Lot 684

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Description:

Excessively rare war-date book: "Special Attack Flotilla Bushido in The War of Greater East Asia" (Tokyo: Japan Time Press), 1942. 82pp. 4to., with illustrations from photographs. In original gilt-lettered dark blue cloth bound with royal purple string. First, and only, edition, in English. Very rare volume of Japanese propaganda, published in Japanese with a very few copies published in English, Dutch, and a few other languages at the height of the war in the Pacific. The book was prepared as a tribute to the nine Japanese sailors who were launched in two-man "midget" submarines to attack American vessels at Pearl Harbor immediately before the infamous airborne attack of December 7, 1941. The sailors were treated as heroes and the text worships these "Hero Gods". Includes a fantastic account of the attack, claiming that the submarines had scored multiple torpedo hits on capital vessels even after the Japanese air attack had concluded, and fails to mention the sinking of of one submarine by the USS WARD. The text also includes biographies of each of the crew members and commanders, the text of their final letters to their families, an interview of the Japanese Chief of the Naval Press Section of the Imperial Headquarters by Japanese novelist Eiji Yoshikawa and much more. The closing text advises: "The end of the War of Greater East Asia is still far off. In order to gain a final victory, the present total war must be fought with unflagging energy to a finish, and for this purpose the nation must form an even firmer resolution to gain complete mastery of all seas." Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki was the sole survivor of the abortive mini-sub attack, abandoning his grounded submarine and captured - a fact not mentioned in the narrative. OCLC/WorldCat locates only six copies of this book, three in the United States. Another copy was sold by PBA for $1,800 in 2015.

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November 13, 2018 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

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