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Banzai Charge

Defeat of Japanese soldiers after the Banzai Charge in Battle of Attu, May 29, 1943.

Banzai Charge is the term used by the Allies forces to refer to Japanese human wave attacks mounted by infantry units. This term came from the Japanese cry "'Banzai'", and it especially meant a tactic used by Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War. Banzai Charge had made some successes at the end of the battle by assaulting the American soldiers that were unprepared for such type of attack. Today, Banzai Charge is considered as one of the least efficient strategies in the Pacific War, and also one of the examples of insanity of Japan during the World War II.

Origin

Banzai Charge is considered as one method of Gyokusai (Japanese: 玉砕, literally "jade shards"; honorable suicide). It is a word used to describe the suicide attack, or the suicide before being captured by the enemy such as Seppuku (Japanese: 切腹). The origin of such belief is the Central Chinese text in 7th century called Book of Northern Qi, which states "大丈夫寧可玉砕何能瓦全". The literal translation is "A great man should die like a shattered jewel rather than live with humiliation". In Japan, since the Sengoku Period, Samurais made the rule called Bushido (Japanese: 武士道, literally "Warrior path"; the path of warrior) to set their behaviors and keep them royal and honorable. Among the rules samurais needed to follow, there existed an "honor" (Japanese: 名誉, pronounced as meiyo) that was later misused by Japanese military governments.

With the revolutionary change in Meiji Restoration, and frequent wars against China and Russia, the militarist government of Japan adopted the concepts of Bushido to turn every population ideologically obedient to the emperor. As samurais committed a suicide when a great humiliation came upon, the government educated the soldiers that the great humiliation was to surrender to the enemy. The suicide of Saigo Takamori(Japanese: 西郷隆盛), the leader of old samurais during the Meiji Restoration, also inspired the society to idealize and romanticize the death in battlefield and to consider suicide as an honorable performance.

In the war

USS Bunker Hill hit by kamikaze piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa on 11 May, 1945.

In the war period, the Japanese militarist government started inserting romanticized prejudices about suicide attack, using one of the virtues of Bushido. Several propaganda were used to present war as purifying, and death as a duty. As it succeeded, by the end of 1944 the government announced the last protocol unofficially named Ichioku gyokusai (Japanese: 一億玉砕, literally "100 million shattered jewels") to resist till the August of 1945.

Arguably, the first Banzai Charge in Pacific War took place in Battle of Guadalcanal. On August 21st of 1942, Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki led 800 soldiers to launch a direct attack against the American base located at the seashore. After a small-scaled combat in the jungle, Ichiki's army launched the Banzai Charge to the enemy. With an organized American defense line, most of the soldiers were killed without laying a bayonet on American soldiers, and colonel Ichiki committed a suicide during the battle. Despite the failure of Banzai Charge in the battle, the government did not abandon the tactic until the end of the war. Pleased with minuscule success and exaggerated reports from generals, the Japanese HQ misunderstood the tactic to be useful and super effective against the Americans.

Comparing with Russia

Banzai Charge is often compared to the similar tactic existed in the war between Germany and Russia, unofficially called Uraj Charge. The In the battle of Stanlingrad, Soviet Army used the identical bayonet attack to German army. Uraj charge, however, had turned to a decent and even effective tactic against the enemy by 1943. The biggest change made in the tactic was the thorough preparation and large scale support fire. Unlike the battle of Stanlingrad, when the counterattack began Russia possessed enough soldiers and plenty ground supports to back up the charging units. This could greatly threaten the losing soldiers and brought several victories to the Allies.

Japanese tactic differed significantly from Russian tactic. By the time the first Banzai Charge took place, Japan had made a critical mistake in understanding the concept of such human wave attack. The biggest misunderstanding was that Japan thought the tactic would work with soldiers only. As explained in the origin section, the Japanese headquarter believed that their soldiers would easily succeed in melee attacks because of their unrelenting spirits, and did not provide sufficient ground support. Even worse, later in the war, with several decisive battles that clarified the defeat of Japan, the human wave attack turned into a hopeless last stand before the certain death.

Effectiveness

Initially, the Banzai Charge had achieved some successes due to an unexpected rush. Most American soldiers were astonished by Japanese soldiers getting closer with simple bayonets, and resulted in some victims and casualties from the melee attacks. However, as American soldiers installed a heavy artillery in their base, Japanese human wave attack gradually proved ineffective and not threatening towards heavily armed bases. In Battle of Guadalcanal, as soon as American soldiers installed sets of machine guns at their base, several attempts of suicide attack all ended in vain.

Despite the great fortune to approach the enemy, Japanese soldiers had a serious physical problems compared to American soldiers. Since most of the Japanese soldiers at the war period were shorter and weaker than Americans, the American counterattack in close-range could defeat armed Japanese soldiers with a small pistol, or even no weapon. Moreover, by 1944 and later, all of the Japanese soldiers suffered from nutrient deficiency due to supply cut. This further weakened their strength and other physical aspects, and lowered the success rate of Banzai Charge.

Aftermaths

Banzai Charge had brought a serious loss of soldiers for Japan. Its ineffectiveness and headquarters' misunderstanding worked as other factors that caused the defeat of Japan in the war. Moreover, the unexpected reckless tactic had changed the American's thought about Japan; they began to think the battle with Japan as a battle with swarms of beasts, rather than that with humans.