Japanese guerrillas in the Philippines. The Last Samurai of World War II

During one of the attacks on an enemy base, the scout received a radio receiver, converted it to receive decimeter waves and began to receive information about the situation in the outside world. He also had access to Japanese newspapers and magazines that were left in the jungle by members of Japanese search commissions. Even before being sent to the front, Onoda was taught at officer school that the enemy would resort to mass disinformation about the end of the war, so he did not believe the information he received.

On February 20, 1974, a young Japanese traveler and student Norio Suzuki accidentally found Onoda in the jungle of Lubang. Suzuki tried to persuade him to return home by talking about the end of the war, the defeat of the Japanese and the modern prosperity of Japan. However, Onoda refused, explaining that he could not leave his duty station because he did not have permission to do so from his senior officer. Suzuki returned to Japan alone, but brought back photographs of the Japanese intelligence officer, which created a sensation in the Japanese media. The Japanese government urgently contacted Yoshimi Taniguchi, a former major in the Imperial Japanese Army and Onoda's immediate commander, who had been working in a bookstore since the end of the war. On March 9, 1974, Taniguchi flew to Lubang, contacted Onoda while wearing a military uniform, and announced the following orders to him:

“1. According to His Majesty’s order, all military units are exempt from combat operations.
2. According to Order No. 2003 on combat operations “A”, the special group of the General Staff of the 14th Army is exempt from performing all operations.
3. All units and persons who are subordinate to the special group of the General Staff of the 14th Army must immediately stop fighting and maneuvers and come under the command of the nearest senior officers. If this is not possible, they must contact the US Army or its allied armies directly and follow their instructions.

Commander of the Special Group of the General Staff of the 14th Army, Yoshimi Taniguchi

On March 10, 1974, Onoda brought a report for Taniguchi to the radar station and surrendered to Philippine forces. He was in full military uniform, carrying a serviceable Arisaka type 99 rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, several hand grenades and a samurai sword. The Japanese handed his sword to the base commander as a sign of surrender and was ready to die. However, the commander returned the weapon to him, calling him “a model of army loyalty.”

According to Philippine law, Onoda faced the death penalty for robbery and murder, attacks on the police and military during 1945-1974, but thanks to the intervention of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, he was pardoned. The surrender ceremony was attended by dignitaries from both countries, including then-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Onoda solemnly returned to his homeland on March 12, 1974.

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Some Japanese soldiers never learned that World War II ended in 1945. Fanatically loyal to their emperor, they continued to hide in the jungle for decades, trying to avoid the shame of captivity
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An Imperial Japanese Army lieutenant and corporal have been discovered in the jungles of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, hiding there since the end of World War II in fear of punishment for leaving a combat position.

The found soldiers did not know that World War II had already ended.

Now these "elderly deserters" over the age of 80 are in the hands of local authorities. In the near future they will have a meeting with representatives of the Japanese embassy in the Philippines, the Tokyo press reports today. Several more former Japanese soldiers may be hiding in this remote area of the island of Mindanao, ITAR-TASS reports.

The 87-year-old former lieutenant and 83-year-old former corporal were accidentally discovered by members of the Philippine counterintelligence agency, which conducts operations in the area.

87-year-old Lieutenant Yoshio Yamakawe and 83-year-old Corporal Tsuzuki Nakauchi served in the 30th Infantry Division of the Imperial Army, which landed in 1944 on the Philippine island of Mindanao. This unit suffered heavy damage as a result of massive American bombing and was ordered to begin guerrilla warfare in the jungle. The remnants of the division were then evacuated to Japan, but some of its fighters did not make it to the assembly point in time and involuntarily became deserters.

According to reports, the lieutenant and corporal are very afraid of a military tribunal if they return to their homeland. Last year, they accidentally met a Japanese man who was looking for the remains of dead soldiers in southern Mindanao. Yamakawa and Nakauchi have documents confirming their identities, the person said.

Japanese soldiers unaware of the end of the war had previously been found in remote areas of the Pacific Islands. In 1974, for example, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was discovered in the jungle of the Philippine island of Lubang. Earlier in 1972, a private of one of the infantry units was found on the island of Guam, which now belongs to the United States.

Dozens of “lost” soldiers are still roaming the Philippine jungle

Some Japanese soldiers never learned that World War II ended in 1945. Fanatically loyal to their emperor, they continued to hide in the jungle for decades, trying to avoid the shame of captivity.

Japanese soldiers were the descendants of brave warriors who knew no other life except war. Their motto was absolute obedience to their commanders, their earthly mission was service to the emperor and death in battle. They considered captivity a shame and humiliation that would forever brand them in the eyes of those they respected - friends, family, warriors, monks. This was the mindset of an ordinary Japanese soldier during World War II.

These soldiers died in the hundreds of thousands and would rather throw themselves on their own swords than raise the white flag of surrender to the enemy. Especially in front of the Americans, whose marines and naval pilots performed miracles of courage, liberating the Pacific islands from Japanese invaders.

Many soldiers, scattered across countless islands, did not know about the order to surrender and hid in the jungle for many years. These people knew nothing about the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or about the terrible raids on Tokyo that turned that city into a heap of ruins.

The news of the act of surrender and occupation of Japan signed on board the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay did not reach the wilds of the tropical forests. Cut off from the rest of the world, the soldiers went to bed and got up with the belief that the war was still going on.

Rumors about the missing legion of soldiers circulated for many years. Hunters from remote Philippine villages spoke of “devil people” living in the thickets like forest animals. In Indonesia they were called "yellow people" who roam the forests.

The Most Famous Lost Soldier

In 1961, 16 years after Japan's surrender, a soldier named Ito Masashi emerged from the tropical jungles of Guam to surrender.

Masashi could not believe that the world he knew and believed in before 1945 was now completely different, that that world no longer existed.

Private Masashi was lost in the jungle on October 14, 1944. Ito Masashi bent down to tie his shoelace. He fell behind the column, and this saved him - part of Masashi was ambushed by Australian soldiers. Hearing the shooting, Masashi and his comrade, Corporal Iroki Minakawa, who was also lagging behind, rushed to the ground. While shooting was heard behind the copse, they crawled further and further. Thus began their incredible sixteen-year game of hide and seek with the rest of the world.

For the first two months, the private and the corporal ate the remains of NZ and insect larvae, which they found under the bark of trees. They drank rainwater collected in banana leaves and chewed edible roots. Sometimes they dined on snakes that they happened to catch in snares.

At first they were hunted by soldiers of the allied army, and then by the inhabitants of the island with their dogs. But they managed to get away. Masashi and Minakawa came up with their own language to communicate safely with each other - clicking, hand signals.

They built several shelters, digging them in the ground and covering them with branches. The floor was covered with dry leaves. Nearby they dug several holes with sharp stakes at the bottom - traps for game.

They wandered through the jungle for eight long years. Masashi would later say: “During our wanderings, we came across other similar groups of Japanese soldiers who, like us, continued to believe that the war was ongoing. We were sure that our generals retreated for tactical reasons, but the day would come when they would return with reinforcements. Sometimes we lit fires, but it was dangerous because we could be discovered. The soldiers were dying of hunger and disease, were attacked, sometimes killed by their own. I knew that I had to stay alive to fulfill my duty - to continue struggle. We survived only by chance, because we stumbled upon the dump of an American air base."

The landfill became a source of life for soldiers lost in the jungle. Wasteful Americans threw away a lot of different food. There, the Japanese picked up tin cans and adapted them for dishes. They made sewing needles from bed springs and used awnings for bed linen. The soldiers needed salt, and at night they crawled out to the coast, collecting seawater in jars to evaporate the white crystals from it.

The wanderers' worst enemy was the annual rainy season: for two months in a row they sat sadly in shelters, eating only berries and frogs. There was almost unbearable tension in their relationship at that time, Masashi later said.

After ten years of living like this, they found leaflets on the island. They contained a message from a Japanese general they had never heard of before. The general ordered them to surrender. Masashi said: “I was sure that this was a trick by the Americans to catch us. I said to Minakawa: “Who do they take us for?!”

The incredible sense of duty these people had, unfamiliar to Europeans, is also reflected in another story by Masashi: “One day Minakawa and I were talking about how to get out of this island by sea. We walked along the coast, unsuccessfully trying to find a boat. But we only came across two American barracks with lighted windows. We crawled close enough to see men and women dancing and hear the sounds of jazz. For the first time in all these years I saw women. I was in despair - I missed them! Returning to my shelter, I began to carve a figure out of wood naked woman. I could have calmly gone to the American camp and surrender, but this was contrary to my beliefs. I swore an oath to my emperor, he would have been disappointed in us. I did not know that the war had long ended, and I thought that the emperor had simply transferred our soldier to some other place."

One morning, after sixteen years of seclusion, Minakawa put on homemade wooden sandals and went hunting. A day passed, and he was still not there. Masashi panicked. “I knew that I would not survive without him,” he said. “I searched the entire jungle in search of a friend. Quite by accident I came across Minakawa’s backpack and sandals. I was sure that the Americans had captured him. Suddenly a plane flew over my head, and I rushed back into the jungle, determined to die rather than surrender. Climbing the mountain, I saw four Americans there waiting for me. Among them was Minakawa, whom I did not immediately recognize - his face was clean-shaven. He said that when he walked through the forest, I came across some people, and they persuaded him to surrender. From him, I heard that the war had long ended, but it took me several months to really believe it. They showed me a photo of my grave in Japan, where on the monument it was written, that I died in battle. It was terribly difficult to understand. All my youth was wasted. That same evening I went into a hot bathhouse and for the first time in many years went to bed on a clean bed. It was amazing! "

In January 1972, Sergeant Ikoyi was found

As it turned out, there were Japanese soldiers who lived in the jungle much longer than Masashi. For example, Sergeant of the Imperial Army Shoichi Ikoi, who also served in Guam.

As the Americans stormed the island, Shoichi escaped from his Marine regiment and took refuge at the foot of the mountains. He also found leaflets on the island calling on Japanese soldiers to surrender according to the emperor's orders, but he refused to believe it.

The sergeant lived as a complete hermit. He ate mainly frogs and rats. His uniform, which had fallen into disrepair, was replaced by clothes made of bark and bast. He shaved, scraping his face with a sharpened piece of flint.

Shoichi Ikoi said: “I was all alone for so many long days and nights! Once I tried to scream away a snake that had crawled into my home, but all I got was a pitiful squeak. My vocal cords were inactive for so long that they simply refused to work. After that I “I began to train my voice every day by singing songs or reading prayers out loud.”

The sergeant was accidentally discovered by hunters in January 1972. He was 58 years old. Ikoyi knew nothing about the atomic bombings, the surrender and defeat of his homeland. When it was explained to him that his hermitage was meaningless, he fell to the ground and sobbed. Hearing that he would soon be flying home to Japan on a jet plane, Ikoi asked in surprise, “What is a jet plane?”

Under public pressure, government organizations in Tokyo were forced to send an expedition into the jungle to extract their old soldiers from their lairs.

The expedition scattered tons of leaflets in the Philippines and other islands where Japanese soldiers might end up. But the wandering warriors still considered it enemy propaganda.

In 1974, Lieutenant Onoda surrendered

Even later, in 1974, on the remote Philippine island of Lubang, 52-year-old Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda emerged from the jungle and surrendered to local authorities. Six months earlier, Onoda and his comrade Kinshiki Kozuka ambushed a Filipino patrol, mistaking it for an American one. Kozuka died, and attempts to track Onoda came to nothing: he disappeared into impenetrable thickets.

To convince Onoda that the war was over, they even had to call his former commander - he did not trust anyone else. Onoda asked permission to keep a sacred samurai sword that he buried on the island in 1945 as a souvenir.

Onoda was so stunned to find himself in a completely different time that he had to undergo long-term psychotherapeutic treatment. He said: “I know that many more of my comrades are hiding in the forests, I know their call signs and the places where they are hiding. But they will never come to my call. They will decide that I could not stand the test and broke down, surrendering to the enemies. Unfortunately, they will die there."

In Japan, Onoda had a touching meeting with his elderly parents.

His father said: “I’m proud of you! You acted like a real warrior, as your heart told you.”

“The war is not over for him,” they sometimes say about former soldiers and officers. But this is rather an allegory. But the Japanese Hiroo Onoda was sure that the war was still going on several decades after the end of World War II. How did this happen?

In January 1945, Hiroo Onoda, already with the rank of junior lieutenant, was transferred to the Philippine island of Lubang. He received orders to hold out until the last.
Arriving in Lubang, Onoda suggested that the local command begin preparations for the long-term defense of the island. But his call was ignored. American troops easily defeated the Japanese, and the reconnaissance detachment led by Onoda was forced to flee to the mountains. In the jungle, the military set up a base and began guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The squad consisted of only four people: Hiroo Onoda himself, Private First Class Yuichi Akatsu, Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuki and Corporal Shoichi Shimada.

In September 1945, shortly after Japan signed the act of surrender, an order from the commander of the 14th Army was dropped from planes into the jungle, ordering them to surrender their weapons and surrender. However, Onoda considered this a provocation on the part of the Americans. His unit continued to fight, hoping that the island was about to return to Japanese control. Since the group of guerrillas had no contact with the Japanese command, the Japanese authorities soon declared them dead.

On September 19, 1972, in the Philippines, police shot and killed a Japanese soldier who was trying to requisition rice from peasants. This soldier turned out to be Kinshichi Kozuka. Onoda was left alone, without comrades, but obviously had no intention of giving up. During the “operations”, which he carried out first with subordinates and then alone, about 30 military and civilians were killed and about 100 seriously wounded.

Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of Onoda and stories about him. The Japanese government managed to contact one of Onoda's former commanders, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who was now retired and working in a bookstore. On March 9, 1974, Taniguchi flew to Lubang in military uniform, contacted his former subordinate and gave him the order to stop all military operations on the island. On March 10, 1974, Onoda surrendered to the Philippine military. He faced the death penalty for “combat operations,” which were classified by local authorities as robbery and murder. However, thanks to the intervention of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was pardoned and on March 12, 1974, he solemnly returned to his homeland.

In April 1975, Hiroo Onoda moved to Brazil, got married and started farming. But in 1984 he returned to Japan. The former military man was actively involved in social work, especially with young people. On November 3, 2005, the Japanese government presented him with the Medal of Honor with a blue ribbon for service to society. Already in old age, he wrote a memoir entitled “My Thirty Years' War in Lubang.” Hiroo Onoda died on January 16, 2014 in Tokyo at the age of almost 92 years.

Scout on Lubang

Hiroo Onoda was born on March 19, 1922 in the village of Kamekawa, Wakayama Prefecture. After graduating from school, in April 1939 he got a job at the Tajima trading company, located in the Chinese city of Hankou. There the young man mastered not only the Chinese language, but also English. But in December 1942 he had to return to Japan - he was called up for military service. In August 1944, Onoda entered the Nakano Army School, which trained intelligence officers. But the young man failed to complete his studies - he was urgently sent to the front. In January 1945, Hiroo Onoda, already with the rank of junior lieutenant, was transferred to the Philippine island of Lubang. He received orders to hold out until the last. Arriving in Lubang, Onoda suggested that the local command begin preparations for the long-term defense of the island. But his call was ignored. American troops easily defeated the Japanese, and the reconnaissance detachment led by Onoda was forced to flee to the mountains. In the jungle, the military set up a base and began guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The squad consisted of only four people: Hiroo Onoda himself, Private First Class Yuichi Akatsu, Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuki and Corporal Shoichi Shimada. In September 1945, shortly after Japan signed the act of surrender, an order from the commander of the 14th Army was dropped from planes into the jungle, ordering them to surrender their weapons and surrender. However, Onoda considered this a provocation on the part of the Americans. His unit continued to fight, hoping that the island was about to return to Japanese control. Since the group of guerrillas had no contact with the Japanese command, the Japanese authorities soon declared them dead.

The "war" continues

In 1950, Yuichi Akatsu surrendered to the Philippine police. In 1951, he returned to his homeland, thanks to which it became known that members of Onoda’s squad were still alive. On May 7, 1954, Onoda's group clashed with the Philippine police in the Lubanga mountains. Shoichi Shimada was killed. By that time, a special commission had been created in Japan to search for Japanese military personnel remaining abroad. For several years, members of the commission searched for Onoda and Kozuki, but to no avail. On May 31, 1969, the Japanese government declared Onoda and Kozuku dead for the second time and posthumously awarded them the Order of the Rising Sun, 6th class. On September 19, 1972, in the Philippines, police shot and killed a Japanese soldier who was trying to requisition rice from peasants. This soldier turned out to be Kinshichi Kozuka. Onoda was left alone, without comrades, but obviously had no intention of giving up. During the “operations”, which he carried out first with subordinates and then alone, about 30 military and civilians were killed and about 100 seriously wounded.

Loyalty to officer's honor

On February 20, 1974, Japanese student traveler Norio Suzuki accidentally came across Onoda in the jungle. He told the officer about the end of the war and the current situation in Japan and tried to persuade him to return to his homeland, but he refused, citing the fact that he had not received such an order from his immediate superiors. Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of Onoda and stories about him. The Japanese government managed to contact one of Onoda's former commanders, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who was now retired and working in a bookstore. On March 9, 1974, Taniguchi flew to Lubang in military uniform, contacted his former subordinate and gave him the order to stop all military operations on the island. On March 10, 1974, Onoda surrendered to the Philippine military. He faced the death penalty for “combat operations,” which were classified by local authorities as robbery and murder. However, thanks to the intervention of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was pardoned and on March 12, 1974, he solemnly returned to his homeland. In April 1975, Hiroo Onoda moved to Brazil, got married and started farming. But in 1984 he returned to Japan. The former military man was actively involved in social work, especially with young people. On November 3, 2005, the Japanese government presented him with the Medal of Honor with a blue ribbon for service to society. Already in old age, he wrote a memoir entitled “My Thirty Years' War in Lubang.” Hiroo Onoda died on January 16, 2014 in Tokyo at the age of almost 92 years.

On September 2, 1945, Japan signed the act of unconditional surrender, thereby ending World War II. Although some Japanese soldiers continued to guerrilla for many years, and according to the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines, they may still be fighting in the jungle. The fighting spirit of the Nippon army was amazing, and the willingness to give their lives was respectable, but the cruelty and fanaticism, along with war crimes, are extremely controversial.

We talk about what the army of Imperial Japan was like in World War II, what kaiten and Oka are, and why hazing was considered a moral duty of the commander.

Wash the heels of a sergeant for the Emperor - training in the Japanese army

The Japanese Empire at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries nurtured ambitions to expand living space, and, naturally, for this it needed a powerful army and navy. And if on the technical side the Japanese did a lot, turning a backward army into a modern one, then on the psychological side they were greatly helped by the warlike mentality that had developed over many centuries.

The Code of Bushido required the samurai to unquestioningly obey the commander, contempt for death and an incredible sense of duty. It was these traits that were most developed in the imperial army. And it all started from school, where the boys were taught that the Japanese were a divine nation, and the rest were subhumans who could be treated like cattle.

The young Japanese was told that he was a descendant of divine ancestors, and his whole life was a path to glory through military exploits in the service of the Emperor and superior officers. Here, for example, is what a Japanese boy wrote in an essay during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905:

I will become a soldier to kill Russians and take them prisoner. I will kill as many Russians as possible, cut off their heads and present them to the emperor. And then I’ll rush into battle again, I’ll get even more Russian heads, I’ll kill them all. I will become a great warrior.

Naturally, with such desires and support from society, the boy grew into a fierce warrior.

The future soldier learned to endure hardships from an early age, and in the army this skill was brought to perfection not only through jogging and exercises, but also through the bullying of colleagues and senior ranks. For example, a senior officer, who felt that the recruits had not given him the military salute well enough, had the right to line them up and slap each one in the face. If the young man fell from a blow, he had to jump up immediately, standing at attention.

This harsh attitude was complemented by ingratiation with higher authorities. When, after a tiring march, the senior man sat down on a chair, several soldiers immediately raced to unlace his shoes. And in the bathhouse there was literally a line lining up to rub the officer’s back.

As a result, the combination of powerful propaganda and education, coupled with difficult service conditions, created fanatical and resilient soldiers, extremely disciplined, persistent and monstrously cruel.

Kamikaze and a war that lasted for decades

Fierce kamikazes were met on the battlefields first by the Chinese, and then by the Russians and Americans during the Second World War. Japanese soldiers, throwing themselves under tanks with magnetic mines and fighting hand-to-hand to the end, were almost impossible to capture.

An example is the capture of the island of Saipan, where soldiers, at the last order of Generals Saito, Igeta and Admiral Nagumo, who shot themselves, launched a banzai attack. More than three thousand soldiers and civilians, armed with bamboo pikes, bayonets and grenades, first drank all the alcohol they had and then rushed screaming towards the American positions.

Even the wounded and one-legged galloped on crutches after their comrades. The Americans were shocked that their ranks were broken, and the attackers ran to the artillery, but then more experienced Yankees appeared and killed all the suicide bombers. But the worst thing happened to the Americans later - they saw how the remaining soldiers with women and children blew themselves up with grenades or jumped into the sea.

The famous kamikaze headband

The practice of suicide attacks was very common in the Japanese army at that time. Partly it was based on the readiness to die for the emperor, cultivated from a young age, partly it was a necessary measure due to the serious superiority of opponents at sea, land and air. Such suicides were called kamikazes, which translated meant “divine wind.” The name was given in honor of the typhoon that in ancient times drowned the Mongol armada sailing to conquer Japan.

Kamikazes in early WWII used planes with huge bombs, which they aimed at American ships. Later they began to use manned winged projectiles called Oka (sakura flower). “Flowers” with explosives, the weight of which could reach up to a ton, were launched from bombers. At sea they were joined by manned torpedoes called kaiten (changing fate) and boats loaded with explosives.

The kamikaze recruited exclusively volunteers, of whom there were many, since serving in suicide squads was a very honorable thing. In addition, the family of the deceased was paid a decent amount. However, no matter how effective and terrifying the suicide attacks were, they failed to save Japan from defeat.

But for some soldiers, the war did not end even after Japan's surrender. On numerous islands in the jungle, several dozen Japanese remained partisans, who staged attacks and killed enemy soldiers, police and civilians. These soldiers refused to lay down their arms because they did not believe that their great emperor had admitted defeat.

For example, in January 1972, Sergeant Seichi Yokoi was discovered on the island of Guam, who had been living all this time in a hole near the city of Talofofo, and in December 1974, a soldier named Teruo Nakamura was found on the island of Marotai. And even in 2005, 87-year-old Lieutenant Yoshio Yamakawa and 83-year-old Corporal Suzuki Nakauchi were found on the island of Minandao, hiding there, fearing punishment for desertion.

Hiroo Onoda

But, of course, the most sensational case is the story of Hiroo Onoda, a junior lieutenant of Japanese intelligence, who, first with his comrades, and after their death alone, fought on the island of Lubang until 1972. During this time, he and his comrades killed thirty and seriously wounded about a hundred people.

Even when a Japanese journalist found him and told him that the war was long over, he refused to surrender until his commander canceled the order. We had to urgently look for his former boss, who ordered Onoda to lay down his arms. After his pardon, Hiroo lived a long life, wrote several books, and trained young people in wilderness survival skills. Onoda died on January 16, 2014 in Tokyo, a couple of months shy of 92 years old.

Speed decapitation and the Nanjing Massacre

The harsh upbringing, which exalted the Japanese and allowed them to consider other peoples as animals, gave reasons and opportunities to treat captured soldiers and civilians with unimaginable cruelty. It was especially hard on the Chinese, whom the Japanese despised, considering them soft-bodied subhumans unworthy of human treatment.

Young soldiers were often trained to stab bound prisoners, and officers practiced chopping off heads. It even got to the point of competitions, which were widely covered by the Japanese press of that time. In 1937, two lieutenants held a competition to see who could be the first to cut down a hundred Chinese. To understand the madness that was happening, it is worth reading the headline of one of the Japanese newspapers of the time: “Stunning record in the beheading of a hundred people: Mukai - 106, Noda - 105. Both second lieutenants begin an additional round.” In the end, the reward did find the “heroes” - after the war, the Chinese caught them and shot them.

Editorial with the “exploits” of lieutenants

When the Japanese army took Nanjing, some of the Chinese believed that order and tranquility would come with disciplined foreign troops. But instead, on the orders of a member of the imperial house, Prince Asaka, a massacre began in the city. According to Chinese historians, the occupiers killed from three hundred to five hundred thousand inhabitants, many were brutally tortured, and most of the women were raped. The most striking thing is that the main culprit, Prince Asaki, who gave the monstrous order, was not brought to justice, being a member of the imperial family, and lived quietly and peacefully until 1981.

Another no less monstrous side of the Japanese army were the so-called “comfort stations” - military brothels, where Korean and Chinese girls were forcibly driven into prostitution. According to Chinese historians, 410 thousand girls passed through them, many of whom committed suicide after abuse.

It is interesting how modern Japanese authorities are trying to deny responsibility for brothels. These stations were allegedly only a private initiative, and the girls went there voluntarily, as stated in 2007 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Only under pressure from the United States, Canada and Europe were the Japanese eventually forced to admit guilt, apologize and begin paying compensation to the former “comfort women”.

And, of course, one cannot help but recall Unit 731, a special unit of the Japanese army engaged in the development of biological weapons, whose inhumane experiments on people would make the most seasoned Nazi executioner turn pale.

Be that as it may, the Japanese army in World War II is remembered both for examples of endless courage and adherence to a sense of duty, and for inhuman cruelty and heinous acts. But neither one nor the other helped the Japanese when they were completely defeated by the Allied troops, among whom was my great-uncle, who beat the samurai in Manchuria in 1945.