Prompt Cast
Japanese Soldiers Who Refused to Surrender After World War II
TLDR Even after Japan formally surrendered in World War II, some Japanese soldiers remained in remote outposts, unaware that the war was over. These soldiers continued to hold out and refuse to surrender for years, with some only being discovered and captured or surrendering in the 1970s.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
During World War II, there were Japanese soldiers who never surrendered and remained in remote outposts even after Japan formally surrendered.
01:52
Many Japanese soldiers remained in remote outposts and continued to fight because they were cut off from contact with the rest of the Japanese military and didn't know that the war was over.
03:22
Japanese soldiers continued to hold out and refuse to surrender for years after the end of World War II, with some even believing that the war was still ongoing.
04:59
Japanese soldiers continued to hold out and refuse to surrender for years after the end of World War II, with some even believing that the war was still ongoing, and many of them were eventually found and captured or surrendered.
06:33
Several other Japanese soldiers who had been hiding and refusing to surrender were eventually found and captured or surrendered, including Kinshiki Kozuka, Kiro Onoda, and Tiro Nakamura, with Nakamura being the last soldier found in 1974.
08:02
There were likely other Japanese holdouts who were never discovered and never surrendered, with rumors persisting into the 1990s, making the phenomenon of soldiers refusing to surrender for so long unique to the Japanese army in World War II.
09:32
Japanese holdouts were willing to endure primitive survival conditions to uphold their oath, despite the ultimate failure of their cause.
