Foreign Volunteers in Imperial Japan Army?

[151Thunder]

As far as i know that there were Koreans who were forced to join the Imperial Army. I am writing a historical fiction book but i dont want to be too unnaccurate in my logical alternate history novel. I would like to know if any and if possible, atleast 1 non-asian western volunteer in the Japanese Imperial Army. I was thinking specifically a Brazilian since Japan and Brazil have close relations before the war.

[balkanguy44]

Hello 151Thunder,

I’m not an expert but I did a quick research.

Link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takasago_Volunteers

[zaptiè]

After 1943 some italian sailors , loyal to RSI fascist republic ,served on Japanese vessels. There where also few marines in Tien Sin Italian concession in China.

[151Thunder]

Is there any more volunteers? Also, how would Japanese ethnic soldiers treat these volunteers?

[Sid Guttridge]

For the Koreans try:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=229026&p=2082342&hi ... s#p2082342

Brazil had a large Japanese population, but I doubt any volunteers from that country would have come from the rest of the population.

Japan had a bust-up with Peru in the 1930s and some Peruvian-Japanese left at that time. If I remember correctly, the Japanerse community in Peru had raised money to buy a couple of aircraft for the Japanese campaign in China.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Seppo Koivisto]

I don't know if you can call him a volunteer, but Hjalmar Front, a Finn serving in the Red Army, escaped Stalins purges to Japanese side, see page 16 of the document: http://www.iacd.or.kr/pdf/journal/02/2-05.pdf

[koczownik]

You may be interested in Indonesian 'Heiho' soldiers: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiho

Also, Indonesian PETA troops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pembela_Tanah_Air

You ask about "non-asian western volunteer". As far as I know, there were none in the Japanese military. But, Manchukuo military (which was allied to Japan) did have many White Russian soldiers in it. There were enough to have their own units, lead at least partly by White Russian officers: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosyjskie ... %C5%BCukuo

Japanese intelligence service in Manchuria also used some White Russians for cross-border anti-Soviet activities. But, I don't think they were part of official Japanese military. Some were from Manchukuo military, others were plain-clothes spies.

Also, Polish and Japanese intelligence agents worked together in Europe during WW2, exchanging information on Nazis and Soviets. Some Polish spies even used Manchukuo passports, provided by Japanese agents, so that they could operate in Axis territory without being arrested by Germans. But again, these people were not part of Japanese military, they just worked together.

[bertamingo]

Hello all, glad to join you in the topic.

Regarding the foreigners in IJA & IJN, here's what I have got:
WESTERNERS: no known non-Asian westerners served with the IJA, but some were with the IJN.

As zaptiè has mentioned, some Italians remained Axis-loyal after Sept.1943 in Japanese-occupied areas. However, these were not (yet) IJN members as they were officially either members of the RSI navy or the German navy, and their boats were sailing under German colors. Only after the German surrender did some Germans and Italians officially became members of the IJN, but not IJA.

If memory serves, 2? Germans born in Dutch East Indies joined Japanese-sponsored local units, probably the PETA, but again it's not a part of IJA. There were some Dutch nazis in DEI too but their wartime activities are unknown to me.

Some western POWs and detained civilians were forced to collaborate with the IJA without joining its ranks, such as those who joined 'Tokyo Rose' broadcasts.

ASIANS:
There were IJA units formed from locals in Taiwan which was annexed by Japan after 1st Sino-Japanese war, and Korea which was a Japanese colony.

Later in the war, locals from the Philippines, Malaya, DEI etc. joined the IJA & IJN as 'Heiho', lit. supplemental soldiers, similar to the foreign volunteers in the Wehrmacht/Waffen SS. These should be differentiated from indigenous units like the PETA in Indonesia or the Volunteer Army in Malaya, which were not parts of the IJA but separate local units allied to IJA.

Yoshiko Kawashima, a Chinese Manchurian princess, joined the IJA as an officer and spy. She was probably the only case a Chinese joined the IJA, while all other wartime 'hanjian' or traitors served in the militaries of puppet regimes.

Lastly, in Japanese pacific mandates, there were probably some local police units staffed by Pacific islanders, but no information is available.

Regards

[koczownik]

WESTERNERS: no known non-Asian westerners served with the IJA, but some were with the IJN.

I am assuming you are referring here to guys like William Forbes-Sempill who worked with IJN during the interwar era? As far as I know, there were no westerns with the IJN during wartime, but please prove me wrong if you have info on that.

[bertamingo]

WESTERNERS: no known non-Asian westerners served with the IJA, but some were with the IJN.

I am assuming you are referring here to guys like William Forbes-Sempill who worked with IJN during the interwar era? As far as I know, there were no westerns with the IJN during wartime, but please prove me wrong if you have info on that.

Actually I've already explained who these guys were: the German and Italian submarine crews who fought on with Japan after the German surrender

[koczownik]

Actually I've already explained who these guys were: the German and Italian submarine crews who fought on with Japan after the German surrender

As zaptiè has mentioned, some Italians remained Axis-loyal after Sept.1943 in Japanese-occupied areas. However, these were not (yet) IJN members as they were officially either members of the RSI navy or the German navy, and their boats were sailing under German colors. Only after the German surrender did some Germans and Italians officially became members of the IJN, but not IJA.

Can I ask your source for those guys being officially incorporated into the IJN? I was under the impression that those guys were put under IJN command, but still nominally loyal to RSI/Nazi Germany until the end of the war. If they were officially incorporated onto IJN personnel rosters, this raises some questions for me. For instance, did they have to swear oaths of loyalty to Japan (like the Koreans and Taiwanese enrolled in IJA) ?

[bertamingo]

Actually I've already explained who these guys were: the German and Italian submarine crews who fought on with Japan after the German surrender

As zaptiè has mentioned, some Italians remained Axis-loyal after Sept.1943 in Japanese-occupied areas. However, these were not (yet) IJN members as they were officially either members of the RSI navy or the German navy, and their boats were sailing under German colors. Only after the German surrender did some Germans and Italians officially became members of the IJN, but not IJA.

Can I ask your source for those guys being officially incorporated into the IJN? I was under the impression that those guys were put under IJN command, but still nominally loyal to RSI/Nazi Germany until the end of the war. If they were officially incorporated onto IJN personnel rosters, this raises some questions for me. For instance, did they have to swear oaths of loyalty to Japan (like the Koreans and Taiwanese enrolled in IJA) ?

No I don't have any source for that as there's so little information, so it's a statement based on reasoning:

1)Both Nazi Germany and RSI had unconditionally surrendered( legally meaning that they were no longer combatants) and collapsed by May 1945, so there's no way the crews were fighting on as official members of Kriegsmarine or the RSI navy.

2)Their Uboats previously under German colors were incorporated into the IJN and became IJN vessels flying Japanese colors.

3) The former crews fought on aboard IJN vessels and followed Japanese command, with their former navies already removed from the war.

4) The Japanese were angry about the German surrender which was against both their agreement and the spirits of Bushido, so they were unlikely to grant the crews the honour of fighting on as allied forces, a fact proven by that the IJN didn't allow the Uboats to remain nominally German boats but commissioned them as IJN boats instead.

So imho it's logical to assume that the former Uboat crews were fighting on as members of IJN for the remaining months of the war.

PS: had the Japanese allowed the Germans/Italians to nominally remain members of their former navies, that would have automatically given them the legal excuse to abandon the Japanese war efforts and surrender to Allies citing the cessation of hostilities between them. The angry and desperate Japanese wouldn't have made this mistake imho.

[koczownik]

No I don't have any source for that as there's so little information, so it's a statement based on reasoning

Well, if you don't have a source for those Germans and Italians being in IJN after May 1945, then it would be more logical for me to assume that they were interned by Japan, just like European Axis civilians were interned following Germany's surrender (see here: http://mansell.com/pow_resources/campli ... Camps.html ). I know the vessels were taken over by IJN, but I would need to see some verification that the German and Italian crews were allowed to stay after the Nazi surrender.

I guess we can't do much other than assuming until someone actually confirms this stuff with proper sources.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi koczownik,

I go along with your reasoning. We need hard facts.

Cheers,

Sid.

P.S. For the Italian Navy try: https://comandosupremo.com/regia-marina-far-east/

In the "Fate of the Vessels Follwing the Armistice" section it indicates that where Italian sailors continued with the Axis in the Far East they were subordinated to the German, not Japanese, Navy.

After Germany's surrender it says that, ".....about 20 sailors kept fighting along(side?) the Japanese." However, it offers no source, no indication of what, exactly, "fighting" means and no details as to the terms under which they served.

[koczownik]

Thanks for the link Sid, very interesting reading. I thought this bit was of particular note:

The submarine Cappellini chose to fight alongside the German and Japanese as part of the newly created “Repubblica Sociale Italiana”. However, the Japanese seized the Cappellini after its escort to Singapore. Despite a pledge of allegiance from Commanding Officer Auconi, Admiral Hiroaka interned the ship and captured the crew. The Giuliani and the Torelli followed the same fate. Even though the crew, with the exception of the officers, wanted to keep fighting along with the old allies.

It's too bad the article doesn't have a bibliography so we can do further research on this subject.

On a side note, I also thought it was interesting how the picture captioned "Crew of the submarine Commandante Cappellini" includes a man in the lower-right who looks to be of African descent. Did the Italians include colonials in their Navy during the war, especially in specialist roles like submarine crews?
https://comandosupremo.com/wp-content/u ... 24x697.jpg