Masuda
Summary
Lt. Col. Matsuda served as an Imperial Japanese Army officer stationed in Germany, where he primarily focused on learning aeronautics from the German Luftwaffe. In March 1945, he returned to Japan aboard the U-boat U-1324, under the command of Captain Wentzel Ahbe. Another passenger, SS Lt. Col. Spielberger, boarded the submarine in Kiel, Germany, carrying a painting titled "The Twelve Knights Led by Brunhilda," which was widely believed to be authored by Adolph Hitler, although it was later revealed to be a meaningless work over sixty years after its creation. While Spielberger remained largely confined to his quarters, Matsuda actively socialized with Ahbe and his crew members. He taught them shogi, the traditional Japanese game of strategy, and played with them throughout the voyage toward the Japanese base in Batavia, situated in the South China Sea. The U-1324 experienced considerable luck for much of its journey, successfully evading enemy patrols and even torpedoing a tanker in the Indian Ocean. However, the vessel encountered a U.S. Navy patrol near Batavia and was subjected to depth charges, forcing it to dive bow-first toward the ocean floor. Facing inevitable death and unwilling to endure the humiliation of capture, Matsuda chose to commit seppuku, the ritual suicide practiced by samurai.
