Good and evil were eventually rewarded, and at the end of World War II, in the face of fierce counterattacks from allied forces, the Japanese Emperor was forced to announce his surrender on August 15, 1945.
It is said that as soon as the Japanese Emperor's declaration of surrender was issued, all Japanese soldiers should surrender to the Allies as soon as they received the news.
But in fact, there was a Japanese soldier who continued to fight for 29 years after this, becoming the last Soldier to lay down his arms in World War II.
It is often said that literature is the artistic biochemistry of real life, and in a novel created by Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan, there is such a character who has a similar experience to the protagonist of this article.
The protagonist of the novel is taken prisoner by the invading Japanese army and captured in a prisoner of war camp on the Japanese mainland as a coolie.
In order not to give the Japanese a life, in a chaotic situation, the protagonist fled outside the concentration camp. But Japan is an island country, surrounded by the sea on all sides, and he does not dare to enter the inhabited city.
With nowhere to escape, the protagonist plunged headlong into the mountains, and it was not until a few years after Japan's surrender that he was discovered by the Japanese and sent back to China.
Our protagonist today is a slightly different identity, a real soldier. His name was Onoda Hiroshi.
Born in Japan in 1922, he once worked in a Wuhan trading house in China.
During World War II, Japan invaded China in an all-round way, and Hiroro Onoda, who was deeply influenced by the Japanese militarist culture and the idea of the supremacy of the emperor from an early age, enlisted in the army and became a Japanese soldier.
Onoda's enlistment was not very early, and because of his excellent knowledge, he was not thrown into the battlefield at the first time, but first studied in the Army Reserve Non-Commissioned Officer School for a period of time, which also allowed him not to be involved in the "harvester of life" in the frontal battlefield.
After graduation, Onoda became a second lieutenant and was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines in 1944.
At that time, in addition to China, the largest battlefield, Japan also invaded southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines in the Pacific, and engaged in tug-of-war with American soldiers here.
By 1944, at the end of World War II and japan had surrendered in full force the following year, its dominance in the Pacific had long since ceased to exist.
Shortly after Onoda arrived in the Philippines, his subordinate officer, Yoshimi Taniguchi, prepared to evacuate from Lubang Island. Before retreating, he gave Onoda Hiroshi an order:
"I don't allow you to commit suicide or surrender, we'll be back in a few years, and you'll have to hold out until we come back." The above orders cannot be canceled by anyone but me. ”
At the same time, onoda was taught the combat concept of jungle guerrilla warfare.
I don't know if Yoshimi Taniguchi could have imagined that it would affect Hiroshi Onoda for nearly thirty years after she uttered these words.
Allied forces continued to harass Japanese soldiers on the island, with Onoda and a group of soldiers staying behind, and eventually the Allies occupied the island in February 1945. During the defensive battle, Onoda Hiroshi took the instructions of the chief Yoshimi Taniguchi and preserved his combat effectiveness. Eventually, along with three other comrades, he escaped into the jungle.
In the blink of an eye, Onoda and his comrades had been wandering in this forest for several months, and the army led by Onoda Yoshimi Taniguchi, the commander whom Onoda had been waiting for, did not appear, but from time to time flyers like snowflakes floated in the sky.
It turned out that after Japan announced its unconditional surrender in August 1945, the US military immediately sent surrendered Japanese officers to the Pacific islands to persuade them to surrender, and used aircraft to drop a large number of surrender leaflets to explain the fact that Japan had surrendered.
Onoda was unimpressed by this, believing that the contents of the leaflets were grammatically incorrect and forged by the US military. It was determined that this was a diversion plan that the US military had no choice but to use a few of them, which further strengthened their determination to resist to the end.
In order to support himself tenaciously, every morning, Onoda Hiroshi would come to the top of the mountain with a few of his comrades-in-arms and pay homage to their crazy worship of faith, the rising sun.
But such determination and willpower as firm as Onoda's is rare.
Five years after Japan's surrender, in June 1950, One of Onoda's team members, Yuichi Akatsu, finally couldn't stand hiding in the mountains and forests like a rat. So he escaped from the mountains alone and turned himself in to the Philippine police.
In the post-war peaceful society, he was no longer persecuted because he was a soldier of an enemy country, and Akatsu Did not choose to return to China, but became a Local Philippine Policeman. After that, he also married and had children in the local area and lived a happy life.
However, Onoda Hiroshi is still wandering in the jungle, during which time his comrade-in-arms Shimada Shoichi unfortunately dies, leaving only Kozuka Kanechiichi by his side. But the departure and death of his comrades at this time still did not shake Onoda's determination.
In 1952, Onoda picked up a newspaper in Japanese in the middle of a forest. When I opened it, it turned out that the Philippine government had spread the family letters written by Onoda's relatives and the Japanese newspapers in the jungle, hoping that they would recognize the situation.
Even thousands of miles away, he invited Onoda's brother to the Philippines, asked him to take a microphone and a loudspeaker, and shouted at Onoda Hiroshi in the jungle. Even so, Onoda Hiroshi did not appear.
Onoda persistently believes that this is a ploy by the US military, and his own brother was also arrested to lure him to appear.
In his opinion, even if Japan chose to surrender, his commander Yoshimi Taniguchi would have given him the order to "cancel guerrilla warfare.". The appearance of Japan's wealth and strength in the newspapers distributed by the Philippine government made Onoda Convinced that there was no reason for such a Japan to be defeated and surrendered.
Carrying out the spirit of guerrilla warfare taught by Yoshimi Taniguchi, Onoda Hiroshi constantly harassed the local army station in the jungle and completed the monthly harassment mission.
"The enemy advances and retreats, and we feed the war with war."
Food and guns and ammunition are replenished by constant harassment. Coupled with the fact that lubang island is not highly developed, and there is a considerable area of tropical jungle on the island, which is full of some edible tropical plants such as bananas and coconuts, Onoda Hiroshi miraculously persevered.
Onoda Hiroshi ended up alone.
In 1972, Hiroro Onoda and his comrade-in-arms Kinchi Kozuka were discovered by local Filipinos when they were burning straw in the mountains. The news reached the hands of the Philippine police force, which had long held a grudge against these old Japanese officers who roamed the mountains and forests and attacked the people from time to time.
After receiving the news, the police quickly arrived at the scene.
A gun battle broke out between the two sides, and Kozuka Washichi was killed by a bullet.
At that time, Otsuka Kinchi was already fifty-one years old, becoming the last soldier to die in World War II.
Onoda Hiroshi escaped by virtue of his familiarity with the mountains and forests, and his comrades around him left him one after another, and he also doubted whether Yoshimi Taniguchi had forgotten him.
The loneliness of a man has tormented his spirit, and between tossing and turning, Onoda Hiroshi also thought about committing suicide. Ironically, however, what kept him alive was the order that he had long since abandoned his superior, Yoshimi Taniguchi, "I will not allow you to commit suicide or surrender."
Fortunately, such a day is finally approaching the end.
Two years later, in 1974, Japanese explorer Norio Suzuki accidentally discovered Onoda in the remote jungle of the Philippines. At that time, he was wrapped in bark, eyebrows and beard, and he was a figure of what people called a "monster".
Onoda's heart was already shaken, and since he had not spoken to anyone for more than two years, he chose to sit down and talk to this compatriot.
Faced with the current situation in Japan that Norio Suzuki described convincingly and the surrender of Japan in the past, Onoda Hiroro also had to accept this reality.
But he still has his own persistence, insisting that he will only surrender his gun if he receives orders from his old boss, Yoshimi Taniguchi.
Norio Suzuki brought news and stories about Onoda Hiroshi back to Japan, and it quickly caused an uproar in public opinion.
Japan's right-wing forces are paying particular attention to it. After some searching, the Japanese government found Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had changed her name and surname at that time, and was a bookseller.
On March 9, 1974, Yoshimi Taniguchi appeared in the Philippines. Under the special arrangement, Yoshimi Taniguchi put on the military uniform that had been taken off for a long time and gave the order to Surrender to Onoda Hiroshi.
Onoda Hiroshi took off the rifle hanging from his shoulder and solemnly handed it to the Filipino police present, remembering the hard years of these decades, he could not help but cry bitterly.
Onoda, who was already in his fifties, stood demurely and straight in front of the camera of the accompanying Japanese reporter, and gave a standard and powerful military salute. When Norio Suzuki found him, the dirty hairs on his face had been neatly trimmed. It shows the image of a Japanese soldier who insists on his orders.
During his hiding in the Philippine jungle, Onoda Hiroshi continued to harass and attack the local civilians, injuring and killing a total of 130 Filipino soldiers, policemen and civilians, seriously disrupting the local security.
As soon as onoda's surrender came out, many Filipinos petitioned the government to put him in jail and bring him to justice.
However, the Japanese government at that time had already packaged the act of taking Onoda Hiroro back to China as a hero returning home, and naturally refused to hand over Onoda Hiroro to the Philippines for disposal.
In the end, under the negotiations between the two governments, the Philippine government had to bow to Japan, which was highly economically and socially developed at that time. The Philippine president Marcos pardoned him and allowed Onoda to return home.
Twenty-nine years after setting off from Lubang Island in the Philippines, Onoda has once again set foot on his hometown. The return of the former army lieutenant has attracted the attention of countless people under the packaging and publicity of the government and the media.
As the plane carrying him landed at Haneda Airport, Onoda stepped out of the hatch and saw a noisy scene as if he were greeting the triumphant general.
On the front of the escalator that connects the aircraft hatch, onoda Hiroshi awaits not his parents, whom he has not seen for more than thirty years, who has been praying for blessings and eagerly awaiting the safe return of his son, but a politician with an ugly face.
They rushed forward, hands on their business cards, and invited Onoda Hiroro to stay with him to rest. The purpose behind it is only to use the light and name of "Hero Onoda" to do what is convenient for him.
Onoda became a symbol of Japan's so-called "heroic" spirit, and after returning to Japan, he was invited to attend many events, telling people the heroic story of his own holding on to the Philippines because of an order.
Many newspapers also followed the trend of the times and published articles with headlines such as "Brilliant Rifles," "Sharp Eyes," "Battle Formation Training," and "Orders from Superiors," hyping up the so-called Yamato soul and military models, but in fact launching an out-and-out "professional military movement."
But when Onoda was asked what he thought of the civilians he had injured, he was adamant that he had done nothing wrong, because he was in combat and was not responsible for the casualties of these people.
After returning to China, the compensation given by the government and the "activity funds" given to him by various activities made Onoda Relatively generous.
The war in the Philippines and the experience of wandering caused "post-traumatic stress syndrome" in his mind. The noise of the city, even the sound of the washing machine, would remind him of the uneasiness of helicopters flying overhead in the jungle.
Later, Onoda spent most of his later years in Brazil, where he owned 1,200 hectares of land and 1,800 head of cattle, and did not dare to speculate whether Brazil was chosen because of its natural environment and the Philippines, which had been there for nearly 30 years, but there was no doubt that Brazil gave Onoda a rare environment that could make him feel at ease.
In the end, Onoda was taken away by pneumonia and ended his legendary life.
Summary:
Onoda's personality cannot be judged by simple justice or not, and just because of a command from his superiors, he has overcome many difficulties and stuck to his duties, which is indeed worthy of praise and appreciation.
But in order to achieve the so-called tactical purpose, at the expense of killing civilians, this inhumane behavior can not simply use "in combat" to evade responsibility.
And in his story, what is even more remarkable is the behavior of Japanese militarism. In their eyes, Onoda became a complete tool for them to propagate their distorted ideas. In the "Japanese Faculty Union Education News", it is written that "a paper order for the commander to carry out the Thirty Years' War alone."
In the midst of its praise for this tenacious spiritual strength, the Japanese right-wing has forgotten the cruelty of war and the introspection of militaristic education, and the sense of fear it has aroused makes people creepy to think of."