it*-.
OmcK or Strategic Services Research ardar cm
Copy No
BPPRimDFOR BEIEASE DATE-
CONSWENTIAX
virtually every member of the home population, excepting only pregnant women, mothers of infants, and "those who are considered the nucleus ofhe groups specifically designated as members of theare: graduates of elementary schools who are over fourteen years old. all men who are below sixty, and all women under forty-five. Police forces attached to the various civil defense units and dischargedhave also been specifically named as personnel in the NationalCorps. Although the Government has indicated its intention of carefully grouping the units to assure an even distribution of corps and personnel, at the present time many Japanese belong simultaneously to youth corps and student corps, to ex-servicemen's corps and occupational corps, and to other such overlapping units.
Concerning the functions of the Corps, the clearest statement was madeeeting of prefectural officials onpril in thethat "although the Civilian Volunteer Corps could very well be converted into combat units depending upon conditions, their main duties are to man the fronts in production, transportation, fortress construction, air defense, relief, and supply ofhis means that in addition to participating in vital production and transportation the National Volunteer Corps will repair damage from air raids, assist in the program for the evacuation of cities and the dispersal of factories and buildings, undertake ARP duties, carry on routine patrolling, and finally, hold itself In readiness for combat when the anticipated invasion comes. Although this description will hold true for the Corpshole, certain units within lt will have more specialized tasks. The Agriculture Volunteer Corps, for instance, will bc primarily engaged in augmenting food production, and to further this end mobile units which can bcto any part Df the home islands are being organized. But as with the whole organization, "in the event of the worst" the agriculture corps wouldroup of combat units.
Precisely what military significance the National Volunteer Corps will have in the event of invasion remains uncertain as yet. Evidencethat the Corps may be welded into an effective home defense army lies In the suggestion that ex-servicemen may be made the core of certain combat units. In the orders already sent out to district military commanders to begin the production ol arms "easy tond in the setting uprogram to train students In bayonet use, grenade throwing, kendo, and Judo. Evidence to the contrary, however, may bc found In the repeated emphasis upon the productive purposes of the Corps, the lack of any complete program for the military training of the units, and the declaration by Minister Abe onay that even after itighting unit the Corps will be used mainly In "the necessary fields of production, transportation, air defense, rescue work, anddistribution in the rear."
From these Indications it would seem that the Japanese leaders do not seriously regard the National Volunteer Corpsast-ditch fighting force, and intend to use Its military potentialities chiefly for propaganda.
In an Allied occupation of Japan, however, the organized unitsthe cities and countryside would certainly be an added element of resistanceotential menace to civil order, no matter how poorly trained and inadequately equipped they might be. Meanwhile,evice to augment industrial and agricultural production will depend entirely upon what response the Japanese people make to this latest scheme to spur their energies.
Original document.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: