Not Yet Enough

One hundred million countrymen: The enemy now stands at our front gate. It is indeed the gravest moment in the history of our nation. . . . We must either win . . . or we shall all die. . . . The time is here for the . . . people of Japan to man their posts . . . and make secure the divine country of his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor.

Thus the twangy voice of Japan's Singing Frog, Premier General Kuniaki Koiso, croaked through the nightmare of bombs, flames, death and flight that engulfed his country. He did not exaggerate.

In Tokyo, once the world's third largest city, more than 3,000,000 of the 7,000,000 inhabitants (according to official broadcasts) had been evacuated or killed. Three other big cities -- Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya --had been similarly scourged.

How long could the nation hold out against the incendiary typhoon? Not long, thought some. There were rumors of peace bids in the making. But the war lords, disdaining whatever war-weariness might have come to industrialists whose factories were gutted and to civilians whose paper-&-bamboo homes were obliterated, had by no means had enough. Premier Koiso and his fanatical War Minister, Field Marshal. Gen Sugijama, drafted another emergency measure, pushed it through another emergency Diet. It ordered:

P: Mobilization of a National Volunteer Army -- the Jap version of the Nazi Volkssturm -- to include all save "the aged, the sick, the very young and pregnant women."

P: Confiscation of any "land, buildings and materials" for military works.

P: Redistribution of food and munitions for "an area-by-area defense structure."

P: Virtual martial law for the entire home land.

Then one of the Army's prime morale boosters, Major General Chuon Sakurai, rallied his countrymen. We must follow the example of Frederick the Great, he radiorated. "Regardless of victory or de feat," the Prussian king "always put his hand on his chest. . . . Without uselessly indulging in worry over the prevailing war situation, we also should calmly place our hand upon our chest and think . . . that our efforts are not yet sufficient."

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