General Tojo

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 63, 12 September 1945, Page 7

General Tojo

ABOUT TO BE ARRESTED

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

Jtec. 11.40 a.m

TOKIO, September 11

General Hid eld Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan at the time of Pearl Harbour, shot and wounded himself at his' country home as .American intelligence officers were closing in to arrest him.

Soon after he had reported that Tojo had died 20 minutes after shooting himself, a correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System said he was still alive, hut believed to be dying. Japanese sources, however, report that Tojo has a fair chance of recovery.

Before he shot himself, Tojo twice opened one of the big sliding windows and smiled hard and with a steely gHnt at the intelligence officers, and then slammed down the window so hard that it nearly broke. Thereupon one of the officers tried to display his credentials through, the window. Tojo ignored this except to exclaim, "I am Tojo." As Tojo stood glowering through the window a Press photographer snapped him, and then officers and correspondents moved towards the front door, intending to go in. Suddenly a shot was fired. The officers kicked in the door, which had a flimsy lock. Entering the hall, they broke down a second locked door and found Tojo sprawled in a deep chair with a bullet wound just under the heart. When a Japanese doctor and a nurse arrived 55 minutes after the shooting Tojo is reported to have said: "I want to die." The doctor said he did not have instruments and did not know why he had been called in. At first he refused to attend Tojo. Six hours after the shooting, Tojo was still alive. A .32-calibre bullet passed entirely through his body. An American army doctor, Captain Johnson, who gave Tojo a blood transfusion, said he had a 50-50 chance of survival. A high percentage of men with wounds .similar to Tojo's had recovered during the war. . Tojo was removed to an American field hospital, a few miles from his home, j Correspondents say that apparently Tojo was caught by surprise when the intelligence officers arrived to arrest.

him. On a table near where he shot himself lay two sharp knives, wrapped in a snow-white hara-kiri cloth. Obviously he had not had time to use the traditional Japanese form of suicide, which would take a considerable time. Also on the table near Tojo was a holder in which a cigarette was still smouldering. Tojo lay in the chair groaning, his eyes halfclosed. His slight figure shook as he muttei'ed in Japanese, apparently attempting to say he had written out a statement. However, a search failed to disclose it. ■ Captain Johnson gave him the blood transfusion after he" had refused to be treated by the Japanese doctor.

The Mutual Broadcasting System's correspondent in Tokio reported that General Mac Arthur had ordered the arrest of Tojo in a round-up of war criminal suspects.