In addition to the Australian and American enemy, the Imperial Japanese Army faced a hostile environment. Statistics create a portrait of an army ravaged by disease. Japanese records report 120,000 sick soldiers admitted to military hospitals in New Guinea over the final three and a half years of the war (Table 1). As the assault on Port Moresby collapsed, the 67th Line of Communication Hospital in Giruwa received 1,325 patients from the Kokoda Track campaign, of which 1,110 were sick. [1]
However, the actual toll was probably higher since Japanese soldiers tended not to report their illnesses. In 1943, Medical 2nd Lieutenant SAWATARI Zengoro reported to an American interrogator ‘numerous’ cases of dysentery and a 100 per cent incidence of Malaria in the forward areas. [2] Disease hampered the effectiveness of soldiers not hospitalised, as noted by Medical 1st Lieutenant OKUBO Fukunobo about the malaria cases, "This disease undermines and exhausts the strength of mind and body". [3] Throughout the war in New Guinea, the Japanese Army was weakened by a high incidence of gastroenteritis, malaria and nutritional disorders.
The Japanese sustained heavy casualties in New Guinea requiring treatment by their surgeons. The rugged terrain reduced the chances of survival for a wounded soldier by making it difficult to get to the hospital. Those who made it to the hospital did not get medical care comparable to the standards received by American and Australian casualties. Even if a Japanese soldier made it to the hospital, it was unlikely that he could get out of New Guinea as a result of the successful allied interdiction of surface ships sending supplies to New Guinea and evacuating the wounded.
TABLE 1: Imperial Japanese Army – reported hospital admissions [4]
| Region Hospital admissions/ case fatalities | Troop Strength | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | Total |
| New Guinea | 60,000 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Total deaths | — | 2,000 | 1,000 | 7,000 | # | 10,000 |
| Combat wounded | — | # | 2,000 | 1,000 | # | 3,000 |
| Died of wounds | — | 150 | 250 | 600 | # | 1,000 |
| War-related disease admissions | — | 20,000 | 30,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 120,000 |
| Died of disease | — | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 |
# Total not available.
Notes
1. Allied Translator Intelligence Service records (ATIS), National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Government, "Enemy publication no. 24: Records of the No. 67 Eastern New Guinea Giruwa L of C hospital, no. 2 sub-section".
2. ATIS records, interrogation report 86: 10.
3. Enemy publication 24: 47.
4. The above table derived from Imperial Japanese Army records is incomplete since the records only include patients admitted to a military hospital and it is not clear what level of hospital is represented. The table does not include soldiers who were sick and were not admitted to a hospital. It should also be noted that table includes a number of discrepancies: reported fatalities, for example, do not add up.
Japanese medical:
Overview text Images Evacuation Gastroenteritis Hospitals Malaria Nutrition Physicians Surgical WATANABE Tetsuo