On August 9, 1945, more than 1.5 million Soviet Red Army troops launched a surprise attack on the Japanese Kwantung Army from the east, north and west. The Kwantung Army was once the elite of the Japanese Army, but at this time it was already the end of the crossbow. In the face of the Soviet attack, the Japanese Kwantung Army held out for only 8 days before surrendering to the Soviet side. The Japanese Kwantung Army was completely destroyed in this battle, losing 677,000 soldiers, of which 83,000 were killed and 594,000 surrendered. This photo is the scene when the Japanese Kwantung Army surrendered and surrendered its weapons.
How did the Soviets deal with such a large number of Japanese prisoners? The Soviet Union lost a large number of young adults in World War II, and the labor force was extremely scarce, so after executing 3,000 japanese war criminals who committed the most heinous crimes, the remaining prisoners were sent to Siberia to work as coolies, doing heavy physical work such as mining and cutting down trees. The picture shows the Japanese Kwantung Army captured by the Soviet Union.
In November 1945, the first batch of 5,000 Kwantung Army prisoners of war were escorted by the Soviets to Tambov Oblast. On that day, the front of the train station was crowded with Soviet people who "welcomed" the Japanese prisoners, and when these prisoners of war got off the bus, they rushed up, and soon there was very little left of these Japanese prisoners. Most of the captives were officers of the Japanese Kwantung Army, who carried with them a lot of good things, such as wool pads, pillows, autumn pants, and cotton pants, but they all "contributed" to the Soviet people. This photo is of a Siberian prisoner-of-war camp where Japanese prisoners of war were being held at the time.
After being imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp, the Japanese army was not sent directly to labor, but quarantine and political censorship were first carried out according to the regulations. If, upon examination, it is discovered that a prisoner has engaged in anti-Soviet or anti-communist activities, he or she will be immediately sent to a prisoner-of-war penal detention facility for punishment. In this photo are Japanese prisoners in a prisoner-of-war camp, and the portrait of Stalin can be clearly seen in the picture.
In addition, the Soviets regularly conducted physical examinations of the Japanese army. Political censorship of Japanese prisoners is understandable, but why are they physically examined? Do not misunderstand, this physical examination is not a health examination, but to determine the labor level of war criminals through inspection, regular inspection, and timely adjustment. The captives were divided into several classes and distributed to the Far East and Siberia to cut trees, mine, and grow potatoes.
In winter, the temperature in Siberia is tens of degrees below zero, which can be said to drip into ice. In this environment, the Japanese prisoners of war had to work for a long time, and at the end of the labor, the Soviets would give them a small piece of black bread and some coarse grain and clear soup. The picture shows Japanese prisoners of war stacking wood.
This kind of black bread is not accustomed to japanese people, but in that harsh environment, they have to eat it, because if they don't eat it, they will starve to death and freeze to death. Intense labor and food shortages resulted in the death of a large number of prisoners of war, and according to shoichi Ida, a first-class soldier at the time, once someone died, the first person to find out would steal that person's bread and eat it. In addition, the European prisoners of war in the camps would rob them of their food, and the diminutive Japanese soldiers were naturally not their opponents and could only be bullied. The photograph shows a Japanese soldier carrying wood.
At that time, in addition to working during the day, it was also necessary to work at night. According to the recollection of hosokawa Shunzo, the japanese commander at the time, a loud knock at the door was kicked open in the middle of the night, and the Soviet soldiers with guns ordered them to hurry up to assemble and work, they did not dare to ask more, and finally learned that this was a night system. When they come back from work, they go back to bed, and early in the morning the overseers will come back to call them up to work. These overseers were not all Soviets, but also some German prisoners of war, who were often stricter than the Soviets and were not allowed to be lazy at all times of work. In the photo is a Japanese prisoner of war working.
Compared with these prisoners of war who worked as coolies, there were also a group of lucky Japanese prisoners of war, who received "preferential treatment" from the Soviets because of their high ideological consciousness, and after secret training by the Soviet Union, they were sent back to Japan in advance to provide intelligence to the Soviets. Later, other prisoners of war were also repatriated one after another, totaling 470,000, which was a huge gap from the previous 594,000 people, most of whom died in the Far East and Siberia. These Japanese prisoners of war must not be treated preferentially, and only by doing so as the Soviets will they be obedient and know the preciousness of peace.