Okamura Ningji was a war criminal of the Japanese invasion of China, and Chinese familiar with him was because of his famous "Three Lights Policy", he once carried out a brutal sweep of North China in the war of aggression against China, and carried forward the famous "burn the light, kill the light, and rob the light" three light policy, which also left him with a heavy ink in Chinese history. So after Japan's failed invasion of China and surrendered, what happened to Ninji Okamura, as a war criminal? In fact, Okamura Not only escaped the trial of the war, but also lived to be 82 years old.
After Japan's defeat, Japanese Class A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo, were tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and later sentenced to death by hanging. It is reasonable to say that Okamura Ninji, as the main criminal of the war, should also get this fate in the end. However, Okamura Ninji escaped the trial of the war, and today we will tell his story.
Okamura was born in 1884 in a family of japanese samurai who was the second son of a family of declining samurai, hence his name Okamura Ninji. His parents had a strict education from an early age, and when he was four years old, his parents set out how many literacy tasks he had to complete every day, and set his schedule.
Because he received a rigorous education from an early age, Okamura Ninji's academic performance was particularly outstanding, and he studied at the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School and the Army University. Because of his outstanding results, Okamura even became one of the "three feathers" of the Showa warlords. Sanyu Wu is the "proud son" of the Japanese Army, and the meaning of Sanyu Wu is equivalent to the Chinese Huangpu Sanjie, which shows that Okamura Ningji is definitely a rising star in the Japanese army.
After the 918 Incident, japan occupied tohoku, when Okamura Ningji was mainly engaged in intelligence work, he forgot his private duties, for intelligence work, his wife died of illness in Tokyo, Japan, and his son died of illness in Shanghai, China, these difficulties did not stop Okamura Ningji. Okamura Ninji did a very good job in his intelligence work, because of these excellent actions, Okamura Ninji became the commander of the Japanese 11th Army invading China after the Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937.
Okamura Ningji was an extremely dangerous and good strategist, and his strategy of invading China was different, he tended to "use China to control China" and put forward the war slogan of "let the Chinese have dignity". Although this slogan was superficially beneficial to the Chinese, it was actually a stifling of Chinese culture and convincing Chinese to Japanese rule. From these strategies, it can also be seen that Okamura Ninji is an extremely dangerous figure.
After 1944, Okamura was appointed commander-in-chief of the Japanese Army's Chinese Dispatch Force, which means that he was already the supreme commander of the Japanese army invading China. On September 10, 1945, Okamura signed his name on the instrument of surrender on behalf of the Japanese army, and Japan surrendered unconditionally.
However, although Japan surrendered unconditionally, Okamura Ninji was treated differently, and he was appointed by the Nationalist government as the director of the aftermath of the Japanese officers and soldiers in the Chinese theater of operations, assisted in the return of Nichihashi to Japan, and was placed under house arrest by the Nationalist government in Nanjing.
In 1949, the Military Tribunal of the Republic of China acquitted Okamura Ningji, allowing Okamura to escape the law, after which Okamura returned to Japan on an American ship. Okamura lived until 1966, when he died of a heart attack at the age of 82, ending his sinful life.
Resources:
"The Demon Okamura Ninji" Li Defu, "Memoirs of Okamura Ninji" Masao Inaba