Beginning in mid-1941, Japan's expansion into Southeast Asia caused unease among the region's major powers, including the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands. In the previous decade, these countries' dissatisfaction with Japan's foreign expansion had been limited to submitting diplomatic protests, but in July 1941, as Japan frantically invaded Southeast Asia and seized their territory, the colonial governments of the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands were forced to formally announce to Japan a ban on the shipment of strategic goods, especially steel and oil, to Japan.
The ban, which threatens Both Japan's economy and military, is aimed at forcing Japan to limit its activities in Southeast Asia and return to the negotiating table. Roosevelt's order to station the fleet at Pearl Harbor (which was a direct threat to Japan because it was much closer to japan than the west coast of the United States) was also intended for this purpose.
But to the surprise of the United States, this move strengthened the Japanese military's decision and determination to occupy and exploit the region. Because Japan produces very little oil and has fewer reserves of refined oil, the embargo is a very serious problem for Japan.
The Japanese government decided to occupy the resources of Southeast Asia as an answer to the embargo. They cannot assume that if they had started to act, the United States would have stood idly by. This is why Isoroku Yamamoto considered eliminating American power in the Pacific beforehand.
In the early morning of December 7, 1941, the U.S. military woke up to the sound of explosions and rushed to deal with more than 350 aircraft from Japan. The U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet's base in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, and U.S. Army and Navy airfields on Oahu were bombed by the Japanese Navy. In addition, more than 10 auxiliary ships of various kinds, such as destroyers and cruisers, were sunk or injured, 188 aircraft were destroyed, and the airfield was all blown up, and more than 4,500 US officers and men were killed or wounded.
After the news of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the defeat of the US fleet spread, the whole country in Japan rejoiced, and Hideki Tojo even said: "I promise to win the final victory", Yamamoto also said that the war was finally about to begin, and the victory at Pearl Harbor was insignificant and not suitable for hype. But Pearl Harbor had a huge impact on Japan, spurred the Japanese's inflated ambitions, and immediately mobilized a country that had been disagreeing.
This sneak attack became what US President Roosevelt called a "great shame." The United States also formally declared war on Japan, and the Pacific War officially broke out. At the same time, Japan also took advantage of the fact that the United States was not yet firmly established and occupied many Pacific islands, including Guam. Therefore, in the early stages of the Pacific War, Japan won a complete victory, the US Navy suffered partial damage, the Pacific islands were occupied by the Japanese, and a large number of soldiers were captured by the Japanese.
This time, I would like to state the brutal atrocities committed by the Japanese army against the American prisoners. As Chinese, everyone knows the cruelty of the Japanese army that invaded China, the most famous of which is the Japanese Unit 731 and the Nanjing Massacre, in addition to some other cruel means to persecute the Chinese people. For example:
water. The penalty of irrigation is often used in the church. The executioner tied the "prisoner" to a bench and raised the side of the bench with his face facing a large tap. Then turn on the tap, submerge the "prisoner's" head in the squirted water, and force him to drink the water until he passes out.
Kneeling iron triangle. The "kneeling iron triangle" is to let the "prisoner" kneel on a piece of triangular iron, and the most sensitive part of the knee is pressed against the corner of the triangle iron. The "prisoner" held up a wooden stool and placed a bowl full of water on the stool, and if the water spilled a little, the Japanese gendarmes would whip it with a whip.
electrocution. The executioner looped the wire around the "prisoner's" arm and the other end onto a hand-cranked electrostatic generator. A gendarme shook the handle of the generator vigorously to direct the current onto the human body. At this time, it felt as if a steel dress was worn on the body, and the heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an iron hand, and soon the person passed out.
Human body crusher. There were rumors that the Japanese army made a kind of "human body crusher" during their time in Tianjin, which was shaped like a millstone, except that it was made of steel. On the "human body shredder" there is a half-human-high bucket, which puts people into the bucket and grinds them into blood and flesh paste. There are also rumors that the "human body crusher" is actually an enlarged meat grinder that uses electric power to grind people into meat sauce. It is said that the victims of the "Haihe Floating Corpse Case" were killed by the Japanese army because they participated in the construction of this murderous "factory".
Roll cage. This torture device is about one person tall, and the side strips are all made of iron sheets, in the shape of a large bamboo cage, with a movable roof cover. Each strip is densely packed with iron nails about 15 centimeters long, and after putting people in, the "rolling cage" rolls, and the tortured person will undoubtedly die.
For the inhuman Japanese army, these are only a few of the thousand ways of torturing prisoners. What is even more lamentable is that the Japanese army also recorded these ways of torturing people, and each one is creepy, and each one is so cruel and inhuman. One of the ways in which the Japanese army treated American female prisoners was equally inhumane.
As "good" students of China, the Japanese army imitated the ancient Chinese punishment of cannon burning. They first made a soldering iron, then put it on the fire to roast it red, and then they took the soldering iron and walked around the female prisoners, one by one, and the pieces of meat would be roasted in an instant. Among the Japanese soldiers, this torture is often jokingly referred to as the punishment of "barbecue".
At first, the Japanese army said that they would invite these American female prisoners to eat a "barbecue", and these female prisoners thought that the Japanese army would really treat them preferentially. But they proved too naïve. For this torture, no matter how strong your will is, you can't survive 3 soldering irons. During this torture, a large number of Female American Prisoners passed out. Some female prisoners, just burned once, had to kneel down and beg for forgiveness.
Therefore, later, if the Japanese army said which American female prisoner to eat "barbecue", the female prisoner would immediately faint in fright. But the mad Japanese army did not sympathize with them. The more miserable these American female captives cried, the happier they would be. In the end, these female prisoners either died in pain during their torture, or died of the decay of the wounds combined with the fear in their hearts, and the will was completely consumed.
However, to say that the punishment of "barbecue" is really inhumane, then another punishment is even more inhumane. The Japanese would tie the American female prisoners to a pillar and then use a sharp knife to cut the female soldiers' stomachs. Let these female prisoners watch their internal organs flow out and watch themselves slowly die. The fear and pain in it is simply indescribable.
It was also these heinous crimes committed by the Japanese army against the AMERICAN army and its female prisoners, which completely angered the US army. In the late stages of World War II, in order to take revenge, the US military did not hesitate to violate the condemnation of international humanitarianism and dropped two atomic bombs directly on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. 300,000 people in Japan were killed and injured in an instant, and all the buildings were reduced to rubble. Japan, in its rightful punishment, was punished.
After the war, Japan was also once angry about the US military's move, and repeatedly sued the US pilot Paul Tibbetts, who dropped the atomic bomb, to the international court. But Tibbetts said he had witnessed documentaries of Japanese crimes against American prisoners of war and Nanking, and that he had never regretted dropping the atomic bomb.
Although the war is long gone, the crimes that were committed are indelible. It's just that some Japanese people have selective amnesia, really like a clown.