In December 1947, the "Declaration" published a shocking news: Nakano Hisashi, a Japanese war criminal detained in the war criminal prison of the Ministry of National Defense, escaped from prison late at night on the 14th, leaving only a Japanese tweed coat at the scene.
For a time, public opinion was in an uproar. The Ministry of Defense War Criminals Prison is a high-level prison with the rank of Major General of the Army. However, such a high-level prison has actually escaped from prison, and it is still Japanese war criminals who have caused deep disasters to the Chinese people. This incident has touched the hearts of countless Chinese people.
Old Chiang, who had been overwhelmed by the civil war, was furious when he heard the news and ordered that the fugitives must be captured. The Shanghai military and police departments and local governments have dispatched a large number of forces to search for Nakano Kuyo, but this person seems to have disappeared out of thin air, and there is no trace.
How did Nakano escape from a high-level prison? Where did he go to escape the police? What will happen to him?
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese war criminals arrested in the Shanghai area were originally held in Tilanqiao Prison. In order to facilitate management and review, the authorities established the Shanghai War Criminals Detention Center near the Gaojing Temple in Shanghai's Jiangwan in January 1947, and transferred all 186 Japanese war criminals in Tilanqiao Prison to the detention center.
In August, the authorities upgraded the Shanghai War Criminals Detention Center to a war criminals prison of the Ministry of National Defense, and appointed Zou Renzhi, who had a background in Japan, as its director and conferred the rank of major general in the army. Due to the different subordinate systems, Zou Renzhi dismissed all the former staff and workers after his arrival, reorganized the team, and carried out a series of expansion and transformation of the prison.
It is reasonable to say that such a high-level prison, which also holds the Japanese war criminals who are most concerned by the Chinese people, deserves the strong support of the authorities and has extremely strict vigilance. However, because all the employees were replaced, they did not have much experience in guarding prisoners, which laid the groundwork for war criminals to escape from prison.
Trial of Japanese war criminals
Then there was the current situation. 1947 was the year that the People's Liberation Army began its strategic counteroffensive, and the war had already led to the Kuomintang. Moreover, the national unification area indiscriminately issued currency, prices soared, and the economy showed signs of collapse. In this case, who still has the heart to work? In addition, after the incident, Zou Renzhi also disclosed a larger loophole in the prison in an interview with the media, which we will recount later.
There are two kinds of people in the War Criminals Prison of the Ministry of National Defense: one is a high-level war criminal of the Japanese army, such as a division commander at the level of lieutenant general. The other is the low-ranking officer who has a low rank but is guilty of crimes and causes public outrage.
Nakano Kuyo belonged to the second category, he was 31 years old at the time, a native of Gifu, Japan, and served as the chief of the special high section of the Chongmin Gendarmerie Corps of the Japanese army invading China. The three words of special high-tech often appear in the TV series of the War of Resistance, which is actually a secret service of the Japanese army, mainly responsible for intelligence collection, monitoring traitors, sabotage of guerrillas, etc., and has caused great harm to the people in the occupied areas.
Nakano Hisayō is not of high rank, but his heart is fierce and fierce, and he is known as the "Chongming Demon". According to historical sources, Nakano Hisashi and the captain of the Japanese Chongming Gendarmerie, Hayashi Ōtaka, participated in the "Chongming Massacre".
It was July 1940, when a Japanese army suddenly arrived in the town of Chongming And drove more than 200 people from the town to a temple. The day before, the Japanese had been attacked by partisans, killing 28 men. They came to force the townspeople to reveal the whereabouts of the guerrillas.
These ordinary people were in regular contact with the guerrillas, and of course some people knew about them, but none of the more than 200 people were willing to cooperate with the Japanese. Enraged, the Japanese army carried out a brutal massacre of the town's residents and burned down the town's houses.
That day was called the darkest day in Chongming, and later almost every household had to sacrifice the victims. Huang Biao, a survivor in his 90s, recalls that the scene was still trembling.
On December 5, 1944, Huang Qianheng, the first district governor of Chongming County, was holding a district council in a household in Qiangming Township. Due to the report of the traitors, Nakano Kuyo immediately took the puppet army to the door to arrest him after he learned about it. Huang Qianheng was also a tough guy, and no matter how much the Japanese used torture such as electrocution, irrigation, and stick beatings, he did not reveal information about the guerrillas. In the end, Huang Qianheng was escorted to the sea by Nakano Hisayong, tied to a stone, and pushed into the sea.
In the same way, Nakano killed more than 20 guerrilla soldiers, whom he inhumanly called "Otoji". Taking pleasure in this, he often systematically killed the resistance fighters in batches.
Japanese war criminals awaiting trial
Before a massacre, a man named Qin Dulang offered to cooperate with the Japanese and take them to capture the guerrillas. Nakano then ordered the tie to be loosened and he was taken back. That night, the Japanese may have fantasized about catching more guerrillas and relaxed their vigilance against Qin Dulang. Qin Dulang just took the opportunity to escape from prison.
After the victory of the War of Resistance, it was Qin Dulang and the victim's family that reported it, and the military court arrested Nakano Kuyo. Qin Dulang also appeared in court to testify against Nakano Kuyo, and the testimony he provided became extremely crucial evidence in the trial of Nakano Kuyong.
The above crimes are only accusations from the Nationalist government, and do not include Nakano Hisayo's persecution of the Red Side personnel, so it can be seen that the crimes he committed, even if he had a hundred lives, were not enough to pay back. Before Nakano's escape from prison, the court had tried him several times, but the verdict had not yet been pronounced.
Nakano knew that his death was imminent, and he had the idea of escaping from prison. In fact, as early as July, two other Japanese war criminals successfully escaped from prison, but they were arrested and arrested only a week later, which did not attract the attention of the high-level.
The concept of prison at that time was different from now, not high walls, power grids, iron windows, in fact, war criminals still have a certain degree of freedom of movement in prisons, do not have to wear prison uniforms. Some wore suits, some wore Japanese military uniforms. All of this facilitated Nakano's escape from prison.
Late at night on December 14, 1947, Nakano left the cell on the pretext of going to the toilet, but instead of going to the toilet, he sneaked into an unlocked office while the guards were not paying attention. As we said earlier, under the circumstances at that time, most of these guards were vegetarian. Coupled with the fact that the weather was surprisingly cold that day, the guards were hiding in the shelter, and the line of sight was just blocked, so they did not find Nakano Hisamu escaping.
When Nakano, who was a secret agent, entered the office, he found a wooden plank and flipped it out of the back window. Avoiding the sight of the watchmen, the planks were put on the grid and then flipped over the grid from the boards. After turning over the prison, he discarded his Japanese tweed coat, took a suit from a bag he carried with him, and changed it into the night.
The guard who let Nakano Go to the toilet waited for a long time and did not see any movement, ran to the toilet to see that the person was missing, and only then did he know that something was wrong. He notified his colleagues as he reported upwards. The local police and army dispatched a large number of manpower to carry out the search, but no clues were found for two months.
During this period, public opinion continued to ferment. A reporter interviewed Zou Renzhi and asked him why Japanese war criminals could escape from such a high-ranking Ministry of National Defense prison. Zou Renzhi may be outspoken and fast-talking, or perhaps he wants to shirk his responsibility and suddenly say a huge loophole in the prison.
It turned out that this newly established prison, although of high rank, was far less guarded than Tilanqiao Prison. The prison covers an area of tens of acres, with a total of 5 cells, and there is no tall wall around it, only a power grid. The guard force is very weak, with only more than 10 staff members on duty inside the prison, and the outside of the prison is guarded by the army.
Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison
Zou Renzhi said he had reported that the Ministry of National Defense should be guarded by the prison's own recruits, but this was not approved. He made another report asking for money to be paid to build the wall, but it was only approved after 4 months. In those days of soaring prices, the budgetary funds planned for the original plan were no longer enough after four months, and the prison was only partially walled.
This statement undoubtedly threw the pot to the highest level and exposed the ugliness of old Jiang. Old Jiang was very angry about this and ordered Zou Renzhi to be dismissed from his post and escorted to Nanjing for examination. At one point, the authorities even suspected that he had facilitated the escape of war criminals.
Then again, where did this Nakano Go?
After Nakano escaped from prison, he escaped for one night and came to Jiujiang Road on the morning of the 15th. He sold his suit to the clothing store, bought a set of Chinese kaftans, and disguised himself as a Chinese citizen. There was still a slight balance on his body, because he had a cold after a night of freezing, he went to the pharmacy to buy a few packs of powdered aspirin after a full meal.
Nakano Realized that Shanghai was not a place to stay for a long time and prepared to flee, he came to Jiading on the 16th. Perhaps it has been closed for too long, and the situation in China is not well understood, and in wartime, various localities are very strict about the interrogation of personnel coming and going. As soon as Nakano arrived at the gate of Jiading City, he was questioned by the police to check his identity card.
Nakano naturally did not have an ID card, so the police searched him again. He happened to find that he had two packs of powder on his body, suspected to be drugs, and took him back to the police station on suspicion of drug trafficking. He was interrogated by a police officer.
The policeman asked, "What's your name?" Nakano Li claimed that his name was "Wang Shouzhang."
Policeman: "Where did it come from?" Nakano replied, "Shanghai." ”
Policeman: "Where?" Nakano replied, "Guangdong." ”
Nakano Hisahiro has been in China for many years, and he can speak Chinese and Shanghainese, although it is a bit blunt, but the Cantonese speakers of that era spoke Chinese and also gave life a hard feeling. In this way, Nakano's identity was not recognized, but was temporarily imprisoned in a detention center.
After 18 days of detention, because the police department did not have the ability to identify drugs, they transferred him to the Songhu Police Headquarters. After more than 20 days of detention, nakano's identification results for the two packs of drugs were released, and the local court finally acquitted him on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient. Although Nakano Wasamu was imprisoned for more than a month, he escaped the most stringent time period of police search, which can be described as "a blessing in disguise".
Escorting Japanese war criminals
In response to the fact that the police, the army, and the court failed to identify Nakano Hisashi, some newspapers later criticized it mercilessly:
The police, military, and judicial organs have all been deceived by Nakano Hisashi, so didn't Nakano Hisashi play a good play of "passing three levels"? This proves that the police and judicial organs in our country handle cases exactly as the proverb goes: "Meat and bones beat the drum - winter and winter".
After Being Released, Nakano thought to himself that the limelight had passed, and the most dangerous place was the safest place. He simply stayed in Shanghai, pretending to be a Cantonese, and made a living by pushing a tricycle across the bridge on the Zhapu Road Bridge. In order to avoid exposure, Nakano did not dare to return to China through the channels of the Japanese Overseas Chinese Management Office, nor did he dare to ask any Japanese for help.
After eleven days of pushing, Nakano earned more than three million yuan (at that time, the Nationalist government indiscriminately issued currency, and the currency depreciated severely). In addition to the daily expenses for eating and drinking, there was also a slight surplus, so he bought two clothes and lived in the triangle vegetable market at night.
Just when he was proud and thought that he could gain a foothold in Shanghai by his own physical strength, an accident occurred. One day, a guest got in his car and took out a 5,000 yuan note and asked him to find 3,000 yuan. But the price soared, and Nakano Wasamu was only willing to find 2,000 yuan, so the two had a big quarrel.
Nakano kept repeating in blunt Shanghainese: "Now prices are soaring, and 3,000 yuan can't even buy a big cake." The passenger was a member of the Japanese Overseas Chinese Management Office, and the more he listened, the more wrong he became, especially the pronunciation of the word "big", which was very similar to the way Japanese people pronounce it. The passengers felt that the person was very abnormal, most likely a Japanese who had slipped through the net, so they reported it to the police station.
On the afternoon of February 28, 1948, the police rushed to the Triangle Vegetable Market, and after comparing the photos, they found that this person was very similar to Nakano Hisashi who had escaped from prison, so they arrested him. After comparing fingerprints, Nakano had to admit his identity. In this way, Nakano Hisayo, who escaped from prison for more than 2 months, exposed his identity because of the greed for the thousand yuan, and fell into the legal net again.
Soon the court-martial again tried Nakano, when asked why he had escaped. He slyly argued: "This case has nothing to do with me, and I fled to avoid unnecessary sacrifices." But such sophistry was weak in the face of a large number of witnesses and evidence, and the court finally ruled: "During the battle, Nakano Kushi was brave enough to kill prisoners continuously and sentenced to death." ”
Painstaking efforts were made to find the news with photos of that year
Until the last moment, Nakano Kuyo still vainly said: "I hope to use my sacrifice to promote Sino-Japanese goodwill." "It is hard to believe that a shameless aggressor and murderous demon shamelessly uses such words to cover up his crimes. The president of the court immediately interrupted his speech and said: "The current death sentence is a punishment for the crime of killing people and setting fires in China in disregard of humanity. Whether China and Japan are friendly or not is a matter of future diplomatic relations, and there is no need to say more. ”
On April 8, 1948, Nakano was executed by firing squad, ending his sinful life with two bullets. Although Nakano escaped from prison briefly, Skynet was restored without leaks, and he was unable to escape justice.
When I wrote the story of Hisashi Nakano, I was reminded of another Japanese army invading China, Hiroshi Yamazaki. Although he was also forced to become a member of the Japanese army, he made a completely different choice from Nakano Hisashi.
He came to China, and after several battles, he found that the war was too cruel and fled the troops. Thanks to the help of Chinese people, he is grateful and has taken root in China. Especially after liberation, he often gave free medical treatment to the poor, indicating that he would atone for his sins. He also devoted himself to the development and improvement of Sino-Japanese relations and made contributions to the friendship between the two countries.
Two Japanese war criminals who are about to be executed
In recent years, some people have defended the middle and lower-ranking officers and men of the Japanese army invading China, saying that they were only being held hostage by the war machine. The implication is that they are also innocent. "No snowflake is innocent at the time of the avalanche" Through the comparison between Hiroshi Yamazaki and Hisamu Nakano, it can also be seen that this statement is untenable, and they have complete choice.
Nakano Hasashi has an evil side in his heart, and he will take pleasure in killing people, and war is just a booster for him to show evil. These people are often not caught up in war, but on the contrary, they are the fuel of war. It is gratifying that these people who advocate war and vent their inner evils in war are eventually swallowed up by war.