* The point is substantiated by the statement of POW Yanagizawa Eiichi, leading private, 239th Regiment, 41st Division, who quotes a speech by Major-General Aotsu Kikutaro, 41st Division Infantry Group Commander: ‘On 1 November 1944, in a speech to his troops, Major General Aotsu…stated that troops must fight the enemy even to the extent of eating him.’ On 10 December 1944, an order was issued from Eighteenth Army Headquarters that troops were ‘permitted to eat the flesh of the enemy dead, but must not eat their own dead…’ On 21 December 1944, at Marujippu, Major Morimoto shared out to his troops the flesh of two Australian soldiers who had been killed in action and joined them in eating it. Some historians believe the Japanese chose to eat human flesh even when other sources of food were in supply: ‘The evidence available indicates clearly that cannibalism was frequently practised when there was other food available, that is to say, from choice not necessity. (See also Holt,From Ingleburn to Aitape: The Trials and Tribulations of a Four Figure Man, Streamlined Press, Sydney, 1980, p. 205; and recent research on Japanese supply by Keith Richmond, Canberra.)