On August 15, 1945, lying in the cave of Rabaul Island, leisurely eating the sweet sweet potatoes he had grown, humming a small song, listening to the radio, the Japanese general Imamura, who had a good life, was feeling comfortable.
Hitoshi Imamura
Suddenly, a radio broadcast startled him: his own emperor Lao Tzu had announced his unconditional surrender. However, the outcome could not be changed, and Imato contacted the Allies to surrender.
The Allies wondered: What? Are there still Japanese troops on Rabaul Island?
Long before Japan surrendered, the Allies had already piloted planes to reconnoiter Rabaul Island, and did not find any shadow of the Japanese army, so how could there suddenly be a Japanese officer who requested the initiative to surrender?
As a surrendered Australian, they decided to find out and prepared to come with 3,000 people, thinking that the Japanese troops on the island were already hungry and malnourished, and there were only a few hundred beggars left.
What they did not expect was that there were 140,000 Japanese troops on the roster submitted by Japan, and the 3,000 Australians standing on the warship looked at the fat, shiny and polished japanese troops, and the lineup was afraid: What if this group of old boys rebelled against the water, my three thousand people were not enough for 140,000 people to charge.
Imamura saw the Allies' concerns and begged the Allies to give him a few days, so Imamura led his soldiers to immediately build offices, watchtowers, dormitories for prisoners of war, and then pulled up the barbed wire, and he and the soldiers stood in, waiting for the Allies to come and take over.
Surrendered Japanese troops
The Allies wondered again: "Since you are so powerful, why did you suddenly take the initiative to surrender?" ”
Imabari replied, "We don't know, we are stationed on the island well, and it was the emperor who made us surrender." ”
So what did Imamura do with 140,000 devils on the island? Why would he build himself a prisoner-of-war camp when he surrendered?
The Japanese army that made a fortune on an isolated island
Looking at the oily ghosts in the prisoner of war camp, the Australian army still couldn't understand how 140,000 people survived, so Imamura stood up and answered everyone's doubts.
Imamura proudly said: "We grow our own grain, until now our grain storage can last 10 years, and we can also build aircraft cannons, now there are many aircraft on the island, if not surrendered, we can assemble more aircraft." ”
Farming
When the Australian army heard that the ghosts who had been trapped for several years actually had so much food and armaments, this was what a surrenderer should look like, this was simply a rich man.
No one expected that the Japanese devils who should have starved to death long ago actually survived, not only survived, but also lived quite moistly.
After the surrender, Imamura continued to live a tasteful life with 140,000 people, but his country was in chaos, and Japan, which had just been defeated, was in a mess, the economy was not going, the civilians did not eat, the emperor was in a hurry, and the officials were even more anxious.
Imamura, who lived the life of a local rich man, wondered if these 140,000 people who returned to Japan would not be allowed to die of their own emperor, eat or drink, and return to Japan would simply increase the burden.
With a heart of absolute allegiance to the Emperor, he decided not to return to China for the time being, he wanted to continue to carry forward the spirit and work hard to farm, and then he formally made a request to the Australian Army to stay on this isolated island for one more year.
The Australian army did not know what medicine Imamura was selling in the gourd for a while, but Imamura had surrendered, and the Australian army agreed to his request.
Rabaul Island has abundant rainfall, a pleasant climate, and fertile land, and in the last year of his stay, Imamura has spared no effort to maximize his agricultural talents.
The Japanese army reclaimed the land
Sure enough, there was a bumper harvest this year, and when it came time to return home, Imamura not only brought all the grain back to the country, but also all the production equipment.
After the 140,000 soldiers who made their fortunes returned to Japan, they really solved the urgent need, which made people have to sigh that this is really a miracle in the history of World War II.
Imamura Jun, who entered the wrong line
Imamura has been very bright since he was a child, and he learned mathematics very well during his schooling, and Imamura's father often had to deal with some accounts as a judge, but the numbers on the paper made him very big.
Fortunately, Imamura is clever and clever, and often as long as he is called in, these accounts are not a problem, so Imamura, with the support of his father, is determined to study economics, and when he grows up, he becomes an economist and then becomes an employee of a large company.
At the age of nineteen, Imamura, who was supposed to be admitted to a university to study economics, went to see an imperial military parade, which excited Imamura, who at that time had a special attraction for every enthusiastic young man in Japan, where the spirit of Bushido and militarism was rife.
Japanese military parade
Back at home, he could not forget the heroic uniforms of the officers, nor could he forget the neat army, so he told his father with enthusiasm how he longed for the army, but Imamura's father was a man of understanding, he knew that his son was not suitable for the army, and the situation was unstable at that time, and it was very risky to join the army.
However, Imamura's mother strongly advocated that her son go to the army and become an officer, and in this way, Imamura began his military career.
By 1938, he was already the commander of the Fifth Division, and when the Japanese invaded China, he was also ordered to come to China and create many tragedies, but at this time he found that this was not the military life he wanted.
The Japanese invasion of China
In his final period as the commander of the division, he was severely attacked by Du Yuming on the battlefield in China, his favorite general Masao Nakamura was killed, and more than 5,000 soldiers were wiped out, after which Imabari gradually grew tired of such endless killing days, but as a soldier, he still had professional ethics.
According to the orders of the supreme commander, Imamura jun ran to Java again to fight, and as a result, here Imabari was completely transformed, and when his warship was attacking with his head held high, he was attacked by the Americans, and in the panic, the Japanese mistakenly regarded the warship that Imarazu was riding on as an enemy warship, so they fired a torpedo, and Imamura fell into the sea and almost died in the belly of the fish.
Japanese warship
In the end, Imamura swam for nearly three hours with his willpower before climbing ashore, and Imamura, who had experienced this disaster, was completely desperate for the war, and he began to miss the days when he was responsible for logistics and horse rearing, and he himself deeply understood that war was not suitable for him.
A warning from the Battle of Guadalcanal
In 1942, Imamura was promoted to commander of the Eighth Front, and was sent to garrison Rabaul Island in the western Pacific, which was simply a great honor, but Imabari Jun's brain was sober, he did not like to come to a "jade crush plan" at every turn, nor did he like to cut his stomach after defeat to thank the emperor, what is there to thank?
Oniko Kiriko's self-exhaustion
Imabari is not a war maniac, he thinks about how to let his soldiers survive, how to make his soldiers live more clearly.
The so-called "soldiers and horses have not moved, grain and grass first", after he took office, the first thing he thought of was to let the soldiers fill their stomachs first, after all, people are iron rice is steel, a meal is not eaten, there is no strength to fight.
At that time, the Japanese army was fighting with the American army on Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, and the other officers did not care about 3721, sending troops to the island, regardless of the soldiers' food problems.
With the increasing number of troops, the food supply began to be insufficient, coupled with the blockade of the grain transportation routes by the US army, a large number of ghosts did starving ghosts in such an inexplicable way, and this incident has since become a lingering shadow in the hearts of Imabari.
bombing
In the end, there was really no way, Imamura risked death to advise, and finally said that the top brass withdrew the remaining soldiers who were already hungry and starving, and the Battle of Guadalcanal finally made the devils suffer a crushing defeat because of the food problem.
This could not help but make Imabari suddenly break out in a cold sweat, is not the same situation on rabaul Island, once the 100,000 troops are blockaded, it is not going to starve to death, so Imamura began to actively prepare for the war, while brewing a big plan.
100,000 soldiers farmed and raised chickens
Seeing the emergency of the war in the South Pacific, Imabari immediately commanded the soldiers to build fortifications and build Rabaul Island like an iron barrel, at this time Imabaru had no choice but to stick to it, planning to fight with the US army to break the net.
However, the US military saw this iron-like island, there is no way to mouth, so the famous "jumping frog tactics" came out, Imamura Jun's Labaul Island was blocked by the US military, only bombed the island, and did not have the intention of attacking.
blockade
Imabari was keenly aware that the Americans were going to trap them on the island and starve them alive, and he also realized that with this little supply in his hand, these hundreds of thousands of people would not be able to last for a few days to go to the emperor, but the wise Imabari began his "farmer life" .
Imamura first gathered the soldiers from peasant backgrounds in the army, and as an instructor, taught others to cultivate the land and reclaim the land, and at one time 100,000 soldiers cultivated the land together, and soon the land was ready.
At the same time, Imamura contacted the country again, asking for airdrops of seeds, and the country was also very cooperative, and soon after, the Japanese Air Force broke through the layers of blockade and finally dropped the seeds on the island, and Imamura was as precious as the treasure.
These seeds are various, including dry rice, sweet potatoes, vegetables, etc., but because the climate difference is too large, the first planting of dry rice has not received any harvest, the yield of sweet potatoes is not high, and seeing that the supply in hand is getting less and less, Imamura has a clever move and another magic plan.
The Japanese were farming
In these days of living on the island, Imamura has found many indigenous people, so he exchanged the only remaining canned meat and compressed biscuits for local seeds to sow seeds, and not only that, but also put down his body and asked the locals to teach them to sow seeds.
After repeated experiments, upland rice finally succeeded, and what surprised Imabari even more was that the island climate was suitable, upland rice was harvested three times a year, in addition, sweet potatoes, eggplants, etc. were successfully planted, the grain problem was greatly solved, and the highest yield was the cassava cultivated by local residents.
At this time, the soldiers on the other islands were already hungry and dizzy, and it was learned that Rabaul Island, under the leadership of Imabaru Jun, was not only not hungry, but each soldier could also get one hundred grams of rice, more than two hundred grams of sweet potatoes and more than a pound of cassava every day, so many soldiers from other islands fled to Rabaul Island.
The Japanese army farmed
However, Imamura was not satisfied with the vegetarian life all day, so he exchanged 300 chickens and 100 ducks from the local residents through barter, and under the careful care of the soldiers, there were more than 2,000 chickens and ducks at most, and soon lived a life of eggs and ducks.
At the same time, Imamura also let soldiers who knew how to fish go to the sea to fish, and due to the unique environment around the island, the large number of fish gathered became an important source of meat for Japanese soldiers on Rabaul Island.
After some days of meat and vegetarian life, Imamura still felt that there was less side food and less wine, so Imamura jun began a new production, he asked the soldiers to collect the flowers of the coconut tree and pile them up for sake brewing, made tofu with soybeans and brine, and produced sugar from the fruits of coconuts plus other fruits.
Even in the later period, Imabari had successfully produced soy sauce and coconut oil, and completely achieved self-sufficiency While the Japanese troops on other islands were gradually starving to death, Imamura and his soldiers could eat fried shrimp, roast chicken and roast duck, and drink their own wine.
Japanese troops on the island
But of course, the US military will not let it go, when Imamura jun has just begun to farm, THE US military aircraft often come to bomb, often just built chicken coop is blown clean, so Imamura jun changed the living place to the ground.
They also began to dig tunnels, transforming everything underground, including independent toilets, dormitories, entertainment venues, conference rooms, canteens, etc. In addition to the time of farming, the soldiers were active underground.
After a long time, the US planes could not find them, so they thought that these Japanese soldiers had starved to death, and they did not care about Rabaul Island from then on.
However, Imamura was always a soldier with a heart of absolute loyalty to Emperor Laozi, and he knew that if he farmed and raised chickens every day, the abandonment of the military would certainly not be tolerated, so he began to build an army after eating and drinking enough.
After all, this is an army of 100,000 people, and there are still various talents hidden in it, and Imamura has gathered the soldiers in the army who are good at scientific research and let them collect the weapons and ammunition left over from the war, and the wreckage of the aircraft, which have been reassembled by two aircraft over time.
Japanese troops on the island
Subsequently, daily necessities and the like were also invented, and as the scale grew, Imabari simply set up an arsenal dedicated to weapons manufacturing and aircraft assembly, which had assembled two Zero fighters and a Type 100 fighter by the time of Japan's surrender, and could be put into battle at any time.
At the same time, the daily training of the army was still carried out in an orderly manner under the command of Imamura Jun, and there was no relaxation in the disregard of the American troops, and by 1945, with the addition of soldiers who had joined the army for several years, there were already 140,000 Japanese troops on Rabaul Island.
Under the leadership of Imabari, after several years of exhausting the soldiers on the other islands, the Japanese army on Rabaul Island was not weakened, but its combat effectiveness was greatly improved.
Return to Japan and stand trial
After Japan announced its surrender in 1945, Imatoshi, who had been disgusted with war, immediately registered the soldiers on the island and prepared to surrender, and the soldiers, under the influence of Imabari, did not appear to kill themselves.
When the villages were repairing the POW camps and standing in on their own, the Allies really accepted Imamura's surrender, when the 140,000 Japanese prisoner of war camps were surrounded by Allied offices, and the 3,000 Allied troops were surrounded by 140,000 Japanese troops.
A prisoner-of-war camp built by Imabari
In 1946, Imamura returned to Japan with 140,000 soldiers and mountains of grain.
Because Imamura was a World War II war criminal, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Australian Military Tribunal at trial, and in 1968, Imabari died of a myocardial infarction.
To this day, when people talk about the Battle of Rabaul, they can't forget this army general who farms and raises chickens, and if Imamura had been like those war freaks, the lives of these 140,000 people would have been lost long ago.