BOLSTERING JAP. MORALE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 May 1944, Page 6

BOLSTERING JAP. MORALE

“ GHOSTS FIGHT ALLIES.” NEW YORK, Feb. 1. The Japanese Government is bolstering morale by reports that the spirits of Japanese killed in battle are resisting Allied fighting forces. An article received in Washington, says the “New York Times” correspondent there, was published in the “Japan Times-Advertiser” last August. It deals with the Japanese withdrawal from Kiska (Aleutians), and says the deified souls of Japanese'killed c-n the neighbouring island of Attu worked miracles in the Kiska area. It claims the spirits caused U.S. warships to fire at each other, calmed the seas for the Japanese evacuation, and fought the Americans for three weeks on Kiska. Spirits in the South Pacific sector are driving the enemy crazy and causing many of suicide, adds the article. Some Allied troops are rioting, refusing to garrison islands haunted by ghosts. Other reports, adds the correspondent, describe the Japanese as.dirty and hungry, with corruption rife in every department of life. The black market has become a national institution, trains have been reduced in number, and rolling stock is in a bad condition.