20. The Soldiers Who Fought On After WWII Had Ended
When Japan surrendered in August of 1945, millions of Japanese military personnel were spread across vast swathes of Japanese-held territory in East Asia and the Pacific. Most overcame the shock of defeat and duly obeyed the orders to surrender, broadcast by the Japanese emperor as well as relayed through their chain of command. However, a stubborn minority did not, and set out to escape the perceived shame of surrender. Their motives varied. Some had been cut off from communications with their chain of command, and so never received official notice that the war was over and that they should surrender to Allied military personnel.
Others received the orders to surrender but did not trust their veracity because of their military indoctrination. The Japanese military instilled in its men a warped bushido-based ethos that demanded they fight unto death and avoid the ignominy and dishonor of surrender. As such, it was inconceivable to some that their leaders could have actually gone ahead and accepted the ignominy and dishonor of surrender. By that logic, it followed that the orders to surrender could not have possibly come from their government, but were an enemy trick or ruse of war.
