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On January 26, 1949, a news from the Supreme Military Tribunal of the Nationalist Government shocked the world, because according to the verdict pronounced in court, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese invasion of China, Okamura Ninji, was actually acquitted and released!
After learning this news, even Okamura Ningji himself could not believe that he knew best what he had done during the war, and according to his expectations, even if he was given a light sentence, he would have to spend several years in prison, and acquittal was something he did not expect anyway.
Of course, the broad masses of the people could not understand this result, and for a time the crowd outside the court was indignant and rushed to ask the judge to retry the case, and the news soon spread back to Xibaipo, and even Chairman Mao was rarely angry after hearing this, and he only said one sentence:
"Telegraph to the National Government, no matter what, you will arrest Okamura Ningji back!"
So what's going on here? Why was Okamura Ningji, the number one war criminal in the war of aggression against China, acquitted, and did he receive the punishment he deserved?
Number one war criminal
Speaking of this, we have to first understand the crimes of this war demon.
As the longest-serving Japanese general in the war of aggression against China, Okamura Ninji was full of evil and heinous crimes, and he came to Chinese soil as early as 1915 to work as a staff officer in Qingdao. Later, during the preparations for the war of aggression against China in Japan, Okamura changed his responsibilities and changed from a scientific researcher to a spy who collected intelligence on China's homeland.
From 1919 to the eve of the September 18 Incident in 1931, Okamura "worked" in China for 12 years, during which he set foot in various provinces and cities in China, did enough homework for Japan's war of aggression against China, and laid a solid foundation.
Okamura Ningji's "contributions" to Japan's invasion of China were enormous, and of course Japan did not fail him at home; since the September 18 incident, he has moved from the background to the front of the stage and officially commanded the war of aggression against China as an officer.
The Battle of Songhu was his handiwork, the Shanghai Armistice Agreement was signed by him personally, half of the volunteers who died in the northeast died at his hands, and almost all of Japan's interests in northeast China were based on his ideas.
It can be seen that before the Anti-Japanese War was fully opened, Okamura Ninji's crimes were already unjustified, let alone after the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937.
In April 1941, Okamura was awarded the rank of general by the Emperor of Japan, and soon after, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Japanese North China Front, and since then, Okamura Ninji's humanity has been completely annihilated, and under his instructions, the vast area of northern China is not only divided into "high quality" and "inferior quality" like pastoral areas, but also suffered from the cruel three-light policy, that is, killing, robbing and burning.
Okamura Ningji launched hundreds of sweeping offensives during his leadership of the war in North China, such as in mid-1941, he mobilized tens of thousands of Japanese troops to burn and loot civilians in the name of a sweep of the Chinese army, and it is estimated that more than 100,000 civilians died in this sweep alone.
According to later authoritative experts, during Okamura's tenure as commander-in-chief of the Japanese army in North China, a total of more than 2.7 million civilians died, and together with the Kuomintang army and the communist Eighth Route Army, the total death toll even exceeded 3 million!
You must know that the Nanjing Massacre only killed 300,000 people, and Okamura Ningji's actions are comparable to ten Nanjing Massacres!
Such evil deeds made Okamura Ningji deeply hated by the Chinese people, but in the eyes of the Japanese emperor, this was a "big drop" loyal general, so in November 1944, at the emperor's behest, Okamura Ningji was awarded the post of commander-in-chief of the Japanese Chinese Dispatch Army, and directly became the direct leader of all the Japanese troops invading China.
From November 1944 to August 15, 1945, Okamura served as the "leader" of the Japanese army invading China for more than nine months, and in addition to the evil deeds he committed in the land of China in the 26 years from 1919 to 1945, even if he was shot ten times, why did the Nationalist government not sentence him until 1949?
Shameless trading is a crime in vain
In fact, all this was caused by Chiang Kai-shek's personal reasons.
On August 15, 1945, Japan officially announced its surrender, the Japanese troops in China laid down their arms, and a trial of the "animals" began.
In this regard, the vast number of Chinese soldiers and civilians naturally want to try the aggressors on the land of China, but unfortunately international treaties do not allow us to do so, so we have to return the enemies who have "arrived", and the ordinary soldiers are dispersed and returned to China, and the main generals are sent to Tokyo to face trial.
On May 3, 1946, the Tokyo Trial began, and most of the major invading generals in China were duly severely punished, while the rest of the middle-level generals who committed no major crimes but were not small in official rank were sent back to China for trial.
To this end, military courts were set up in Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenyang, and other places to deal with the matter, and the trial of these war criminals began in the same year of the Tokyo trial.
The crimes of these war criminals are all conclusively proven, so after a long time, most of the war criminals were severely punished by the Chinese military and civilians, but as the number of war criminals awaiting trial continued to decrease, some discerning people discovered that something was wrong, where did Okamura Ninji, the supreme general of the Japanese army invading China, go? So that you haven't seen this person for a long time?
At that time, some people suspected that Okamura Ningji must have been repatriated to China under the protection of the US military like the Japanese emperor, but when the good guys inquired from many sources, they found out that the Far Eastern International Tribunal was also looking for Okamura Ningji, and repeatedly ordered the Chiang Kai-shek government to escort Okamura to Tokyo for trial.
It turned out that the man was here with Chiang Kai-shek, so as the supreme leader of China at that time, why did he hide Japan's number one war criminal?
In fact, this reason is very complex and is roughly divided into three points.
First, in order to suppress the development of the Chinese Communist Party
In fact, this point is not difficult to understand, as early as when Japan began to invade the three eastern provinces, Chiang Kai-shek's proposition was that "if you are outside, you must first make peace inside", even if the territory is lost, we will put our party to death, so since the war is over, it is understandable that he wants to suppress the development of our party, but what does this have to do with Okamura Ningji?
As the supreme general of the Japanese army that invaded China, Okamura Ninji's power was great even after the war, and he had the right to order the Japanese troops in China to surrender to whom, whether to surrender to the Communist Party or to the Kuomintang, all depending on his words.
And this is exactly what Chiang Kai-shek wants to see, you must know that after 14 years of the War of Resistance, the Communist Party of China has gradually developed and grown, and the strength is approaching the Kuomintang, if they are allowed to accept the surrender of the Japanese army and get the weapons and equipment of the Japanese army, then it will be extremely unfavorable for the civil war that Chiang Kai-shek is about to launch, so for the sake of his "black hat", in order to be able to sit in the position of Chinese leadership, Chiang Kai-shek found Okamura Ningji.
Chiang Kai-shek straightforwardly expressed his intentions to Okamura Ningji, and Okamura Ningji was also very "on the road" in order to survive, not only promised Chiang Kai-shek to order his subordinates to surrender to the Kuomintang, but also offered to return a part of the disarmed materials from the communists.
Chiang Kai-shek was so satisfied that he secretly took Okamura with him from then on, studying how to exonerate him while trying to squeeze out his surplus value.
Second, learn the strategy and tactics of the Japanese army
Regardless of his merits, Chiang Kai-shek's attainments in strategy and tactics were unsatisfactory to the world; during the period of sweeping away the encirclement and suppression of the Red Army, he was repeatedly teased by Chairman Mao's tactics; during the War of Resistance Against Japan, his many wrong decisions caused the Nationalist army to lose the advantages it should have held; and during the War of Liberation, he was ridiculed by later generations with the phrase "600,000 to 800,000 superiority is in me."
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek, who had been "fighting steadily" in China for 26 years, naturally had the intention to study, and he wanted to learn two aspects, one was the tactics and strategy of the general aspect, and the other was the method of dealing with the ranks of the Communist Party's Eighth Route Army.
In particular, the second point is even more coveted by Chiang Kai-shek, after all, when it comes to the combat experience with the Eighth Route Army, Okamura Ningji said that it was the second, and no one dared to say the first.
During his tenure under Chiang Kai-shek, he wrote more than 10 tactical analysis articles against our army, including "Encircling Points and Fighting for Aid is the Operational Characteristic of the Communist Army." During the Liberation War, he became Chiang Kai-shek's personal military adviser to explain the various "tricks" of the PLA in the war situation.
As mentioned earlier, Okamura Ningji was useful to Chiang Kai-shek, and even became his personal adviser to deal with the offensive of the People's Liberation Army and analyze the situation in the war of liberation, and this is the last reason why he was saved from imprisonment, when the war situation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was very anxious, and our army had already achieved absolute superiority in northeast and north China.
In order to defeat the PLA under these circumstances, Chiang Kai-shek would have to unite all forces that could be united, including U.S. military assistance, the power of the major warlords, and the assistance of Okamura Ninji, and judging Okamura Ninji at this juncture was obviously not conducive to the war situation.
It can be said that the few battles won by the Kuomintang team in the Liberation War were inseparable from Okamura Ningji, and this is why he was not sent to Tokyo to face trial and was delayed in appearing before the Chinese military court.
However, since Okamura Ningji was sent to court and tried in Shanghai, why was he finally acquitted? Could it be that Chiang Kai-shek is not even willing to pretend to appease public opinion?
Ups and downs of the trial
First of all, let's talk about the reason why Okamura Ningji was tried for the first time, it was at the beginning of 1948, the Chiang Kai-shek government had already fallen into a disadvantage during the Liberation War, and half of the rivers and mountains had fallen into the hands of the people, at this time Chiang Kai-shek's power and prestige were greatly affected, and in addition, there was a great international and domestic call for Okamura Ningji's trial, and in order to ease the contradictions, he reluctantly sent him to Shanghai for trial.
On August 23, 1948, the Shanghai Military Court held a public trial of Okamura Ninji's case, and all the judges and even the public were surprisingly unanimous in their view, that is, the number one war criminal Okamura Ninji must be sentenced to death.
The same was true during the court trial, even though Okamura Ningji argued in every possible way, saying that he had only received orders from his superiors to invade China, and that the various crimes committed by his subordinates had nothing to do with him, and even he repeatedly persuaded his generals to be kind to Chinese, but under a lot of ironclad evidence, everyone, including the president Shi Meiyu, unanimously decided to sentence Okamura Ningji to death.
However, just a second before the verdict hammer was about to fall, a phone call reached the court, and Shi Meiyu picked up the phone and found that it was a senior official of the Ministry of National Defense who called, and he only said one sentence:
"Suspend the trial of Okamura Ningji, this is Chairman Jiang's order!"
Forced to desperately, Shi Meiyu had to announce the adjournment of the trial in the eyes of everyone's expectation, allowing the law enforcement team to take Okamura Ningji out of the courtroom.
So where did Okamura Ninji go? At that time, everyone thought that he was taken to prison, but in fact, Chiang Kai-shek took him to a villa just a few days later and lived a life of delicacies and delicacies of the mountains and sea.
At this time, Okamura Ningji was extremely proud, he once thought that he would never go to court again, but in early 1949, a news came that changed his opinion, because he heard that Chiang Kai-shek had gone to the field!
Chiang Kai-shek went to power in the field Li Zongren, Okamura Ningji knew that Li Zongren did not have such a good attitude towards him, so at this moment he also had some resignation, he knew that his good life was coming to an end, and he also knew that he was likely to be sentenced to death.
Sure enough, on January 26, 1949, Okamura again appeared in the Shanghai courtroom to face the trial, but the content of the subsequent trial stunned him and the reporters who were present.
It was still Shi Meiyu sitting in the center of the court, but his attitude had undergone a 180-degree reversal, from the previous stern questioning, to this time's peaceful words, most of the questions asked were also exonerating Okamura Ningji, hearing this, Okamura Ningji immediately replied, he followed Shi Meiyu's words to make a confession, and under their singing and harmony, soon the verdict came down, simply put, four big words "acquittal"!
The moment the verdict was announced, the reporters at the scene immediately clapped up on the table, angrily denouncing Okamura Ningji's meanness, insulting Shi Meiyu and the war criminals for colluding with each other, and asking the court to retry the case.
Seeing this, I believe that everyone will have the same opinion as the reporter, thinking that this Shi Meiyu has received some benefits, so that she manipulated the verdict in vain?
In fact, the answer is no, Shi Meiyu herself firmly believes that Okamura Ningji is guilty, but unfortunately the threats of two people made him have to do so.
One of them is Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek's meaning is very simple, now dealing with Okamura Ningji is not good for the Kuomintang and good for the Communist Party, everything can wait until "the autumn to settle accounts", moreover, Okamura Ningji is indeed "not at fault", not only helped China collect the materials and equipment of the surrendered Japanese army, but also prevented many "tricks" of the Communist Party to forcibly occupy the territory, such a "meritorious minister" naturally should not chill his heart.
The second is Tang Enbo, as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou garrison, he made a phone call to Shi Meiyu before the trial, and he only said eight words on the phone: "Okamura Ningji should be acquitted." As for why he did this, it is not complicated; when he was studying at the Japanese non-commissioned officer school, Okamura Ningji helped him, and this move could repay the kindness of the other party and also mean "Chairman Jiang."
In this way, under the threat of the two bigwigs, Shi Meiyu could only obey orders, and most of the righteous people in the Kuomintang were the same, they all thought the same as Shi Meiyu, but no one dared to say a word because of Chiang Kai-shek's "obscenity".
However, the Kuomintang did not dare to speak, but it did not mean that the Communist Party did not dare to speak out, and after the news of Okamura's acquittal was transmitted back to Xibaipo, even Chairman Mao, who had always been elegant, gritted his teeth angrily, and he immediately publicly telegraphed to the Kuomintang government, demanding that they must arrest Okamura Ningji and then hand it over to the People's Liberation Army for the people to try again, otherwise they will bear the consequences!
Chairman Mao's words were the common aspiration of thousands of Chinese people, and our party was also very sure of this at that time, because at that time, when the Kuomintang troops were completely defeated and the Kuomintang top brass were praying for peace talks, the other side asked us not to miss the peace talks for the sake of a war offense, right?
Indeed, Li Zongren, who was the president of the Kuomintang at the time, also thought so, he immediately ordered his subordinates to recapture Okamura Ningji, and when he learned that Okamura Ningji was in the hands of Tang Enbo, he also ordered the other party to hand over the people, but unfortunately, one of them Tang Enbo was Chiang Kai-shek's "close minister" He only listened to Chiang Kai-shek's words and disdained Li Zongren, and the second Okamura Ningji was his benefactor, and since he promised to repay the favor, he naturally would not change the order at night.
Third, Okamura Ningji has a large number of Chiang Kai-shek's secrets in his hands, such as a secret agreement on the surrender of the Japanese army, a series of articles on the strategy and tactics of the Communist Party, and treating the number one war criminal as a secret adviser without caring about public opinion, etc., etc., in this case, if Okamura Ningji is handed over to Li Zongren or Chairman Mao, then Chiang Kai-shek's fate can be imagined.
Therefore, even in the face of pressure from the whole country, Tang Enbo did not hand over Okamura Ningji under the influence of Chiang Kai-shek's orders and personal feelings, and not only that, he also insisted on sending the other party back to Japan.
Okamura Ningji returned to China, he did not Chinese be tried by the people until he died, did not publicly say "sorry" for what he did, and did not repent even a bit, which really made countless Chinese people feel angry, but the law escaped from heaven, and Okamura Ningji also suffered due retribution after returning to China.
When his wife heard of his evil deeds, she was reluctant to confess to him, and her son became depressed and depressed about him, and finally died in 1962.
The separation of his wife and the white-haired man sending the black-haired man has made Okamura Ninji grief-stricken, however, the sky has not let go of this demon, tuberculosis has found his body, the "pitch-black" heart has gradually deteriorated, and a series of diseases have poured out, so that in 1966 he struggled to die in endless pain.
I don't know if Okamura Ningji regretted what he did at the moment before he died, but what we do know is that this is retribution, this is the reincarnation of the Heavenly Dao, this is the joint effect of three million Chinese military and civilian wronged souls, and it is a huge blood debt that cannot be repaid even if he dies!
Okamura's fate must have made many people excited, but in addition to relief, there was also a question worth considering, that is, did Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Enbo not know about these crimes? The same Chinese, even if they were still the leaders and generals at that time, why would they abandon the people, is it just for those Xu equipment, in order to increase the chances of victory against the enemy?
It is recorded in the history books, but the author believes that there must be a deeper reason, that is, Chiang Kai-shek attaches too much importance to individual rights, even more important than the people's will than the country, of course, this is the reason for his ultimate failure, after all, the one who wins the people's support wins the world, and a selfish person is not worthy to lead the people.