Dominate the Country

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Today, April 1, 2000, I set foot on Japanese soil again after 60 years. The only difference from 60 years ago is that this time I am no longer coming on a landing ship of the Combined Fleet, but like a tourist, I came to Sakura Port in Madagascar on a Chinese ocean liner - this is not a good thing for a veteran who participated in the last war.

Today, I can only use the continued call of "Japan" as "Madagascar" to express my inner persistence. I did not betray those comrades who died in the war.

Even so, I still have to pretend to be an old man on the surface, because the government that organized this trip wanted to show goodwill to the Japanese, so they organized a group of veterans of World War III who can still move to travel to Japan. My current behavior is not only related to myself, but also to the whole of Britain.

——Who made me the only officer still alive who led a battalion of soldiers to land on the Falkland Islands in the last World War and can still stand up and walk and speak clearly?

Although I don't know what the meaning is, a mission is a mission, and a former colonel of the British Marine Corps will not refuse the mission of his motherland. Even though I retired from the army in despair thirty years ago, and I have never paid attention to the military since retirement.

I retired during a major military reduction, and I admit that I was very sad. This sadness is not just because the government chose to surrender to China in the military in order to better develop the economy - reducing the army, but more because I know that Great Britain has really given up the intention to confront China. So my heart as a soldier is dead.

Not bad, the Chinese and Japanese have paid enough attention to this British delegation visit. When I got off the passenger ship, I saw Japanese senior officials, Chinese envoys to Japan, and several Chinese and Japanese generals waiting for us.

This is not the treatment that losers should get. Perhaps just like the UK now, for the sake of economy and money, the Chinese and Japanese have also put aside the past. After all, they are the winners, and their wounds are easier to heal.

"Colonel Bell Cruise?"

"Yes."

"Former commander of the first battalion of the first regiment of the third marine brigade of the British Royal Navy?"

"Yes."

"Then let me introduce myself, Ozawa Heisei, a former corporal of the Fuyuki of the Japanese Fleet. Because of the early naval battle before you landed on the Falkland Islands, the Fuyuki sank in the vast sea, but I was lucky to survive. Then when you landed on the Falkland Islands, I was ordered to participate in organizing the militia of Sakura Port. I participated in the entire battle of Sakura Port." Naturally, I fought a lot with the British Marines.

Although Bell Cruise was a major battalion commander at the time, Ozawa Heisei was just a corporal, equivalent to a second lieutenant in the Western army.

"So we are old rivals?"

"Haha, calling us old rivals is really flattering me. Moreover, sixty years have passed, and peace is the mainstream of the world today. Isn't the reason why we are here today a symbol of peace? I just personally welcome you to visit Japan."

"Thank you." I shrugged at the time, feeling a little awkward inside, because they were the winners in the previous war. Only the winners can say such words: put aside confrontation, maintain peace, and look forward to a common and beautiful future. What a light word.

After a series of welcoming ceremonies, we got on their car, accompanied by a Japanese officer. Along the way, he talked to us from time to time and talked about many things. The Japanese officer was knowledgeable and fluent in English, which diluted my slight dissatisfaction with them. Soon, some of us were sent to the hotel where we lived. The living conditions of the veterans were very good. We were also told that we could move around without restrictions accompanied by translators. This really treated us as tourists.

The next day, I woke up in a daze. After having a typical Japanese breakfast, I went to the street accompanied by an interpreter, ready to see the city I had visited sixty years ago.

Although the person accompanying me was in casual clothes, I could still smell the military temperament on him. It was more likely that he was a navy. His name was Takeda Teru. This is the habit of many Japanese people to name him. Those who don’t know him would think he is a Chinese. Nowadays, more and more Japanese people have three-character names.

I didn’t eat enough. The Japanese breakfast was not to my taste. There was a hamburger restaurant not far from the hotel. I ordered a portion of French fries there, and he ordered a portion of fried chicken. Takeda Teru and I have exactly the same view on Japanese food - too bland and too little.

But in other aspects, he and I have many differences.

He is indeed a navy, and a naval carrier-based aircraft pilot. There was an accident during a plane landing, and then he transferred to the government department. Every pilot is a rare elite, and the Japanese government will definitely take good care of them.

I have no doubt about this, but now the Japanese Navy only has one aircraft carrier fleet, and 90% of the Japanese naval forces have been deployed by the Chinese in Madagascar to guard the Cape of Good Hope, which is still an important strategic waterway. Takeda Teru once served on the aircraft carrier Musashi. This is some information I looked through after participating in this operation.

Japanese aircraft carriers, Japanese carrier-based aircraft pilots, I will never forget the scene in the naval battle, how the group of planes that pounced like wolves swarmed up and sank the Hermes and the North Wind. The Marine Battalion 1, which was evacuated from the Falkland Islands, experienced that significant naval battle. In that battle, the European Joint Navy sank four aircraft carriers and seriously injured three aircraft carriers. The transport ship carrying the first battalion escaped the hellish catastrophe by luck, but the scene of the aircraft carrier sinking is still clearly engraved in my mind after 60 years.

We, who were once the most important member of the Western world's naval power, and who once had the most powerful warships and the most powerful fleet in the world, now only have a mere aircraft carrier battle group.

The aircraft carrier battle groups of the entire Europe combined are not even half of China's. Especially when he proudly mentioned that China was building a 120,000-ton super aircraft carrier, and planned to build ten at a time to replace the aging 80,000-ton heavy aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy Central Fleet [based in the Pacific], his proud expression made me feel deeply alienated from him.

The British aircraft carrier is also 75,000 tons, and its service life is only three years less than that of the Chinese Zhongyang Fleet's aircraft carrier. I have never heard of the Ministry of National Defense building an aircraft carrier.

I was in a low mood and didn't want to argue with Takeda anymore. Instead, I put my mind on the streets of Sakura Port. The streets were full of Chinese characters. I saw many Europeans in every shop, and some shops were even run by Europeans. I chatted with them, and they didn't feel discrimination and hostility here.

Yes. It's been sixty years, sixty years have passed. No matter how deep the hatred is, it will melt in the long river of time.

Just like the once powerful Japanese navy. Yes, sixty years ago, Japan's navy was definitely the strongest in the world, with five aircraft carriers, three large and two small, and many super battleships with sharp gunfire and thick armor. Throwing aside the terrifying monster of China, no one dared to say that they could surely beat Japan, whether it was Britain, France, Germany, or the then divided Red Russia, just talking about the navy.

But in the sixty years after the war, in the leisurely time, the once powerful Japanese navy just disappeared. It was not destroyed in a series of naval battles, but disintegrated and disappeared by itself.

The Japanese are unwilling to bear the heavy military expenditure pressure anymore. They hope to have lighter taxes and a richer and more comfortable life. The Tokugawa family can't stop Japan's demilitarization at all. Even if it weren't for Nanjing's careful request, the Japanese would solve it themselves.

This is what Takeda told me.

In order to compete with Western forces and seize European colonies in Africa, Japan paid too much.

The heavy national debt made the credibility of the post-war Japanese government extremely low. If the Third World War had not lasted only a short year, Japan's post-war economy would have collapsed completely. But even so, even if they could grab a large piece of land in West Africa, their own mess made the Japanese suffer enough.

You know, when the Europeans withdrew from Southwest Africa, they left behind a large number of weapons and a large number of military instructors active in the form of mercenaries. The Japanese paid a huge price in Southwest Africa. The 20-year security war caused Japan to lose more than 100,000 outstanding men, spent a huge amount of military expenses, and greatly delayed the recovery of Japan's economy.

Moreover, Japan's rule in Southwest Africa lasted less than 40 years in total. This is a big loss.

More importantly, in Asia, there are Mysore, Nad, Gubad, Bengal, Delhi, Bhutan, Siam, Phnom Penh, Vientiane and other countries, living a different kind of leisurely life under the powerful wings of China.

Especially Siam. Not to mention the group of alternatives in India, since China made the Indian native princes become independent kings, the whole of India has become a big circus. For the Japanese, the only country they can compare with is Siam. Look at their lives. Even though they have not opened up an inch of land in 200 years, they live such a beautiful life.

After hearing this, I can't tell what I feel psychologically.

The times are changing too fast and incredible. Or in the 30 years since I left the military, has the intention of war completely changed? The Japanese are actually tired of war, and a large number of Japanese are against war. This is too surprising to me.

You know, in my heart, the Japanese are a vicious dog raised by China. They and the Gurkhas are the most ferocious minions of China in its foreign wars.

The Mongols and Kazakhs are far inferior to them.

But now, the Japanese, who were once fearless and brave on the battlefield, are disgusted and tired of war. This makes me wonder whether to cry or laugh.

For an old man who has reached the end of his life, it is really too difficult and cumbersome to read a lot of information to verify this conclusion and understand this phenomenon. I will just take what Takeda said as a fact.

This may be the biggest reason why the government organized us veterans to come to Madagascar on the occasion of the 60th anniversary.

Japan has changed, the whole society has changed, and the whole world has changed.

The government told me: peace is the mainstream in the world today. I hope this is also true, and I hope the world can really be peaceful forever...