Tsuji.

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog:

"Hey coolbert, I was just reminded of a post you had made in this blog (or maybe it was the one you maintained earlier) about the ranking system of a Japanese Admiral (I think) of allied soldiers against the Japs themselves.

Do you have any idea where you got that from?"

The reader is referring to the Japanese Colonel Tsuji.

The man who even as a relatively junior field grade officer, had contacts and operated within the most highest and rarefied echelons of the Japanese military and civilian command structure, before, during, and after World War Two.

During that period, it can be said with some accuracy, Tsuji was Japan and Japan was Tsuji??!!

Was the Chief of Staff of the Malaya operation [1941]. Saw extensive combat experience on all fronts in the Pacific theatre during WW2. Wounded thirteen times or such??!!

Was a prolific writer on all things military, even after the war. Wrote after-action reports for the U.S. military based upon his experiences.

Devised a rating scheme for the various combatants he had encountered on the battlefields of the Pacific theatre. Just in terms of FIGHTING ABILITY, Tsuji's rating system was as follows: [#1 being the best!]

Japanese - - #1, Chinese - - #2, Russians - - #3, Ghurkhas - - #4, Americans - - #5, Australians - - #6, British Indian Army troops - - #7. English - - #8.

For a person who was an extreme nationalist and chauvinist, you might well expect Tsuji to have rated the Japanese as #1!! How "fighting ability" is specifically defined I just cannot say.

Tsuji, as mentioned in my previous blog entry, disappeared in South Vietnam under mysterious circumstances and never was seen again. A case never solved!

coolbert.