During the war of aggression against China, the Japanese army committed unforgivable and unforgivable crimes against the Chinese. The Japanese Class-A war criminals who directly planned and launched the war of aggression against China, such as Hideki Tojo, Kenji Toihara, Ishigen Matsui, Seishiro Itagaki, and others, were even more heinous in their crimes and had more than enough to die.
On September 2, 1945, Japanese Foreign Minister Aoi Shigemitsu signed a surrender instrument aboard the USS Missouri, marking the end of World War II and the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan. Although the war was over, the liquidation of Japanese war criminals had only just begun.
On September 11, MacArthur, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Japan, issued arrest warrant No. 1, and at the top of the list of first batch of Class A war suspects was Hideki Tojo.
01- Committing suicide in fear of sin but not dying
Hideki Tojo was a notorious Japanese fascist leader in World War II, one of the most vicious war thugs under Emperor Hirohito, who directly planned and launched the war of aggression against China.
After graduating from the Japanese Army University, Hideki Tojo entered the Japanese Kwantung Army as chief of staff, participating in the planning and launching of the armed invasion of northeast China in the "September 18" Incident; after the "July 7 Incident" in 1937, Hideki Tojo led the Japanese army to invade the mainland of Chasui and Jinbei.
From October 1941 to July 1944, Hideki Tojo served as Japanese Minister of War and Prime Minister, during which time he single-handedly planned the attack on Pearl Harbor and launched the Pacific War.
The Japanese army then invaded more than 10 Asian countries and regions, including Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Guam, causing tens of millions of lives to be destroyed. Hideki Tojo was the culprit in this series of wars of aggression, his hands stained with the blood of the people of Chinese and the people of the world.
On August 15, 1945, Hideki Tojo heard a radio address from His home on the unconditional surrender of Emperor Hirohito. Listening and listening, tears rolled out of the corners of his eyes. Japan surrendered, and what awaited him was destined to be the final judgment platform, and he knew that he would not have a good end.
Emperor Hirohito's ministers and officers committed suicide in fear of their crimes, and Hideki Tojo, who was hiding at home, heard that someone was dead every day, and he began to prepare for the aftermath.
He first sent his two young daughters to his wife's hometown of Kyushu City, and then hid at home to burn notes and letters for 3 days. He also secretly wrote a suicide note and hid it in his desk.
He was ready to commit suicide, and earlier he had asked his neighbor, Dr. Suzuki, to draw a circle the size of a wine glass on his chest with a charcoal strip, which was the location of the heart. As soon as something happens, shoot at the place.
Every time he took a shower, he drew the circle again. Seeing that circle, Hideki Tojo was always hesitant. His son even advised him to commit suicide quickly, but he didn't want to die so soon.
At noon on September 11, he noticed three U.S. Military jeeps parked on the path in front of his house. He knew exactly what that meant, and the day finally came.
He immediately brought his wife and maids and hid them in the houses of relatives, leaving only a guard by his side. Soon, the U.S. military police surrounded his house, and Hideki Tojo heard a knock at the door. He ordered the guards to open the door, then opened the drawer, and with trembling hands he picked up the pistol and aimed it at the circle at the heart.
Subsequently, the U.S. army heard a dull gunshot, and immediately broke through the door and saw Hideki Tojo lying upright on the floor, still bleeding in his chest. Hideki Tojo was not dead, and he said to the American troops who came to arrest him: "Please don't rescue me, I don't want to be tried in the court of the conquerors." ”
However, this is not up to him. MacArthur heard that Hideki Tojo had committed suicide and could not let him die like that under any circumstances. So someone called an ambulance and took him to a nearby hospital for rescue. After the doctor's examination, it was found that the bullet only passed from the side of his heart and did not hit the critical part.
The next day, newspapers and radio stations published news of Hideki Tojo's suicide attempt, which drew ridicule and rebuke from the crowd.
Three months later, Hideki Tojo was discharged from the hospital from his injuries and sent to Sugamo Prison, which specializes in Japanese war criminals. This criminal, war criminal, is destined to be sent to the dock and tried justly.
02 - The Contest of the Tokyo Trial
On May 3, 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East officially opened its trial, and the world's largest and longest-running international trial began.
At 8 a.m., the car escorting the Japanese war criminals stopped at the entrance of the military court, and the war criminals were escorted out of the prison car and into the courtroom. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East has identified 28 war suspects, including Hideki Tojo, Kenji Doihara, Ishigen Matsui, Seishiro Itagaki and others.
The Japanese war criminals who were killed and seized in the war were all dejected and dead at this time. Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported: "This group of war criminals is like a funeral procession. ”
In the afternoon of the same day, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East read out the indictments against 28 war criminals. These 28 Class A war suspects are all deeply guilty and hateful to the bone. Among these war suspects, the ones that Chinese hate the most are these:
1. Hideki Tojo, 61 years old, born in Tokyo, Japan. During World War II, he served as a general in the Japanese Army and as prime minister for the 40th. He was the fascist leader second only to Hitler and Mussolini in World War II, and the number one war suspect of the Japanese invasion of Asia and China.
2. Kenji Toihara, 62 years old, born in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Since 1918, he has been sent to China to engage in espionage, secret agents and other conspiracies. In 1931, he became the chief of the secret service of the Kwantung Army, participated in the creation of the "September 18 Incident", and was also one of the culprits in concocting the "puppet State of Manchukuo".
3. Sadao Araki, 68 years old, born in Tokyo, Japan. In 1931, he became The Japanese Minister of War, introduced a tough policy of aggression against China, advocated the annexation of northeast China, and was one of the main elements of the war of aggression against China.
4. Matsui Ishigen, 67 years old, born in Nagoya, Japan. In 1937, Matsui Ishigen served as the commander of the invasion of Shanghai and commanded the invasion of Shanghai. In the same year, he served as the commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, commanded the troops to attack Nanjing, and carried out the "Nanjing Massacre" that shocked the world.
5. Itagaki Seishiro, 60 years old, was born in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. In 1929, he was appointed as a senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army and was one of the chief planners of the "September 18 Incident". In 1934, he was appointed supreme military adviser to the "puppet state of Manchukuo" and in 1936 he was appointed chief of staff of the Kwantung Army.
The 35-page indictment at the Tokyo trial listed 55 counts of Japanese war criminals. The charges fall into three broad categories: crimes against peace; homicide; other ordinary war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The day before the trial, Mei Ruzhang, a Chinese judge who participated in the trial of Japanese war criminals by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, personally wrote down the names of 28 war criminals, and he read the indictment overnight and was filled with grief.
He wrote in his diary for the day:
"These are all veterans of invading China, poisoning China for decades, millions of my compatriots have died at their hands, and I can stand on the judgment platform today to punish these culprits, all of which are the blood of my tens of millions of compatriots."
At the solemn International Military Tribunal for the Far East, these Japanese war criminals, who had exhausted their anger, some pretended to be crazy and stupid, and some were arrogant and clamored and did not admit their guilt.
War criminal Shumei Okawa walked into the defendant's seat, and before the indictment could be read, he stood up and slapped Hideki Tojo in front of him. Hideki Tojo was beaten, but only smiled bitterly. Ōkawa Shumei was taken out of the courtroom, and as he struggled, he shouted, "I'm going to kill Tojo, he killed me!" ”
The trials at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East lasted for 2 years and 7 months, and the daily trials were recorded. On the first day of the trial, the court conducted its first confrontation with the scheming war criminals.
In alphabetical order of the names of war criminals, Sadao Araki, who was the first to appear on trial, shamelessly argued in the face of the charges: "I do not admit any charges, I am not guilty." ”
The next war criminals repeated the same procedure. When it was Hideki Tojo's turn, he shouted equally shamelessly: "I have found myself innocent of all the charges." ”
For these stubborn and extremely cunning war criminals, only ironclad evidence can make them confess their guilt. The sophistry of the Japanese war criminals was soon shattered by a large amount of factual evidence.
On July 5, an important witness, Takayoshi Tanaka, appeared. Tanaka Takayoshi was a former Lieutenant General of the Japanese Army, who participated in the important Japanese invasion of China many times and knew the whole situation of the Japanese invasion of China. Under his testimony, the truth of major facts such as the Huanggutun Incident and the "September 18 Incident" was revealed to the world.
The "last emperor" Puyi also testified in court, exposing the crimes of the Japanese army invading China in planning the establishment of a "puppet State of Manchukuo."
On May 5, 1947, the trial of the "Nanjing Massacre" by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East officially began, causing a sensation throughout Japan. Ordinary Japanese people were deeply shocked to learn that the Japanese army had committed such a brutal crime in Nanjing, China.
On April 16, 1948, after a lengthy trial, the trial procedure was completed. Because of the inconsistent understanding of the spirit of national law among the 11 international judges who participated in the trial, they were deeply divided over whether to sentence Japanese war criminals to death.
French and Australian judges advocated light sentences on the grounds that the death penalty had been abolished in their countries. Another judge came up with an odd idea of exile of war criminals to a desert island. Even more absurd is the fact that an Indian judge went so far as to acquit all defendants on the grounds that "the world needs to be magnanimous, understanding and compassionate".
When the Japanese war criminals in the dock started the war, how could they ever have the slightest magnanimity and compassion for the people of the country that had suffered aggression? Judges in China, the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries advocated the imposition of the death penalty and severe punishment of war criminals.
In the end, 11 international judges decided by secret ballot the life or death of the war criminals. In the final vote, a narrow majority of 6:5 was given to the 7 war criminals by hanging.
On November 3, 1948, two years and 10 months after the opening of the trial, the 1,212-page verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East against 28 Japanese war criminals was drafted. It begins with the following words: "Aggression is the greatest crime of mankind, the sum and root cause of all war crimes. ”
On 12 November, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East pronounced the following sentence:
Seven war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, Kenji Toihara, Ishigen Matsui, and Seishiro Itagaki, were sentenced to death by hanging; 16 other war criminals were sentenced to life imprisonment and 2 were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment; 2 war criminals died of illness before the verdict; and 1 war criminal, Shumei Okawa, escaped punishment due to insanity.
03 - Hideki Tojo's last moments
During his 3-year prison life, Hideki Tojo seemed to have changed, and he became a deep believer in religion after "dying once", and people in prison called him "little monk".
He knew that he would not be able to escape death, but he was surviving like a walking dead. He thought he deserved to die too, because his teeth were almost gone, his eyes were spent, and his memory was poor. As a victim of human enmity, it is better to spend a cruel life in prison than to die.
He foolishly thought that after his death he could ascend to the world of Elysium, which was gratifying, and he even began to believe in Guanyin Bodhisattva. However, there is a cloud in Buddhism: bodhisattvas do not cross evil spirits. He probably didn't know that reincarnation of cause and effect, even a fierce and evil person like him in the religious world, would fall into the seventh layer of hell.
Hearing that he was about to be sentenced to death by hanging, Hideki Tojo nodded somewhat, "Death penalty?" I see. ”
While waiting for his death, Hideki Tojo's meal volume plummeted and his weight was severely reduced. He often hung a poem on his lips and kept chanting: "When this goes, the earthly mountains cross from the beginning, and Maitreya Buddha only goes to the east." Starting tomorrow, no one is afraid and no one is worried, and Maitreya Buddha only sleeps in the place, how leisurely. ”
If he still has a shred of conscience, he should repent for the war crimes he has committed!
On December 21, 1948, Hideki Tojo was notified that he was about to be hanged. He made two demands: another Japanese meal before he died, and a goodbye to the teacher Hanayama Nobukatsu. The U.S. military agreed.
At midnight on December 22, Hideki Tojo was awakened from his sleep, and the U.S. military prepared him a Japanese meal and arranged for Nobukatsu Hanayama to meet with him. When Hanayama Nobukatsu prayed, Hideki Tojo's face turned pale, "his face convulsed like a blank piece of paper in the wind." ”
When he actually stood on the hanging table, his disguised freedom disappeared.
Before hanging can be carried out, all prisoners of war are required to sign the death slip. Hideki Tojo, who had always been calm during the trial, picked up a pen, his hands were shaking unceasingly, and his name was written crookedly.
Hideki Tojo was hanged in a black cloth hood. According to the recollections of the American troops present, when he went to the hanging table, "thinking of the horror and pain of death, his legs could not help but tremble and the spirit of Bushido disappeared."
After Hideki Tojo and seven other war criminals were executed, the bodies were transported by the U.S. military to the Kubosan Crematorium in Yokohama. After cremation, the ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean by U.S. military aircraft to feed fish, in case other Japanese ulterior motives borrowed the corpses to return the souls.
In this way, Hideki Tojo ended his sinful life.
History has once again proved that good will triumph over evil. Those who undermine peace and bring great calamities to the peoples of the world will not escape the punishment of justice.
Hideki Tojo died, as did the Japanese war criminals who participated in the planning and launching of the war of aggression against China, as well as the Japanese army that committed unforgivable crimes of aggression in this part of China. However, the national enemies of the War of Resistance Against Japan are hated by the Chinese nation forever!
Love peace, but also be vigilant against war; remember history, my generation should be self-reliant!
END.
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