiliaries" at the end of the war. As foreign territories fell under Japanese military occupation during the 1930s and the early 1940s, the Kenpeitai recruited large numbers of locals in those territories. Taiwanese and Koreans were extensively used as auxiliaries to police the newly occupied territories in Southeast Asia, although the Kenpeitai also recruited French Indochinese (especially from the Cao Dai religious sect), Malays and others. The Kenpeitai may have trained Trình Minh Thế , a Vietnamese nationalist and anti-Viet Minh military leader. The Kenpeitai was disarmed and disbanded after the Japanese surrender in August 1945. Today, the post-war Self-Defense Forces' internal police is called "Keimutai" (警務隊). Each individual member is called "Keimukan". Modelled on the military Police in the United States and other Western armed forces, the SDF internal police has no jurisdiction over civilians. Axis powers. In the 1920s and the 1930s, the Kenpeitai forged various connections with certain prewar European intelligence services. Later, when Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, Japan formed formal links with intelligence units now under German  and Italian fascists: the German Abwehr and Italian Servizio Informazioni Militare. The Army and Navy of Japan contacted their counterparts in Wehrmacht intelligence, Schutzstaffel (SS) and Kriegsmarine units about information on Europe and vice versa. The Axis powers fully understood the benefits of such exchanges. For example, the Japanese sent the Germans data about Soviet forces in the Far East and Operation Barbarossa from their embassy in Berlin. Admiral Canaris offered Japan information and assistance on the neutrality of Portugal in Timor. One important point of contact was the Penang submarine base in occupied Malaya serving Axis submarine forces of  the Italian Italian Regia Marina, German Kriegsmarine and Imperial Japanese Navy. At regular intervals, technological and information exchanges occurred at the base. While still available to them, Axis forces used bases in Italian East Africa, the Vichy France colony of Madagascar and officially neutral places like Portuguese India. Human rights abuses. The Kenpeitai ran extensive criminal and collaborationist networks, extorting vast amounts of money from businesses and civilians wherever they operated. They also ran the Allied prisoner of war system, which treated captives with extreme brutality. Many of the abuses were documented in Japanese war crimes trials, such as those  committed by the Kempeitai East District Branch in Singapore, including the Sook Ching. The Kenpeitai also carried out revenge attacks against prisoners and civilians. For example, after Colonel Doolittle's raid on Tokyo in 1942, it carried out reprisals against thousands of Chinese civilians and captured airmen, and in 1943 committed the Double Tenth massacre in response to an Allied raid on Singapore Harbour. The Kenpeitai also supplied 600 men, women and children per year to the infamous Unit 731, which conducted horrific human experimentation. Organization. The Kenpeitai was divided into three branches: the Keimu Han (police and security), Naikin  Han (Administration), and Tokumu Han (Special Duties). The Kenpeitai's General Affairs Branch was in charge of the force's policy, personnel management, internal discipline, as well as communication with the Ministries of the Admiralty, Interior, and Justice. The Operations Branch was in charge of the distribution of military police units within the army, general public security, and intelligence. The Kenpeitai maintained a headquarters in each relevant Area Army, commanded by a Shosho (Major General), with a Taisa (Colonel) as Executive Officer. The headquarters comprised two or three field offices, each manned by approximately 375 personnel and commanded by a  Chusa (Lieutenant Colonel), with a Shosa (Major) as Executive Officer. The field offices in turn were divided into 65-man sections called 'buntai', each commanded by a Tai-i (Captain), with a Chu-i (First Lieutenant) as Executive Officer. The buntai were further divided into 20-man detachments called "bunkentai", commanded by a Sho-i (Second Lieutenant), with a Junshikan (Warrant Officer) as Executive Officer. Keeping with the main organizational structure of the Kenpeitai, each of these detachments contained a police and security squad, an administration squad, and a special duties squad. Kenpeitai Auxiliary units consisting of regional ethnic forces  were organized in occupied areas. These troops supplemented the Kenpeitai and were considered part of the organization, but were limited to the rank of Socho (Sergeant Major). By 1937, the Kenpeitai had 315 officers and 6,000 enlisted personnel as part of its official forces. The Allies estimated there were at least 7,500 Kenpeitai members by the end of World War II. Active units. The Kenpeitai operated commands on the Japanese mainland and throughout all occupied and captured overseas territories during the Pacific War. The external units operating outside Japan were: Wartime missions. The Kenpeitai was responsible for the following: In  addition, by 1944, despite the obvious tide of war, the Kenpeitai were arresting people for antiwar sentiment and defeatism. Uniform. Kenpeitai personnel wore either the standard M1938 field uniform or the cavalry uniform with high black leather boots. Civilian clothes were also authorized with rank badges or the Japanese Imperial chrysanthemum worn under the jacket lapel. Uniformed personnel also wore a black chevron on their uniforms and a white armband on the left arm with the characters "ken" (憲, "law") and "hei" (兵, "soldier"), together read as "kenpei" or "kempei," which translates to "military police". Until 1942, a full dress  uniform comprising a red kepi, gold and red waist sash, dark blue tunic and trousers with black facings was authorized for Kenpeitai officers on ceremonial occasions. Rank insignia comprised gold Austrian knots and epaulettes. Kenpeitai officers were armed with a cavalry sabre and pistol, while enlisted men had a pistol and bayonet. Junior NCOs carried a "shinai" (竹刀, "bamboo kendo sword"), especially when dealing with prisoners.