The story goes that the aircraft managed to land on the runway that night amidst the confusion that existed at the base with aircraft landing and taking off in streams. The commandos managed to blow up a couple of aircraft on the ground and set fire to some, but they were all, except one, killed in the attack. A question often asked is whether they achieved all that they set out to do. We do not know, but several legends grew round this saga.
Ramesh Benegal, recipient of the Maha Vir Chakra, was born in Burma and was seventeen when the Japanese captured British-occupied Burma. He tells this extraordinary, first-person story of his career with the Indian National Army in Burma and Japan in the year from 1941 to 1945.
By the end of July 1945, it became apparent that we were on the losing side. The bombings had become continuous day and night, and the limit was reached when one Sunday, at ten in the morning, the warning hooters sounded. This had by now become a normal thing, so we carried on walking to our air raid shelter. Some of us had just reached it and the last one was halfway there when we heard a mighty roar, and the sound of front-gun fire.
The American fighter had come at treetop level and strafed past in a straight line, just missing him. It was a very lucky escape, but what was frightening was that fighters had started attacking interior parts without any apparent opposition. From then on, we had many more fighter attacks especially by P-38 lightning aircraft. They seemed to have complete freedom of the skies over the Academy area and came and went at will. They knocked down our glider hangar and damaged all the gliders parked there. They carried out target practice on the mock-up aircraft parked at the ends of the runway and strafed the barracks whenever they felt like it. Only one of their aircrafts was damaged by ground-fire from the Academy premises, as far as I know.
Black Day
By the first week of August, the scene of war changed rapidly in more ways than one. There were continuous bombing raids by day and night and behind-the-scene negotiations were still in progress. On 6 August 1945, a day President Truman and his country should remember with deep shame, the first atom bomb was dropped over Hiroshima by an innocuous looking B-29 christened Enola Gay. The time was 8.15 in the morning when people were on their way to work, and children were just arriving in their schools.
I believe, like many, that this was a more dastardly crime, and if the Allies hadnt won the war, all their leaders would have been hanged publicly as war criminals.
The bomb-aimer in this aircraft operated his switch to release one of the most cruel and devastating bombs ever devised by humans. The bomb descended by parachute and at a preset height over the city, it started its diabolical destruction. There were two distinct balls of fire over the city and then a firestorm; temperatures of a million degrees centigrade and pressure of hundreds of thousands of pounds per square inch were manifest. All human beings in the core of the drop zone were roasted alive instantaneously. People as far away as 5 miles from the centre felt the tremendous heat, and radiation destroyed every human being within the radius of a mile and a half. Who were those that were killed so mercilessly? Mostly civilians—men, women and children.
A total of 180,000 people were killed or maimed for life, and it was established later that even the progeny of the survivors are suffering from untold diseases today. When one thinks of it seriously, one wonders what possible difference there might be between this and the chemical warfare banned by the Geneva Convention. I believe, like many, that this was a more dastardly crime, and if the Allies hadn’t won the war, all their leaders would have been hanged publicly as war criminals.
We at the Academy read about it in the papers the next day. In the Mainichi Shinbun, a daily newspaper, the headline stated that a new kind of bomb had been dropped over Hiroshima causing inestimable casualties of a kind never-before experienced in this War. The word ‘atomic’ was not used as it was not known at that time. Over the next two days, there was a definite lull in the bombing and it indicated to us a dramatic change in the situation.
On the 10th and 11th, there was again a lull in the bombing, but the aircraft dropped a number of leaflets in our area. This was to warn the population that Tokyo and its suburbs would be the next target for these new bombs unless Japan surrendered unconditionally.
On 9 August, not content with the inhuman damage perpetrated in Hiroshima, another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. This was a more powerful bomb, but because of the uneven terrain in this part of the country, fewer people (about 40,000) were killed and an equal number maimed for life. As one priest remarked after seeing the carnage and the aftermath, the dead were luckier than the injured living.
On the 10th and 11th, there was again a lull in the bombing, but the aircraft dropped a number of leaflets in our area. This was to warn the population that Tokyo and its suburbs would be the next target for these new bombs unless Japan surrendered unconditionally. The local authorities in our area made prompt arrangements to shelter people in the underground cells hollowed out of the hills, and provisioned them with water and food to last for weeks. Our training had virtually come to a standstill and we did not know what was happening.
It turned out that there was no need for us to go into the hill shelters after all, because on 14 August, the Tenno Heika (Emperor Hirohito) announced a cease-fire and the unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces to the Allies. It was the end of everything! That evening, the Deputy Commandant of our Academy committed harakiri (literally, cutting open the stomach) in a ritualistic fashion at the Shinto shrine next to our barracks. Many others who felt ashamed of this surrender, were reported to have done likewise, but we saw only this one. It was a gruesome sight.
Also read: Burma to Japan with Azad Hind-I
Our Captain Kato called all of us together and announced the inevitable. Japan had decided to surrender unconditionally, and since Tenno Heika had given the order, all Japanese soldiers would have to lay down their arms immediately. He said that he felt very sad and sorry at the way things had turned out and apologised on behalf of the Japanese government for having let us down.
It was quiet and sad in the Academy, and all activity had ceased.
It was a strange time for us to worry about ourselves, but we wanted to know what would happen to us. It turned out that he had no authority to give us an answer. It was quiet and sad in the Academy, and all activity had ceased. An order was issued by the Commandant that all weapons should be deposited at the base armoury. We surrendered our rifles and swords. There were three or four days of indecision, though not for the Japanese staff or the cadets. The Emperor was above criticism and had the faith of the people. If he had said that they were to fight to the very end, the people would have faced death quite calmly in their futile struggle. But as the Emperor had declared unconditional surrender, they would toe the line to the letter, however degrading the act may seem to them. That was how Japan responded.
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