banzai charge

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 652 words | Copyright

banzai charge, the name given to an all-out attack by Japanese infantry who advanced en masse regardless of the strength of their opponents or their own casualties. As on Attu, during the Aleutian Islands campaigns, and on Saipan, it was almost always the last action of a defeated force whose members were more concerned to follow the Japanese code of honour, or Bushidō, than to achieve any tactical advantage. Losses were often catastrophic and survivors frequently committed suicide rather than become prisoners-of-war. The name derives from the Japanese battle cry ‘Tenno heika banzai’ (‘Long Live the Emperor’).

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " banzai charge." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " banzai charge." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-banzaicharge.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " banzai charge." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-banzaicharge.html

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