Imperial Japanese Army



For the honor of the Japanese Empire!

-Imperial Commander at the start of Headquarters.

The Imperial Japanese Army (Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國陸軍, Shinjitai: 大日本帝国陸軍, Romaji: Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun), or more officially Army of the Greater Japanese Empire was the land force of Japan after reforms from the feudal system caused in part by the breaking of the Japanese isolationist policy, causing the downfall of the Feudal system as new ideas, goods and weaponry flooded the country. It enjoyed an era of dominance until its crushing defeat in World War II. They are currently only featured in Call of Duty: World at War.

Founding
The Imperial Japanese Army was founded after the Meiji Restoration, which broke the Japanese isolation to the world. It consited of former samurai and conscripted peasants. It participated in the Satsuma Rebellion, where it crushed rebellious samurai opposed to the modernization.

Sino-Japanese War
By 1890, the Imperial Japanese Army was the most powerful in Asia, and successfully challenged the Qing Dynasty of China during the Sino Japanese War, where the latter anexed the island of Taiwan after the war.

Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was a result of tensions between the two factions. The war ended with a Japanese victory although the Japanese Army suffered greatly due to overeliance on infantry

World War I
During World War I, Japan used the war as an excuse to seize isolated German colonies in the Pacific and annex part of China.

Inter War Years
The Great Depression lead to the rise of militariasm in Japan, where military extremists started the Second Sino-Japanese War, where Japan annexed most of China and became responsible for the Nanking Massacre.

World War II
In 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army had 51 divisions and various special-purpose artillery, cavalry, anti-aircraft and armored units with a total of 1,700,000 men. At the beginning of the Second World War most of the Japanese Army was stationed in China. However, from 1942 soldiers were sent to Hong Kong (23rd Army), the Philippines (14th Army), Thailand (15th Army), Burma (15th Army), Dutch East Indies (16th Army) and Malaya (25th Army). By 1945, there were 5.5 million men in the Imperial Japanese Army.

The Japanese Army performed well in the early stages of the war. After 1943 they suffered from a shortage of supplies, especially food, heavy weapons, guns, tanks and aircraft, which was worsened by a long-standing and severe rivalry with the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was affected even more by submarine interdiction of supplies and losses to IJA shipping. The supply situation was so bad, large numbers of fighter aircraft became unserviceable for lack of spare parts and medicines were in such short supply, "as many as two-thirds of Japan's total military deaths resulted from illness or starvation."

Lt Gen Arthur Percival, led by a Japanese officer (center), marches under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces during the Battle of Singapore, on February 15, 1942. Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army had gained a reputation both for its fanaticism and for its brutality against prisoners of war and civilians alike. After Japan surrendered in the summer of 1945, many Imperial Japanese Army officers and enlisted men were tried and punished for committing numerous atrocities and war crimes.

Several reasons are theorized for the especially brutal and merciless behavior exhibited by many members of the IJA towards their adversaries or non-Japanese civilians. One is probably the brutal behavior that they themselves experienced. The IJA was known for the extremely harsh treatment of its enlisted soldiers from the start of training, including beatings, unnecessarily strenuous duty tasks, lack of adequate food, and other violent or harsh disciplinary tactics. This was contrary to the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors of 1882, which instructed officers to treat subordinates respectfully. Not until 1943 did the senior command realize this brutality had effects on morale and order an end to it, an order which was routinely circumvented or ignored.

In addition, IJA officers took more than their share of food when their men were starving, arranged transfers to safer areas, or simply deserted their men in action, while the spirit of gyokusai ("glorious death") saw them order suicidal attacks with knives, and bayonets, when supplies of hand grenades and ammunition were still available.

The reputation of Imperial Army troops during the Pacific War is borne out by a comparison to the European Theatre, in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) just over 1,000 surrendered in each of 1942 and 1943, around 5,100 in 1944, and over 12,000 in 1945, and might have been greater except for American shooting of prisoners. The effect of psychological warfare was noticeable (about 20% of surrenders were directly due to it, and many more were influenced), amounting to about one POW for every 6,000 leaflets dropped, while the Japanese objected to the "unscrupulous" leaflets, which expressly contained nothing but the truth.

Post War
The Imperial Army was disbanded after the war, along with the Japanese armed forces, amid protests from returning Japanese veterans. In 1954, the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) along with the JASDF (air) and JMSDF (navy) were formed with the help of the United States to oversee the defense of Japan. Although significantly smaller and weaker in manpower than it's World War II predecessor(147,000-160,000 for JGSDF compared to 5,000,000 of the Imperial Army), the JGSDF is a highly disciplined and trained force with close ties to the U.S. military that possesses high quality military hardware and have recently been deployed to Iraq as relief units. More recently, the United States has encouraged Japan to rearm and become a military power once again due to tensions between the latter and the DPRK (North Korea).

Call of Duty: World at War
In Call of Duty: World at War, the Imperial Army is featured in the Pacific campaign. They use Arisaka bolt action rifles, Type 100 SMGs, and Type 99 Light Machine Guns as their primary infantry weapons. They make heavy use of surprise attacks and Banzai Charges, as well as traps and do not posses any shotguns or semi-automatic rifles.

Like the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer, there are different character skins for each type of weapon their character uses. The Imperial Army bolt-action skin is a soldier wearing a ghillie suit composed of a camouflaged uniform and netted helmet covered with lots of leaves and natural foliage, and is arguably the most effective camo skin in Call of Duty: World at War. The rifle skin is a helmetless soldier wearing a standard uniform and a hachimaki. The SMG skin is a fully equipped paratrooper with a helmet over an officer's hat and a carrying case for a Type 100 SMG strapped to the chest. The shotgun skin is a fully equipped officer with an officer's hat under a helmet. The machine gun skin is a muscular helmetless soldier wearing a standard uniform.

The Imperial Japanese Army seem to be the new zombie interest in Map Pack 2 in the map Shi No Numa (Zombie swamp) called imperial zombies who crawl out of misty swamps with Hell Hounds and traps. It could possibly be based on the level Semper Fi and multiplayer map Makin.

Ranks
The Japanese in the campaign are notable for being the first Axis soldiers in the series to have visible insignia differences in rank. Their rank insignia can be seen on the red patches on their collars and consist of the following. 1 yellow star indicates a Private 2nd Class, 2 yellow stars indicates a Private 1st Class, 3 yellow stars indicates a Superior Private, a single horizontal yellow stripe indicates an Acting Corporal, and a grey officer uniform with three yellow stars on each wrist indicates a Captain. For an unknown reason, the Imperial Soldiers in some missions do not have collar rank insignia.

Notable Members

 * Japanese Officer stationed on Makin Atoll
 * The Japanese Private who killed K. Pyle
 * Takeo Masaki, Japanese soldier featured in Shi No Numa and Der Riese
 * Unnamed Japanese multiplayer announcer
 * General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of Japanese forces stationed on Iwo Jima (real life)
 * Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan during WWII (real life)
 * Yamagata Aritomo, one of the founders of modern Japan (real life)

Quotes

 * "Fight as one under the Emperor!"/"Unite for the glory of Japan!" - Japanese commander at the start of Team Deathmatch
 * "Your defeat has brought great dishonor to our nation!"/"You have brought shame to the Imperial Army!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction is defeated during multiplayer
 * "We bring honor to the Emperor and all of Japan!"/"The Savages kneel before us in defeat!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction is victorious during multiplayer
 * "For the honor of the Japanese Empire!" - Japanese commander at the start of Headquarters
 * "Make sure this is our only taste of defeat!"/"Fight on to restore your honor!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction loses a round during Search and Destroy
 * "This is but the first victory! We must fight on!"/"Let's make this victory the first of many!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction wins a round during Search and Destroy
 * "The Savages[Marine Raiders] send dogs to do their work!"/"Enemy recon plane has found us!"/"Enemy artillery!" - Japanese Commander when Marine faction calls in selected kill streaks(Dogs, Recon Plane, Artillery Strike.
 * "Our Recon Plane will find them!"/"Our Artillery will force them in submission!"/"The Dogs hunger for the flesh of our enemies!" - Japanese commander when selected kill streaks are called in
 * "Fight on! Crush what resistance remains!/"DO NOT fear death!"/"It's not too late to claim victory!"/"Keep fighting! We CANNOT lose to these barbarians (Marine Raiders)!"/"We're almost out of time!"/"A chance for victory still remains!" - Japanese Commander near the end of the match.
 * "Their flag will soon be ours!"/"We WILL take this flag!"/"Keep fighting! We are capturing the flag!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction is capturing a flag during War.
 * "Our flag is falling to the enemy!"/"Turn them back before they take our flag!"/"Our flag will soon fall to the Americans!" - Japanese commander when Marine faction is capturing a flag during War.
 * "The Americans, have taken our flag!"/"Our flag has fallen to the Americans!"/"Our flag has fallen! We must fight to regain our honor!" - Japanese commander when Marine Raiders capture a flag during war.
 * "Perimeter secured! Get the next flag!"/"Flag secure! We must now take the next!/"We have claimed the flag! FIGHT ON!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction captures a flag during war
 * "We have only one flag left! DO NOT LET IT FALL!"/"They MUST NOT claim our last flag!" - Japanese faction when Japanese faction is down to the last flag.
 * "They are weakening! Seize their last flag!"/"They are losing the will to fight! Secure their last flag!" - Japanese commander when Marine Raiders is down to the last flag during war.
 * "Do not fear death!" - Japanese commander when a Team Deathmatch is almost over, and the Japanese are losing.