'Ghost army' of the Emperor of Japan abroad

One of the most bizarre stories about World War II was that a group of Japanese soldiers did not commit suicide but lived away in a strange land to excuse themselves from the humiliation of failure during a long time even after the end of the war. They turned into something called 'ghosts live'.

They live in nightmares by war and are judged by the court of conscience and torment.

'Tragedy' Hiroo Onoda

One of the most famous soldiers in the "ghost army" is an intelligence officer of the Japanese Imperial Army named Hiroo Onoda. Onoda began working at the Imperial army's infantry force, trained to become an intelligence officer.

Shortly after the Japanese fascist invasion of the Philippines on December 7, 1941, Onoda boarded the ship to a foreign country, and around 1944 he discovered he was in Lubang, an island about 90 kilometers from Manila. southwest. Later the Allied forces led by US-Douglas MacArthur, conducted a fierce battle to push the Japanese out of the Philippines and in March 1945, they liberated Manila.

US Marines on Saipan during World War II.

Japanese soldiers were simply dispersed and disoriented, many of them continued in Lubang in the form of guerrilla war years later. Hiroo Onoda is one of them and these Japanese soldiers often hide to make light enemy attacks. The classmates surrendered, the class was killed in battles, only Onoda survived, but the war in him only ended 29 years later.

While the world follows the surrender of the Japanese, Onoda does not believe it to be true, asserting that all is just propaganda. In Onoda's eyes, war is going on and he must obey the order. Onoda lives alone in the old jungles of the Philippines. He often broke into farms to steal food or livestock, and was willing to kill anyone who had a means to prevent it. Several victims were killed in these cases.

Onoda tried his best to preserve his tall physique, as well as carefully cleaning the glossy weapons, which were the pride of the soldier.

Onoda once said: 'Every Japanese soldier is always ready to die, but an intelligence officer like me will not die and have to wage guerrilla warfare to the end. If you don't complete the task, it is a disgrace. '

In the following years, the Philippine government tried to lure Hiroo Onada out of the forest but failed. Onada's family and friends even went to Lubang Island to call loudspeakers and handed out leaflets saying that he would be safe from the forest, but Onada did not believe. On February 20, 1974, Onado accidentally encountered a Japanese jungle hunter and Yeti hunter named Norio Suzuki. This person aims to find Onada and is shocked to see the officer in the forest.

Shortly thereafter, a message was sent to Hiroo Onoda, written by Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who was the commander of Onoda during the war, now he is a merchant. Taniguchi was willing to return to Lubang Island in 1974. Here he was reunited with a 52-year-old man, when Onoda was tired, his clothes were dirty but still wearing rifles and swords.

Mr. Taniguchi explained to his soldier that the war had been gone three decades ago that the major also read the statement to officially surrender and "ordered" Onoda to stop the task. Onoda is taken to Manila capital, 'surrendered' to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and received amnesty back to Japan.

However, Hiroo Onoda never really blended into home life or modern society. He traveled to a remote area as far away as Brazil to begin building a farm for Japanese immigrants living a simple life, raising livestock in Terenos, Mato Grosso do Sul.

Onoda married and returned to Japan in 1984, opening a school that teaches how to survive in the wild world. He lived the last days of his life in Japan before he died of complications from pneumonia in January 2014, aged 91 years.

'Forestman' Shoichi Yokoi

Before World War 2, Shoichi Yokoi was a seamstress, and in 1941 served the army in Manchuria, then boarded a ship with many mosquito-rich old forests on Guam in 1944. Around July 1944, the United States conducted one a violent counterattack against Japanese garrison on Guam. Eventually Japanese forces were pushed off Guam, Yokoi and other Japanese soldiers dispersed in the vast old forests of Guam. They struggle to survive.

Within a few years, the remnants of Japanese soldiers were falling, but Yokoi survived thanks to his ingestion. Yokoi's snakes, frogs, mice, insects, lizards, worms or everything turned into menus. He also devised many ways to trap wild animals very skillfully to get backup meat. Yokoi knew how to erase his tracks to avoid being detected, as well as learning how to disguise himself, dig a cave to live, and live in the wild.

Around 1964, Yokoi's comrades all died from floods, famine, poisoning animals or illnesses, but Yokoi persisted alone to fight for survival. In contrast to Hiroo Onoda, Yokoi believes that he will be saved by his teammates and tries to live to meet his teammates. Yokoi became increasingly emaciated, holding a rusty rifle. Yokoi became a ghost in the forest and when he heard that the war was over, he tried to go deeper into the jungle by fear of being arrested and executed.

After 28 years of survival, in 1972, Shoichi Yokoi was discovered by a team of hunters. Worried about being killed by this group of people, Yokoi plotted to steal rifles but then the hunters still wrecked the "forest man" and took him to the civilized world. Being arrested was a soldier's insult so Yokoi was prostrated to the ground and pleaded with the hunters to kill him right then.

Like Hiroo Onoda, the return of Shoichi Yokoi to Japan has created a fever in the media. But even when he was married, Yokoi realized that he could not adjust himself to the behavior in the civilized world. Yokoi went back to Guam, living and dying there in 1997, at the age of 82.

A book about Shoichi Yokoi titled 'The private war and Yokoi's life on Guam 1944-1972, was published in English in 2009, and a museum in Guam has exhibition space. about him.

'Fox' Sakae Oba

Oba was a teacher at a public school and joined the Emperor's army in 1934. When World War II erupted, Oba went to China and later moved to Saipan Island (USA). In February 1944, Oba and another 600 Japanese soldiers were trapped in Saipan after their ship Sakito Maru was attacked and wrecked by American torpedoes.

'Fox' Sakae Oba officially surrendered to American forces.

They rallied forces on Saipan and Oba to take charge of a medical station and another 225 soldiers. Shortly thereafter, when the US Marines attacked the Japanese beaches comprehensively, the fierce battle forced Oba and his comrades to flee to Mount Tapochau.

Without supply, lack of food and medicine, ammunition, Japanese forces in Saipan Island vowed to open a counterattack rather than die. They regrouped approximately 4,000 men to carry out a decisive attack on June 7, 1944.

A war that frightened Americans when Japanese soldiers, despite guns without bullets, ricocheted at the enemy, they used bayonets to hit the leaves or use blades, swords or anything else they had. When the war ended, almost all Japanese soldiers were killed. But in fact, some people survived, including Sakae Oba; he commanded a group of about 46 Japanese soldiers who survived the bloody war, turning to Mount Tapochau.

Under Sakae Oba's command, his teammates made many guerrilla attacks, raided US positions, stole logistic sources. They became thorns in the eyes of the US marines; Oba herself is nicknamed 'fox'. American soldiers frequently hunted and set traps to catch Oban, but he was smart enough to avoid these traps.

After the war ended, Oba and his comrades still did not believe it was true and accused the photos of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima from being fabricated. They continued their tactics for the next 16 months, harassing tens of thousands of US troops stationed on Saipan Island and continuing their raids even though they had not had any enemies for a long time. By November 1945, Oba had been convinced that Japan surrendered after former Major General Umahachi Amo confirmed that World War 2 had really ended.

When he returned to Japan, Oba did not receive the welcome as the Japanese media and people welcomed Onoda and Yokoi. He was treated as an unworthy man because he was said to be cowardly without "death" with his teammates on the battlefield of Saipan. Without surrendering to adversity, Oba has constantly strived and became a successful businessman. Sakae Oba's life story has been written in many books, notably the last 'Samurai' adapted into English.

'Wild Wolf' Teruo Nakamura

Born in a territory once occupied by the Japanese, Formosa (Taiwan today), named Attun Palalin. Nakamura was a Japanese name when he joined the Emperor's army in 1943. Nakamura was sent to the island of Morotai (Indonesia), which was attacked by US forces in November 1944.

In front of American firepower, the Japanese retreated and eventually disappeared into the jungle to carry out guerrilla wars. Many Japanese soldiers are hungry and sick, and survivors fall into disorientation when there is no supply.

Nakamua secretly built a semi-permanent house right in the open space of the Garoca Mountains. He worked in the fields, growing red peppers, bananas, taro and papaya. He also domesticated wild pigs and other forest animals. Nakmura survived thanks to crops while everyone thought he was dead.

He himself was always afraid of his teammates trying to commit harm, and even refused to surrender. After many years there were only a few pilots and local residents glimpsed his shadow somewhere on the island, and no one knew who he was or where he came from.

After Hiroo Onoda appeared in 1974, all attention turned to Nakamura, who was living somewhere on the island of Morotai. Aware of this lost soldier, the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta offered to help trace the mysterious soldier.

After three days of searching, on December 18, 1974, a group of Indonesian troops rang the Japanese national anthem in the hope that Nakamura would hear and try to appease the spirit of the Japanese soldier. The soldiers found Nakamura trembling in his tent. They took him to the hospital in Jakarta. While living on Morotai Island, he made friends with a hunter and rescued a young girl from danger.

Because of these actions, he was called the "Good Japanese" by the islanders and received sympathy from the Indonesian people. Unfortunately, when he stepped out of the forest, Nakamura had no home, no identity, no nationality when Formosa had long since ceased to exist, as well as no longer the Emperor's regime as he had served. Because Nakamura is not Japanese, Nakamura is not welcomed by the Japanese media and people. He only received a cash payment from the Japanese Government.

Nakamura decided to return to Taiwan in 1975, discovering that he had a son he had never met, and that his wife had already remarried after thinking that her husband was dead. The former wife later returned and married him, but the marriage did not last long because Nakamura died of lung cancer in 1979.

He has never had a full life whether in Japan or Taiwan and is not recognized as a citizen in these two countries. Perhaps part of Nakamura was still staying in the remote forest on Morotai Island and he would return there if there was a chance.