Will Japanese soldiers fight to the end?

[Palle]

Both is as it should be. Though the Japanese might have been even more fanatical than the SS as a result of the way the Bushi-Do permeated Japanese society after the Meji Reforms.

In the past few years there has been some hints that more Japaneese troops actually tried to surrender than were allowed to, but were killed out of hand anyway.

This would be the natural result of a mixture of the racist attitude of westerners at the time, the war having hardened the soldiers (and the Marines were damn hard to start with), propaganda, the actual experience of veterans who would not expect a Jap to surrender- or if he did it would be a ruse to get close enough to detonate a last hand grenade, fright, shock, and propably many other factors. Much like German soldiers on the East Front in fact. These two theatres of war were incredibly hard and cruel, with predictable results for the poor guys deployed there.

It is a field of study I have not looked into much (I am a historian, but not specialising there), but I believe there is a Ph.D. Thesis there for any who dare.