Narratives of World War II in the Pacific

Allocation of Resources from Asian countries of the Co-Prosperity Sphere

Death Railway

Map showing the Burma-Siam Railway

Kevin Mendoza

HIST 4350 Narratives of World War II in the Pacific

Dr. Chrissy Lau

November 9, 2018

The Importance of Resources Allocation and Labor in Greater East Asian Countries

            During World War II, Japan was in a race to supply their troops with the necessary supplies needed to keep the advantage they have gained with their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States. With that attack came a full force of soldiers, planes and bomb strikes from the enemy forces. The allocation of resources from Asian countries during World War II was desperately needed for Japan to stay thriving and alive. In order for them to do this, they had to have their supply shipments delivered on routes to their soldiers in a timely manner, often under dangerous and harsh climates. There were also unsafe working conditions for those delivering the supplies and the prisoners who were building the Burma-Siam Railroad or often called the Death Railroad. Japan realized that in order for them to even have a fighting chance against the United States during the war, they needed to keep what little supplies that they had safe, but also delivered to their soldiers on the frontlines on a routine schedule. The following analysis will address aspects of expansion to other Asian countries for economic growth and survivability, labor shortage, and dangers the prisoners and soldiers had while building the Burma-Siam Railway for a better supply route; to highlight Japanese dependence on resources from other surrounding Asian nations, at the time under Japanese Imperial rule. 

            Economically, Japan needed to keep a hold of their raw materials and resources from the invading powers of America and Great Britain. Japan’s relationship with other countries was paramount in order for them to get the resources they required to stay afloat. This meant Japan needed to spread its economy and reach wider countries. According to the article titled “New Order in East Asia” by Kenneth Colegrove, he sums it up perfectly. Colegrove writes, “All of this expansion requires iron, coal, petroleum, cotton, manganese, wool and other resources, of which Japan lacks a sufficiency.”[1]With these resources needed, left Japan scrambling to increase its economic power to other Asian countries in order to stay in the fight. Thailand was one of these countries that they needed to obtain in order for them to become self-sufficient. During the start of the war, Japan wanted to acquire Thailand so that their military could use the country for a staging area for continuing their operations in the Southern East Asian locations. In the article titled “Japan’s Intentions for its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as Indicated in its Policy Plans for Thailand” by William Swan, he talks about some of the some of the steps they went through to acquire Thailand and what was drafted for them to gain additional resources as well as a new place for Japan’s operations to continue. Swan explains, “With the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in the process of establishment, the objective towards Thailand is to create a close, inseparable military, political and economic union with the country for the self-sufficiency and self-defense of the Empire”[2]This was an important step for Japan. They took the same methodology they had used to expand and strengthen their own empire in the past, and used it on the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere just in a larger proportion. This was an important step for the Japanese government because it allowed them to set out guidelines and significant steps needed to gain footing in this Co-Prosperity Sphere, as well as help frame a better strategy to strengthen relations with allying countries. Thailand was not the only country the Japanese government had an interest in. Japan invested in other countries as well. In the article titled “Implications of Japanese Foreign Policy” by Harold M. Vinacke, he lists some of the other countries Japan relied on. He states, “Another economic factor influencing Japanese policy was presented in direct investments in, among others, the hemp industry in the Philippines, rubber plantations in the Netherlands Indies, and iron mining in the British colonies and in Indo-China.”[3]These countries were needed to provide Japan a better sense of safety as well as placing them in a position to control other colonies and countries outside of their own. This was vital for Japan and their government to push to farther Southeast Asian countries so that they can expand their reach on gaining new land and harvesting resources. 

         Japan was also having a labor shortage. In the article titled “Japan’s Latest Bottleneck Is General Labor Shortage, it talks about that very same thing. The article states, “Last year, thousands of children 12 years of age just out of grade school were recruited for heavy industries.” [4]With having a short supply of available working men, the Japanese government had no other choice but to start taking children from schools to start working in factories. With this shortage of available help, they Japanese government also lifted the ban on allowing women to work as well. The government allowed women to work in the mines pits to bring in extra resources. 

          All of this was important to Japan and their military, but they also needed routes to get their supplies to their troops. One such route depended on the railroad of the Burma-Siam Railroad. Abe Hiroshi explains in his oral history in the book Japan at War, by Haruko Cook and Theordore Cook the trials that they faced in order to keep the Japanese Army supplied for war while making the bridge. Hiroshi states, “We did it with human labor alone. With rope, pulleys, and some iron bars. We were able to reach the top without even one injury. I didn’t let the prisoners touch the bridge. It was too dangerous for them.”[5]

            In conclusion, Japan and their military relied on other countries and their supplies to help them stay afloat during the war. They needed their resources and relied on the economy to help send them money as well as in addition to relying on labor to provide creation of railroads and bridges to get their supplies delivered. Despite the struggles Japan endured with the dangerous environment the prisoners and workers were exposed to while working on the Burma-Siam Railroad, to the labor shortages they had faced during the war, Japan still determined to make the best of what they were given and try to stay ahead in order to secure a victory over the Americans and their allied forces. 

                                                                                                                                             Bibliography

       Colegrove, Kenneth. "The New Order in East Asia." The Far Eastern Quarterly 1, no. 1 (1941): 5-24. doi:10.2307/2049073., p. 15

Cook, Haruko Taya., and Theodore Failor. Cook. Japan At War: An Oral History. London: Phoenix, 2000., p. 102

"Japan's Latest Bottleneck Is General Labor Shortage." The Science News-Letter 39, no. 25 (1941): 389. doi:10.2307/3918021., p. 389

Swan, William L. "Japan's Intentions for Its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere as Indicated in Its Policy Plans for Thailand." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27, no. 1 (1996): 139-49, p. 140

Vinacke, Harold M. "Implications of Japanese Foreign Policy for the Philippines and Southeastern Asia." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 226 (1943): 50-61, p. 57

                                                                                                           Oral History

“Building the Burma-Siam Research Railroad” Haruko Taya Cook & Theodore F. Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History, (New York: The New Press, 1992), 99-105

Abe Hiroshi discourses his experience while working on the Burma-Siam Research Railroad working for the army in Burma. Hiroshi had six hundred men put under his order when he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Fifth Rail Regiment. He had very little direction when he and his men got to the jungle and was only told to build a bridge. Hiroshi and his men were responsible for clearing out the trees to make use of them for the bridge. Hiroshi talks about the struggles he and his unit faced with having very little resources for the project. Once he and his men had completed the bridge, a test run was made to see if the weight of locomotive would hold up crossing the bridge. After the Burma-Siam Railroad was complete, the Fifth Rail Regiment was then tasked with the maintenance and transport of other railroad lines throughout Burma. On a run to bring the Japanese Army supplies, the British Army from the East constantly attacked Hiroshi and his men with bomb strikes. The Fifth Rail Regiment had to repair the damages during the night once the British had stopped their bombing runs. The Fifth Rail Regiment had to defend numerous bridges from the British Army and repair railroads so that the Japanese Army would have a route for their supplies to reach the frontlines, all armed with only their rifles and a few hand grenades. His men and him took heavy losses with about thirty of them being killed and many more injured including Hiroshi, who took shrapnel damage from a grenade to his leg. Thousands of soldiers would end up being ordered to go deep into the mountains of Burma with very little food and no ammunition. In the end, thousands of troops would die with no aid coming to the cut off soldiers because of the generals ordered them to push on while they retreated out of the contested area by plane. Even after Hiroshi was injured, he still went after getting out of the hospital to help aid with two other divisions get out by rail lines. He felt sad for the men he lost under his command, but because of that bridge he and his team built, he ended up saving many more which gave him a sense of pride and accomplishment.