Yamamoto was a Japanese admiral during World War II, and before his death served as commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, where he was the highest Japanese officer hunted down by the Allies in World War II.
(Isoroku Yamamoto)
On April 18, 1943, Yamamoto was ambushed by American warplanes on a special plane to inspect the Bouin and Shortland Islands and fell into the rainforest of Bougainville Island. After learning the news, the Japanese army sent a search team of 100 people to conduct a carpet inspection of the location of Yamamoto's crash. After two days of searching, there are still no living people and no dead bodies. Just as the search team was about to give up, suddenly, one member of the search team seemed to smell a scorched smell and gasoline. The team members followed the vine and finally found the No. 1 fighter plane that Yamamoto was riding on and his body.
According to the japanese lieutenant Hamasa who participated in the search, Yamamoto's body still maintained a very "decent" posture. After his death, Yamamoto sat in his airplane seat, his back against a large tree, his hands wearing white gloves, clutching his saber, his head slightly drooping, as if he were looking down and pondering something.
So, is such a "decent" posture true?
To understand this problem, let's first look at how Yamamoto was hunted down by the U.S. military.
After a successful sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto set his sights on Midway, the military hub of the U.S. military in the Pacific. Yamamoto believed that taking Midway would be like opening the door to Hawaii. Therefore, Yamamoto took all his possessions in the Battle of Midway, sending 8 aircraft carriers, more than 200 ships, and hundreds of carrier-based aircraft. But what Yamamoto did not expect was that because the U.S. military deciphered the Japanese telegraph code, the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Nimitz, knew Yamamoto's plan very well.
As a result, Yamamoto suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Midway, and Japan suffered its biggest defeat since World War II.
(Battle of Midway)
In the ensuing Battle of Guadalcanal, the U.S. army also won a complete victory, forcing the Japanese to abandon Guadalcanal, an island with a very strategic position on the balance ocean.
The defeats in the two battles left the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. Therefore, Yamamoto decided to go to the South Pacific front to boost morale. Although his men had fought desperately to dissuade him, Yamamoto, who was invincible, still insisted on going his own way and decided to go.
Because in Yamamoto's view, his itinerary was not only well planned, but also the latest JN25 code of the Japanese army had been activated. The code had only been in place for 10 days, and it was impossible for the U.S. military to decipher the telegrams he had sent to the bases for their inspection itineraries.
However, the U.S. military deciphered the telegram in just a few hours. Therefore, Yamamoto's inspection operation has no secrets in the eyes of the US military.
So, over Bougainville Island, the U.S. military successfully intercepted Yamamoto. His plane, with billowing smoke, plunged headlong into the rainforest on Bougainville Island, where it exploded and the plane disintegrated.
From the above-mentioned process of the US ambush of Yamamoto, it can be seen that it is impossible for him to maintain the so-called "decent" posture before his death.
(Japanese gendarmes on the escort plane)
First, Yamamoto was shot twice before his death, one of which shot in from behind and penetrated his shoulder blade, a bullet that, while not fatal enough, inflicted enormous trauma on Yamamoto. Another bullet shot in from the mandible and pierced through the right eye, which must have killed Yamamoto on the spot. In this case, how could Yamamoto possibly maintain a "decent" posture?
Second, the bodies of the remaining 11 people on the same plane as Yamamoto were scattered around the wreckage of the plane, and the death was very ugly. Not only were they horizontal and vertical, their limbs mutilated, but the body of a Japanese soldier was even hung on a branch. Could it be that Yamamoto really had the emperor's blessing and did not die on the spot, but climbed up and posed for a pose, and then died "decently"?
Third, according to the US military's recollection, at that time, the US military dispatched a total of 8 P-38 "Lightning" fighters, four of which used the strategy of moving the tiger away from the mountain, successfully lured Yamamoto's six escort aircraft, and the remaining four planes fired all the bullets at Yamamoto's No. 1 fighter, causing it to catch fire and fall on the spot. The most important thing is that after Yamamoto's fighter plane fell, there was an explosion and disintegration, in this case, is Yamamoto alive alone?
So why did Japan report that Yamamoto maintained such a posture when he died?
In fact, this should be the Japanese soldiers after finding Yamamoto, pulled up his body, special posture. Its purpose is to maintain the image of the so-called Imperial Japanese soldiers and promote the so-called "Bushido" spirit.
After yamamoto's successful attack on Pearl Harbor, he accumulated a huge popularity in Japan and became a hero known to women and children. How can a "heroic" character die ugly?
To sum up, Yamamoto's so-called "decent" posture before his death was nothing more than a trick by the Japanese to deceive themselves.
(Reference: "Yamamoto Fifty-Six")