Rabaul, located near the equator, is a port city in the South Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, with a population of less than 30,000 people, but is famous for the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.
During World War II, in order to win the air and sea supremacy in the South Pacific, the Allies seized Rabaul at all costs, and launched a thrilling battle with the Japanese army, many Allied fighters never returned, and many officers and men were missing.
In November 2008, an Australian pilot came to Rabaul to search for the wreckage of the crashed plane.
More than a dozen kilometers northwest of Rabaul, on a remote and desolate slope, inundated with volcanic ash, there is a cemetery with a monument inscribed with Chinese in the middle.
This puzzled him.
When a local old overseas Chinese learned about it, he hired a jungle native to lead the way and find the cemetery.
After more than 60 years, the tropical climate and frequent volcanic activity have caused serious damage to this cemetery. In particular, a volcanic eruption in September 1994 destroyed the entire city of Rabaul, and the cemetery was robbed again, almost buried in volcanic ash.
Of the three tombstones found, two are still legible, namely Captain Wu Kun of the Army's 67th Division and Sergeant Kong Xianzhang of the Army's New 30th Division, and the other is badly damaged and illegible, and the time of death is 1945.
As soon as the news came out, it immediately aroused strong domestic concern.
Through on-the-spot visits and historical materials, the Chinese staff stationed in Papua New Guinea found that in this forgotten and chaotic post, the bones of the New Fourth Army, the guerrillas led by the Cpc, the "Eight Hundred Heroes" of the Shanghai Sixing Warehouse, and the Chinese Burmese Expeditionary Force were buried.
It's a story that has been obliterated by time. Why did the Chinese soldiers come here and bury their bones elsewhere?
During World War II, Rabaul was home to 110,000 Japanese troops and was home to the headquarters of the Japanese Army's 8th Front and the Navy's Southeastern Fleet.
In 1945, the Allies could not conquer for a long time, so they used island-hopping tactics to isolate Rabaul. It was not until after the surrender of Japan that it was occupied by Australian troops.
More than 200 pages of information from the Australian Archives provide a detailed account of the australian army's reconquest of Rabaul.
It turned out that as early as 1942, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, 1504 Chinese soldiers, from prisoner-of-war camps in Nanjing, Shanghai, Xuzhou and other places, were escorted by the Japanese army to the newly occupied Rabaul to work as coolies and repair fortifications.
Among them, there are "eight hundred heroes" who insist on sticking to the Shanghai Sihang warehouse.
Tian Jidian, a survivor of the "Eight Hundred Heroes" and a veteran soldier from Chibi, Hubei Province, recalled that in the autumn of 1942, the Japanese army transferred 1,000 people from the Prisoner of War Camp in Huqiao, Nanjing, and went to Nanyang to work as coolies.
Among them were 57 "eight hundred brave soldiers," as well as officers and men of the 14th Army, the 27th Army, and other nationalist troops captured in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, as well as anti-Japanese guerrilla fighters led by the New Fourth Army and the CPC.
The other 504 were officers and men of the Nationalist Army captured in the Battle of Zhejiang from May to June 1942.
On December 21 and 24, 1942, the 1,504 prisoners of war were taken to Japanese warships in batches and departed from The Wusongkou Wharf in Shanghai.
Fearing allied bombing, the warships sailed at night and docked at the docks during the day.
The ship was divided into 9 floors, the prisoners of war were driven to the lowest level, there was no daylight, it was sweltering, no one was wearing clothes inside, there was no bed, and many people were seasick and diarrhea.
At the beginning, the Japanese army gave 20 people a bucket of rice, half a bucket of vegetables, no soup, no water, and guarded the hatch, not allowing people to go up and defecate.
Three days later, there was no sound, no defecation, and some prisoners of war died of illness in the cabin.
When the water from the Japanese soldiers brushing their teeth flowed down, they took it and drank their own urine.
A prisoner of war sneaked into the kitchen, poured a bottle of fresh water, and was spotted by Japanese sentries, who carried him out into the sea.
After more than 30 days and nights in the Pacific Ocean, it finally arrived in Rabaul on January 23 and 24, 1943.
After going to the island, it was found that it was surrounded by trees more than ten meters high, deserted, swampy, miasma, mosquitoes, and malaria.
57 "eight hundred brave soldiers" were dismantled, and Tian Jidian and 12 others were incorporated into the "industrious team", with a total of 160 prisoners of war in the team, including the New Fourth Army and the Chinese Communist guerrilla fighters.
In addition, there are some British, American, Indian and other prisoners of war, who also work as coolies on the island.
During their time on the island, the prisoners of war lived inhuman lives, with heavy labor and extremely difficult life.
At the end of the day, I have to do more than ten hours of heavy physical work, go out at dawn, and still can't return late at night. The cave is used as a house, melons and potatoes are used as meals, food cannot be full, sleep cannot be safe, and clothes are not covered.
Occasionally, eating the offal and bones of pigs and cows lost by the Japanese soldiers is even an improvement in food.
Tian Jidian recalled: "It is a hundred times more bitter than domestic workers. ”
The camp did not have any medical conditions, and after the illness, if it was not delayed for a long time, it would be waiting for death.
The Japanese soldiers were very cruel, often transporting seriously ill prisoners of war to the mountains by truck and burying them hastily.
The Japanese also often took pleasure in prisoners of war, having them cross their legs, kneeling on wooden boxes, and carrying plates of water on their heads, and if they spilled water, they would be beaten until they were stunned in the scorching equatorial sun.
The prisoners of war buried their hatred in their hearts and rebelled in different ways.
When digging trenches, several prisoners of war of the New Fourth Army deliberately hollowed out one side and filled it with floating soil, causing a large-scale accidental "collapse"; when pouring the foundation of the fort, the buried holes of the anchor bolts were misplaced, resulting in unusable.
While carrying the cannons, they deliberately broke parts, threw them away, and even set fire to the entire warehouse.
The prisoners of war who secretly destroyed were subjected to even more brutal retaliation by the Japanese army: pressing intestines, knocking on the knees... Until dying, and then thrown into the deep mountains and old forests.
With tears in their eyes, Tian Jidian and the others secretly buried their bodies.
Two years and eight months later, the "industrious team" of 160 people only has 38 people left.
Of the 1,504 prisoners of war, 756 were buried on desert islands in the South Pacific, with a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.
In early August 1945, the PRISONERs of War saw the Japanese army hanging down and knew that Japan's defeat had been decided.
On August 17, 1945, news of Japan's unconditional surrender reached Rabaul.
The 748 Chinese soldiers alive in the POW camp, regardless of party, voluntarily formed a "brother group", led by Chen Guoliang, the former commander of the New Fourth Army Battalion, who took advantage of the sudden action at night to capture the Japanese troops guarding.
On 18 August, a large number of Japanese troops withdrew from Rabaul, but there were still about 5,000 Japanese troops left behind.
At 00:00 on the 20th, with the cooperation of the Japanese interpreter and overseas Chinese Zhang Rongxu, the "brother group" after 5 hours of fierce fighting, captured the Rabaul arsenal, captured a large number of weapons, and also got a radio station.
At 5:00 a.m., the "Brothers" attacked the city of Rabaul, and the Japanese army collapsed in all directions. The Japanese commander, Ichiro Arita, committed suicide by caesarean section after burning the flag, and a Japanese squadron serving as a garrison was captured, and the remaining Japanese troops fled into the mountains.
On August 28, Liu Yun, a soldier of the New Fourth Army, sounded the charge trumpet, and the officers and men of the "Brother Regiment" went to the Rabaul Mountains to drag a net to hunt down the fleeing Japanese army.
The once invincible Japanese army lost the courage to resist and most of them raised their hands and surrendered.
By 30 August, the "Brotherhood" had completely occupied Rabaul.
On 13 September, the Allied Australian 11th Division, which had taken over Rabour, landed at Rabaul.
The Chinese soldiers on the island jumped into the sea and swam for more than 500 meters before climbing onto the ship and celebrating the victory with the Allied soldiers.
A photograph taken on September 17, 1945 shows that Chinese officers and soldiers, despite hardships, still have a resolute look in their eyes, revealing the true colors of indomitable soldiers.
Over the next year or so, Chinese officers and soldiers set up military tribunals in Rabaul to conduct 188 trials of war criminals, and a total of 390 Japanese officers and soldiers were tried, of whom 266 were found guilty and 87 were executed, of whom 84 were hanged and 3 shot.
On March 16, 1946, Chinese officers and soldiers built a cemetery and monument with the inscription "Monument to the Death of the People of Guangdong, China" to commemorate the Chinese prisoners of war and local overseas Chinese who died, and relocated the remains of 259 prisoners of war found here.
On December 21, 1946 and August 2, 1947, Chinese officers and soldiers departed for China in two batches, arriving in Shanghai and Guangzhou respectively.
Since then, most of them have been disarmed and returned to the field.
On August 18, 1998, survivor Tian Jidian died in Chibi City, Hubei Province. A few days before the old man left, he was always recalling the tragic past in Papua New Guinea, thinking that one day, someone could record this history and leave a memorial.
More than a decade later, the cemetery was abandoned until December 2008, when it was accidentally discovered.
The people at home appealed for the remains of these soldiers of the War of Resistance to be taken back to the motherland and properly resettled to honor these martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country.
On March 17, 2009, Wang Wenchuan, one of the "Eight Hundred Heroes", who was 91 years old at the time, came to the scene of the "Welcome the Remains of Anti-Japanese Soldiers back to China" and burst into tears.
On March 24, spokesman Qin Gang said that the issue of the remains of Chinese anti-war soldiers in Papua New Guinea is highly valued and will be commemorated in a solemn and solemn manner.
In 2010, at the original site of the tombstone, a cemetery for Chinese anti-War soldiers and compatriots killed was built.
In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the heroic martyrs who heroically sacrificed themselves for the cause of the liberation of the Chinese nation will never die!