By 1944/45, it was pretty obvious to most of the leaders of Japan that there would be an invasion of the home islands by the Allies. The war had been going against them since late 1942, yet such was the mentality of the Japanese military, that no effort at all was made into building defensive fortifications at home. Japan's military had always looked to the offensive and so the art of defenses were somewhat foreign to them. Yet they were faced with being on the defensive.

Over the years of war, something had been learned about what worked and what did not. Japan had men in Europe during the build up of Germany's defensive systems, and some of that information has been brought back. However, Japan did not have the infrastructure set up to build the massive concrete structures that were so common with German defensive sites.

Instead, the Japanese decided to use natural features such as caves to house some of their defensive features. In other cases, they chose to use camouflage to hide thinks like gun emplacements. To be certain, some concrete structures were developed to house the Emperor and some important military operating centers, but this was a rarity.  

For defensive weapons, Japan was yet again a bit behind. The Japanese continued to use anything that could be considered useful, despite its age so many of the defensive guns were from the turn of the century. Old, but still capable of being used. In addition to guns, the Japanese built concrete structures to house aircraft of various types and used caves to hide things like suicide boats and Ohka rocket powered human-flown bombs. Even small submarines and suicide aircraft were part of the homeland defenses. To be sure, any invading army was not going to take the ground without considerable human cost on both sides.

Author Steven J Zaloga covers all of this as he takes a look at the various structures, where they were placed and how it was planned on using them during an invasion. As most of these structures are now gone, we rely on the superb photos taken immediately post-war and on the excellent art work of illustrator Steve Noone to give us an idea of how these defenses looked.

It is an excellent book that should be on the shelves of anyone interested in the Pacific War in general and what the Allies could have faced during an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Highly recommended.

October 2010

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