Yasuji Okamura Quotes

Yasuji Okamura was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, and commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army from November 1944 to the end of World War II. He was found not guilty of any war crime by the Shanghai War Crimes Tribunal after the war.

✵ 15. May 1884 – 2. September 1966

“Yasuji Okamura, commander of the Japanese forces in China, had this to say about the Chinese Nationalist Army: "The center of resistance was neither the four hundred million Chinese civilians, nor the two million-strong ragtag army composed of local troops. Instead, it was the Central Army, led by the young officers of the Whampoa Military Academy, with Chiang Kai-shek at its nucleus. In numerous major battles, the Central Army not only was the main force engaged in combat, but also oversaw the local troops who were increasingly losing the will to fight. The Central Army kept the local troops from wavering. As seen, training by Whampoa was thorough, and it was impossible to resolve the China Incident peacefully with the existence of such an army.”

Yasuji Okamura

Source:《大本营陆军部.上》519页
Translated from Chinese text: 侵华日军司令官冈村宁次在1939年对国军抗日的评论，他说："看来敌军抗日力量的中心不在于四亿中国民众，也不是以各类杂牌军混合而成的二百万军队，乃是以蒋介石为核心、以黄埔军校青年军官阶层为主体的中央军。在历次会战中，它不仅是主要的战斗原动力，同时还严厉监督着逐渐丧失战斗力意志而徘徊犹豫的地方杂牌军，使之不致离去而步调一致，因此不可忽视其威力。黄埔军校教育之彻底，由此可见......有此军队存在，要想和平解决事变，无异是缘木求鱼" （摘自《大本营陆军部.上》519页）。