The Japanese finally surrendered and fought on an isolated island for 30 years, killing 130 people. Who is he?

For a while, I was obsessed with the military content of World War II and wrote a lot of content in this area. There was an article about which country had the highest individual quality of soldiers during World War II. Many people thought it was Germany and the United States. I'm the only one who insists it's Japan.

Some time ago, another piece of news broke, which shocked the domestic media. A reporter interviewed a Japanese veteran in his 90s. The Japanese veteran said the last thing: If there is a war, go to the front line at any time. ! ?

There is no doubt that our media criticized this. This is simply Japanese militarism? Resurrecting the corpse? In fact, this also shows the quality of the Japanese army in World War II, fighting to the end and never surrendering.

After the Japanese Emperor announced his unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945, there were still many Japanese soldiers scattered around the world, such as in a virgin forest in the Northeast and on an isolated island in the Pacific. Fight with high morale and make the final resistance. This is their World War II! It's not over yet!

Among them, the most shocking one should be Hiriro Onoda, who has been engaged in guerrilla warfare in the Philippines for 27 years after the end of World War II.

Hiro Onoda was born in 1922. He was drafted into the army at the age of 20 and later passed the sergeant school. After graduating in November 1944, he was sent to a small island in the Philippines to collect intelligence and prepare The task of launching a long-term guerrilla war after the US troops landed.

After Onoda arrived at the island, Japan was already on the verge of defeat. On December 17, 1944, his boss Yoshimi Taniguchi issued an order for guerrilla warfare to Onoda:?We Retreat, but only temporarily. You go into the mountains and deal with the enemy by laying landmines and blowing up warehouses. I forbid you to commit suicide or surrender. In three, four or five years, I will be back. Only I can cancel this order. ?

We all know that obeying orders is the bounden duty of soldiers, but it is really rare to be able to truly and thoroughly implement it to the extent of Hiriro Onoda.

Because the United States adopted the "island hopping tactic" during the war, some islands were directly skipped. For the Japanese troops on the islands who did not know the end of the war, the United States sent many Japanese troops who had surrendered. Acting as a messenger, he went to various islands to persuade them to surrender, and also dropped a large number of leaflets.

In October 1945, the stubborn Japanese troops surrendered one after another. However, when Hiroshi Onoda, who was on a small island in the Philippines, saw the leaflets distributed by the U.S. military, he thought it was a scam by the U.S. military. The war It might not be over yet, so he led the guerrilla team to hide in the jungle and continue fighting.

I believe that friends who have watched "The Pacific War" must be deeply impressed by the logistics and supplies during the Pacific War. Even the Americans with deep pockets could not provide supplies to the Marine Corps, and the maggot-infested rice had already It has become the norm, not to mention the situation when the Japanese army has no supplies.

The situation of the Onoda team is even worse. In the jungle of the tropical rain forest, without any supplies, it is a miracle that they can survive, especially when the rainy season comes, it is quite uncomfortable, and people are sleeping. Death can occur from hypothermia, so they must remain awake at all times.

In order to survive, they stole from local residents, stole chickens, killed buffalo, caught hares, and even ate lizards.

While surviving, he also had to carry out guerrilla warfare. By 1950, Onoda’s subordinate Akatsu couldn’t stand the torture and finally surrendered to the local police. In the end, only three people, headed by Onoda Hirōro, were left to continue. War of Resistance.

In 1952, letters from their relatives and Japanese newspapers were continuously sent deep into the jungle by the Philippine authorities, hoping that the three of them could walk out of the jungle and surrender. However, Onoda still believed that this would undermine their will to fight. , therefore, refused to surrender and fought to the end.

In 1953, another member of the guerrillas died in battle. Onoda Hiriro and another soldier dug a cave and moved in. They were ready for long-term combat. .

For Japanese soldiers, surrender is unacceptable. In the Battle of Okinawa, 100,000 Japanese soldiers persisted in resisting, only more than 7,000 were captured, and all the rest died in the battle. This kind of casualty ratio It was quite scary. Hiroshi Onoda also thought about committing suicide, but he remembered that his boss would not allow him to do so, so he must persist to the end and not embarrass the Japanese soldiers.

Until October 9, 1972, one of Hiriro Onoda’s soldiers was shot dead in a conflict with the local police, which aroused great attention in Japan. At that time, Japan had shaken off the shadow of its defeat in World War II. By the 1970s, the economy was booming again and it had a huge influence internationally.

For this reason, the Japanese government sent many people to some jungles in Southeast Asia to look for Japanese troops who had not surrendered. However, Onoda Hiriro did not believe it. He always thought it was a hoax.

Until 1974, Japanese explorer Norio Suzuki went to this island to explore with the purpose of finding Hiroshi Onoda. He successfully found Hiroshi Onoda and told him that the war was over. , but Hiriro Onoda said that the battle must be ended by receiving a lifting order from his former superiors.

After taking photos of Onoda, Norio Suzuki returned to his country to look for his former superior, Yoshimi Taniguchi. In March 1974, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi came to the Philippines and gave orders to Hiroshi Onoda. After the mission was lifted, Onoda Hiriro surrendered to the local area.

Since Onoda continued to conduct guerrilla warfare on the island for 27 years after Japan surrendered, killing 130 locals, Onoda was ready to receive the death penalty.

The Philippine commander returned the saber to Onoda and said: "You are a model of military loyalty." Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos attended the surrender ceremony and commented on Onoda as an "excellent soldier." Soon, with the mediation of the Japanese government, the President of the Philippines finally pardoned him, and soon after, Onoda returned to Japan.

In Japan, Onoda Hiroshi was warmly welcomed as a hero, accepted countless media interviews, and wrote a book "Never Surrender, My Thirty Years' War" as his own autobiography.

In 1975, Onoda settled in Brazil, developed 1,200 hectares of land, raised 1,800 cattle, and became an out-and-out farmer and rancher. Later, Onoda was hired by the Japanese government As a university lecturer.

In 2014, Hiroshi Onoda died of pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital at the age of 91. At that time, he was called Japan's "last surrender soldier" by many Japanese media. Caused a huge sensation.

Looking back at Onoda Hiroshi's life, you can say that he is a remnant of Japanese militarism, but you have to admit that the quality of Japanese soldiers in World War II was so high.

Before the Pacific War, the United States had always despised China's war of resistance and believed that the Chinese army was vulnerable. It was not until the war between the United States and Japan that it understood the difficulty of our country's war of resistance.