a rare photograph of survival under impossible conditions 1945 (953 × 1536)

This Japanese soldier was buried for 1 1/2 days in a shell hole, playing dead and ready with a live grenade inches away from his hand. After the Marines knocked the grenade to the bottom of the shell hole, they feared he might be further booby trapped underneath his body. So promising no resistance, the prisoner is given a cigarette that he asked for and was dragged free from the hole.