Kempeitai

The Kempeitai (Japanese: 憲兵隊, Hepburn: Kenpeitai; lit. 'Corps of Law Soldiers') was the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police and gendarmerie responsibilities. At its peak at the end of World War II, the Kempeitai had about 35,000 personnel, or kempei (憲兵). Founded in 1881 during the Meiji era, the Kempeitai was based on France's National Gendarmerie. The broad duties of the Kempeitai included maintaining military discipline, enforcing conscription laws, protecting vital military zones, and investigating crimes among soldiers. Institutionally part of the Army, the Kempeitai also discharged limited military police functions for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). As Japanese militarism expanded, so did the Kempeitai's ranks and duties. During World War II, the organization ran Japan's prisoner-of-war camps and civilian internment camps, and were known for their mistreatment of detainees. They also provided security at important government and military locations at risk of being sabotaged within the Empire of Japan and its occupied territories. It also procured comfort women as well as human test subjects for Unit 731. The Kempeitai specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, and counterintelligence. They conducted raids to capture high-value targets. They created an Imperial Japanese Army security network, interrogating suspects who might be Allied soldiers and spies or members of a resistance movement. In occupied areas, it issued travel permits, recruited labor, and requisitioned food and supplies. The Kempeitai also acted as a political police force in the military and occupied territories. It spread propaganda and suppressed dissent and anti-Japanese sentiment. It was notorious for its brutality, carrying out torture, summary executions, and violent reprisals and massacres against civilians. The Kempeitai was disbanded after the war, and many of its leaders were tried and convicted of war crimes.