Japanese execution of a western Soldier “Now I feel nothing but the true compassion of Japanese Bushido.” 1943 (Photo: Japanese soldier an instant before he strikes off Leonard Siffleet’s head) [612×612]
The following account was found in the diary of Japanese soldier, found on his body after his death in action:
In a little over twenty minutes, we arrive at our destination and all get off.
Major Komai stands up and says to the prisoner, ‘We are going to kill you.’
When he tells the prisoner that in accordance with Japanese Bushido he would be killed with a Japanese sword and that he would have two or three minutes’ grace, he listens with bowed head. He says a few words in a low voice. He is an officer, probably a flight-lieutenant.
Apparently, he wants to be killed with one stroke of the sword. I hear him say the word ‘one’; the Major’s face becomes tense as he replies, ‘Yes.’
Now the time has come and the prisoner is made to kneel on the bank of a bomb crater, filled with water. He is apparently resigned. The precaution is taken of surrounding him with guards with fixed bayonets, but he remains calm. He even stretches his neck out. He is a very brave man indeed.
When I put myself in the prisoner’s place and think that in one more minute it will be good-bye to this world, although the daily bombings have filled me with hate, ordinary human feelings make me pity him.
The Major has drawn his favourite sword. It is the famous masamune sword which he had shown us at the observation station. It glitters in the light and sends a cold shiver down my spine. He taps the prisoner’s neck lightly with the back of the blade, then raises it above his head with both arms and brings it clown with a powerful sweep. I had been standing with muscles tensed, but in that moment I closed my eyes.
A hissing sound——it must be the sound of spurting blood, spurting from the arteries; the body falls forward. It is amazing – he has killed him with one stroke. The onlookers crowd forward. The head, detached from the trunk, rolls forward in front of it. The dark blood gushes out. It is all over. The head is dead white, like a doll. The savageness which I felt only a little while ago is gone, and now I feel nothing but the true compassion of Japanese Bushido.
A corporal laughs: ‘Well – he will be entering Nirvana now.’ A seaman of the medical unit takes the surgeon’s sword and, intent on paying off old scores, turns the headless body over on its back and cuts the abdomen open with one clean stroke. They are thick-skinned, these keto [hairy foreigner – a term of opprobrium for a white man]; even the skin of their bellies is thick. Not a drop of blood comes out of the body.
Props to Siffleet. That is a brave man indeed. I would like to think i would face that situation the way he did.
LeberkaseSandwich
And they have the fucking balls to act like victims because of the atomic bombs… their attitude towards their crimes in WW2, especially compared to Germany is infuriating.
yanwd1503
People burn the beanstalk to boil beans, filtering them to extract the juice.
The beanstalks were burnt under the cauldron, and the beans in the cauldron wailed:
“We were originally grown from the same root; Why should we hound each other to death with such impatience?’
Manilaboyz
Don’t forget Unit 731. Should’ve bombed them to extinction
arcalumis
How about being compassionate by putting him in a camp and the releasing him when the war is over, all while not torturing the prisoners?
spiceprincesszen
The following account was found in the diary of Japanese soldier, found on his body after his death in action:
In a little over twenty minutes, we arrive at our destination and all get off.
Major Komai stands up and says to the prisoner, ‘We are going to kill you.’
When he tells the prisoner that in accordance with Japanese Bushido he would be killed with a Japanese sword and that he would have two or three minutes’ grace, he listens with bowed head. He says a few words in a low voice. He is an officer, probably a flight-lieutenant.
Apparently, he wants to be killed with one stroke of the sword. I hear him say the word ‘one’; the Major’s face becomes tense as he replies, ‘Yes.’
Now the time has come and the prisoner is made to kneel on the bank of a bomb crater, filled with water. He is apparently resigned. The precaution is taken of surrounding him with guards with fixed bayonets, but he remains calm. He even stretches his neck out. He is a very brave man indeed.
When I put myself in the prisoner’s place and think that in one more minute it will be good-bye to this world, although the daily bombings have filled me with hate, ordinary human feelings make me pity him.
The Major has drawn his favourite sword. It is the famous masamune sword which he had shown us at the observation station. It glitters in the light and sends a cold shiver down my spine. He taps the prisoner’s neck lightly with the back of the blade, then raises it above his head with both arms and brings it clown with a powerful sweep. I had been standing with muscles tensed, but in that moment I closed my eyes.
A hissing sound——it must be the sound of spurting blood, spurting from the arteries; the body falls forward. It is amazing – he has killed him with one stroke. The onlookers crowd forward. The head, detached from the trunk, rolls forward in front of it. The dark blood gushes out. It is all over. The head is dead white, like a doll. The savageness which I felt only a little while ago is gone, and now I feel nothing but the true compassion of Japanese Bushido.
A corporal laughs: ‘Well – he will be entering Nirvana now.’ A seaman of the medical unit takes the surgeon’s sword and, intent on paying off old scores, turns the headless body over on its back and cuts the abdomen open with one clean stroke. They are thick-skinned, these keto [hairy foreigner – a term of opprobrium for a white man]; even the skin of their bellies is thick. Not a drop of blood comes out of the body.
It is pushed into the crater at once and buried.
Source:
The Mammoth Book of How it Happened: World War II
By Jon E. Lewis
BlasphemousToenail
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Siffleet
LukeMayeshothand
Props to Siffleet. That is a brave man indeed. I would like to think i would face that situation the way he did.
LeberkaseSandwich
And they have the fucking balls to act like victims because of the atomic bombs… their attitude towards their crimes in WW2, especially compared to Germany is infuriating.
yanwd1503
People burn the beanstalk to boil beans, filtering them to extract the juice.
The beanstalks were burnt under the cauldron, and the beans in the cauldron wailed:
“We were originally grown from the same root; Why should we hound each other to death with such impatience?’
Manilaboyz
Don’t forget Unit 731. Should’ve bombed them to extinction
arcalumis
How about being compassionate by putting him in a camp and the releasing him when the war is over, all while not torturing the prisoners?