Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945
by Matome Ugaki
translated by Masataka Chihaya
edited by Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991, 731 pages
Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki held several key leadership
positions during World War II. These included chief of staff for Admiral
Yamamoto, commander of the 1st Battleship Division that included the giant
battleships Yamato and Musashi, and commanding officer of the 5th
Air Fleet as he directed kamikaze attacks against Allied ships off Okinawa.
This exceptional English translation of his diary written from October 1941 to
August 1945 provides an invaluable primary source of the Imperial Japanese
Navy's wartime strategy and battle tactics.
Masataka Chihaya, a former officer in the Imperial Japanese
Navy and a postwar journalist, translated Ugaki's diary to English. Members of
Ugaki's family preserved the diary after the war, and now the Etajima Museum of
Naval History prominently displays 13 of the original 15 volumes written by
Ugaki in a room dedicated to the Kamikaze Special Attack Forces. The volume
covering the first three months of 1943 was lost after the war when Ugaki's
senior staff officer borrowed it from the family and was taking it with him on
a train to appear as a witness to the military tribunal in Tokyo (pp. 222-3).
The other missing time period is between April 25, 1943, and February 22, 1944,
when Ugaki was convalescing after American planes shot down his plane over
Bougainville Island. His son Hiromitsu refused to release the diary entries for
this period, claiming they were solely personal and not of historical interest
(pp. 223, 331).
Donald Goldstein and Katherine Dillon, editors of Chihaya's
English translation of Ugaki's diary, make several valuable contributions. They
provide bracketed italicized comments throughout the diary to provide
historical context for some of Ugaki's comments. For example, Ugaki often
overestimates the extent of damage inflicted on the enemy based on his men's
optimistic reports at the time, but the editors' comments provide damage
reports primarily from books by two eminent World War II historians, Samuel
Eliot Morison and Gordon W. Prange. The editors also condense parts of the
diary that discuss routine events, and they provide summaries of the deleted
parts that do not contain anything of historical importance. This
well-documented book also includes a selected bibliography, complete endnotes
with sources, list of abbreviations, index, Ugaki's career brief, and list of
names cited in the text.
The diary's preface, written just two months prior to the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, makes clear that Ugaki's purpose is to write
about the imminent war:
It's true that I don't know any cardinal state secrets, now
that I'm serving at sea far from the center of government, but I'm sure it will
be necessary to record frankly in my diary about matters of official business
that won't appear on official records, my opinions, my impressions, my speeches
and actions, and my private matters, without regard to distinction, as they
come into my mind day by day. This will be of some use to someone else in the
future, because of my past guilt in bringing events to the state they're in
today, and because of my present post as chief of staff of the Combined Fleet
that carries the burden of the welfare of the state. Accordingly, it will be
appropriate to give this diary the name "Wastebasket of War" or,
rather, "Seaweeds of War."
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Ugaki before his plane used
for final kamikaze mission
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Ugaki's diary entries generally focus on the course of the
war, although he makes some comments on personal matters. His diary contains
very little introspective reflection, with most entries summarizing battle
details. This lack of personal reflection can make the diary at times difficult
to read word by word, especially on dates where little or no battle action
occurred. The following is a typical example of an uneventful day, which
illustrates the problem in reading many parts of the diary due to the mention
of obscure geographical names without any maps in the book (p. 370):
Saturday, 13 May 1944. Partly fair. We crossed toward
the Shinnan islands and the north of Borneo. At 1830 we entered Balabac
Channel. We sailed in a long line of columns. On the first day, two
reconnaissance seaplanes cooperated with us in guarding from Singapore.
Yesterday we didn't dispatch any of our own aircraft. Apart from the extent to
which it could help us, I was pleased to see they have come to cooperate with
us at sea. After passing through the Balabac main channel, we took the
northerly course, avoiding shoals. Fleet training wasn't executed today. The
sensitivity of enemy submarines' telephones has become stronger after entering
the Sulu Sea.
The diary contains the following five topics (ranked based on
total amount of material):
1. Ugaki's Battle Actions and Results - Most
diary entries focus on details of battles and operations that
Ugaki personally led. For example, he directed Japan's air attacks during the
Battle of Okinawa as commander of the Navy's Fifth Air Fleet headquartered at Kanoya
Air Base in Kyushu, the southernmost main island of Japan. During April and May
1945, the Sixth Air Army also was placed under his command by order of
the Combined Fleet. From April 6 to June 22, 1945, Ugaki ordered ten separate
mass aerial attacks (named Kikusui, meaning "Floating
Chrysanthemum"), which included numerous kamikaze planes. During the Kikusui
attacks, he provides in
his diary many invaluable historical details of searches for enemy ships,
planes used and lost in attacks, and estimated enemy damage. He refers in a few
places to lack of fuel, planes, and experienced pilots to carry out effective
attacks.
One year after the downing of the two planes carrying
Admiral Yamamoto and Ugaki in April 1943, the diary has a lengthy account
(about ten pages) of these events. Ugaki describes his nearly miraculous
survival after his plane caught fire and crashed into the sea after being hit
by several American fighters. He incredibly floated to the surface and then
struggled to swim to shore with a broken right wrist. Only three men survived
on the two planes ambushed by American fighters, and Admiral Yamamoto,
Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was one of the 20 casualties.
Surprisingly, even one year after the events, Ugaki thought the American attack
had been pure luck, and he still had no idea that it had been planned based on
intercepted Japanese radio messages
2. Navy's Battle Actions and Results - Ugaki's accounts of
major Pacific battles such as Midway, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa
provide valuable insights into the thinking of Japan's military leaders. As
Admiral Yamamoto's chief of staff, Ugaki regularly provided analysis of naval
battles and participated in strategy sessions. The diary often provides Ugaki's
opinions of specific causes for Japanese battle losses, but he rarely speculates in his
diary about the future. He frequently expresses dissatisfaction and
doubts regarding the Combined Fleet's strategy of trying to engage the Allies
in a decisive naval battle, and he recommends that the Japanese military adopt
the strategy of trying to gradually reduce enemy strength by engaging them
locally at opportune moments.
3. Personal Life - Although his wife Tomoko passed away in
1940, he remembers her fondly, especially on each anniversary of her death. On
April 26, 1944, Ugaki writes (p. 364), "Today is the day on which four
years ago the death of Tomoko, my wife, took place. Early in the morning I
prayed for her happiness and told her spirit of my determination. It's my firm
belief that I owe her soul a great deal for my being able to do my duty today
like this." Ugaki also writes as a proud father about his son Hiromitsu,
who was appointed as a naval medical officer in January 1945.
Some diary entries briefly mention Ugaki's pastimes, mainly hunting and poetry writing. Many poems he wrote in his
original diary have not
been included in this English translation, but a translated poem about special attack
forces poignantly expresses Ugaki's feelings toward the young men who died in
suicide attacks. A few comments mention his personal health, including continuing problems with his teeth that sometimes
cause him great pain. Just one week prior to the end of the war, he visits the hospital to get a crown for
a tooth.
4. Personal Reflections - The diary contains no lengthy
passages of personal contemplation but rather short statements sprinkled here
and there that collectively allow the reader to understand something of Ugaki's
personality and individual beliefs.
Ugaki's diary has scattered references to his personal views
on fighting and dying with honor. In March 1944, he writes (p.
338), "Human life is precious, yet we must not avoid sacrifices to win the
war." On the four-year anniversary of the death of his wife Tomoko, he
writes (p. 365), "To fight so gallantly that one's name goes down in
history, and commit hara kiri [ritual suicide] when nothing is left to one will
be best, I think." Even early in the war in 1942, he praises the courage
of an American submarine crew who boldly attacked the battleship Yamato
in the midst of threatening depth charges. He writes (p. 197), "I wish our
submarines had the same courage and more determination to destroy the enemy,
even at the sacrifice of themselves."
5. Domestic and Foreign Political News - Ugaki's diary also
has a few comments on the politics of not only Japan but also the
U.S. and Germany. He writes of his strong disagreement with the Japanese
government's peace initiatives. Despite Japan's continuing military defeats,
the Allied fleet approaching the home islands, and the dropping of two
atomic bombs, Ugaki never reveals any thoughts of surrender in his diary. On
August 11, 1945, he writes (p. 659):
Even though it becomes impossible for us to continue
organized resistance after expending our strength, we must continue guerrilla
warfare under the emperor and never give up the war. When this resolution is
brought home, we can't be defeated. Instead, we can make the enemy finally give up the war after making it taste the bitterness of a prolonged conflict.
The diary contains virtually no joking or sarcasm, but he
does make an entry that approaches black humor when he hears of the death of
President Roosevelt. He writes (p. 584), "We should send a cable of
condolence for the death of Roosevelt promptly!" He explains that Japan's
aerial attacks on the American fleet around Okinawa killed him, but of course
these had no connection with his death.
Although Vice Admiral Ugaki commanded kamikaze attacks against
American ships off Okinawa, his diary contains very few comments specifically
on suicide attacks in comparison to conventional attacks. He gives his reaction
to kamikaze attacks when he hears of their first use in the Philippines in
October 1944 (p. 503), "I'm glad to see that, as the situation becomes
critical, this kind of attack method comes to the fore without compulsion, thus
displaying the glorious way of warriors." However, based on several
comments he makes in the diary about fighting and dying with honor, it comes as
no surprise that he commanded the Fifth Air Fleet's kamikaze attacks without
question from February to August 1945. It is predictable that when faced with
defeat he decides to die
honorably while "displaying the real spirit of a Japanese warrior"
(p. 666).
When Ugaki heard that Japan planned to accept surrender
terms, he decided to lead a final kamikaze squadron to ram enemy ships at
Okinawa. He wrote (p. 664), "I'm going to follow in the footsteps of those
many loyal officers and men who devoted themselves to the country, and I want
to live in the noble spirit of the special attack." Since he was not a
pilot, a volunteer sat in front of him in the back seat as their two-seat
Suisei dive bomber took off with ten other planes. Apparently they
crashed into the sea without reaching any American ships.
Even though Ugaki concluded his writing with the
following words, "this diary must never be placed in enemy hands,"
this outstanding translation today provides invaluable historical perspective
regarding the Pacific War to English speakers on the Allied side. However,
readers without a basic understanding of the major battles will find Ugaki's
diary extremely difficult to read even with the helpful explanatory notes
provided by the editors.
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