Throughout the Second World War, there were thousands of war crimes committed by the various
different armies involved in the conflict.
In Europe, the German army were responsible for the executions of millions of innocent
people, and also the suffering inside of the concentration camps.
But in the Pacific during the conflict there was a huge amount of evil inflicted by the
Japanese Army, and it is estimated that they were responsible for the deaths of up to 14
million civilians.
They were completely brutal against the Chinese, and committed scores of atrocities in cities
such as Nanking, but at the end of world war 2 there were very few Japanese generals who
were brought to justice for their crimes.
Some had even ordered the executions of American airmen and soldiers by sword, in a medieval
style form of execution that was performed in front of huge crowds.
But one man who was condemned to death for his individual war crimes was Shigematsu Sakaibara,
a Japanese admiral who was the garrison commander on Wake Island.
He was convicted of war crimes, and was also considered responsible for the massacre of
hundreds of civilians and soldiers, some of these in terrifying and tragic ways.
But what is the story of the execution of the Japanese Headsman?
Join us today as we look at this and as always to support our channel, please make sure to
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Shigematsu Sakaibara was born on the 28th December 1898 inside of the Yamagata Prefecture
in the north of Japan.
He was a military man from a young age and he then in 1918 graduated in the 46th class
of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, and he was in the top third of the students that
graduated that year.
He was not a man who was considered a future commander at this time, but he would throughout
the years gather a significant amount of experience sailing on different ships.
He then served on a cruiser named Tokiwa, and then was assigned to another ship known
as the Hirado.
Further commissions aboard battleships and cruisers came, and then as he rose throughout
the ranks he served as a sub leftenant on the Iwate before he was promoted to Leftenant
at the end of 1924.
But then he received a big promotion to becoming a commander in 1930, and it’s clear that
he had risen throughout the ranks on ships, and that inside of the Japanese Navy he was
very well thought of.
He then became a captain as the Second World War had broken out and he would serve on warships,
but then the Japanese would use the navy to try and take different islands around the
Pacific.
The Battle of Wake Island was a battle which was fought on Wake Island.
The assault coincided with the attack on Pearl Harbour and also raids on air bases in Hawaii.
The attack on Wake Island took the Americans by surprise, and the US Navy had constructed
a military base on the island earlier that year.
There were 450 officers and men based there, but on the 8th December hours after the Pearl
Harbour attacks, 36 medium bombers were flown from bases on the Marshall Islands attacked
Wake Island.
They blew up many American aircraft, and 23 members of the air force were killed in the
bombing raids.
Two further raids came the following day, but then the landing attempts would come.
On the 11th December 1941, the Japanese tried to land and they were backed up by a number
of ships that would fire towards the Island.
The Americans fired back, but in the first attempt the Japanese suffered over 400 casualties.
The initial resistance then prompted the Japanese Navy to dispatch more forces to Wake Island,
and this invasion force came on the 23rd December following a bombardment.
They faced resistance, and in this there was incredibly heavy fighting.
The Japanese were beginning to advance inland, and they bypassed the gun positions and attacked
the airfield.
There was heavy fighting, and the Americans lost around 50 marines, with at least 70 American
civilians being killed.
The Japanese continued to attack, and they then caused the surrender of the island’s
garrison, and then the Japanese began to occupy the islands.
But Sakaibara was then appointed the garrison commander of the Japanese occupation forces
on Wake Island, and he then instigated brutality on the island.
He would order 98 American civilians that had become prisoners of war to build bunkers
and fortifications to help repel an amphibious landing that the Japanese anticipated would
come at the hands of the Americans.
The Japanese did fear the Americans, but after the building of these bunkers and fortifications,
the Japanese then brought a number of naval guns onto the island to help defend it.
The Americans did establish a submarine blockade of the island, and because of this the Japanese
garrison began to starve, and they even made a native bird become extinct as they ate them.
However after a few years of occupation, the fight for Wake Island would come.
On the 5th October 1943, aircraft from the USS Yorktown or Lexington bombed Wake Island.
They raided and it’s not known how deadly these raids were, however Shigematsu Sakaibara
would then order brutal reprisals against the Americans for this.
He continued to fear an invasion which he believed was coming, and to try and stop this
he then ordered the execution of an American civilian worker who had been caught stealing.
This man in front of others was executed by sword, and the poor civilian was beheaded
by Japanese forces in front of others.
But the reprisals for the attacks would continue.
Sakaibara continuing to fear an invasion would then go further, and the other 97 American
civilians who were conducting forced labour were then ordered to be executed.
Sakaibara ordered his troops to execute these civilians by firing squad, and they were all
slaughtered by the Japanese forces with the order given by Sakaibara.
These civilians were all taken to the northern part of the island, where they were then blindfolded
and they were machine gunned being mown down.
One of the prisoners managed to escape and he then allegedly carved a message onto a
rock saying what had happened in the slaughter, but then he was captured.
It was then said that Sakaibara himself with his own sword beheaded this last prisoner
of war.
But the Americans continued to bomb the island and they did this until the Japanese surrender
in 1945.
But Sakaibara had the year before been promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.
His garrison would formally surrender Wake Island to the Americans on the 4th September
1945 and Sakaibara was seen at this ceremony and this must have been a kick in the teeth
for him that the war was over.
Following the end of the war, he was then along with his assistant taken into custody
being arrested by the Americans.
They would be interrogated regarding the whereabouts of the captured civilians, and they would
stated that these victims were actually killed in bombing raids by the Americans, claiming
that these were the victims of friendly fire.
But later they confessed to the brutal massacre of the Americans.
Because of this Shigematsu Sakaibara would be accused of war crimes, and he was then
taken to a different island where he would be placed in front of an American military
commission for his trial for war crimes.
His subordinate would take his own life inside of custody rather than face the Americans,
but Sakibara was then following his trial found guilty, and he was then sentenced to
death for his crimes on Wake Island in December 1945.
The war had come to an end, and it was now the job of the allies to punish those who
had inflicted such suffering and misery, such as Sakaibara.
His sub-ordinate was also sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life
in prison, however Sakaibara’s would not.
Before he was sentenced to death, he read a commission appealing for clemency and in
this he said that what he did during World War 2 was wrong, and he regretted his actions
deeply on Wake Island, wishing he had never even heard of it.
He also accused the Americans of having no morality over him, following the nuclear bombs
being dropped.
But inside of his hometown, he was celebrated almost as a hero, and as a man who was a victim
of the people who ultimately won the war.
Shigematsu Sakaibara was taken to Guam and was imprisoned for some time following the
Second World War.
He had been imprisoned for around 18 months, and he was then taken to an execution chamber
where a gallows had been created.
He would maintain until his death that, ‘I think my trial was entirely unfair and the
proceeding unfair, and the sentence too harsh, but I obey my pleasure.’
He was taken into the execution chamber, accompanied by American military policeman before he was
handed over to the executioner.
He then placed a noose and a black cab over the head of Sakaibara, before he was shuffled
over the trapdoor and then it was released and he was executed.
Shigematsu Sakaibara was a Japanese war criminal who was responsible for the executions of
dozens of people onside of Wake Island.
He would brutally slaughter American Civilians following the occupation due to fear of invasion,
and he hoped that the news of this would get back to his enemies to put them off.
But he would execute some in the most tragic and horrific ways using sword, and he himself
had executed at least one American civilian himself with his sword.
He was himself sentenced to death being hanged inside of an American execution chamber.
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