The Posthumous Writnigs of My Father-in-Law----Recollection from the End of World War II to 1953

This is a report on my father-in-laws life just before the end of World War II and then during his detained life in Anshan in the north- eastern part of China which was called Manchuria at that time. The report was written in April, 1980.

I have few memories of my life during the wartime.
My deceased mother told me that she was running around furiously struggling to escape the firebombing blaze carrying me tied up on her back. But it sounded to me as if it were an affair of someone else.

I believe, however, that if the war-experienced people continue to tell next generations about what they have seen throughout their lives, not the forced history but the true one of ordinary people will be certainly handed down to the following generations.
I am afraid the number of those who can do it now is getting less and less every day.

The author of this report, my husbands father, worked as an engineer at an iron steel company, Showa Iron Steel Corporation, in Anshan of the north- eastern part of China during World War II.
The father-in-law, who died in 1983, had written this report and left me a copy before his death.

I would like to post his records little by little, dividing into some parts the histories of a certain man who passed his turbulent days in the country where the Japanese people used to have the Chinese as employees. Meanwhile, the county is geographically close but psychologically remote to the Japanese today.

THE POSTHUMOUS WRITINGS OF MY FATHER -IN-LAW
----recollection from the end of World War II to 1953---
<Part 1>

In the deteriorated war situations in the ending phase of the war, I prepared myself for the last stage of my life, writing down my will and including some of my hair in its envelope. When Soviet forces came southward towards our city, we were determined to defend our company, confronting the enemy at all cost. I took a set of new underwear and a bottle of whisky I had been saving to my worksite so that we could defend our factory to the death. I made a last toast to the future of our country and told my wife and children about my intentions.

In August, fighting with Japanese troops, Soviet forces started to invade the border between Soviet territory and Manchuria, but it kept its front lines within northern area. Before long the day came. It was August 15th, when Japan lost the war. We got together in the main building of the company and listened to the Emperors statement announcing our war defeat. I felt all my strength lost and could not fight back my tears. The head of the board gave us instruction that we should bravely give over the premises of the company to the incoming owner, citing an example of Akou-roushi. (A Samurai group which has been praised as an honorable example of how they gracefully gave over their castle to the enemy)

The company operation continued for a while afterward. Around the end of August, Soviet forces came into our city, sending some representatives to our company in order to make inspections for the dismantlement of these factories. An army major who spoke German came to my coke-oven factory.

A plan was made to have all the equipment carried to the Soviet Union, with only the first and second coke-oven batteries to be left behind. It started on September 1st.　The operation went on for twelve hours a day from six oclock in the morning till six in the evening. The workers in our company, Japanese soldiers and traders concerned were all involved in this dismantling-project.

We were required to fulfill a fixed norm in every day. To meet this requirement we adjusted the amount of work depending on the type of dismantling machine. For example, while something like emission-valve outweighed the fixed figure, machinery and appliances were underweight. So we stocked aside excessive parts for the day, for other days when we needed to cover the shortfall.


(The father-in-law with his family and housemaid; in front of the company residence in Anshan)


(The father-in-law before the golf trophy in the yard of the company residence)








by Anmitsuhime

To be continued to Part 2