On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender. Japanese troops throughout Asia laid down their arms and surrendered to the Allies, but their morale was low, and most of them were starved to the bone. However, two armies are in stark contrast to this and therefore seem out of place.
The first to bear the brunt of this, of course, was the Osaka Division, which the U.S. military described as "peace-loving."
When Japan surrendered in August 1945, the 4th Division, which was resting near Bangkok, Thailand, surrendered its weapons to the Allies. Immediately after being repatriated, when all the officers and men of the Ruddy and Healthy Fourth Division appeared in the Japanese port, the malnourished and withered Japanese on the mainland were very surprised. The day after the reunification, some officers and men of the Fourth Division immediately sold war souvenirs.
Another unit is our protagonist today, the 140,000 Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul. When they returned home, they not only had food, farm tools, but also a lot of clothing and paper, etc., which was a great credit to the Japanese mainland for having nothing. What's going on makes me come along.
No matter when, following a good leader is definitely a blessing cultivated in the previous life.
During the Pacific War, the U.S. military used an island-hopping tactic. It avoided fighting with the Japanese army one by one for the islands and paying tragic casualties, but instead caused a large number of Japanese troops guarding the islands to watch the grain bottom out in despair, and the people around them were knocked down by hunger one by one. Imamura, who was stationed in Rabaul, led 140,000 Japanese troops to follow the tactics of the Eighth Route Army: digging deep holes and accumulating grain. Self-sufficiency has been achieved in the absence of supplies, and an arsenal has been established to produce its own weapons and ammunition.
A wise leader is good, and in order not to let the Allies find a reason to vent, they built a prisoner of war camp for themselves, and built a luxurious office space for the Allies.
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced Japan's unconditional surrender through the broadcast of the "Edict of the End of the War", and Imamura immediately surrendered to the Australian army when he learned of it. When the 3,000 Australian troops landed on the island and faced the well-equipped 140,000 Japanese troops with red lights, they seemed to be a little unconvinced.
Where to stay? It didn't matter that the Japanese army had already thought of it, not only built a barracks for the Australian surrendered officers, but also painted it for the sake of beauty, and then started to build a dormitory and a prisoner-of-war camp, and the outside of the prisoner-of-war camp obediently pulled up the barbed wire and successively lived in it.
For a full year from October 1945 to October 1946, what were the soldiers in the camp doing? Under the command of Imabaru Jun, the Rabaul Japanese army began to work on two tasks: one was to carry out a big discussion on why Japan would lose the war, and the other was to carry out skills training.
After the surrender, the Japanese soldiers devoted great enthusiasm to the discussion of why they would lose the war. After a heated debate, in the end, most people believe that this is because Japan's scientific and technological strength is relatively backward and its industry is not developed. What to do? Knowledge changes destiny, and schools are born. Courses: 150 hours of compulsory courses and 175 hours of elective courses. Compulsory courses include training, civic education, self-sufficiency, and natural sciences; elective courses include vocational training, university preparation, basic English, and emotional education.
How to work when you have knowledge and no skills to return to China! It doesn't matter that Imamura has already thought about it.
Two and a half hours of lectures are held every day – one hour of compulsory courses in the morning and one and a half hours of electives in the evening. Courses about self-sufficiency are something everyone needs to learn; skills courses are designed specifically for those with only elementary school culture to ensure they can find work after repatriation; and basic science courses are rich in content and strive to be on par with pre-war high school levels.
In this way, the Japanese army stayed on the island for more than a year, and when they returned home in 1946, they brought back tens of thousands of tons of grain, paper, food, agricultural tools and other materials produced in Rabaul. In 1947, Imamura was sentenced to 10 years in prison by an Australian military tribunal for war crimes, and in 1949 the Dutch and East India courts acquitted him, and in 1950 he offered to serve his sentence with his subordinates until his release in 1954.