Japanese comments on Onoda

Ono Hiroshi was born on March 19, 1922 in Hainan, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. In March 1939, he worked in the Wuhan branch of "Tiandao Yangxing" and was proficient in Chinese. In December 1942, he was recruited into the Wakayama 61st Infantry Regiment and then assigned to the 218th Infantry Regiment. In September 1943, he became an A-level cadre candidate, and in January 1944, he entered the Kurume First Army Reserve Non-commissioned Officer School. Graduated in August and became a probationary sergeant. In September, he entered the second branch of the Army Nakano School to receive intelligence and espionage training. After graduating in November, I was sent to the Philippines. Onoda was sent to Lubang Island, a small island in the Philippines, to collect intelligence and prepare for guerrilla warfare after the US military landed.

On December 17, 1944, his boss Furuta ordered the 23-year-old Onoda to launch guerrilla warfare against the Americans on Lubang Island. He said to Onoda: "We will retreat, but only temporarily. You enter the mountains and deal with the enemy by laying mines and blowing up warehouses. I forbid you to commit suicide or surrender. In three, four, five years, I will come back "Only I can cancel this order."

On February 28, 1945, the US military landed on Lubang Island, and most of the Japanese troops either surrendered or died on the battlefield. Onoda divided the remaining men into small groups and entered the jungle with Takecho Michida, Private and Private to continue fighting. On August 15, 1945, under the joint attack of the Allied forces, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. The US military sent military envoys, who were Japanese soldiers who had surrendered, to the islands to surrender, and at the same time dropped a large number of leaflets. In October 1945, Onoda saw a leaflet distributed by the Americans that read, "On August 14, Japan surrendered. Come down and surrender!" Onoda was skeptical at the time. Suddenly I heard gunshots not far away, so I concluded that the war was not over, the leaflets were lies, and they were hiding deep in the jungle.

Onoda’s Philippine Police and Philippine Army are its opponents. Targets include local U.S. military radar stations, warehouses, and U.S. and Philippine military and police positions. They also raided residents to obtain supplies. Onoda used a transistor radio to make a shortwave receiver and independently judged the international situation. Observe the activities of US warships and aircraft around the island, collect intelligence, and wait for the Japanese counterattack. Onoda had observed the transfer of U.S. military aircraft to North Korea. This was judged to be the result of Japan's counterattack in Manchuria.

Onoda and others maintained the same mobile strategy, which even the locals could not catch. After staying in the same place for a few days, they move. They camped during the long rainy season because no one would go up the mountain during the rainy season. They stole food from local residents, stole chickens, killed buffalo, caught rabbits, and ate lizards. They even used pickled dried bananas as dry food to keep some heat in. But they can't hunt much because gunfire would give away his fighting position. When the rainy season arrives, they have to watch out for each other and try to stay awake to avoid death from hypothermia while sleeping.

Eramos, the former deputy administrator of Lubang Island, said, "Onota showed us his hiding place in the forest. It was very clean, and there was a hanging on the wall that said 'Carry the war to the end' slogans, with portraits of the emperor carved on banana leaves. When his men were alive, Onota often trained them and even organized poetry contests. Onoda did not know about other groups. Eramos said: "My father fought with Onota. Later I became a policeman and fought with the guerrillas in Onota. We searched the jungle many times but did not find anything from the guerrillas. Traces. In order to convince them that the war was over, we distributed newspapers and letters from relatives and friends of Onoda's guerrillas. Afterwards, I asked Onoda, why didn't you surrender? He said, "Because I believe that the letters and newspapers were fabricated." "

Year after year passed. Skyscrapers were built in Japan, and electronic products made in Japan were sold all over the world. Industrialists in Tokyo acquired large American companies one after another, while Onoda and others continued Fighting for the Emperor on Lubang Island. They drank river water and fed on fruits and tree roots. Fortunately, he only suffered from tonsillitis. It rained heavily in the jungle at night. 1950. In that year, Private Jinchi couldn't stand the desperate situation and surrendered to the local police with his hands raised. The remaining three encouraged each other to continue fighting. The next year, they found that Jinchi had left many leaflets in the mountains, telling them that the war was over. It was over a long time ago, and Japan had surrendered for many years. They also found that Jinchi had joined the local search team and surrendered in the mountains of the island. Onoda judged that this was the enemy's strategy and could not agree with Akatsuki's betrayal.

He ordered all the men to retreat deeper into the mountains to avoid being trapped by the enemy.

In 1952, letters from their relatives and Japanese newspapers appeared deep in the forest, hoping that the three of them could soften their attitudes and surrender. However, Onoda still sees this as a ploy to break their will. He stubbornly came to the conclusion: keep fighting and never surrender.

In June 1953, Corporal Shimada was shot in the thigh by a local fisherman during an operation. Although he later recovered, in May of the following year, Shimada died on the spot during a conflict. Ten days later, new flyers appeared. The search team held a microphone and shouted "Onoda, Otsuka, the war is over" in the mountains. But they remained unmoved. They felt that the war was still going on, Japan was still fighting, and surrendering would be a great shame. They firmly believe that one day Japanese backup troops will capture the entire island and the sun flag will flutter in the wind. Even when Onoda's own brother came to the island and shouted at him with a microphone, he still believed that it was just American propagandists trapping him with a voice like his brother's. Guerrilla warfare made him suspicious of everything. More importantly, he firmly believed that the Japanese were a nation that would rather die than surrender, and he could not let the Japanese Imperial Army and the people who were still fighting bow their heads. Onota, along with the remaining private soldiers, dug an underground bunker in the jungle that was undetectable from the air and moved into it. Molina, the current deputy administrator of Lubang Island, said with a smile: "They firmly believed that the Japanese would come back. Because Onoda's boss said so. Later Onoda wondered if Tanita had forgotten him. Once he had suicidal thoughts, But he gave up immediately because his boss did not allow him to do so. "

After the end of World War II, they were ordered to lurk in a foreign mountain wilderness (claiming that they had not received orders to retreat from their superiors). He lived in secret for 28 years. It is said that the reason Onoda was able to survive as a primitive man in the mountains for a long time was because he received relevant training at the Japanese Army's Nakano Reconnaissance School. It is also reported that there are still traces of old Japanese soldier activities on Bana Island in the South Pacific.

In October 1972, Onota laid the last mine in a nearby village. The mine did not explode because of rust. On October 9, 1972, the Philippine Police Force received a report from local farmers and found two veteran Japanese soldiers burning straw on the hilltop of Lubang Island. Philippine police sergeant Sauter and three other people rushed to the scene, and two Japanese soldiers on the mountain immediately raised their guns and shot. During the exchange of fire, one Japanese soldier was killed and another fled into the dense forest. It was later found out that the person who was shot dead by the police was Private First Class Otsuka Feng Jing'en. A well-maintained Type 38 rifle was thrown next to him, and the one who escaped was Hiroshi Onoda. Nakatsuka was shot twice in the body, one of which passed through the heart and died on the spot. Twenty-seven years after Japan surrendered, the deaths of Japanese soldiers drew attention in Tokyo. Japan immediately sent people to Burma, Malaysia and the Philippines to find Japanese soldiers hiding in the forests. There are more flyers in the mountains. In addition to newspapers and magazines, there is also news about Otsuka's funeral in Japan. Onoda never bought one.