Mention the person of Yamashita Fengwen, presumably many friends who like modern history will not be unfamiliar with this person, he is known as the "Tiger of Malay", during World War II, he was a full-fledged tough general.
Born on November 8, 1885 in Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, this man has been practicing medicine for generations, but in his generation he was obsessed with serving as a soldier. At the age of 31, Yamashita graduated from the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School, but was slow to be reused by the top level. A big part of the reason is that he was not a celebrity, and another reason is that he once suggested to the governor a strategic view of Japan, believing that Japan should stop invading China and establish good relations with Western powers such as Britain and the United States. This view led to his exclusion and he was transferred to the puppet Manchurian Kwantung Army for a number of unimportant positions.
In 1941, Japan's first year of the Pacific War became a turning point for Yamashita Fumifumi. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States declared war on Japan. On December 8, Yamashita commanded the Japanese army to launch the Malaysian War, he led more than 30,000 Japanese troops to move quickly by bicycle, and in just two months, they advanced from the southern section of Thailand to Singapore, defeated the British army with a small number of troops, and since then became famous in the war, earning the title of "Tiger of Malay".
Even so, he still did not receive heavy use from the Japanese government, and after taking Singapore, he was transferred to Manchuria, and it was not until 1944 that the Japanese government took it seriously when the Japanese army was in a weakened situation, and let him go to the Philippine battlefield to direct the operation as the commander of the 14th Front.
Yamashita Washin was full of confidence, thinking that he could fight a beautiful turnaround battle like he had won Singapore with a single blow, but found that the situation on the battlefield had changed, and he could only describe it with "time is not me" and four words. His operational strategy was obstructed by the Japanese military department, coupled with the serious military misjudgment of the Japanese military department, which made him constrained at every turn. The Japanese military believed that the U.S. military had lost 19 aircraft carriers and 45 battleships, and was no longer able to fight the Japanese. In fact, only two U.S. cruisers were damaged, and they all returned to the battlefield after repairing.
When Yamashita saw a steady stream of American fighter jets flying into the Philippine battlefield, he realized that intelligence had gone wrong, and this mistake was fatal, and he called back to the Japanese military headquarters, only to be replied that he would continue to fight no matter what. Yamashita could only continue to fight the Allies with his subordinates until The Japanese surrendered in August 1945.
Yamashita formally surrendered to the Allies in September and was sent to the Manila Military Tribunal as a war criminal. On December 7 of the same year, the Manila Military Tribunal sent Yamashita to the gallows for massacring more than 20,000 innocent people in Manila.
During the military court trial, Yamashita Fengfumi showed great cooperation. A subordinate testified that the Manila massacre was not planned by Yamashita Bongfumi, but by the Japanese army led by Rear Admiral Iwabuchi three times after refusing to obey Yamashita's order to withdraw from Manila. The massacre of the Chinese in Singapore by the Japanese army in 1942 was also planned by his subordinate Masanobu Tsuji.
Although subordinates said the massacre plans had nothing to do with Yamashita, Yamashita chose to plead guilty, saying he was ashamed that he did not restrain his subordinates from slaughtering civilians and was willing to pay for the innocents who were slaughtered. Before coming to the end of his life, Yamashita had won the respect and sympathy of American soldiers, including MacArthur, for him.
Although Yamashita Washumi was hanged, the legend of him did not end. On the eve of the Japanese surrender, many Filipinos witnessed the Japanese transferring a large amount of treasure, and the U.S. military found a large amount of gold and nickel hidden by the Japanese in the dense forest according to clues. Nickel was an absolute precious metal for Japan during the war, because the military industry could not do without this metal.
Soon there were rumors that Yamashita Bongwen had a great treasure, which is still famous as the "Yamashita Treasure". Legend has it that Yamashita ordered his soldiers to plunder the occupied areas and prepare to give the looted gold treasures to the Japanese headquarters as war funds, but the treasures were not fully transported to Japan, but were secretly hidden by him. The largest hiding place is not in the Philippines, nor is it in Singapore, but in Taiwan.
Whether anyone will find these treasures is impossible, but it is certain that the US military did find a large number of gold bricks after occupying Japan, and their value is unimaginable.
In addition, former Philippine President Irmethe, who was famous for corruption after the war, said that he would not be able to commit corruption. Marcos confessed to the media in 1992 that Yamashita's treasure was not a legend, and her husband, Ferdinand Markosh, became super rich because he got most of the treasure. Her husband did not get the money for his own benefit, but to help the Philippines through the economic downturn of the 60s and 70s; she confessed that the rest of the money was hidden in the cracks in the walls of her home, and she did not know who took it later.
In 2003, american writer Sterling Sigrave wrote The Golden Warrior, which described Yamashita's treasure as near the Burma border. Although another wave of treasure hunting fever has arisen, no one has found it in the end.