Speaking of the Japanese generals during World War II, some are good at fighting, such as the famous "Malay Tiger" Yamashita Fengwen; some are stupid, such as the Mudaguchi Ryoya who has no food to let his subordinates eat grass... However, these generals are usually extremely extreme in the minds and more cruel in character, but there are exceptions. Today I will talk about a very rare and weird general in the Japanese army - Imamura .
Imamura
Imamura
Imamura was born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1886. He is a general of the Japanese Army (promoted in 1943). His military rank is very high. He belongs to the elite of the Japanese army. He fights well and performs in both the Chinese battlefield and Java offensive operations. He is one of the generals who are good at fighting in the old Japanese army. However, when it comes to this person, he generally does not mention his performance on the battlefield, because this person's performance on the other hand is more prominent - military and political management. This person is known as "the clearest-minded person in the Japanese Army."
In November 1941, Imamura changed his post from the battlefield in South China and served as the commander of the 16th Army. He was incorporated into the Southern Army sequence of Soichi Temple. Soon as the Pearl Harbor Incident broke out, he moved to Southeast Asia. His mission was to fight Indonesia , and the core area of Indonesia is - Java Island .
The Battle of the East Indies in the Netherlands was the Japanese army's combat code-named "H Operation". In general, the battle was very smooth. At that time, the Japanese base camp expected to take 120 days from the launch to the surrender of the defenders, but in fact it only took 92 days. It was defeated on March 9, 1942. What should I do?
Speaking of this, I want to introduce a word to you - "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Circle". We Chinese must know that this is the guise created by the Japanese to dominate the entire Asia. But don't impose our thoughts among Southeast Asians. Southeast Asia has always been a colony of European and Americans, and this place also has a national independence movement. Of course, the target is Europe and the United States. Now that the Japanese are coming, they are fighting the so-called "ghost animal Miying", so what? The Japanese army also supported these national independence organizations.
Of course, in general, these cooperation is not pleasant, because the Japanese do not care about the lives and deaths of Southeast Asians. The Japanese aim is to solicit resources, materials and labor for a long time to fight; in various occupied areas in Southeast Asia, in order to build railways, military roads and airports, the Japanese army forced many local people to engage in civil engineering, and also requisitioned them to engage in mining labor, etc. The Japanese army was also atrocities in Southeast Asia. The leaders of these Southeast Asian ethnic movements were later disappointed and even had anti-Japanese activities, but after all, they had contact, so there were pro-Japanese factions among Southeast Asians.
After Indonesia was defeated, in November 1942, Imamura was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Front of Japan. His command was in the important Japanese army, Rabaul (the headquarters of the Eighth Front of the Japanese Army and the southeastern front fleet of the Navy), and Indonesia was in charge.
Imamura himself is a rare gentle and generous person among Japanese generals. In March 1942, the transport ship Shenshu Maru Imamura was accidentally sunk by the torpedo of the Navy's heavy cruiser , which caused the death of about 100 people in the army. Imamura and his staff even drifted on the sea for 3 hours before they were rescued.
Everyone knows the relationship between the Japanese army and the navy before. It was a bad curse of "Maru Noro" to each other, but Imamura both had a good temper. A few days later, the navy came to apologize. Not only did Imamura not blame him, but also took the initiative to say that "the ship was just sunk by an Allied submarine or air strike." This made the navy very grateful to him.
Rabauer later destroyed
It is precisely because of this that when he was stationed in Rabauer, he had a good relationship with the indigenous people. During his military and political supervision, his clever approach to win over national movements and lenient occupation policies were supported by local people, and he implemented humanitarian measures rarely seen in the Japanese army, such as humane treatment of Dutch prisoners of war and restraining the atrocities of the occupying army. The story of the cancellation of the collection of white kapok because of respecting the customs of the local people is quite famous in the local area, and it was even included in school textbooks after Indonesia's independence.
is regarded as a positive person, which is very rare among the Japanese army.
, let’s talk about the main topic. This Rabaul was originally an important base for the Japanese army to prepare for the southward advance. When it was at its peak, 110,000 Japanese troops were stationed here, and it actually built a city. But Imamura is very sensitive. He knew that the base was likely to be besieged by the US military, so he made logistics preparations very early. In December 1942, the Japanese army did not collapse at this time, but Imamura felt that the overall situation was not good, so he discussed with the logistics minister (manager minister) Ken Mian Morita and prepared to "do it yourself and have enough food and clothing"!
I have to say that Imamura is really a talent. In the late World War II, many islands occupied by the Japanese army were besieged by the US army, and the islands were hungry and hungry, but the 100,000 Japanese troops at the Rabaul base (plus more of the expatriates and the surrounding Japanese troops, almost 140,000), had food and drink.
In August 1945, Japan was defeated. When it surrendered, more than 3,000 people were sent to surrender. It was surprisingly discovered that the Japanese army here not only farmed and raised livestock, but also had industry, making oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, sugar, wine, and paper... They lived a vivid life. Compared with the Japanese army who were not like other regions, they lived a lot more nourishing life, and the good military bases were turned into "pastoral pastoral songs" by Imamura.
The Allied forces decided to repatriate them, but Imamura said that the country was in a mess, so our country would stay here for a while for production. The Allied forces agreed, so they waited until the end of 1946. Before returning to China, they took away the food, livestock, paper and even production tools they produced to support domestic construction.
This slutty operation made the Allies stunned. By the way, the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps were built by themselves, and they also helped build the Allied houses.
What efforts have all the village made? I would like to say a few points. He actually asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to send someone to guide the Japanese army to plant tropical crops, learn to grow cassava from local natives, and buy 300 chickens from local people in exchange to slowly breed them, try to prevent pests, boil sugar with coconuts, and use navy salt...
Moreover, they also built a systematic underground fortification to avoid the bombing of the US military.
Imamura was later highly praised by the soldiers' families, but he was a war criminal after all (he also committed crimes against the Chinese people, not only fought wars in China, but also killed many Chinese workers in Rabaul). On May 15, 1947, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Australian Military Court for "commanding soldiers of the 8th Front Army to commit war atrocities in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea."
By the way, Imamura Tsubasa's subordinates and soldiers were grateful to him, and because of his wealth, they all became rich when they returned. This person is really a talent. By the way, the Japanese army in this place also invented a famous snack, which is now popular in the Chinese circle. This is "Simi Lu". Back then, the Japanese army in Rabaul used this method to obtain sugar.
Author: Yunfan
