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Hiroo Onoda (Japanese: 小野田 寛郎, Hepburn: Onoda Hiroo, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was a Japanese soldier who served as a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Teruo Nakamura (中村 輝夫, Nakamura Teruo, born Attun Palalin; [1] [2] also known as Suniuo; [3] [4] 8 October 1919 – 15 June 1979) was a Taiwanese soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought for Japan in World War II and did not surrender until 1974. He was the last known Japanese holdout to surrender after the end of hostilities in ...
Japanese holdouts (Japanese: 残留日本兵, romanized: zanryū nipponhei, lit. 'remaining Japanese soldiers') were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific Theatre of World War II who continued fighting after the surrender of Japan at the end of the war.
Shōichi Yokoi (横井 庄一, Yokoi Shōichi, 31 March 1915 – 22 September 1997) was a Japanese soldier who served as a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War, and was one of the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945.
In practice though, many Allied soldiers were unwilling to accept the surrender of Japanese troops because of atrocities committed by the Japanese. A campaign launched in 1944 to encourage prisoner-taking was partially successful, and the number of prisoners taken increased significantly in the last year of the war.
The last Japanese soldiers of World War II to surrender were Hiroo Onoda and Teruo Nakamura in 1974. Onoda was an intelligence officer and second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. He continued his campaign after WWII for 29 years in a Japanese holdout on Lubang Island, the Philippines.
The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war.By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent.
They failed to persuade the Eastern District Army and the high command of the Imperial Japanese Army to move forward with the action. Due to their failure to convince the remaining army to oust the Imperial House of Japan, they committed suicide. As a result, the communiqué of the intent for a Japanese surrender continued as planned.