Radio Tokyo – news- reports and commentary – January 30-31, 1942 – Radio Tokyo English Service –
In what would best be described as a dark period for the Allies, Japanese land, sea and air forces were sweeping across the Pacific, overrunning islands and coming dangerously close to launching attacks on mainland U.S. Many felt it was only a matter of time before Australia would be invaded and already attacks were being launched on Port Moresby, the northern most island which was part of Australia.
Of course, because this was the English service of Radio Tokyo, all of the reports are genuinely slanted towards the goings-on of the Japanese Army and intended to paint a portrait of imminent doom for the Allies as a way of pushing propaganda and good old-fashioned demoralizing – if anyone was listening.
Because this was shortwave, the broadcasts were picked up by listening posts all over the world and U.S. officials were kept moderately informed as to what Tokyo was thinking. Comparing against their own Intelligence gathering, it was easy to get a better picture of how the war was going, since it was spread over such a large area of the Pacific.
On this particular set of reports, Japanese forces were preparing to take over the port of Moulamein in Burma and were threatening Rangoon as well as Singapore. There was also a flood of reports regarding Manila and how the Japanese invasion of the Philippines was transpiring. In Singapore, dusk to dawn curfew was in place and it was reported Japanese troops were some 15 miles from the Jahore Straits.
Because these are reports that were repeated during the day, some of the newscasts sound familiar – there is also a considerable amount of stopping and starting the recorder. That can pose a distraction, but it should prevent you from getting a serious dose of history as you may not have heard it.
And that’s what was going on for January 30-31, 1942 as reported by Radio Tokyo – English Service.
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