current intelligence study number 29
Office of Strategic Sebvicss Research and Analysis Branch
35
THE KEMPEI IN JAPANESE-OCCUPIED TERRITORY
The Japanese Military Police organization, the Kempei, is the most powerful, the most hated, and the most feared organization In Japanese-occupied territory. The power ofm pet derives chiefly from its semi-independent position within the Army. Although organized as an Army combat arm, the Kempei is commandedrovost Marshal Ocneral who ls directly responsible to the Minister of War. Its overseas activities range from the maintenance of military discipline toand the supervision of "thought control" among conquered populations. In fulfilling these broad functions the Kempei acts with an almost complete freedom from legal checks. As long as the Japanese Army retains control of the occupied territories the Kempei willtrong deterrent to the formation of underground groups and native political organizations. Even after the expulsion of Japanese troops the Kempei will probably attempt to maintain an intelligence network and to instigate subversive activity among native populations.
Organization
Authority in the Kempei runs from the Minister of War to the commander of the organization, the Provost Marshal General. Onconcerning the Home Islands occasional "supervision" comes from the Ministers of Home Affairs and Justice, and the Minister ofes instructions ronceming Kempei control Ol Bfttf] pvtOEfiatl Osoaal from the Provost Marshal Ocneral aro channeled through the Supreme Command, to which the main Kempei headquarters in Tokyo is attached, and dispatched to Kempei headquarters in Manchuria, China, and the Southern Regions. From these Area Army headquarters, the orders are dispatched to the Kempei units attached to various Army divisions.
Within the organization there are two main branches, the Field Military Police and the Regular Military Police. Although thereonsiderable overlapping of function between the two divisions, the Field Military Police are largely concerned with counterintelligence, while the duties of the Regular Military Police involve chiefly theof military discipline and order. Also, most of the Field Military Police, who are recognized as the upper strata of the Kempei, are officers and are better paid than the Regular Military Police.
Personnel
Kempei personnel are hand-picked volunteers from the Japanese Army. Before the war, six years of Army servicererequisite for membership, but recently the required service has been reduced to three
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years.m pel personnel most meet high standards of physique, Intelligence, language facility, and education. However, the standards for the Field Military Police are even higher; because an intimateof enemy countries Is necessary for counterintelligence work,are frequently selected from Japanese Foreign Office personnel and Japanese embassy and consular police overseas.
Selected Kempei candidates areear's special training at Kempei schools. The curriculum includes such courses as law. languages, espionage, counterespionage, horsemanship, fencing, and unarmedSpecific attention Is given In the classrooms to methods of Invisible writing, sbaduwlng, and entering and leaving buildings. Students are also given extensive field training, and are frequently required to make exhaustive Investigations of the production and the methods of some particular Japanese industry without being detected. Also, in order to test their skill, they arc made to disguise themselves and frequent places where they are known.
Rough approximations of the number of Kempei personnel suggest that there are at0 Kempei of all0 of whom are officers. Early5 three thousand Kempei were estimated to be in Burma alone. These figures, however, are for Japanese personnel only, and Kempei memberseneral practice of recruiting largeof natives to supplement their number, especially for use inand counterintelligence work.
The Kempei Field Military Police Manual gives detailed instructions for recruiting native personnel In tbe field. The Kempei are told to select their agents from among those persons who are either actively pro-Japanese orrudge against the enemy, giving preference to coolies, fishermen, Chinese living abroad, village and district chiefs, missionaries, and other prominent people of native villages The methods recommended for enlisting these people Include the granting of special privileges, the offer of money and goods, the use of threats orthe imbuing of servants and coolies with "spiritualnd the adoptioniberal attitudeative has been caughtrime.
Both the Regular Military Police and the Field Military Police divisions ordinarily wear regular Army uniforms with distinguishing insignia Uniform Insignia for tbe Kempei are flower-like starsby leaves. The Kempei may alsohite brassard with red letters signifying Kempeitoi. The insignia for the Kempei in plain clothes consist frequently of small buttonshrysanthemum, worn on the under sideoat lapel.
Powers and Functions
The powers and functions of the Kempei In occupied territory may be divided Into three categories: discipline, special warfare, and security. The Kempei expend their greatest effort in the maintenance of security.
both In the preservation of military secrecy and the control of civilian morale.
In maintaining civil discipline the Kempei assume an authority superior lo the local courts and police. They usually take over the police force of the occupied territory, Impressing the members into their service. Next they usually register the native population andensus department They then issue Military Police passes and Inform the population that anyone mtending to be away from home for more thanours must notify the census department. Later, in order to punish crimes committed by unknown offenders, the Kempei usuallyystem of group responsibility. They set up neighborhood control associations whose heads arc responsible for the maintenance of order within the neighborhood. The associations themselves are subdivided Into family units with the head of family assuming responsibilityto that of the head of the neighborhood association. There Is no court to which the population may appeal. The effectiveness of Kempei methods may perhaps be Judged by the reports that Shanghai, notorious for its extensive underworld, haseriod of comparative law and order under Kempei control.
In the enforcement of military disci pane tbe Kempei possess supremeember of the Kempei may arrest any member of the armed forces up to three ranks higher than himself. He may determine and execute punishment in the field. He is above the control of the local military establishment and often displays his superiority by disregard of saluting and lack of uniform dress. He can be arrested only by Kempei superiors and may receive orders only from them. Such work as traffic control and guarding essential installations is doneby the Kempei, but usually by line troops. This freedom from routine duties and the possession of wide powers make the Kempei especially hated and feared by Japanese troops.
According to the Field Military Police Manual the special warfare assignments undertaken by the Kempei are likely to Include burning enemy materials and installations, using bacterial and chemical warfare among enemy troops, disrupting signals and communications, andthe natives against the enemy In order to prevent theirof supplies. They also organize fifth column groups among native populations. The Kempei are sometimes assigned to operations comparable to commando raids upon enemy outposts. During these operations Kempei personnel usually wear native dress or other disguises.
In fulfilling their paramount task of maintaining security Interritories, the Kempei exert their greatest effort In the field of counterintelligence. However, the Kempeionsiderable amount of intelligence work, and, In addition, devote much of their time to"thought control" among the armed forces and conquered populations.
The Japanese Field Military Police Manual designates the listing of spies among the fundamental duties of the Kempei. The Kempeia vigilance around hotels, post offices, and railway stations. They investigate such personnel as canteen stewards, government contractors, and other civilian employees. They establish strict regulations Inareas fur the sale of firearms, powder charges, explosives, electrical appliances and drugs. They also supervise photographic supply shops, restaurants, sweet shops, cafes, and amusement places. Because such extensive operations require large numbers of agents, the Kempeieneral practice of using natives to supplement their ranks. In this way they have succeeded inroad counterintelligencein Japanese-occupied territory.
In counterintelligence work the Kempei maintain close coordination with Special Service Organizations (Tokumuhich are assigned to ordinary intelligence operations.empei sectionpecial Service unit The two staffs process all reports Jointly and determine their value for either organization. The Kempei also engage In combat intelligence work, chiefly through the use of native agents and native reconnaissance patrols. When Information ofvalue is obtained it Is forwarded to the organization for whom it can be most useful. Kempei intelligence work is secondary to its counterintelligence work and consists chiefly of collection.
The Kempei overseas are assigned the task of maintaining "thought control" over the armed forces and civilian populations. In exercising this control over military personnel the Kempei devote themselvesto methods of combatting propaganda warfare. They aro instructed to be constantly vigilant against enemy printed matter, pictures, radio programs, slogans, songs, flying kites, and wall handwriting. Kempei are distributed among Army units to attempt to counteract suchby explaining enemy plans to the troops, by devising similar methods for use in retaliation, and by coping with disorder before it is too late. In order to be able to clarify enemy plans the Kempei assemble materialsong period of time, making statistical observations and studying routes and methods. Even more directly, they secretly observe the effect on their troops of the enemy propaganda and of their own counterpropaganda. and even inspect the reports of commanding officers. Finally, they take what their Manual describes as "suitable protective measures within the Army."
The Field Military Police Manual describes four immediate aims to be achieved in occupied territory through the mediums of propaganda and "thoughthey are: (l) The destruction of communism and other such influences in order to facilitate the establishment of the influence of thehe development of commerce and the restoration of the culture of Oneater East Asia, thereby bringing about "social betterment, tranquillity, and the pursuit of one's ownbe reformation of the "old, cliquish, egoistic nationalism" and tbe abolition of the national consciousness ofonquered people in
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order to bring about "neighborly and friendlynified economy and the establishment of the cooperative defense of Greater East Asia.
In attaining these aims, the Kempei, in addition to distributing propaganda among native peoples, investigate the political sympathies and the loyalties of the population. Native agents, Japanese civilian employees, and the intelligence personnel of other agencies assist the Kempei in thisouble check on persons under suspicion is maintained through liaison with the Special Service Organization and the local Army Headquarters. In handling suspects the Kempei use torture freely and do not appear to be restrained by any rules ofor administrative regulations. On some occasions they establish themselvesuspect's houseeekime and watch, without asking questions or even speaking at all, until the suspectalse move, either through embarrassment or fright.
Another medium of thought control utilized by the Kempei is the censorship of literature, plays, films, and correspondence in occupied territory. The Kempei are instructed to be especially alert to trends of public sentiment, economic conditions within the occupied country, the ideologies of the inhabitants, and the policies of religious, political, and labor organizations. They are also expected to be active in checking rumors. The Kempei are instructed that religion can be usedhort cut in winning over native populations and that freedom of belief is therefore to be recognized Insofar as lt does not interfere with peace and order.
Reports from occupied territories attest to the ruthless efficiency of the Kempei in their dealing with native populations. In the Japanese-held portion of North China they were reported to have arrestedersonsen-week periodhey are said to be more responsible than the regular Army troops for giving theeputation for rapine among conquered peoples. They have beenvigilant in the fields of counterintelligence and the control of underground activity. In the process of establishing these efficientover the territories occupied by the Japanese Army the Kempei have constructed an extensive Intelligence network whose personnel Includes large numbers of natives. These natives have been trained In Kempei methods over the past four years. Efforts presumably will be made to utilize this network to obtain information concerning Allied operations and to direct sabotage after the Japanese Army has departed from the territories now held.
Original document.
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