"Later, the U.S. military realized that it was not the right thing to do to attack Rabaul so forcefully, so MacArthur and Nimitz adopted the 'leapfrog tactic' and eventually skipped Rabaul to attack other Japanese military bases in the Pacific. In the end, relying on the deterrent power of two atomic bombs, they completely defeated Japan. Then, when the Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul were surrendered by the current general, Konomura Hitoshi, there were still as many as 140,000 Japanese troops stationed in the Solomon Islands alone."
Yang Jing nodded. Thanks to living in an era of information explosion, he also knew a little about the Pacific War. "Captain, if MacArthur had insisted on attacking Rabaul, I'm afraid the number of casualties of the US military would be more than this, right?"
Howard nodded and said, "If MacArthur had not decisively adopted the leapfrog tactic to skip Rabaul and instead continued to storm Rabaul, the Allied casualties would have been at least 30,000 or even more. Imamura Hitoshi is still quite capable, and the Americans can't get much advantage over him."
Guo Xiang asked curiously, "Why didn't the Americans use their superior naval and air forces to blockade Rabaul? After all, Rabaul is just an overseas enclave. As long as the Americans blockade the sea and air around Rabaul, wouldn't that cut off Rabaul's supply? Over time, the Japanese will surely be defeated without a fight."
Howard glanced at Guo Xiang, shook his head and said, "Mr. Guo, things are not as simple as you think. I just said that Imamura Jin is not a simple person. As a general of the Japanese Army, this guy is already a high-ranking figure in the Japanese military, but this person is different from other high-ranking Japanese military leaders. He is a very open-minded general and a rare good man among the senior Japanese generals."
This made Yang Jing and other Chinese people feel unhappy. In the eyes of the Chinese, none of those Japanese traitors were good people. They were all guys who deserved to go to hell.
As if seeing Yang Jing and the others' dissatisfaction, Howard smiled and explained, "It is not my judgment of what kind of person Imamura Hitoshi is, but a fair evaluation of this person by many experts in later generations. In fact, when ruling Rabaul and its surrounding areas, Imamura Hitoshi strongly restrained his subordinates, so the Japanese army did not carry out crazy burning, killing and looting against the indigenous people, and even treated the surrendered Dutch and Australian prisoners of war as kindly as possible. In fact, in order to reduce the livelihood pressure of Rabaul residents, Imamura Hitoshi even requested that agricultural technicians be sent from the Bay Island to work in the local area."
"Under the conciliatory policy of Imamura Hitoshi, the 110,000 Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul had a very harmonious relationship with the local people. This allowed the Japanese Eighth Army trapped in Rabaul to still defend Rabaul well even if it was cut off from supplies from the mainland for two years. Because even without supplies from the mainland, under Imamura Hitoshi's various policies, the Japanese troops in Rabaul could be self-sufficient."
"So amazing? If this is true, then this Imamura Jun is really a good person." Guo Xiang smacked her lips.
Howard nodded and said, "In fact, there is another story that can prove that Imamura Hitoshi was able to hold out in Rabaul for more than two years. This story happened after Japan surrendered. It was an interesting story when Imamura Hitoshi led the Japanese troops stationed in Rabaul to surrender to the Australian military."
Several people were very interested and asked Howard to talk about it.
Howard's words amused everyone.
So this is what happened.
In August 1945, General Hitoshi Imamura, commander of the Japanese Eighth Army, boarded an Australian warship anchored in the Sea of Rabaul and surrendered to the Australian Army. There was a ridiculous conversation at the surrender ceremony.
Commander of the Australian Army's surrender force: "How many of you have left?"
Imamura Hitoshi: “Including the surrounding islands, the Japanese Empire’s army and navy personnel and their families in the Solomon Islands totaled more than 140,000.
The Australian military commander was amused: "Here comes another joke."
Imamura Hitoshi: "These are all facts. We have brought the entire roster, you can take a look."
Australian Army Commander: "Where are all these people?"
"There are 100,000 people around Rabaul and 40,000 people on the surrounding islands."
"Why can't I see it?"
"They are basically in the caves underground and won't come out unless necessary."
"So what do you eat?"
"We have stored food, plus the food we grow ourselves, so we can last for 10 years without any problems."
"What about arming?"
"We have an arsenal that can produce and assemble aircraft. The two existing Zero-21 and Zero-22 fighters and a Type 100 headquarters reconnaissance aircraft are all assembled by ourselves. If we have time, we can assemble more aircraft."
In fact, Imamura Hitoshi did not tell the complete truth. He gathered together all the science and engineering students and lecturers and professors from the Imperial University in the Eighth Area Army and established a weapons research institute. What exactly this institute did has not been revealed until now. All we know is that after the defeat, the people in this institute returned to their original units, and all data, materials, finished products and semi-finished products were destroyed.
The Australian military commander was puzzled: "Then why are you surrendering?"
Imamura Jun was confused: "I don't know, the emperor asked us to surrender."
The Australian military commander was worried: the Japanese still had 140,000 fully armed men, but we only had a few boats and 3,000 people. What should we do?
Imura Hitoshi saw what the Australian commander was thinking and smiled, "It's okay. We really surrender. You wait a few more days at sea and I will inform you when the time comes."
When Kimura Jun got off the warship and returned to Rabaul, countless Japanese suddenly appeared on the ground and started to build a large-scale project. First, they built a military camp for the Australian devils and cows. They built it beautifully and of good quality. Then they built a straw hut around the Australian military camp. That was the prisoner-of-war camp they were going to live in. After it was built, they put up barbed wire around the straw hut, polished their weapons and put them away neatly, and then they crawled into the barbed wire, very disciplined and honest.
Imamura Hitoshi came to the Australian military commander and said: "You can move in now."
The 3,000 Australian soldiers, who were at a loss whether to laugh or cry, just lived right in the middle of the 140,000 Japanese prisoners, and from time to time they would feel cold in their backs: "Who the hell are the prisoners?"
This anecdote is rather funny, but it really shows that Imamura Hitoshi is not a simple person. The fact that Rabaul became the only important Japanese military base that was not directly lost during the Pacific War was closely related to Imamura Hitoshi's personal ability.
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