Date of letter:1992-02-12
Address of author:Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Date of event:Not mentioned
Location of event:Not mentioned
Name of author:Xu Jiyao
Name(s) of victim(s):Not mentioned
Type of atrocity:Others (OT)
Other details:Xu Jiyao sent text fragments of the second edition “Deqing County Cultural and Historical Data”, which contains the abstract of a conversation between Wang Lin and Japanese war prisoner Okamoto. The prisoner confessed and provided evidence for the fact that Japan had premeditated for decades its invasion into China.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
Hello!
I send you an excerpt of the dialogue between Wang Lin and a Japanese prisoner-of-war, Masano Okamoto. The main contents are about this prisoner-of-war’s confession of the historical criminal evidence of the Invasion War by Japan and how Japan spent many years in preparations for the war. Please use it as your reference.
Retired staff of Zhejang Province Deqing County Postal Office
Xu Shiyao
February 12, 1992
Correspondence address: 53 Tanjia Lane, Chengguan Town, Deqing County, Zhejiang
Postal code: 313200
Home Tel: 25059 24528
Excerpt of dialogue between Wang Lin and Japanese Prisoner-of-war
On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally, the dream of militarists to merge our country was totally dashed. More than 100 officers and soldiers of the Japanese Invasion Army became our prisoners-of-war in Deqing, including five officers, in which there was a Second Lieutenant named Masano Okamoto, a native of Nagasaki in Japan. He was depressed and upset after learning the news of nuclear bomb explosion which killed his whole family, Wang Lin talked with him for a number of times, the following is an excerpt of his talks with Okamoto.
Q: Why did you invade China?
A: The textbook in Japanese schools says China is a country with vast territory and abundant resources. If we go to China we can live a good life.
Q: You occupied large tracts of Chinese territory for a certain period, is it because the Chinese troops lacked combat effectiveness?
A: We made long-time preparation for several dozen years.
Q: What about the result today?
A: I had hoped the war could end soon, but it never occurred to me that it would end this way (referring to unconditional surrender).
Q: Which places have you been to in China?
A: Soon after we landed at Jinshanwei in Shanghai, I was stationed at Huzhou in Zhejiang, later I followed Watanabe and stayed at Wukang County Town for over 20 days.
Q: Is it the Watanabe garrison unit?
A: Not the garrison unit, it was the Yoshio Watanabe guard unit, Watanabe spoke Chinese.
Q: In Wukang County, you were attacked, were you there at the time of the attack?
A: I had been transferred to Yuhang County Town. This matter was mentioned in the Dobashi regiment battlefield report.
Q: Did you attack Chinese troops based on the military intelligence of the regiment?
A: No, our main task was to guard the highway line.
Q: Several times your troops attacked the mountain areas. Wasn’t it proactive attack?
A: That’s the military deployment planned by Dobashi Regiment. We entered the mountain area, and hoped to avoid head-on fighting with China’s elite troops, but sometimes we encountered them; they fought very hard, and many of our soldiers died.
Q: Your soldiers died on the battleground, why couldn’t we see their bodies?
A: We prohibited discarding bodies. In case the bodies could not be shipped back, we had to take the dead man’s finger prints before incineration. Sometimes, we even cut off the dead one’s palm to take it back to the troops as evidence.
Q: After this war, can Japan restore itself?
A: (confidently) Yes, we can.
Q: Can we China restore itself?
A: (Smile after thinking) Need to try.
These Japanese prisoner-of-war officers appeared arrogant and were not reconciled to the defeat. When speaking of the post-war restoration of China and Japan, Masano Okamoto (Japanese prisoner-of-war) even speoke with such attitude. They mentioned three words: “need to try”. What do these words mean? From Masano Okamoto’s talks, he also confessed the criminal evidence of making several dozen years of preparation by the Japanese militarism before invading China. As to the Chinese who suffered so much, the devastating historical lesson indeed deserves contemplation! For the sake of the present and the future of our whole nation, it indeed deserves honest reflection!
Note: Wang Lin was the Schoolmaster of Deqing County Shangbai Town Central Primary School in the winter of 1945, and was then preparing for post-war school restoration.
Excerpted from the second issue of Deqing County Cultural and Historical Archives by retired staff member Xu Jiyao of Zhejiang Province Deqing County Postal Office
February 12, 1992
