Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

Discussions on all aspects of the Japanese Empire, from the capture of Taiwan until the end of the Second World War.
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Mike Blake
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#16

Post by Mike Blake » 19 Jan 2010, 19:41

It has only just struck me that the Japanese parading in greatcoats in Peter H's post on 19 Nov 2009 22:23 'box1.jpeg' have a National not a regimental flag out in front. Interesting, confirming its use 'officially' in a formal parade? I have seen a photo of it drapped over an archway in the city wall but this is the only example of such parade use - was it general practice for the Japanese military to use it in this way?

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#17

Post by Peter H » 19 Jan 2010, 21:54

jwsleser wrote:Peter H

In your 12 April 2009 post, are you sure those are Japanese sailors? The Japnese Army used a white sumer unform that wasn't replaced until the RJW (the first khaki was the dyed white uniform). I don't see any uniform detail that indicate Navy. Of course, I could be in error.

Thanks!

Jeff
Jeff,
I think your right--look like soldiers

Peter


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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#18

Post by Peter H » 28 Dec 2010, 00:00

Japanese heroics.

From The Savage Wars of Peace,Max Boot,2002.

Taku,page 77:
The first man over the ramparts,a courageous Japanese officer,was killed

Tientsin,page 86:
Early on the morning of July 14,Japanese sappers attached explosives to the South Gate of Tientsin.They tried to light the fuse three times but each time it went out.Finally a Japanese engineer ran forward with a box of matches to set off the powder,blowing himself and the gate to pieces.

Does anyone know the name of these men?

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#19

Post by Peter H » 28 Dec 2010, 00:02

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#20

Post by Peter H » 28 Dec 2010, 00:10

From The Savage Wars of Peace,Max Boot:

Page 86:
British war correspondent Henry Savage Landor noted a breakdown along nation lines in the objects of looting.He thought that the Japanese were the only soldiers who showed 'any natural and thorough appreciation of things artistic..'
Page 97:
Both in the legations and in the relief expedition,the bravest,most disciplined soldiers were Japanese.And,oddly enough,they were also respectul of Chinese lives and property--restraint that would be spectacularly lacking dueing Japan's invasion of the Middle Kingsdom in the 1930s..

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Ron Sundby
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#21

Post by Ron Sundby » 28 Dec 2010, 04:43

Fom Warriors of the Rising Sun, Robert B. Edgerton:

The enginer at Tientsin was Lieutenant Inawe Pg 80
While the allied troops lay in the mud wondering if they would live through another day of intense Chinese fire from the high stone city wall, a Japanese lieutenant named Inawe grabbed a box of matches and the only fuse he could find, a very short one. Surviving Chinese fire, he lighted the charge, which blew the gates to pieces. No trace of the Lieutenant's body was found.
Re looting at Tientsin Pg81
A British correspondant, the well know Henery Savage Landor, remarked on the different styles of looting employed by the various nationalities. First, he noted that the civilians who knew where the wealthier shops were outdid all the soldiers in making off with valuables. The British were interested in souvenirs for their families, the few Japanese who looted did so in a "silent, quiet and graceful way," while the Germans, French, and Russians were said to be incapable of touching anything that was not solid bronze without breaking it.
Ron

Pg61
When the allied troops finally reached Peking... They behaved brutally. With the exception of the Japanese and most British and Amerians, they raped and killed indiscriminately, and all the allies looted. Western headlines rarely mentioned the Japanese, but witnesses generally agreed that the best defenders of the surrounded legations and the bravest troops among the relief forces were Japanese, and many there called them the most humane.
I would especially recomend Warriors of the Rising Sun to anyone who is interested in comparing the evelution of varying attitudes in the Japanese military through the sucession of conflicts from 1895 to 1945.

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#22

Post by Peter H » 28 Dec 2010, 06:00

Thanks Ron.

This account says that Inawe wasn't killed: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/g ... -hci.shtml
Just before sunrise the Japanese sappers stole forward to attempt to blow in the outer city gate. They were met with a tremendous volley of musketry, and one ball cut the electric wire which was to have been used for firing the charge. Lieutenant Inawe, however, pluckily rushed forward with a lighted fuse, and escaped, almost miraculously, unhurt.

And:
Many of the Japanese officers spoke English, and Rex was soon at home among them, and found them very cheery,pleasant companions. Their general was a very agreeable man, with charming manners, and immensely popular among his troops. The greater portion of these were stationed in Tientsin, where they maintained perfect order in the district assigned to them, and Rex found that the natives returned more fearlessly to their districts than to those occupied by other nationalities.

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Ron Sundby
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#23

Post by Ron Sundby » 28 Dec 2010, 10:12

Peter H. quoted: The greater portion of these were stationed in Tientsin, where they maintained perfect order in the district assigned to them, and Rex found that the natives returned more fearlessly to their districts than to those occupied by other nationalities.
Edgerton says the same thing, almost word for word, about the Japanese in Peking (pg95)

I hesitate to quote at too much length form a book that is definitely under copyright so jut one more short quote and a comment.

From Warriors of the Rising Sun, Robert B. Edgerton:
PG 81
A Japanese officer who observed the looting with horror asked an American newsman if international law had changed since he had been instructed about it. The American could only shrug.
Edgerton also discusses what the differing forces looked like. Among others: Japanese very clean, Russians not so clean, and Americans filthy. The photo you posted of the beheading certainly shows the Japanese soldiers looking very well turned out, even after weeks on campaign in whites. It contrasts with pics from WWII where even when in barracks or on parade the Japanese uniforms just don't look to me to be as neat and sharp as those of soldiers in Western militaries; very clean, but rumpled.

Ron

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#24

Post by Peter H » 15 Jan 2011, 06:17

From ebay.de,seller f-08-15.

Est China 1900/1901 but could be later.

Japanese with Germans?

The German looks like Falkenhayn.

My gut feeling is that the photo was taken in Germany,hosting a visiting military attache.Are the uniforms Chinese or Japanese?
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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#25

Post by Peter H » 22 Feb 2011, 12:16

From ebay,seller afraidofglobalwarming

Peking 1901
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Mike Blake
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#26

Post by Mike Blake » 01 Mar 2011, 20:51

There is a belief that the Japanese were not involved in looting. Ben Middleton, ‘Scandals of Empire: The Looting of North China and the Japanese Public Sphere’ in Bickers & Tiedemann, The Boxers, China and the World, explodes this myth and shows that extensive looting by Japanese military personnel at all levels led to a scandal in Japan not revealed until 1902. Japanese sources make it clear that the IJA engaged in a vigorous and clandestine campaign of looting in China. The Japanese Official History admits to the removal of vast amounts of silver bullion and legitimises it as state policy, but there were significant looting levels of individual too. Only a fraction of those who did so were punished and the loot was never returned to China.

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#27

Post by Peter H » 06 Mar 2011, 12:09

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Peter H
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Re: Japanese:Boxer Rebellion 1900

#28

Post by Peter H » 06 Mar 2011, 12:13

Same source.
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