February 24, 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine at the behest of President Putin.
Even in World War II, Russia's predecessor country [ Soviet Union ] Was also trying to invade Japan immediately after the end of the war. There was a ridiculous plan by Soviet Stalin.
After World War II, Japan was divided and ruled in the north and south bordering the Tohoku region or the Tsugaru Straits, with the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the south. ] ・ South Japan [ Republic of Japan ] It may have been a national system like the current Korean Peninsula.
At present, it is natural that Japan is one nation, so you may think that it is such a picture, but the above things could have happened in the place where one event happened or not. It makes me think.
Makoto Shinkai's movie [ The Place Promised in the Clouds ] So, the story went on with the setting that Japan is a different country in Hokkaido and Honshu. I think the story was that the main characters living in Aomori along the border with the Tsugaru Straits as the border aim for the white giant tower of Hokkaido, which is a foreign country.
The fact that Honshu and Hokkaido are different countries is a fantasy story for us today, but in reality, this fantasy was about to become a reality immediately after World War II.
Despite the crisis of national division in the history of Japan's founding, many of us do not know it and do not learn it at school.
This time, we will talk about a unit on a small island after the war that scooped up the crisis of division of Japan.
The final battle to prevent the division of Japan The Battle of Shumshu
The stage of the battle is Shumshu Island in the Kuril Islands of Hokkaido in August 1945 immediately after the end of the war. .. (Shumshu)
Northern Territories and Kuril Islands before World War II Was the territory of Japan.
Japan-Russia Trade Treaty signed between Japan and Russia in 1855 At the border line based on Kunashir / Habomai / Iturup / Shitan Up to was the territory of Japan, and Sakhalin was jointly governed by Russia and Japan.
In 1875, instead of abandoning Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands were taken over Sakhalin Chishima Exchange Treaty Will be tied to Russia.
Japan, which won the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Portsmouth Treaty Obtained by territorializing the southern half of Sakhalin.
These Kuril Islands, South Karafuto, and Northern Territories were still valid after the end of the war in 1945 and were recognized as Japanese territories.
However, after the end of World War II, the Soviet Union accepted Japan's Potsdam Declaration . Continued to invade and illegally occupied the four northern islands between August 28 and September 5, 1945, and continues to the present day.
1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty All abandoned South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands acquired by the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, and these lands are no longer Japanese territory.
However, this treaty does not include the four northern islands, and historically there is no basis for the four northern islands to be Russian territory, and they have been robbed as a fireplace thief to the present day.
Based on the above, the Kuril Islands during World War II are Japanese territory, but the state of the Kuril Islands is the stage of this story Shumshu Island . is.
Although it is a small Shumshu island about half the area of Lake Biwa, it was at the forefront of Russia as the northernmost point of Japanese defense.
At the time of World War II, on Shumshu Island, [ Imperial Japanese Army 91st Division ] Was stationed.
Among them, it was the god of the tank corps [ Colonel Sueo Ikeda who fought a fierce battle in the battle of Shumshu Island that occurred later. ] It is the 11th Tank Regiment led.
This Tank 11th Regiment Is likened to a fighter who combined the eleven Chinese characters [ Samurai Corps ] Was called. The captain of this soul unit was Colonel Sueo Ikeda, who left his wife and children in his hometown and was assigned to Shumshu Island.
Soviet Union invades Shumshu Island
On August 9, 1945, six days before the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, the Soviet Union suddenly declared war on Japan.
The Soviet Union was asked by the Japanese government to mediate negotiations for the end of the war, and even though it knew that Japan had the intention of surrendering, it had launched a war at the last minute. Moreover, the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Treaty was still valid. It was an action that violated the treaty by unilaterally abandoning (concluded in 1941).
Why did the Soviet Union participate in a war in which it was clear that the war would end in less than a week? ??
That is, the Soviet Union [strong> won the war with Japan 】 Create an established fact This was to plunder Japan's property and territory in postwar processing.
The ultimate goal of the Soviet Union is [ Occupation of Hokkaido 】That's how it was.
Japan will end the war on August 15, 1945.
With the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration in Japan, most of the fronts will be in a truce. There was a notice from the 5th area of Hokkaido that all fighting activities were prohibited, but it was unavoidable if the opponent did not stop fighting.
On August 17, it was notified to each unit nationwide, and preparations were underway for disarmament on Shumshu Island.
The Japanese soldiers at that time would have been full of joy in returning to their hometown.
On the other hand, in the Soviet Union, an invasion operation to the Kuril Islands was announced.
Three days after the end of the war, before dawn on August 18, Soviet troops began landing at Takedahama, the northernmost tip of Shumshu Island.
It was the moment when the war, which should have ended for the Japanese soldiers on Shumshu Island, was not over. At first, most of the Japanese soldiers thought that the US military had landed, but it gradually became clear that they were Soviet troops.
Knowing that the Soviet army had landed on Shumshu Island, Lieutenant General Kiichiro Higuchi, commander of the Fifth Area Army, was forced to decide whether to issue a battle order even though the war was over.
On the 3rd, when the end of the war's Jewel Voice Broadcasting was already broadcast, disarmament progressed in various parts of the world and I was impressed to meet my family again in the country. You will be forced to decide whether to continue your resistance.
Commander of the Fifth Area Army, General Higuchi, said, [ Turn to a counterattack and destroy the Soviet army . ] And tell the 91st Division stationed, and issue a sortie order to the 11th Tank Regiment.
The tanks were preparing to be disarmament, and some tanks had their ammunition and radios down, but those who were able to prepare in a hurry started to sortie.
At 5 am on August 18, the tank corps led by Colonel Ikeda gathers at Mt. Tenjin in the central part of the island to meet the Soviet troops and asks all the members.
After saying it, everyone raises their hands.
Battle of Shumshu Island
The Soviet army was inadequately prepared because it was a one-sided operation like a fire field thief, and it was not possible to take command of the soldiers, and the scene was confused. In addition, landing troops and food were squeezed to the bottom of the ship and overloaded with luggage, causing grounding offshore. The soldiers were thrown into the sea and drowned.
With the confused Soviet army in the background, Japanese guns shoot the Soviet army. The bombardment sank Soviet ship 13 and filled Takedahama with the bodies of Soviet soldiers with 3,000 casualties. However, behind it were 200 Soviet crafts.
Soviet soldiers had put about 20,000 troops into this small island capture.
Although the Japanese army has lost its nose, it is gradually pushed by the invasion of the Soviet army, despite the overwhelming force difference.
The 11th Tank Regiment, led by Colonel Ikeda, arrived there. Colonel Ikeda sends the final communication and carries out an assault. The Tank Regiment was at the foot of Mt. Shimine and became morale. At 5:50 am, it rushed into the Soviet army and defeated it. I pushed it back to the vicinity of Takedahama.
However, when the subsequent Soviet anti-tank aircraft arrived, the Japanese tank corps was destroyed one after another.
And although Colonel Ikeda's tank also went up in flames, he seemed to be still slowly moving forward as if to sew a tank that had stopped moving. It is doubtful how the tank was moved in the burning car, but a few days later it was found that four burnt bodies, including the captain, overlapped.
Also, inside another tank, you can see the boy soldiers hugging each other, who had been excited about their hometown until just the other day ...
There were 27 Japanese tanks destroyed and 96 killed in action, including Colonel Ikeda. However, the morale of the Japanese army did not decline at all, and the crew jumped out of the tank that had stopped moving and charged into the enemy's camp, and developed a turbulent battle with the infantry of the 283rd Infantry Battalion.
There, 40 quantities of following vehicles of the 11th Tank Regiment, which had been delayed in preparation, arrived. All the commander classes such as Colonel Ikeda were assaulting first and were almost killed in action, but they defeat the Soviet army one after another with a fighting spirit that is not ashamed of the name of the soul unit.
In addition, the seven Japanese aviation units remaining at Shumshu Island Airfield will also be dispatched to carry out air raids on Soviet ships. One of them is hit by a Soviet anti-aircraft gun and burns, but it hits a Soviet warship and sinks it.
The morale of the Japanese ground troops who witnessed this will further increase.
Despite being a small unit of only seven units, this aviation unit achieved a great war result of 5 sinks and 2 destroys.
With the struggle of Japanese soldiers, the Soviet army is finally pushed back to the coast of Takedahama.
On the afternoon of August 18, the Japanese army secured the Taketahama base and came to an advantageous situation where the Soviet army could be annihilated.
However, around August 18, the 91st Division was forced to stop fighting aggressively at 16:00 on the 18th because a battle stop order arrived from the HQ in the 5th direction of Hokkaido, but in reality the fighting did not stop. say.
Winning battle but losing battle
The Japanese asked McArthur to work with Stalin of the Soviet Union to stop the war, but Stalin silently killed it.
After 19th and 20th, negotiations for a ceasefire will be held between Japan and the Soviet Union.
Despite the fact that the Japanese side is winning, the Soviet side's attitude is close to threatening, and the conditions submitted are [ ceasefire immediate disarmament ] It was the surrender recommendation itself.
Under this improbable condition, the 91st Division Commander issued a statement saying that he would "thoroughly fight", but on August 21, 1945, the HQ in the 5th direction of Hokkaido agreed to [ ceasefire and hand over weapons. ] And a de facto surrender order has arrived.
The disarmament took place on August 23, and no one spoke of the unprecedented unreasonable treatment that the winner was forced to disarm the loser.
What was waiting for them after the war
After disarmament, the Japanese soldiers on Shumshu Island were said to be detained for several months before returning home and were put on board a Soviet ship. However, they arrived in Siberia, where they were forced to work extremely hard for two to four years.
After surviving the detention and returning to Japan, it was the cold post-war Japan that was waiting for them.
Postwar Japan was a society where only defeats were talked about and winning battles were taboo.
The view of masochistic history such as "Japan was evil" and "It is bad to have an army" was good, and if there was justice in that war, it was labeled as right-wing militarism. Moreover, the battle of Shumshu Island, which was the winning battle after the end of the war, was hardly known to us.
Even if the Battle of Shumshu is occasionally introduced, the reaction that comes back is [useless battle] [dog death] It was just criticism.
Fifty years after the war, the memorial service at the memorial service held locally was not the Prime Minister, but an assistant to the section chief of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and even the Governor of Hokkaido did not donate flowers.
With this, if the bereaved family complains, [ Then, is it okay to not hold a memorial service? ] Some people even said.
Was this the future of Japan, where the soldiers, including Colonel Ikeda, put their lives together? ??
What did Colonel Ikeda and others protect in the Battle of Shumshu? ??
The Battle of Shumshu is by no means a wasteful battle after the end of the war.
Rather, it is a very meaningful battle.
Why did the Soviet Union participate in the war against Japan as a firefighting thief in the first place? ??
February 1945 [ Yalta Agreement by the US, UK, and Soviet Union ] So, in return for participating in the war against Japan [ South Karafuto and the Kuril Islands ] Was a secret agreement with the Soviet territory. However, with Roosevelt's sudden death and the American president becoming Truman, the secret agreement is on the verge of bankruptcy.
In addition, Stalin was refused by Truman to make the Soviet territory north of the straight line connecting Rumoi and Kushiro in Hokkaido.
Therefore, Stalin of the Soviet Union forced the war against Japan just before the end of the war in order to make the occupation of South Karafuto and the Kuril Islands an established fact. Stalin's plan was rejected by Truman, and immediately after the end of the war, he planned to attack the Kuril Islands at once, and with that momentum, he would forcefully attack Hokkaido.
It is also said that the Soviet Union intended to use Hokkaido as a foothold to expand the territory to the Tohoku region and divide Japan into north and south.
However, Stalin's speculation would be a big stumbling block in the first step.
In the battle of Shumshu Island, the first island of the Kuril Islands, more than 1,500 dead and missing Soviet troops will be sent out against 250 Japanese dead.
The Soviet army suffered enormous damage in this battle and was nailed to Shumshu Island for a week.
After that, the Kuril Islands are occupied and illegally occupied until today, but in Hokkaido, the US military is stationed before the arrival of the Soviet army. As expected, the Soviet Union could not reach Hokkaido, where the United States is located, and only the divide and rule plan of Hokkaido or Japan was blocked.
If there was no battle of Shumshu, the Soviet troops would have arrived first and the current map of Japan would have been completely different.
Those who inherited the spirit of the soul
There is a unit with the Self-Defense Forces in Eniwa City, Hokkaido.
Ground Self-Defense Force 11th Tank Corps.
[ Imperial Japanese Army 11th Tank Regiment led by Colonel Ikeda who fought a fierce battle on Shumshu Island ] It is a tank corps that inherits the same stage number.
The tank unit mark is [ Spirit ] Character.
In order to celebrate the battle on Shumshu Island and inherit the tradition, the 11th Tank Corps calls itself the Samurai Tank Battalion and inherits its name.
The Battle of Shumshu, which many Japanese do not know.
However, in Hokkaido, where the Japanese soldiers on Shumshu Island saved their lives, it is exciting to think that those who inherit the name of the samurai still protect the peace of Japan.
Thinking about the Battle of Shumshu ...
Through this article, I also learned for the first time that it was the Battle of Shumshu.
I think that the battle that protected Japan with such a life should be passed down to future generations. We must not forget that there was such a fierce battle behind what we took for granted today.
Previously, Mr. Taro Aso said [ It is natural to worship with the highest respect as a nation for those who have thrown precious lives for the nation] Am I the only one who thought that was exactly what I said? ??
Even if others and other countries say that it is a right-wing militarism, I am deeply grateful to the ancestors who fought hard on Shumshu Island. I'm happy that we're doing what we normally do now, thinking that it might have been divided like some country.