The story of Japanese occupation is one that is long forgotten. So here is an episode throwing some light into the incident.

They were merciless and gained confidence after the Japanese-Russian war.

The war happened between 1904-1905

The Russians did not have resources or technological advancements to fight against the Japanese

Conquered China in the 1930s

The Chinese invasion of Manchuria began on 18 September 1931

It happened right after the staged Mukden Incident

They established the puppet state of Manchukuo

The deception was exposed in 1932 by the Lytton Report

It led to Japan being diplomatically isolated and eventually, their withdrawal from the League of Nations

Nanjing Massacre

It was an episode of mass murder and rape by the Imperial Army of Japan in Nanjing, the then capital of China during the second Sino-Japanese War.

China was the underdog and much inferior army and the Japanese showed no remorse.

It happened over a period of six weeks starting from 13 December 1937

Around 40,000 to 300,000 people were murdered and looted during this period of time

The accounts of the massacre were erased by Japan shortly before their surrender in 1945

There is a huge controversy surrounding the issue including outright denial of the occurrence of the massacre to the accusation that the Chinese government exaggerated the number of people killed

But many in the Japanese government themselves have admitted to killing many non-combatants

Conquering of Burma

Japan occupied Burma (a previous British territory) from 1942-1945

The conquest began in December of 1941

Conquer of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The conquest of the island by Japan took place in 1942

The accounts are collected from

the unpublished reports of a local resident Rama Krishna: The Andaman Islands under Japanese Occupation 1942–1945

unpublished account by a British Officer, D. McCarthy: The Andaman Interlude (he was sent on a secret mission to the islands in 1944)

and with the memories of the older inhabitants interviewed by historians

On the fourth day after the arrival of the Japanese, the first victim was killed.

A young man Zulfiqar Ali angered by the soldiers pursuing chickens in his house fired an airgun at the soldiers. He was forced to go into hiding. Once he was captured his arms were twisted till they broke and then he was fired at.

Locals joined the Indian Independence League founded by Rash Behari Bose

One of its members, Dr Diwan Singh also formed a peace committee

An airport was built through forced labour

Comfort Women were brought from South Korea to these garrisons

Most of the topmost leaders of the Indian Independence League were captured and killed

Andaman and Nicobar Islands were handed over to Indian National Army in 29 December 1943

Subhas Chandra Bose visited Port Blair and raised the INA tricolour proclaiming Azad Hind

The Japanese screened his every movement to shield the reality of the situation from Bose

The Homfray Ganj massacre took place on 30 January 1944, where 44 civilians from the island were killed on the accusation that they were spies

The Islands were ruled by the Japanese till the British took it back in October 7, 1945

In 1945, due to scarcity of food, around 250-700 inhabitants of the islands were forced to move to uninhabited islands to produce food

A rescue mission could only find 12 survivors and hundreds of skeletons on the islands. Many also died due to shark attacks

Around 2000 people were killed and over 500 tortured during the course of Japanese occupation

The Battle of Imphal

The battleground was spread across present-day Manipur and Nagaland

30,000 soldiers died. More than half while retreating due to starvation and diseases

Japan was not prepared at all. Expected to get it over within 3 weeks, but went on for months

The allied air supply was far superior

Lt. Gen. Renya Mutaguchi said the conquest would require the sacrifice of 5,000 soldiers

Hirokuni Saito’s journal gave

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