What was the Japanese 'Three Alls Policy' utilized during World War 2?

Answer 1

The Three Alls Policy, or Sanko Sakusen, was a Japanese scorched earth policy adopted in China in World War II. In Japanese documents, the policy was originally called "The Burn To Ash Strategy" (Jinmetsu Sakusen). The aforementioned name was based on the Chinese term for the Policy, and was popularized in a book by a former Japanese soldier, in which a number of Japanese veterans confessed to war crimes under OKAMURA Yasugi. The titular "Three Alls" were: # Kill All # Burn All # Loot All The policy was initiated in 1940 by TANAKA Ryukichi, and was approved as order number 575 by the Imperial General Headquarters on December 3rd, 1941. The strategy involved burning down villages, confiscating grain, and constructing thousands of miles of walls and moats, watchtowers and roads. The use of chemical warfare against international agreements was also alleged. A 1996 study by historian HIMETA Mitsuyoshi, claims that the policy was responsible for the deaths of more than 2.7 million Chinese civilians, a number that, according to the book Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix, far surpassed The Rape of Nanking in both numbers and brutality. It targeted "all males between the ages of fifteen and sixty whom we suspect to be enemies". This is a subject of much debate, and there are ultrarightist groups in Japan which deny the veracity of the extent of the policy, because the Chinese government had adopted a similar policy. Known as the "Seiya Sakusen", or "Clean Field Strategy", the Chinese soldiers would destroy the homes and fields of their own civilians in order to prevent supplies and shelter from being used by the Japanese. Some claim that deaths attributed to the Three Alls Policy were actually caused by the Chinese's own scorched earth policy.