What are the touching stories of war?

In October 1942, a Japanese transport ship carrying 1,800 prisoners of war was attacked by a U.S. submarine while passing through Zhoushan, and the Japanese refused to help, intending to drown all the prisoners while they were there.

On October 1, 1942, the Japanese transport ship "Lisbon Maru", carrying 1,800 British soldiers captured from Hong Kong, slowly passed through the Zhoushan Islands, and because the ship did not display any signs about "transporting prisoners of war", when the American submarines patrolling around saw the ship, they saw it. When the American submarine patrolling around saw the guns on board, it thought it was a modified Japanese warship and did not hesitate to fire torpedoes.

A Japanese destroyer and another transport ship arrived one after another and quickly moved most of the Japanese troops over, leaving only 25 heavily armed soldiers and a crew of over 70 to continue guarding the British prisoners on the Lisbon Maru.

The Japanese took the opportunity to devise an outrageous plan, they drove all the prisoners into the three cabins, and immediately sealed all the hatches with wood and canvas, and then tied tightly with ropes, in time, the small cabin became hot and stuffy, even breathing is very difficult. The British were unwilling to wait for death and managed to send four officers to negotiate with the Japanese, but the Japanese immediately responded with bullets and one British officer was killed on the spot.

The British were forced to struggle through the night in the cabin, and finally managed to break through the door early the next morning.

As the ruptured transport gradually tilted, the raging seawater was like a waterfall, pouring down in the cabin, the British had to seize the last time to escape, they recklessly jumped into the sea, only to be machine-gunned by the Japanese, some of them were lucky to swim to another transport, but were still mercilessly kicked back into the sea by the Japanese.

Unfortunately, the British in cabin No. 3, there was not even a chance to escape, because they took turns to pump the water all night, has long been exhausted, plus the ladder to the deck suddenly broke, they were completely trapped in the big water, seeing no hope of escape, we all unanimously sang the song of their homeland, and finally sank into the sea inexorably.

In a short time, a huge wave rose on the sea, and the whole "Lisbon Maru" transport ship disappeared, and the prisoners of war floating on the sea, seeing no way to escape, were in despair.

At the critical moment, an 18-year-old fisherman, who saw countless foreigners struggling in the water on the island, realized that something was wrong and immediately called his friends and relatives to rescue them. Because there is a common saying here: "Save a life, a star in the sky!" For the fishermen who often make a living in the wind and waves, whenever they encounter people who fall into the sea, they will do their best to rescue them, they are so kind and simple.

Although the fishermen's boats were very small and could only seat a maximum of 8 people, they all went out in the spirit of saving people like putting out fire, using 46 fishing boats regardless of cost, carrying a total of 65 times, and finally succeeded in bringing 384 British people safely to the island, during which nearly 1,000 prisoners of war, under the "operation" of the Japanese The Japanese "operation" had already buried nearly 1,000 prisoners of war at the bottom of the sea.

However, the island's resources were scarce, and the fishermen were already living a hard life of half-starvation and half-feeding. After learning that these people were Allied prisoners of war, the fishermen did not think twice about taking out all the food they could not eat, and gave them the few clothes they had, and settled them well.

The fishermen intended to send the men to the rear so that they would not fall into the hands of the Japanese again, but unfortunately the Japanese soon learned of this and not only quickly sent planes to bombard the island indiscriminately, but also used five warships to blockade the island, and more than two hundred Japanese soldiers searched the British door-to-door and threatened to raze the entire island to the ground if they did not hand over the men.

Seeing the fishermen being beaten by the Japanese, the British soldiers decided to stand up for themselves, and they took the initiative to gather under the command of their officers, and were then taken back to the warships by the Japanese, before they left, they waved a tearful farewell to the fishermen, all knowing very well that they would never have the chance to see each other again, let alone repay their kindness.

The Japanese made such a big deal about it, but they didn't expect to see three Englishmen fall into the net. Navy Lieutenant Farrens and three others, under the clever arrangement of the fisherman Weng Achuan, quietly hid in a cave in a dangerous terrain, because the cave is very hidden, Japan searched the whole island has not been found, so escaped a disaster.

In order to prevent the Japanese from killing back, the three survivors had to be transferred to the safe rear as soon as possible, so they went through the Dinghai County Anti-Enemy Brigade and finally sent the British to Chongqing after a lot of hardship. To know that this was halfway across China, to be able to drip through the eyes of the Japanese, it has to be said that it is a miracle in the history of the resistance.

After arriving at their destination, the three British did not hesitate to reveal the truth about the Japanese mistreatment of prisoners of war through radio. The three Britons then returned to England, however the 381 POWs were not so lucky, they were taken to Japan as laborers along with hundreds of other British troops fished up by the Japanese.

More than 200 of them did not live to see Japan surrender, and had victory come any later, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Six and a half years later, the British held a grand thanksgiving ceremony in Hong Kong, solemnly handing out a bonus along with a brand new fishing boat, which unfortunately could not be handed over to the Zhoushan fishermen. The surviving British Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton, in his memoirs, highly praised the fishermen's good deeds, and it was their reckless rescue that prevented the Japanese from succeeding in their plot to "drown all the prisoners of war" and eventually had to change their plans and take them all to the Japanese mainland.

In other words, with the help of the fishermen in Zhoushan, hundreds of British POWs were able to return home and reunite with their longed-for relatives. Decades later, a British POW returned to Zhoushan fishing island with his family and the families of the victims, and although he was already gray, he still recognized his benefactor at once and hugged him tightly with tears streaming down his face.