Original first photo / Liu Xiangrong (Teacher, Nanjing Ninghai Middle School)
Abstract: Although the letter of surrender of Japan was signed and sealed by Ninji Okamura, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army of the Japanese forces invading China and representative of the Surrender of Japan in the Chinese Theater of Operations, the person who personally submitted the letter of surrender to He Yingqin, chief of staff of the Military Commission of the National Government and commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army at that time, and the chief officer of the Chinese surrender at that time, was not Ninji Okamura himself, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army and commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army (Okamura Ningji was sitting in the Japanese representative's seat at that time), but Lieutenant General of the Japanese Army and chief of staff of the invading army at that time, Asaburo Kobayashi. Why?
After 14 years of arduous resistance, On August 15, 1945, Japan officially announced its surrender. On September 2, representatives of the Japanese government and the Japanese headquarters officially signed their surrender to the anti-fascist Allies aboard the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan. On September 9, the signing ceremony of the surrender of the Japanese army in the Chinese theater and the surrender ceremony of the Chinese army in the Chinese theater were held in the auditorium of the former Central Army Officer School in Nanjing (now the Military History Museum of the Eastern Theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army).
At the ceremony of the surrender of the Chinese theater, a total of five delegates were demoted from the Chinese side, namely, General He Yingqin, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Admiral He Yingqin, First-Class Admiral of the Navy, Admiral Chen Shaokuan, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Gu Zhutong, Commander-in-Chief of the Third Theater, Second-Class General of the Army, Lieutenant General Xiao Yisu, Chief of Staff of the Army General Command, and Colonel Zhang Tingmeng, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Combat Command. There were seven representatives of the Japanese surrender, namely, General Ninji Okamura, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Lieutenant General Asaburo Kobayashi, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Vice Admiral Ryozo Fukuda, Commander of the Chinese Fleet, Lieutenant General Haruki Isayama, Deputy Chief of Staff of the 10th Front, Major General Takeo Imai, Deputy Chief of General of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Masao Mizawa, Chief of Staff of the 38th Army, and Lieutenant General Ogasawara Kiyoshi, Chief of Staff of the Chinese Dispatch Army.
The signing ceremony of the surrender of the Japanese army in the Chinese theater was a major event that attracted the world's attention at that time, and this major event left a lot of precious materials and regrets. One of them is influenced by the famous photograph "Japanese Surrender Ceremony in the Chinese Theater" (see picture below), and many people believe that he Yingqin (He Yingqin was ordered to preside over the signing ceremony of accepting Japan's surrender on behalf of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Theater in the name of the Chief of Staff of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government and commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army) was personally presented with the surrender of Major General Okamura Ning, commander-in-chief of the Chinese dispatch army.
Japanese surrender ceremony in the Chinese theater
In fact, although the letter of surrender of Japan was signed and sealed by Ninji Okamura, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army of the Japanese army invading China and representative of the Surrender of Japan in the Chinese Theater of Operations, the person who personally submitted the letter of surrender to He Yingqin, chief of staff of the Military Commission of the National Government and commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army at that time, and the chief officer of the Chinese surrender at that time, was not Ninji Okamura himself, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army and commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army who invaded China (Okamura Ninji was sitting in the Japanese representative's seat at the time), but Lieutenant General Kobayashi Asaburo Kobayashi, then lieutenant general of the Japanese Army and chief of staff of the invading army. Why? According to the records of reporters at that time, the whole process of the Japanese army submitting the surrender letter was as follows:
At 9:04, He Yingqin ordered Okamura Ningji to submit a certificate of surrender. He Yingqin then handed over the Japanese surrender document (one in each Chinese and Japanese texts) to Xiao Yisu, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army, and handed it to Okamura Ningci, who held it with both hands and read it with his head down. Kobayashi Asaburo was on the side polishing ink for him. Okamura finished reading it, dipped his pen in ink, wrote his name, took the seal from his jacket pocket, stamped it under his name, and looked down at the book for 50 seconds. Because of the nervousness, Okamura's seal was distorted. Kobayashi then presented his signed and sealed surrender letter to He Yingqin. Then Okamura stood up and bowed solemnly to He Yingqin. ”
Based on the above materials, we found that in fact, during the entire process of signing and surrendering, all the documents submitted by the Chinese side to the Japanese side were submitted to Okamura Ningji by Xiao Yisu, while the documents submitted by the Japanese side to the Chinese side were sent by Kobayashi Asaburo to He Yingqin. From this, we say that Okamura Ninji did not directly submit the Japanese surrender letter to He Yingqin at that time, but first handed it to Kobayashi Asaburo to present to He Yingqin (observation photos, Kobayashi Asaburo and Okamura Ninji look a bit alike in appearance, they are both bald heads, which is indeed easy to cause misunderstanding, but carefully distinguished, they are still different, Okamura Ninji's military jacket is lapels, no tassel belts, and kobayashi Asaburo's military jacket is a stand collar, wearing a tassel belt).
Asaburo Kobayashi and Ninji Okamura
The surrender of the Japanese army invading China to the Chinese theater was a major event after The victory of the Chinese War of Resistance. The Chinese side was he Yingqin, the supreme commander of the Chinese army, and the Japanese side had to be the commander-in-chief of the Chinese dispatch army of the Japanese army invading China, Okamura Ninji, but why didn't the Japanese side personally present the instrument of surrender to He Yingqin? According to records, the specific requirements of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China for Japan to submit a instrument of surrender at that time were:
"At 9:00 a.m., Commander-in-Chief He delivered the Japanese surrender letter (Chinese copies) to General Okamura Ningji to read, sign and seal, and Admiral Okamura Ningji will sign and seal it and send it to Commander-in-Chief He after signing and sealing it."
The specific demands of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China for Japan to submit a instrument of surrender were exploited by Japan. What loopholes did Japan exploit? Please see: Because the words "Send to Commander-in-Chief He" were written in the specific requirements of the National Government of the Republic of China for Japan to submit the instrument of surrender, and the word "pro" was written in front of "Commander-in-Chief He", the cunning Japanese side took advantage of this loophole and played the edge ball, so it appeared that after Okamura Ningji signed and sealed the "Letter of Surrender of the Japanese Army in the Chinese Theater to the Chinese Government", the picture of Asababuro Kobayashi, chief of the General Staff of Japan, getting up to "present" He Yingqin, cannot but be said to be a pity. After all, the signing ceremony of The surrender of Japan in the Chinese theater is one of the most significant events in Chinese history.
In fact, at the Japanese surrender ceremony, it was not only the place where Okamura Ningji did not personally submit the surrender letter, which was provoked, in fact, there was also the place where Okamura Ningji did not present the saber on the spot (at the ceremony of the surrender of the Chinese theater, Okamura Ningji, as the representative of the Surrender of Japan in the Chinese Theater, should have personally presented the saber to he Yingqin, the representative of the Surrender of China, to show his sincere surrender, but unfortunately, in order to take care of Okamura Ningji's face, he actually informed the Japanese side that he was not allowed to bring a knife to the ceremony. In this way, Okamura's sabre was only privately handed over to He Yingqin, but not to He Yingqin in person at the ceremony of the surrender of the Chinese army in the Chinese theater) and he Yingqin, as the victor, leaned forward at a greater angle than Kobayashi Asaburo (according to international practice, as a victorious country, when accepting the enemy's surrender letter, there is no need to stand up to answer, only one-handed, and He Yingqin actually stood up to answer the salute and received it with both hands, which cannot but be regretted. He Yingqin bent down to accept the Japanese surrender letter, although this was caused by the omission of the table and the surrender work, but at the critical moment, the flaws in the work of the surrender ceremony were still constantly criticized by the world) These two regrettable and criticized places by the world. From this point of view, diplomacy is no small matter, and the details are very important.
References: "Letter of Surrender of the Japanese Army in the Chinese Theater to the Chinese Government", "Procedures for the Signing Ceremony of the Chinese Government on Accepting the Surrender of Japan", etc
Further reading:
At the surrender ceremony of the Japanese army, why did He Yingqin "bend down and bow his head"?