Kempeitai: Japan's Dreaded Military Police

Review For reasons that are very difficult to understand, when the subject of war crimes in World War II comes up, it almost always involves the actions of the Germans. Even though the Japanese were just as brutal to the population of the areas they occupied and even more brutal to enemy POW's, it is a subject that is rarely discussed. In Japan, formal acknowledgements of the war crime actions of the Japanese during the war are rare and tepid. The Kempeitai were the Japanese version of the German Gestapo, feared by all, including their fellow Japanese. While it is impossible to thoroughly chronicle their actions in only 167 pages, Lamont-Brown gives a good overview of the role the Kempeitai played in the war. They routinely executed civilians and captured allied personnel and on occasion even ate their flesh. Japanese medical personnel carried out horrific medical experiments on humans and were later granted immunity by General MacArthur in exchange for the records of their experiments. This book is an example of one that should be read by more people. It is sad and unfortunate that more people do not know and appreciate the actions of the Japanese during the Second World War. Those who suffered through it remember it well, but shortly they will be gone and it is up to historians to keep the memories of their suffering alive. --By Charles Ashbacher -