Good afternoon, you might not realize it from the title of the book, but the story it tells, is highly relevant to ongoing current affairs in the world. Without the theft that is documented here, the bad guys could not have done many of the schemes that they pulled off since the end of the war. The chapter on the eyewitness allows the reader to get an idea of the immensity of what the Japanese did in WW2. But more importantly it speaks to the corruption of our own government and an ongoing 70 something year cover up of the Japanese crimes. I would not be surprised one bit if the recent assassination of an ex prime minister is not somehow connected to this story, seeing he was a US lackey all along....

..It was failure in Manchuria that caused the Japanese to invade China, and failure in China that caused them to invade Southeast Asia. In each instance they thought expanding the war zone would solve their problems. How can victory mean failure? The answer is surprisingly simple. Great quantities of treasure came from each victory, but quickly vanished into the usual hiding places, so Japan’s ruling elite became very much richer. Meanwhile, the public treasury was exhausted by military expenditures, and ordinary Japanese were squeezed to make up the deficit. In short, the underlying problem of a corrupt ruling elite was only aggravated by infusions of stolen treasure.

Disaster lay ahead, but in a culture where conspicuous patriotism is the bottom line, few dared to speak out. Getting bogged down in China removed all restraints on military spending, so both the army and navy gambled on advancing farther south. Tokyo was counting on a sequence of surprise attacks, followed by a quick negotiated settlement, which would allow her to keep Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria, while gaining at least the Philippines and Indonesia. Few Japanese officials believed they could win a protracted war with the West. However, in the Autumn of 1941, Hirohito was persuaded that Japan had the advantage of surprise, and if he delayed, the opportunity would be lost. Weeks before Pearl Harbor, he was in contact with Pope Pius XII, hoping the Pope would negotiate a peace settlement at the right moment. To sweeten his bid for the Pope’s favor, Hirohito had his financial advisors move $45-million into the Vatican bank in Rome, and to Vatican controlled banks in Portugal and Spain.

When it was launched, the Strike South moved with stunning speed. The day after Pearl Harbor, Shanghai’s international settlement was overrun. Japanese troops landed in Siam, the government in Bangkok surrendered and obligingly declared war on the Allies. Two days later, sailing from Singapore to block a landing on the Malay Peninsula, Britain’s Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese planes. Japanese troops on folding bikes moved swiftly down the Malay Peninsula, as others invaded Burma and Sumatra.

By the end of December, Hong Kong, Guam and Wake had fallen, and Japan was invading the Philippines.

https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2022/07/part-2-gold-warriors-storming-indies.html