It was a reflection of the fantastic Japanese capacity for self-delusion that, after their first stunning wave of conquests, their army commanders proposed establishing small garrisons to hold their island bases, while redeploying most of their troops to China—which they regarded as their nation’s main theatre of war. Short of trained manpower, they had scraped the barrel for forces to conduct the Southeast Asia and Pacific island offensives; the long China campaign had weakened and demoralised the army even before Pearl Harbor took place. Thereafter, Japan’s generals were obliged to find
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