How long could Japanese holdouts after World War II fought?

[gillan1220]

Emperor expresses sympathy to Vietnamese left by soldiers. AP News. March 2, 2017.

Some 600 to 800 Japanese soldiers remained in Vietnam after Japan’s surrender in 1945 and they helped train Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh with their military expertise to fight the French colonial forces.

The first group of 71 soldiers was forced to leave after the Communists defeated French forces in 1954, abandoning their wives and children, who faced with difficulties and discrimination.

The last group of soldiers left the North in 1960, but was able to bring their families.

[stevep]

Oct 25, 2020 15:37:01 GMT gillan1220 said:

Oct 25, 2020 15:18:53 GMT lordroel said:

Whell the occasional mysterious disappearance of ships in the Pacific might solve the supply problem a bit for the Japanese submarine ore ship and the United States is not looking for a Japanese submarine ore ship as the war is over and they have no reason to assume there is something still out there, they are more focus on keeping track on Soviet ships and submarines

The Japanese submarine would likely be a nuisance rather than a threat since Soviet spy ships and submarines would pose the bigger threat. My guess is the submarine crew keeps fighting until their supplies last or age catches to them. No way they could fight forever without fuel. Hiroo Onoda and the other holdouts were lucky since they were on an island with farms wherein they could steal supplies from.

  Would agree.  After all if their able to loot a ship before sinking it without any warning being sent out that's still not going to resolve a lot of the supply problems.  Such ships won't be carrying WWII Japanese torpedoes, spare parts for IJN subs or probably suitable oil for fueling it. 

  Individuals or small groups can hide out in isolated areas, especially in jungles and the like, and maintain basic personal weapons with some success but something as sophisticated as a submarine is a totally different matter.

[gillan1220]

Oct 25, 2020 21:12:23 GMT stevep said:

Oct 25, 2020 15:37:01 GMT gillan1220 said:

The Japanese submarine would likely be a nuisance rather than a threat since Soviet spy ships and submarines would pose the bigger threat. My guess is the submarine crew keeps fighting until their supplies last or age catches to them. No way they could fight forever without fuel. Hiroo Onoda and the other holdouts were lucky since they were on an island with farms wherein they could steal supplies from.

  Would agree.  After all if their able to loot a ship before sinking it without any warning being sent out that's still not going to resolve a lot of the supply problems.  Such ships won't be carrying WWII Japanese torpedoes, spare parts for IJN subs or probably suitable oil for fueling it. 

  Individuals or small groups can hide out in isolated areas, especially in jungles and the like, and maintain basic personal weapons with some success but something as sophisticated as a submarine is a totally different matter.

There are cases of missing soldiers suddenly reemerging in present day. Not only IJA but others as well including a Japanese man who lived in Sakhalin Island and only reemerged in Ukraine in 2006 and in 2013, an Uzbek veteran of the Soviet Army was discovered to have been living in Afghanistan since the war ended. There would come a time when these men would be too tired to fight and would just probably live out new, quiet lives in their new homes.

The History Channel has an article of 6 soldiers that refused to surrender. This article from The Guardian dated December 1, 2015 states about other missing soldiers emerging decade after wars they fought.

[gillan1220]

47 years ago today. My father remembers this surrender well. He was only 14 and being Baby Boomer, he was told of stories from my grandfather and grandmother about the war. The fact a Japanese soldier fought on for 29 years amazed him and the rest of the world.

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[gillan1220]

How did Hirō Onoda, one of the last Japanese soldiers to surrender in WWII, survive 29 years in the Philippine jungle?

[gillan1220]

Didn't know this was 50 years ago.

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[gillan1220]

Does the CIA know that the logistics master/WWII General Masanobu Tsuji disappeared in Laos in 1962? What happened to him? - Quora

Kevin Oliver:

I am sure that the CIA were aware of Colonel Tsuji’s disapearance since there were rumours that he was acting as an adviser to the North Vietnamese Army (I doubt it, since they won).

Colonel Tsuji can hardly be described as a logistics master, since in both New Guinea and Burma Japanese troops, taking part in operations he had planned, were so badly supplied that they were reduced to cannibalism in order to survive.

Apart from being a war monger and a war criminal, Tsuji was a political intriguer, insubordinate, and notoriously let other officers be punished for crimes he was primarily responsible for. He was a disgrace to his nation and his chosen profession.

Natalie Jones:

No one really knows but it was believed by many that he was working with anti western elements since the end of the war in 1945. He saw the war as an east verses west struggle and was embittered by defeat and sought to continue the struggle with whoever he could find as allies I read. Since he was facing war crime charges it makes sense he went underground. Perhaps his new communist cohorts felt he was a PR liability and had him killed. Or perhaps he died of natural causes.

Tsuji is one of those who held on to Pan-Asian beliefs after WWII. He either joined the Pathet Lao or the NVA. It was never really revealed if he was advising Giap and Ho Chi Minh. He could have been killed in a bombing in Vietnam, or the CIA "eliminated" him (he was a CIA asset until the Agency saw him as a liability), or maybe the Vietnamese learned of his war crimes and promptly shot him.

Dying of natural causes is also likely.

Frank Wood:

You must be referring to the accused mass murderer and war criminal General Tsuji Masanobu. It’s not a surprise that someone who was known for evading both duty and responsibility could go missing in a jungle war zone.