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Kempeitai
The Kempeitai (Japanese: 憲兵隊, Hepburn: Kenpeitai; lit. 'Corps of Law Soldiers') was the official military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police and gendarmerie responsibilities that specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, created an Imperial Japanese Army security network intelligence, human intelligence (HUMINT), interrogated suspects who might be Allied soldiers and spies or members of a resistance movement, maintained security of prisoner of war camps, military criminal investigation, provided security at important government and military locations at risk of being sabotaged within the Empire of Japan and its occupied territories, and raided to capture high-value targets.
It was notorious for its brutality and role in suppressing dissent. The broad duties of the Kempeitai included maintaining military discipline, enforcing conscription laws, protecting vital military zones, and investigating crimes among soldiers. In occupied areas, it also issued travel permits, recruited labor, arrested resistance, requisitioned food and supplies, spread propaganda, and suppressed anti-Japanese sentiment. At its peak at the end of World War II, the Kempeitai had about 35,000 personnel.
Founded in 1881 during the Meiji era, the size and duties of the Kempeitai grew rapidly as Japanese militarism expanded. During World War II, the organization ran Japan's prisoner of wars (POWs) and civilian internment camps, known for their mistreatment of detainees, and also acted as a political police force in the military and occupied territories. It carried out torture, summary executions, and violent reprisals and massacres against civilians, as well as procuring comfort women and human test subjects for Unit 731. The Kempeitai was disbanded after the war, and many of its leaders were tried and convicted of war crimes. While institutionally part of the Army, the Kempeitai also discharged limited military police functions for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). A member of the Kempeitai corps was called a kempei (憲兵). The Kempeitai was based on France's National Gendarmerie.
The Kempeitai was established on 4 January 1881, during the Meiji era, by order of the Great Council of State as part of a broader modernization and Westernization of the Japanese military. Initially, the organization was an elite corps of 349 men, and was tasked with the narrow role of enforcing the new army conscription legislation. Under laws passed in 1898 and 1928, the organization functioned in a General Affairs Section and a Service Section; the former took up the Kempeitai's policy, personnel, discipline, and records functions, as well as political policing within the IJA and IJN parallel to the civilian Special Higher Police (Tokkō), while the latter was responsible for supply, organization, and training; public security; and counterintelligence. The Navy, seeking to limit Army influence, also maintained its own military police corps, known as the Tokkeitai.
Following the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the Empire of Japan effectively controlled the Korean Peninsula, which was formally annexed into the empire as Chōsen in 1910. The Korean Kempeitai developed into a unique gendarmerie organization known as the Kempei keisatsu, which operated from 1,642 police stations and recruited large numbers of Korean nationals. The Kempeitai was instrumental in suppressing Korean opinion and political participation, and played a major role in recruiting comfort women and in conscripting guards for prisoner of war camps. It carried out the empire's policies of suppressing Korean national identity, language, customs, and culture; it also promoted Japanese organizations and spread pro-Japan propaganda through Korea's daily newspapers.
In 1931–1932, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. It became a major zone of operations for the Kempeitai, with 18,000 personnel in the area by 1932. Many of Japan's wartime leaders built their reputations and careers as officers in the Manchurian Kempeitai, including Lieutenant General Toranosuke Hashimoto, commander of the Manchukuo Kempeitai (1932–1934) and later Vice Minister of War; General Shizuichi Tanaka, commander of the Kwantung Army's Kempeitai (1937–1938) and later commander of Tokyo Kempeitai (1938–1940) and Eastern District Army; and notoriously General Hideki Tojo, commander of the Kwantung Army Kempeitai (1935–1937) and later Minister of War, Prime Minister, and Chief of the General Staff.
As further foreign territories fell under Japanese military occupation during the 1930s and the early 1940s, the Kempeitai recruited large numbers of locals in those territories. Taiwanese and Koreans were extensively used as auxiliaries to guard POWs and police the newly occupied areas in Southeast Asia, and the Kempeitai also carried out recruitment activities among the populations of French Indochina, Malaya, and other territories.[citation needed]
The Kempeitai also operated on the Japanese home islands, where it was responsible for maintaining public order as a secret police, alongside the civilian Special Higher Police (in the 1920s there were mentions of a joint Tokkō–Kempeitai organization). The two organizations served as public censors and overseers of private morals and thought. All prisoners were presumed guilty on arrest; examinations of suspects took place in secret, and the use of torture to extract confessions of guilt was commonplace. While its suspects were nominally subject to civilian judicial proceedings, they were often denied habeas corpus (the right to have one's case tried before a court). The Kempeitai had close ties with the Tokumu Kikan military intelligence agency, which reported directly to the Imperial General Headquarters; the organizations jointly carried out clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, espionage, fifth-column, HUMINT, internal security, propaganda, and public security activities. After Tojo was appointed as Vice Minister of War in 1938 and the National Diet passed an anti-espionage act in 1939 which expanded its power, the Kempeitai became even more visible and active in Japan.
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Kempeitai
The Kempeitai (Japanese: 憲兵隊, Hepburn: Kenpeitai; lit. 'Corps of Law Soldiers') was the official military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police and gendarmerie responsibilities that specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, created an Imperial Japanese Army security network intelligence, human intelligence (HUMINT), interrogated suspects who might be Allied soldiers and spies or members of a resistance movement, maintained security of prisoner of war camps, military criminal investigation, provided security at important government and military locations at risk of being sabotaged within the Empire of Japan and its occupied territories, and raided to capture high-value targets.
It was notorious for its brutality and role in suppressing dissent. The broad duties of the Kempeitai included maintaining military discipline, enforcing conscription laws, protecting vital military zones, and investigating crimes among soldiers. In occupied areas, it also issued travel permits, recruited labor, arrested resistance, requisitioned food and supplies, spread propaganda, and suppressed anti-Japanese sentiment. At its peak at the end of World War II, the Kempeitai had about 35,000 personnel.
Founded in 1881 during the Meiji era, the size and duties of the Kempeitai grew rapidly as Japanese militarism expanded. During World War II, the organization ran Japan's prisoner of wars (POWs) and civilian internment camps, known for their mistreatment of detainees, and also acted as a political police force in the military and occupied territories. It carried out torture, summary executions, and violent reprisals and massacres against civilians, as well as procuring comfort women and human test subjects for Unit 731. The Kempeitai was disbanded after the war, and many of its leaders were tried and convicted of war crimes. While institutionally part of the Army, the Kempeitai also discharged limited military police functions for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). A member of the Kempeitai corps was called a kempei (憲兵). The Kempeitai was based on France's National Gendarmerie.
The Kempeitai was established on 4 January 1881, during the Meiji era, by order of the Great Council of State as part of a broader modernization and Westernization of the Japanese military. Initially, the organization was an elite corps of 349 men, and was tasked with the narrow role of enforcing the new army conscription legislation. Under laws passed in 1898 and 1928, the organization functioned in a General Affairs Section and a Service Section; the former took up the Kempeitai's policy, personnel, discipline, and records functions, as well as political policing within the IJA and IJN parallel to the civilian Special Higher Police (Tokkō), while the latter was responsible for supply, organization, and training; public security; and counterintelligence. The Navy, seeking to limit Army influence, also maintained its own military police corps, known as the Tokkeitai.
Following the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the Empire of Japan effectively controlled the Korean Peninsula, which was formally annexed into the empire as Chōsen in 1910. The Korean Kempeitai developed into a unique gendarmerie organization known as the Kempei keisatsu, which operated from 1,642 police stations and recruited large numbers of Korean nationals. The Kempeitai was instrumental in suppressing Korean opinion and political participation, and played a major role in recruiting comfort women and in conscripting guards for prisoner of war camps. It carried out the empire's policies of suppressing Korean national identity, language, customs, and culture; it also promoted Japanese organizations and spread pro-Japan propaganda through Korea's daily newspapers.
In 1931–1932, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. It became a major zone of operations for the Kempeitai, with 18,000 personnel in the area by 1932. Many of Japan's wartime leaders built their reputations and careers as officers in the Manchurian Kempeitai, including Lieutenant General Toranosuke Hashimoto, commander of the Manchukuo Kempeitai (1932–1934) and later Vice Minister of War; General Shizuichi Tanaka, commander of the Kwantung Army's Kempeitai (1937–1938) and later commander of Tokyo Kempeitai (1938–1940) and Eastern District Army; and notoriously General Hideki Tojo, commander of the Kwantung Army Kempeitai (1935–1937) and later Minister of War, Prime Minister, and Chief of the General Staff.
As further foreign territories fell under Japanese military occupation during the 1930s and the early 1940s, the Kempeitai recruited large numbers of locals in those territories. Taiwanese and Koreans were extensively used as auxiliaries to guard POWs and police the newly occupied areas in Southeast Asia, and the Kempeitai also carried out recruitment activities among the populations of French Indochina, Malaya, and other territories.[citation needed]
The Kempeitai also operated on the Japanese home islands, where it was responsible for maintaining public order as a secret police, alongside the civilian Special Higher Police (in the 1920s there were mentions of a joint Tokkō–Kempeitai organization). The two organizations served as public censors and overseers of private morals and thought. All prisoners were presumed guilty on arrest; examinations of suspects took place in secret, and the use of torture to extract confessions of guilt was commonplace. While its suspects were nominally subject to civilian judicial proceedings, they were often denied habeas corpus (the right to have one's case tried before a court). The Kempeitai had close ties with the Tokumu Kikan military intelligence agency, which reported directly to the Imperial General Headquarters; the organizations jointly carried out clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, espionage, fifth-column, HUMINT, internal security, propaganda, and public security activities. After Tojo was appointed as Vice Minister of War in 1938 and the National Diet passed an anti-espionage act in 1939 which expanded its power, the Kempeitai became even more visible and active in Japan.
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