During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the domestic productive forces were still very backward, which led to some high-end equipment and weapons relying only on imports. In the course of this War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there were about six hundred aircraft of various kinds in the Chinese Air Force, but only about two hundred were able to be put into battle.
At that time, there were about 1,500 fighters in the Japanese air force. The excessively large equipment gap led to our army being at a disadvantage on the battlefield for a time. With the tenacious struggle of the military and civilians in the country, they finally succeeded in overcoming this unfavorable situation.
Beginning in July 1943, the Party organization led the army and people behind enemy lines to launch a local counteroffensive against the Japanese puppet army in North China, Central China, and South China. China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began to enter the stage of strategic counteroffensive. It was also during this period of the strategic counteroffensive that the Eighth Route Army successfully captured a prisoner of war in the Shandong Theater.
Capture prisoners of war
In January 1944, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army launched a spring offensive against the Japanese Kou, which greatly defeated the arrogance of the Japanese army. While the people were rejoicing at the good results of our army, something happened in Dongli Fishing Village in Yichang County, Shandong Province, which made the villagers even happier.
On January 7, 1944, a Japanese warplane fell into a small river in the fishing village of Dongli. The villagers instinctively feared the brutal Japanese army. And for the plane they have never seen before, they have a lot of curiosity.
So they sent someone to report to the head of the militia company in the village while watching around the plane. At that time, the company commander of the Dongli Fishery Village Militia Company was called Xu Guangjin. After he heard the news, he immediately rushed to the scene of the incident with people.
Just as the militia company's men reached the river, the pilot of the fighter also climbed out of the plane: a Japanese man in his twenties, dressed in the uniform of the Japanese Air Force. He saw the villagers gathered around the river, and he did not have the slightest consciousness of being about to die. He also very arrogantly ordered the villagers to send him to the Japanese stronghold.
Before the villagers could react, Xu Guangjin walked up to the Japanese and, without saying a word, asked the soldiers of the militia company to tie him up. The prisoner was immediately sent to the headquarters of the Fifth Military Sub-district of the Bohai Naval Region.
After learning that he was going to be sent to the troops of the Eighth Route Army as a prisoner of war, Yamada Ida felt very frightened. Because he had seen how the Japanese brutally treated prisoners of war.
He was very worried that he would also be tortured to extract a confession. Therefore, in the process of being escorted, he tried to escape many times, but in the end, he failed.
In fact, our army has always pursued a policy of "preferential treatment of prisoners of war." Even in the face of uncountable aggressors, our army will still treat them very humanely and will not use the methods of torture to extort confessions on prisoners of war.
Prisoner of war status
After receiving the prisoner of war, the Bohai Naval Region immediately sent someone who knew Japanese to interrogate him. At first, he was very uncooperative. But in the end, our army succeeded in getting him to open his mouth and reveal his identity: his name was Yamada Ima, and he was a lieutenant pilot of the 108th Wing of the Japanese First Division.
He did not receive any secret mission when he flew the plane this time. Just to visit friends in Qingdao. In addition, he also said that his father was a senior general in the Japanese army. His uncle was Okamura Ninji, commander-in-chief of the Japanese invasion of China.
Okamura Ningji was one of the main culprits of the Japanese invasion of China. After the outbreak of the "918 Incident", in order to cover up the shameless acts of aggression of the Japanese army, he dispatched the notorious traitor Yoshiko Kawashima to launch the "1.28" incident in Shanghai. Since then, various shameless acts have been adopted to whitewash the aggressive atrocities of the Japanese army.
The Japanese Kwantung Army, which committed countless atrocities, was under his command to massacre the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army on the mainland. After the "Lugou Bridge Incident" in 1937, he launched a number of battles. The atrocities committed are too numerous to describe.
After learning the identity of this prisoner of war, the leaders of the Bohai Naval Region were very happy. They all thought that this prisoner of war was very valuable, and that he might be exchanged for our captured soldiers. Soon, the actions of the Japanese army proved that the leaders were right.
Exchange of prisoners of war
After the Japanese side learned that Yamada Ida's plane had crashed, they sent more than 800 people to search along the flight route of the plane, hoping to find Yamada Ida. But in the end, nothing was found. In desperation, they sent planes to drop a large number of leaflets in Shandong, hoping to get news of Yamada Idaima.
On the leaflet, it reads: "Willing to exchange a large number of weapons for pilots." If there are other requests, they may also be discussed". After seeing the propaganda of the Japanese army, the leaders of the Bohai Naval Region felt that the time was right and they could contact the Japanese army to exchange prisoners of war.
At that time, there were many important members of the Bohai Naval District, who were unfortunately captured by the Japanese army. Among them were Li Zhen, then director of the Bohai Bureau's Public Security Bureau, and Li Tiefeng, the county magistrate of Zibo County, Shandong Province.
After deliberation, the leaders of the Bohai Naval Region decided to exchange Yamada Ima for more than fifty prisoners of war and a batch of weapons captured by our army. After the Enemy Works Department of the Bohai Naval Region transferred the terms of exchange for our army to the Japanese side, they all accepted it.
Finally, on February 24, 1941, the two sides exchanged prisoners of war in Lijin County, Shandong Province. Li Zhen, Li Tiefeng, and more than fifty other anti-Japanese fighters successfully returned to our camp.
Killed overseas
Yamada Ima, who was in the Camp of the Japanese Army, returned to his hometown in Japan shortly after. Because this capture had brought him a huge shadow, he never had the courage to enter China again.
At that time, ambitious Japan not only launched a war of aggression against China, but also launched a war of aggression in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian regions. But good will eventually triumph over evil. Shameless wars of aggression will eventually end in defeat.
As the fascist armies of Germany and Italy were gradually defeated on the Battlefield in Europe, the general trend was gone, and the defeat of the Japanese invaders gradually appeared. Originally a small island country with poor resources, Japan has continued to launch foreign aggression for many years, and has exhausted its domestic materials.
By around 1944, the Japanese were no longer able to support more troops and supplies on the front line. Seeing that the situation was gone, the Japanese army still did not repent. They attempted to send the last remaining supplies and troops in the country to the front in order to make a final attempt.
It was in this situation that Yamada Ima, transferred to the battlefield in Malaysia by his uncle Ninji Okada. Not long after arriving on the battlefield, during a mission, the plane he was piloting was hit by a shell and fell. Yamada Ida died on the front line of the battlefield.
Because of the prisoner-of-war exchange, Yamada Ida, who was captured in China, did not pay the price for his aggression. However, when a person makes a mistake, he can never escape punishment. Yamada Idama is the same. In the end, he paid the price for his aggressive behavior.