"The defendant Okamura Yasuji is not guilty. The reason is... To sum up the above statement, the defendant has not violated war rules or other acts that violate international public law. He should be not guilty and be fair."
On January 26, 1949, the Military Court of the Government of the Republic of China made the above verdict in Shanghai.
This statement shocked everyone. More than 20 reporters at the scene were filled with indignation. They could never believe that the court would make such a ridiculous verdict. Some reporters ignored the obstruction of the court's military police and resolutely rushed to the trial seat to ask for an explanation, but were hit hard by the fully armed military police.
At this time, the former commander-in-chief of the Japanese invaders, Okamura Yasuji, whose hands were covered with Chinese blood debts, sneaked out of the court from the back door and returned to his residence under the whisper of the deputy director.
Soon, the news that Okamura Yanji was acquitted and made headlines in major newspapers, arousing the anger of the crowd. Many folk martial arts groups and justice-oriented people vowed to kill Okamura Yanji.
Chairman Mao, who was in Xibaipo at the time, got furious after learning the news...
1. The person who participated in the invasion of China for the longest time
1915, the 31-year-old Okamura Yasuji arrived at Qingdao . This was his first time to set foot on China's territory, but this time he had not appeared in the face of a demon.
At that time, Okamura Yasuji worked in the Foreign War History Department of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters. In order to assist in compiling the history of the Japanese-German war, he came to China to collect information.
Later, he was also transferred to Beijing as an assistant by , Li Yuanhong, then presidential adviser, and did not return to Japan until 1919.
Five years later, Okamura Yasuji came to China again as a military officer stationed in Shanghai at the General Staff Headquarters. This time, his face is still "friendly", but there are many insidious and cunning behind it.
Before the "18th Incident " in 1931, Okamura Yasuji was a Japanese spy and was doing things crazy on Chinese land.
diverted the focus of the anger of the Chinese people, instigated wars among warlords, hindered the process of the National Revolutionary Army's Northern Expedition, etc., and he did "prosperously" in China.
It can be said that Okamura Yasuji participated in the invasion of China, which can be counted from his second entry into Chinese territory.
After the "September 18 Incident", Okamura Yasuji took off his spy mask and showed a ferocious face, directly commanding or participating in the Japanese invasion of China.
For example, in order to divert the international community's attention to Northeast China at that time, he sent Tanaka Takakichi and Kawashima Yoshiko in 1932 to provoke the "January 28 Incident" and took the opportunity to send troops to Shanghai, China. The Chinese defenders rose up to resist and started the First Shanghai War.
More than a month later, the two sides ceased arbitrage, and Okamura Yasuji and Chinese representatives signed the " Shanghai Armistice Agreement ". Afterwards, he moved to the Northeast and launched a large-scale sweep of the anti-Japanese volunteers in the region.
In 1933, Okamura Yasuji and the National Government 1 pro-Japanese sent representatives He Yingqin to sign the " Tanggu Armistice Agreement ". He got the results he wanted, which made the National Government recognize Japan's rights and interests in the Northeast and North China.
1937, after the Japanese army invaded China, Okamura Yasuji was revealed and commanded the Japanese army to burn, kill and rob China's land.
In order to stabilize the occupied areas and further invade China's strategic hinterland, Okamura Yanji divided the North China region into " public security zone ", "quasi-public security zone" and "non-public security zone".
For the above three areas, Okamura Yasuji implemented the cruel "cleaning the countryside", "encroaching" and "mopping up" strategies respectively.
The infamous "Three Lights" policy, namely burning everything, killing everything and grabbing everything, was implemented in the grand raid against the Japanese base.
Because of Okamura's "excellent performance" in the Chinese battlefield, he was deeply appreciated by the Japanese base camp. He soared from the commander of the 2nd Division of the Army General's General Division in 1936 to the commander of the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Army in 1944 and the rank of general.
It was not until August 15, 1945 that the Japanese Emperor announced his surrender that he stopped his aggression in China and surrendered to the Chinese army.
Overall, Okamura Yasuji was the Japanese officer who had been directly involved in the invasion of China for the longest time among the Japanese officers and soldiers at that time, and the crimes committed against the Chinese people were endless.
2. Dirty behind-the-scenes transactions
When Japan announced its surrender, the Chinese people cheered. This was the most proud day in modern Chinese history. After fourteen years of bloody battles, we finally won.
For those Japanese invaders who once cruelly ravaged Chinese land and people, the Chinese people have long wanted to kill them quickly, but we still chose to follow international rules, treat Japanese prisoners of war well, and send Japanese war criminals to Military Court for trial.
In Tokyo, Japan, the allies formed the Far East International Military Tribunal, , and tried 28 major Japanese war criminals, most of whom were Japanese military or political leaders, 7 of whom were sentenced to hanging , and 16 were sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 1946, China also established ten military courts in Shenyang, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places to specifically try Japanese war criminals invading China.
These ten military courts sentenced a total of 145 Japanese war criminals to death, including Tani Suo , Tanaka Jun Yoshikami, and others who commanded the Nanjing Massacre.
However, the one Okamura Yasuji, who was stained with the most Chinese blood, has not appeared in the docks in China and Tokyo for a long time. So where is he?
It turns out that after Japan surrendered to , our party and the people in the country called for trial of Okamura Yanji. The Far East International Military Tribunal also sent people to urge the government of Chiang Kai-shek to escort him to Tokyo for trial as soon as possible.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's scars healed and forgot to hurt, and he actually started the "protective umbrella" of war criminal Okamura Yasuji, and even had extremely dirty transactions in private.
When Japan surrendered, there were about 1.2 million troops in China, and countless weapons and supplies were available. Our army entered the enemy's rear during the War of Resistance against Japan and was closer to most of the Japanese army, while the Kuomintang army was basically in the rear.
So according to the principle of surrender nearby, our army will accept the surrender of most of the Japanese army.
This is something that Chiang Kai-shek is unwilling to accept. In order to ensure that he obtains the best interests, he actually reached a deal with Okamura Yasuji regardless of national justice.
Okamura Yanji was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the "General Liaison Officer of Japan's Aftermath of the Chinese Theater" and enjoyed the original mansion, guards and carts. All he needed to do was to order the Japanese army in China to surrender to the Kuomintang army, not to surrender to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.
and even our army was rejected when accepting the surrender of the Japanese army in many places. Sometimes we need to fight with them again before they can surrender to our army.
Chiang Kai-shek obtained most of the Japanese army's supplies and occupied land through a dirty transaction with the demon Okamura Yanji.
However, this is far from over. Chiang Kai-shek also personally met with Okamura Yasuji with a very gentle attitude and asked him for advice on the combat experience of the Eighth Route Army.
Okamura Yasuji took the opportunity to hug Chiang Kai-shek's "thigh". He not only said everything, but also wrote a series of articles to assist the Kuomintang in fighting with our army, such as "Mao Zedong's military strategy and methods of dealing with each other, "Encircling and fighting aid is the combat characteristics of the Communist Army", "Looking at the Chinese Army from a hostile standpoint", "Annihilation of the Communist Army with concentrated forces against concentrated forces", etc.
Okamura Yasuji is often invited by Ministry of National Defense to help him analyze the situation and provide suggestions. He has actually become a secret senior military adviser to the National Government.
In return, he was able to continue to live a life of luxury without having to be escorted to Tokyo trial , but only stayed in China for trial.
The most incredible thing is that heavyweight war criminals like Okamura Yasuji can actually be exempted from punishment. What's going on?
3. Absurd trial
In early 1948, the Far East International Military Tribunal once again submitted a note to the National Government, asking it to extradite Okamura Yanji to Tokyo.
This time, Chiang Kai-shek ruthlessly cited Okamura Yasuji's illness and transferred him from Nanjing to Shanghai for recuperation. Songhu Security Command sent plainclothes military and police to protect him strictly.
Although Chiang Kai-shek tried every means to vacate the Far East Military Court, the voices of domestic and international demanding that the trial of Okamura Natsuji became increasingly high. Under heavy pressure from public opinion, he reluctantly ordered the trial of Okamura Natsuji at home.
On July 7, 1948, 11 years after the " Lugou Bridge Incident ", the Military Court of the First Appeasement Zone of Shanghai finally issued a subpoena to Okamura Yasuji, demanding that he go to the court to accept pre-trial trial on the 12th. After the pre-examination of
, Okamura Yasuji still returned to his residence.
Until August 9, the presiding judge of Okamura Yasuji Ishi Meiyu submitted an application to the Ministry of National Defense just passed, namely, "Okamura Yasuji should be detained in the war criminal prison and seek medical treatment there."
In order to evade public opinion, the National Government finally took Okamura Yanji to the Shanghai Gaojing Temple War Criminal Prison. This was the first time he had become a prisoner of the National Government in three years since the Japanese surrendered.
In prison, Okamura has a separate room and lives affluent life, waiting for the public trial on August 23.
Okamura was very nervous at this time. He had learned that many of his "comrades-in-arms" had been sentenced to death in Tokyo and China, and he might not be able to escape now.
Soon, Chiang Kai-shek sent him a "dose of good medicine". Warden Sun Jiejun quietly sent Chiang Kai-shek an oral message, indicating that this public trial was a helpless move to deal with external public opinion, and it was just a formality and would not be sentenced to the extreme in the end.
Okamura then breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the arrival of the public trial day.
On August 23, the Shanghai Senate Building, No. 2309, Tanggu Road, , was crowded with onlookers. There were 1,000 people on the auditorium on the third floor of the court, and more than 100 reporters were preparing to interview and report. The lineup was very large.
The National Government has arranged more than 100 military police, 400 military police and many plainclothes police to maintain order.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, a large military vehicle drove downstairs. Okamura Yanji was taken off the military vehicle by a fully armed military police. He lowered his head throughout the journey, like a stray dog.
The onlookers immediately became excited when they saw this unforgivable war criminal walking out, and glared at him, gritting their teeth, wishing they could eat their flesh and blood.
Although Okamura knew in advance that the trial was just a formality, she was still very panicked in the face of the anger and hatred of the Chinese people, so she applied to go to the toilet at the beginning of the trial.
The presiding judge of the court, Shi Meiyu, was a famous judge in China at that time and a major general of the Kuomintang. He had successfully sentenced a number of Japanese war criminals such as Tanishou. In this trial of Okamura Yasuji, he made sufficient preparations and vowed to get the punishment he deserved.
However, after the trial began, Okamura Yasuji sat upright on the high backrest chair, which puzzled the people and reporters on the scene. During the Republic of China period, no defendant received such court treatment in court, let alone the sinful Okamura Yasuji.
is obvious. This is Chiang Kai-shek's "dedicated arrangement". His concern for Okamura Yasuji is meticulous. Although the people have a lot of opinions, the most important thing at the moment is to quickly judge Okamura Yasuji, so there is no discussion too much.
When the prosecutor read out the indictment, Shi Meiyu began to interrogate Okamura Yasuji. Okamura Yasuji either denied the crimes mentioned by the prosecution or shirked the responsibility, and not only made no mistakes, but also made contributions.
This attitude made the people at the scene very angry, and Chinese judges and lawyers would not let him turn black and white. Shi Meiyu and others were fully fired, and finally confirmed the evidence of Okamura Yasuji's crime.
The court trial was over, it was noon. Shi Meiyu announced the recession and waited until 3:00 pm to announce the verdict.
Then, Shi Meiyu and others raced against time, discussing the wording of the verdict while eating. The result of their determination was naturally death penalty .
But after a while, a phone call from the Deputy Minister of National Defense of the National Government Qin Dechun made all their recent efforts go to waste. Qin Dechun asked Shi Meiyu to suspend the trial immediately and wait for the order to deal with it.
Shi Meiyu and others were stunned, but they could only accept the order. The first public trial of Okamura Yasuji ended hastily.
The next day, Okamura Yasuji was ill in prison and asked to be medically parole . Chiang Kai-shek immediately started to arrange it, and Okamura Yasuji was free again.
In the next time, Okamura Yasuji continued to provide advice for Chiang Kai-shek to deal with the three major battles of our party .
It was not until January 24, 1949, when the three major battles were coming to an end and the Kuomintang was defeated on the whole line, that Okamura Yasuji received another summons from the military court, ordering him to be tried on the 26th.
The trial was undoubtedly arranged in advance by Chiang Kai-shek. Although he had announced his resignation three days ago, he was still the actual controller of the National Government. The trial of
26 was not public, so the outside world did not know about this. The trial location was also moved from the spacious auditorium on the third floor of the Senate to the small conference room on the fourth floor.
There are no onlookers outside the building, and there are only more than 20 reporters in the court. After Okamura Yanji was taken to the court, he still enjoyed the preferential treatment of sitting on trial. The presiding judge Shi Meiyu had already known the result of this trial in advance, so the content of the trial was to copy the last trial.
The trial also lasted until noon, and Shi Meiyu also announced the reading of the verdict in the afternoon. However, after this trial, Shi Meiyu was not so anxious. He called several judges who jointly tried the case together to review the case.
When asked about the judgment opinions of several judges, they all believed that the crimes of Okamura Natsuki Tani Shouo and others were even worse and should be sentenced to death.
But Shi Meiyu's next actions made them feel cold. He took out two top-secret documents from his briefcase, namely Acting President Li Zongren and Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou Guard Commander Tang Enbo . The contents on it were exactly the same, both of which read "Okamura Nagato sent prisoners for their contributions, and the court declared him innocent."
Immediately afterwards, Shi Meiyu took out another "Okamura Nagato Judgment", which had been stamped with the seal of the Ministry of Defense, waiting for the signature of the several presiding judges and judges. The content of the jailer 3
judgment made it difficult for several judges to accept because it clearly stated that "Okamura Yasuji is not guilty."
At this time, they suddenly realized that everything was planned by Chiang Kai-shek. However, sanctioning a demon like Okamura for not guilty will leave a reputation for eternity. They don’t want to do such a thing and are reluctant to sign it.
However, Shi Meiyu reminded them that there were five judges sent by the Military Law Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense sitting in the room next door. Once they refused to sign, the five judges would immediately take over the case. By then, the trial result will be the same.
And their fate may be very tragic. The basement of the Senate Building is the detention center of the Shanghai Garrison Command. I am afraid they will be thrown there as soon as possible.
Several people had to sign this "criminal transaction contract". Shi Meiyu read out the verdict on time in the afternoon.
4. The demon of human and gods
When the verdict was read, Okamura Yanji was shocked on the spot. He couldn't believe his ears. Because Okamura Yasuji knew his crimes well, even if Chiang Kai-shek tried his best to protect himself, he would not be sentenced to death, but a few years of imprisonment would definitely be inevitable.
However, the result was innocence. Even the criminal himself found this ridiculous result incredible. Okamura sat in the chair until she was reminded that she left the court.
As soon as this incident happened, the Chinese people were furious, and Chairman Mao of Xibaipo even issued a notice overnight: I have the right to order you to arrest Okamura Yanji, and to escort the People's Liberation Army according to the time and place we will notify you, you will be responsible for escorting the People's Liberation Army...
htmlOn January 28, Chairman Mao broadcast the "Conversation between the Chinese Communist Party Spokesperson on Ordering the Kuomintang reactionary government to re-accusing the former commander-in-chief of the Japanese invaders' army, Okamura Yanji and the arrest of the Kuomintang war criminals" through Xinhua News Agency , and ordered the Nanjing reactionary government to immediately arrest Okamura Yanji again.also requested to start arresting a group of civil war criminals, including Chiang Kai-shek, Song Ziwen , Chen Cheng and others.
At this time, Acting President of the National Government, Li Zongren, was in peace talks with our party. In order to show sincerity in the peace talks, he immediately ordered Tang Enbo to arrest Okamura Yasuji.
However, like He Yingqin, Tang Enbo was an absolute pro-Japanese faction. He followed Chiang Kai-shek's orders and deliberately detained the order issued by Li Zongren, and secretly sent someone to notify Okamura in the evening of the same day, asking him to gather at the war criminal prison the next morning and return to his country on an American ship with other Japanese war criminals.
At 8:30 the next morning, Okamura Yasuji and 259 other Japanese war criminals left Shanghai and returned to Japan, escaping the sanctions of our people.
After returning to Japan, Okamura, at the invitation of Chiang Kai-shek, rushed to Taiwan Province with some other former Japanese officers and became senior military instructors of the Kuomintang army. Their group was the infamous " White Group ".
In 1962, Okamura's only 49-year-old son died suddenly. This may be the punishment of God to make him lose his son and grandson. However, such punishment is really too light compared to the millions of unjust souls on our land.
It was not until 1966 that Okamura Yasuji finally died of heart disease and lived to be 82 years old.
Conclusion
A demon who wants to massacre our country's military and civilians can easily escape the sanctions he deserves. This is really a big deal.
Okamura Yasuji, who committed numerous crimes against China, was acquitted. The biggest "meanor" behind this was Chiang Kai-shek.
For his own selfish interests, he slurped the bloody hatred between China and Japan, and did such a thing that went against the will of the people, he would be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame in history.
We cannot forget that painful history. We must not forget those Japanese war criminals who have committed heinous crimes. We must not forget those heroes who created our better life today.
Reference materials:
1, Meng Shaogeng's "Insider of the acquittal of the Japanese Commander-in-Chief of the Invasion of China, Okamura Yasuji". Party History Zongheng 2007 Issue 1
2, Li Zhen's "The Mystery of the Accidental of the Japanese Leader Okamura Yasuji, the leader of the invasion of China," "The Mystery of the Accidental of the Japanese Leader Okamura Yasuji," Chinese and Foreign Book Excerpts 2006.2
3, Li Ming's "The Japanese Army's No. 3 War Criminal Okamura Yasuji". Archives Time and Space 2003 Issue 3
4, Xu Jiajun's "How Okamura Yasuji escaped sanctions". Shi Haiguchen 2019 Issue 9
5, Lu Xuexuan's "Behind the Scenes of the Return of the Japanese Aggression of China, Okamura Yasuji". Archives Memory 2017.11
