How long could Japanese holdouts after World War II fought?
Aug 31, 2020 4:17:56 GMT
lordroel and stevep like this
Post by gillan1220 on Aug 31, 2020 4:17:56 GMT
From 1945-1980s, there have been tales about Japanese holdouts emerging from hiding occasionally engaging with occupational troops and later, local police forces. These holdouts extended from the Marianas, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia. The reason why these holdouts fought could be attributed to die-hard loyalty towards the Emperor, continuation of their fight against Western Imperialism, refusal to surrender, thinking the the surrender was a ruse by the Allies, or simply unaware due to the lack of communication equipment.
After the war, many Japanese that refused to go home or lay down their arms joined local independence movements such as the one in Indonesia and the Viet Minh once the French returned control of Indochina. The IJA manage to secure one victory after surrender when they put down the local uprising in the Battle of Semarang on the request of the Allies wherein the IJA would police the area before the Allies could receive them.
The IJA that refused to repatriate in FIC not only joined the ranks of the VM but also helped trained and organize them. One of them was Lt. Hideki Saito. He refused to go home and served in the Viet Minh.
Lt.Hideki Saito
After the war, many Japanese that refused to go home or lay down their arms joined local independence movements such as the one in Indonesia and the Viet Minh once the French returned control of Indochina. The IJA manage to secure one victory after surrender when they put down the local uprising in the Battle of Semarang on the request of the Allies wherein the IJA would police the area before the Allies could receive them.
The IJA that refused to repatriate in FIC not only joined the ranks of the VM but also helped trained and organize them. One of them was Lt. Hideki Saito. He refused to go home and served in the Viet Minh.
Lt.Hideki Saito
Other famous holdouts include Hiroo Onoda (1922-2014) and Terou Nakamura surrendered in March and December 1974 respectively. Onoda received more celebrity status as he was found by a college dropout who brought his commanding officer. His surrender was widely broadcasted around the world on March 9, 1974. and he would later write a book about his 30 year war. Nakamura on the other hand was an ethnic Taiwanese who was stationed in Indonesia until he was discovered by the Indonesian Air Force on December 18, 1974.
Hiroo Onoda (center) and his commanding officer (right) accompanied by journalists and airmen of the Philippine Air Force (Getty Images).
Still in his Imperial Japanese Army uniform, Hiroo Onoda smiles to reporters while aboard a Philippine Air Force UH-1 Huey (Getty Images).
Onoda presenting his katana to President Ferdinand E. Marcos (Wikimedia).
The war criminal Colonel Masanobu Tsuji evaded justice. Before running in politics for the Diet in 1952, Tsuji hid in Thailand and was imprisoned in Communist China where he tried to undermine U.S.-Japan post-war relations. He was alleged to be an asset of the CIA. He disappeared into Laos in 1961, where he was alleged to have joined the Pathet Lao or served as an advisor to the North Vietnamese Army. He was declared dead on July 20, 1968.
Masanobu Tsuji
Two Japanese nationals, Shigeyuki Hashimoto (1917-1997) and Kiyoaki Tanaka (1912-2000) were sent to work to Malaya during the Japanese occupation. The debate here is whether to consider them as holdouts because they were Japanese civilians that traveled to Malaya to work in sugar plantations. Furthermore, they were completely aware of Japan's surrender to the Allies on September 2, 1945 in contrast to the other holdouts who simply did not believe about the surrender being genuine or just did not have the proper communication equipment. Hashimoto and Tanaka, who followed the Empire's goal of driving the Western imperialists from Asia, joined the Malayan Communist Party to continue their fight against the British which prompty returned to rule Malaya after the war. There were originally 15 Japanese individuals fighting among the MCP, with majority either dying in clashes with Commonwealth troops or choosing to surrender on their own. Hashimoto and Tanaka continued to fight until December 1989 when the MCP signed a peace treaty with the Malaysian government, thus ending the insurgency. After this, they crossed the border into Thailand where they were met with representatives from the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok and their families. They returned to Japan on January 11, 1990.
Shigeyuki Hashimoto and Kiyoaki Tanaka after their surrender at the end of 1989. The terrible quality of the image, and the difficulty of even locating it (it was published in a contemporary newspaper – the Kokomo Tribune) is helpfully symbolic of the two men’s liminal status – caught between Malaysia and Thailand, legitimate conflict and a failed guerrilla campaign, home and duty, war and peace (Mike Dash History).
As of the 1990s to the 2000s, there were reports of elderly Japanese individuals living a quiet life in the areas once ruled by the Empire (stretching from to the Philippines to the Solomon Islands) and even adapting local names. If there are still missing Japanese soldiers still alive out there, it is likely possible that they just accepted the foreign land as their new home.
To many Japanese that still believed in their Pan-Asian ideology decades after the war, the "Great Asian War" that began on December 7, 1941 truly ended on April 30, 1975 when the last American helicopters left Saigon, thus ending the Vietnam War with a communist victory.
So the question is? How long would these holdouts could have realistically fought?
If Onoda and those two Japanese that joined the MCP fought into the 1970s-80s, would it be possible for those IJA or Japanese nationals that chose to live in Vietnam to pickup an AK-47 and shoot at American GIs in Vietnam?
Those in Indonesia did pick-up arms and became naturalized years after.
References:
1. Hiroo Onoda: Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender, dies. The Guardian. January 17, 2014.
2. Philippine island preserves history of Japanese WWII soldier Hiroo Onoda, who hid in jungles for decades. Japan Times. May 29, 2019.
3. Japanese soldiers with the Viet Minh. War Bird Forum.
4. Colonel Tsuji of Malaya. War Bird Forum.
5. Two Japanese Who Fought for 40 years With Malaysian Communists Head Home. AP News. January 11, 1990.
6. WWII DIE-HARDS RECEIVE COOL GREETING IN JAPAN. Chicago Tribune. January 15, 1990.
7. A LOOK BACK AT ‘DEATH FORCE’: LOST JAPANESE SOLDIERS TRAIN A DOUBLE CROSSED BLAXPLOITATION HERO. Forces of Geek. June 13, 2016.
8. Final straggler: the Japanese soldier who outlasted Hiroo Onoda. Mike Dash History. September 15, 2015.
9. 60 years after the war ends, two soldiers emerge from the jungle. The Guardian. May 28, 2005.
Hiroo Onoda (center) and his commanding officer (right) accompanied by journalists and airmen of the Philippine Air Force (Getty Images).
Still in his Imperial Japanese Army uniform, Hiroo Onoda smiles to reporters while aboard a Philippine Air Force UH-1 Huey (Getty Images).
Onoda presenting his katana to President Ferdinand E. Marcos (Wikimedia).
Masanobu Tsuji
Two Japanese nationals, Shigeyuki Hashimoto (1917-1997) and Kiyoaki Tanaka (1912-2000) were sent to work to Malaya during the Japanese occupation. The debate here is whether to consider them as holdouts because they were Japanese civilians that traveled to Malaya to work in sugar plantations. Furthermore, they were completely aware of Japan's surrender to the Allies on September 2, 1945 in contrast to the other holdouts who simply did not believe about the surrender being genuine or just did not have the proper communication equipment. Hashimoto and Tanaka, who followed the Empire's goal of driving the Western imperialists from Asia, joined the Malayan Communist Party to continue their fight against the British which prompty returned to rule Malaya after the war. There were originally 15 Japanese individuals fighting among the MCP, with majority either dying in clashes with Commonwealth troops or choosing to surrender on their own. Hashimoto and Tanaka continued to fight until December 1989 when the MCP signed a peace treaty with the Malaysian government, thus ending the insurgency. After this, they crossed the border into Thailand where they were met with representatives from the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok and their families. They returned to Japan on January 11, 1990.
Shigeyuki Hashimoto and Kiyoaki Tanaka after their surrender at the end of 1989. The terrible quality of the image, and the difficulty of even locating it (it was published in a contemporary newspaper – the Kokomo Tribune) is helpfully symbolic of the two men’s liminal status – caught between Malaysia and Thailand, legitimate conflict and a failed guerrilla campaign, home and duty, war and peace (Mike Dash History).
As of the 1990s to the 2000s, there were reports of elderly Japanese individuals living a quiet life in the areas once ruled by the Empire (stretching from to the Philippines to the Solomon Islands) and even adapting local names. If there are still missing Japanese soldiers still alive out there, it is likely possible that they just accepted the foreign land as their new home.
To many Japanese that still believed in their Pan-Asian ideology decades after the war, the "Great Asian War" that began on December 7, 1941 truly ended on April 30, 1975 when the last American helicopters left Saigon, thus ending the Vietnam War with a communist victory.
So the question is? How long would these holdouts could have realistically fought?
If Onoda and those two Japanese that joined the MCP fought into the 1970s-80s, would it be possible for those IJA or Japanese nationals that chose to live in Vietnam to pickup an AK-47 and shoot at American GIs in Vietnam?
Those in Indonesia did pick-up arms and became naturalized years after.
References:
1. Hiroo Onoda: Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender, dies. The Guardian. January 17, 2014.
2. Philippine island preserves history of Japanese WWII soldier Hiroo Onoda, who hid in jungles for decades. Japan Times. May 29, 2019.
3. Japanese soldiers with the Viet Minh. War Bird Forum.
4. Colonel Tsuji of Malaya. War Bird Forum.
5. Two Japanese Who Fought for 40 years With Malaysian Communists Head Home. AP News. January 11, 1990.
6. WWII DIE-HARDS RECEIVE COOL GREETING IN JAPAN. Chicago Tribune. January 15, 1990.
7. A LOOK BACK AT ‘DEATH FORCE’: LOST JAPANESE SOLDIERS TRAIN A DOUBLE CROSSED BLAXPLOITATION HERO. Forces of Geek. June 13, 2016.
8. Final straggler: the Japanese soldier who outlasted Hiroo Onoda. Mike Dash History. September 15, 2015.
9. 60 years after the war ends, two soldiers emerge from the jungle. The Guardian. May 28, 2005.
