NAZI TACTICS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1941, Page 5

NAZI TACTICS

PLAYING ON JAPANESE VANITY EFFECTIVE FIFTH COLUMN TECHNIQUE. PILGRIMAGES TO NATIONAL SHRINES. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 6. Methods by which the Nazis build up support for their policy in the countries that are allied to them are described in ani article in the New York “Herald-Tribune” which has aroused great interest here. Written by Dr. Spinks, former editor of the American newspaper in Tokio, “Japan News Week,” the article describes how “Fifth Column” activities of the Nazis have invaded every phase of Japanese political and social life. The Nazis have studied every method of making their penetration effective, and the following instance is evidence of the Nazi attention to detail. The article says: — • “Ordinarily it would be difficult to establish that intimate basis that is necessary for effective ‘Fifth Column' work. Yet the Germans have been quick to discover that national vanity is a weakness to be exploited to the fullest. Since the outbreak of the war in China in July, 1937, the outward display of Japanese patriotism has been considerably intensified. Two of the more current forms are bowing before the Imperial Palace and making pilgrimages to the shrines associated with the growth of national and military power. “Here was an opportunity to play on Japanese vanity which the Germans did not ignore. German delegates. business groups, Hitler youth missions, and others coming into Japan to swell the ranks of the ‘Fifth Column’ methodically assemble in the plaza before the Imperial Palace and bow in true Japanese fashion toward the abode of the heavenly sovereign. The bowing over, the ceremony is capped with the Nazi salute. Reporters and news-reel camera men are always on hand to.record this ostensible manifestation of German respect. “No other foreigners ever go through this ritual, though they bow when the Emperor passes on the street or when some special service is held to Which they are invited.

“A particularly effective instance was when the Germans who were taken by a British cruiser from the Asama Maru and were later released returned to Tokio; their first act was to parade to the Imperial Palace and, with bows and Nazi salutes, express gratitude for their deliverance. The effect on the Japanese was tremendous.” Dr. -Spinks adds: “Tokio today offers vivid testimony of how the ‘Fifth Column’ has pushed its way into power. Many of the small handful of British and Americans who formerly constituted the great majority of the foreign community have moved out and the Germans have moved in. There are more than 3000 Germans now in Japan, making the largest foreign group. In the last three months some 2800 Germans checked in and out of the country. They come and go listed as business men, technicians and scholars. “The Imperial Hotel in Tokio has been taken over and is now the ‘Fifth Column’s’ social centre. No fewer than 300 Germans are studying Japanese in Tokio; a detachment of Nazi counter-espionage experts from the Gestapo are now attached to , the Japanese military police and are training them in the latest Nazi methods: and there are 260 German technical experts working in the Japanese war industries.”