Chapter 5 Toshiro Diary (3)

Finally going to the front line! On September 20th, starting from Duliu Town at 6:00 a.m., my squadron started to move forward, and was responsible for supervising the large suitcases of the brigade.A group of soldiers who met to die tomorrow raised dust, hurried across the endless plain, and rushed towards the line of fire. The luggage of the divisions went upriver by boat, and the outdated horses were abandoned one by one, and the luggage on the horses was moved to the back of another horse or to other vehicles.The strong horses were advancing with heavier and heavier burdens, while the outdated horses could only droop their heads in the scorching earth smoke, watching the soldiers pass by them with sad eyes.Their silence makes people feel how sad the backwardness of animals is, and it surpasses the backwardness of human beings and the death of human beings.What a lot of pain, what a lot of hard work, they don't say a word of complaint, they keep going until they are exhausted until they fall down.When they fall, they are dead.Because they don't complain or lament, tears of love and compassion moisten our eyes.Behind them are hungry wild dogs grinding their teeth.

The scorching sun relentlessly shone on the earth, almost burning everything on the ground. The sweaty group of people gasped and gasped, enduring the pain, flowing like a river. Wangsi Township is a large village, but it has been horribly damaged by bombing and shelling.The road is almost blocked by destroyed houses and bricks, and only one church with high walls around it remains intact.There is a white-haired pastor in the church. It is clear at a glance how much the pastor is respected by the villagers and how much power he has over the villagers.There are many Chinese people in the church, just like the Lord, with a dignified and dignified attitude.The tall white-haired foreigner strolled leisurely in the garden, like someone who doesn't know what fighting is. Although he doesn't know how many political skills he has hidden in his chest, he does have the temperament of a person who serves the gods at first sight.In a row of slender houses on the left side of the entrance, Chinese people are selling sugar.

Thirty cents a bag.We were surprised that Japanese money (Korean banknotes) was used in such a place, and finally realized the value of Japanese currency.The soldiers said that 30 yuan a bag of sugar was too expensive, and they bargained for a price, but due to the language barrier, the negotiation failed.Many soldiers gathered in a rush to buy sugar, and some of them took advantage of the confusion to steal.Whenever this happens, Pastor Yang reminds these soldiers to pay attention.There are also shameless soldiers. Dinner is three chickens.It was delicious, I have never had such a delicious dinner in my memory.

We talked about today and tomorrow, and had a leisurely dinner when gunshots rang out everywhere, and we realized we were near a battlefield. At around eight o'clock, an order came suddenly, let us prepare our guns and bullets and assemble as soon as possible.Noguchi was left to take care of the room, and we all gathered at the squadron headquarters. The squadron immediately marched towards the church.The first team surrounded the church to prevent escapees, and the third team conducted an internal search. Something happened, and it was a big one for us first-time combatants.We must catch the criminal for revenge!

At around 6:30 in the evening, three heavy soldiers fed water to their beloved horses.After fetching water, when they passed the narrow road they must pass on the way back, they never dreamed that death was waiting for them on that road.Two locals came up ahead.The locals smiled and passed them by bowing their heads courteously.The supply soldiers were unsuspectingly happy that he walked over while talking.At this time, suddenly there was a pistol shot behind him, and a heavy soldier fell down.Then, the second shot, another fell.The other was hugged by a plainclothes team dressed as locals and stabbed through his right lung with a short knife.The hideous plainclothes team fled immediately, and only the water prepared to feed the horses and the blood of the first sacrifice of the Ono troops flowed on the narrow and dark road.

Therefore, we have to search for the prisoner desperately. The closed door of the Catholic Church did not open. The interpreter yelled loudly. After a while, the door opened quietly like a wandering spirit, and the tall priest in black stood there quietly. .The translator and the pastor disappeared through the door together. Will the translator be assassinated again in this dark church, or will he be stabbed again by the plainclothes team in the long corridor of the church?We all admired the guts of the interpreter who broke in bravely despite being worried.Squadron leader Moriyama ordered, "Rush in."Three of us, Lieutenant Nishimoto and one other, entered the dark church, and first searched the room on the left side of the door where sugar was sold during the day.

We shouted with flashlights: "Come out!" The Chinese stayed huddled in the dark room.We got the found guy to put his hands up, put the gunbone into his back and go out the door.One hundred and twenty-six people were found in the elongated room.We pointed guns at them and searched everyone.I checked a few people and picked up the bamboo stick of one of them.The bamboo stick rattled, and I guessed there was something hidden between the bamboo joints.When he was about to search, the man suddenly took the bamboo stick, took out a long and thin bottle from it, and smashed it on the ground.I felt suspicious immediately, and immediately picked up the broken pieces of broken glass for him to lick.I figured it might be some kind of poison.He didn't care at all, he was smug, or he licked it as if he liked it very much.The translator asked him what it was, and he said it was lotion.

However, it is impossible for a dirty man like him to put lotion in that kind of thin tube and bamboo stick. It can be clearly judged that it is not lotion.However, we couldn't tell what else it was, but seeing him licking that thing indifferently, we released him with confidence.No one was found among them who could be shot.Perhaps there was, but we did not find that women and children took refuge in the house opposite the church. At the request of the foreign priest, it was decided that the house should be searched only by officers.Except for some terrified women, no suspicious person was found there. The only "harvest" that night was that First Class Nishimoto was bitten by a scorpion while walking outside the church with his hand touching the wall.

It can't help but make people feel that the stakes of the war with gunfire are being hammered down one by one in the dark. On the 21st, at six o'clock in the morning, we left Wang Sizhen. Another march in windless heat. While fighting the enemy, we must also fight against nature.Backpacks mercilessly strangled our shoulders.The hand holding the gun was numb due to poor blood circulation, and we had to keep switching hands to hold the gun. Each fifteen-minute break was like a meal when we were hungry. The hateful sun ruthlessly shines on the earth, as if it is specially against us.

This luminous sun has long been regarded as a goddess of love. She feeds all things, gives us day and night, allows us to move and rest, and moves from the infinite past to the eternal future.Everything in the world has given her the greatest respect and gratitude, but for us today, she can only be the cruelest existence. The overgrown weeds on both sides of the road, the sorghum that blocks the wind, the endlessly stretched land, the unshady, dusty, dilapidated and scorching road that runs madly towards infinity, and the packs of wild dogs , the rotten and smelly corpses of Chinese soldiers, the swollen corpses of military horses that drank a stomach full of water, the wild dogs that greedily devoured those corpses like hungry ghosts and wild wolves... none of them made people feel comfortable.

When I saw the swollen corpse of the Chinese soldier being eaten by wild dogs, I thought: I don't want to die!I don't want to die!For wild dogs, the dead bodies of Chinese soldiers are the best food. Similarly, our dead bodies are... ah!Still don't want to die! The strong hand I hold the gun, the leg that knocks on the ground, the gentle heart that can miss my loved ones, the brains that can describe my hometown, my parents, my brothers... Will all these become the blood and flesh of wild dogs?When I thought that everything about me would become a part of the wild dog's blood and flesh, and then become the driving force behind the wild dog's frantic and greedy pursuit of the next goal, I couldn't help but fall into endless distress. The sound of gallant guns approached. That voice is "war"! That voice is "killing"! In the evening, we finally arrived at Taomatou.On the Ziya River that flows through Taomatou, there is blood floating.It is said that the captain and standard bearer of the 33rd Regiment became the target of enemy bullets when they were about to land.It was the 9th Regiment and the 30th Brigade who were fighting with their bodies immersed in the waist-deep mud.Our brigade was ordered to deliver ammunition to these troops on the front line.My detachment was ordered to guard the brigade headquarters.In the courtyard of the civilian house used as the temporary headquarters of the brigade, the radio transmitter was working endlessly.Soldiers with receivers in their ears are recording the incoming telegrams with pens.The soldiers next to them were desperately turning the hand-cranked generators, conveying orders, receiving battle reports, and translating... The staff officer climbed onto the collapsed roof, looking through the binoculars.Senior officers were bustling in and out.On the wide river square, friendly planes flew at low altitudes to communicate with ground troops. In this small and pitiful Taomatou village, there is only an old couple in their seventies who can hardly even walk.They probably didn't expect to see such a miserable scene at such an old age.Pitiful!The 33rd Regiment and the 38th Regiment were fighting each other while praising each other "really tenacious! Really tenacious" when attacking at night, resulting in many wounded.Moreover, a squadron of the 33rd Regiment, due to communication problems, was baptized by bombs from friendly planes and suffered great losses. This shows relentlessly how important communications are on the battlefield. In war, too, there is this needless death by accidental misfortune. On the 22nd we started marching again in the heat.The road and the Ziya River extend to the distant horizon together.The appalling corpses of Chinese soldiers lay scattered on the river bank, and the stench from those corpses disgusted those of us who were not familiar with the battlefield. People who feel disgusted at the sight of dead bodies are not soldiers on the battlefield.If you have a sense of cleanliness and cleanliness, you cannot be a soldier on the line of fire.People who have the idea of ​​washing their face when they wake up in the morning and washing their hands after going to the toilet cannot be soldiers on the front line of fire. The soldiers on the front line should be able to grab the bowls and chopsticks and eat with the hands that have just been to the toilet. Field soldiers are going back to the wild! On the sandy land of rivers and rivers, the luggage team was marching, and the army horses kept moving forward in the hot sand and dust.About one mile forward, there was a sand mining area, from where we took a boat of water soldiers and went upstream along the Ziya River. There are three brand new tombstones. It must have been yesterday or the day before yesterday, and there were two bodies lying on stretchers waiting to be cremated.The comrades-in-arms dug a two-meter-wide and four-meter-long earth pit beside them, and piled up wooden sticks.They kept the hair and personal belongings of the deceased as relics.A lot of logs were placed in the pit, and the corpses in blood-stained military uniforms were placed on them, and some logs were placed on top of the corpses, like a hill. Accompanied by the chanting of monks accompanying the army, the comrades in arms could not restrain the sobs of mourning, which hit our hearts sadly. Everything they did in the past is for today's fight.They have lived to this day to fight to the death.And, they served their purpose. The fire was lit.Ai-, just like this, the person who can never come back ascended to heaven in the holy fire.Majestic excitement gnawed at the hearts of men.Today they are tomorrow's us. Compared with the corpses of the Chinese soldiers, how solemnly the corpses of the Japanese soldiers were treated. The corpses of the Japanese soldiers ascended to heaven in the sacred fire amidst the monks chanting sutras and the mourning tears of their comrades-in-arms. In the face of their bravery to die, people offer the greatest respect and thanks, and they will ascend to heaven with a smile. Who would not be satisfied with such a grand funeral full of true feelings? It is not a pity to die.It is not a pity to die. The emotion I got from the corpse of the Chinese soldier changed. Death is meaningful. There are five desolate tombstones standing in the wilds of China and the north of China.They are the eternal sentinels, the eternal sentinels of glory.They are here to be eternal sentinels for the motherland. Aren't my nostalgia for what happens after death real? If it makes sense to die for the country we love, why should we worry about our own dead bodies?Isn't it lack of consciousness to make this a problem?Is our faith still not enough?Requiring so much trouble and time is tantamount to reducing combat effectiveness. Should we cut our combat power in anticipation of such grand treatment? The water filter pumps clean water from deep in the ground.For us who have not drank a sip of raw water since we landed on the mainland, how rare this water is, because we thought that we might not be able to drink a sip of water as beautiful as morning dew until we die.I drank a full belly of water like a dry sponge, only to feel that the clear water seemed to be able to wash away my exhausted heart.I let my most beloved lover, the water bottle, drink up to the full, and the weight of my lover will keep giving me strength and courage. Large and small ships made the sound of "swelling", and the Showa Hachiman fleet, composed of more than 1,000 people from the first brigade, set off on the turbid Ziya River. On the vast expanse of land, the only river flows leisurely.Except for weeds, sparse trees, and sorghum, the surrounding area is vast, and there is nothing protruding in sight. The sky was still high and blue, without a cloud, and the end of the sky fell on the earth.The torrent swallowed the rock.Strange rocks and rocks and a different kind of magnificent scenery are presented in front of our eyes.Being in this landscape, we don't feel like we are on the battlefield, but rather like a luxurious continental trip, a magnificent romantic trip.Reality lies outside our awareness. The blue sky is infinitely deep and vast, and the earth is infinitely distant and vast.In this majestic nature, what we do seems so boring and insignificant. No matter how great human actions are, they are nothing in front of nature.Nature is a truly big embrace, which embraces all nations that are in conflict with each other.Compared with the broad mind of nature, how stingy and insignificant are the bloody struggles between nations? The nature that can't see the end no matter how many days you run or fly, seems to be mocking the narrow struggles between nations. Peoples have deliberately committed bloody tragedies over mere fractions of nature. Alas, how insignificant and insignificant human behavior is The sound of the engine came and disappeared. After running for about two hours, he saw soldiers in a civilian house on the right bank.As soon as I saw the soldiers, my thoughts flew back to reality.They are soldiers of the thirty-eighth regiment.Since there seem to be remnants of the enemy in the villages on the right bank, they want us to stay and sweep.As a result, the ship immediately docked on the right bank and began to sweep. Just like a tortoise in a carapace, the thick earthen wall for external defense and the solid door without gaps do not allow anyone to enter.The walls of those houses were one or two feet thick, none of the windows opened outwards, and the roofs were also made of rammed earth.It is impossible to enter without breaking the door which is nearly two inches thick.While we were arguing about how to get in, the residents or remnants of the house had fled through the back door.Two old men who were estimated to be over sixty years old were brought over.The translators asked many questions, and they were beaten and kicked. They were so frightened that they collapsed on the ground, as if they had lost half of their consciousness before being killed.We smiled and looked at these two poor old people, just like naughty children teasing two insects.They trembled in the abyss of fear. They were terrified and bewildered by this sudden and worst misfortune. A corporal drew his saber... cut it down! The other old man fell on the ground trembling all over.Rather than lying on the ground, it is better to say lying on the ground.His two hands pawed at the ground, its horror can be imagined. He too was desperate.The pistol went off.The blood of the two old men flowed on the ground. There were shouts from upstream, and two naked youths of four or five and twenty jumped into the river, swimming desperately to escape.There was the sound of gunfire behind them, and the bullets shot around them, causing a burst of water. The two youths swam desperately towards the opposite bank, diving into the water for a while and then surfacing again.Countless bullets chased them, but none hit.I also shot. It was the first time in my life that I fired a killing bullet. But somehow... my will did command me to kill them, and to fire the bullet.But while shooting like this, another thought emerged, and my emotions ordered me not to kill.I am puzzled. I don't know why emotion commands me not to kill.Am I scared?But I am not afraid of foreign enemies.Because none of the enemy's bullets flew over, I was surrounded by friendly troops, and the two enemies who were shot were running away without resistance. Why, in this non-dangerous state, do my emotions forbid me to kill, while my will perfectly understands that they should be killed and commands me to kill them? Could it be that I, who was going to kill for the first time in my life, felt the fate of the causal cycle brought about by killing the enemy?I feel this invisible terror?Amidst this hesitation, the first bullet was fired suddenly, as if on purpose.The second round appeared to be on aim.I think the third and fourth rounds were pretty accurate.However, it missed, and then I thought that no matter how much I shot while I was hesitating, I would never hit it.So, I stopped shooting.The other soldiers shot fiercely, but missed a single shot.Seeing that the two escaped young men were about to reach the opposite bank and escape. I forgot about my own business, slightly angry.What a bunch of inaccurate shooters!So, I shoot again.Just as the two young men were on the opposite bank, one of them fell into the river like a stone.My bullet exactly killed the young man.Another young man climbed up to the opposite bank.However, the other side of the river without a stone is full of mud, which seems to suck his feet and refuse to let his feet move freely, he can't run, and when he runs desperately but very slowly, someone shoots the bullet passed through his body.He threw his desperate body on the mud on the river bank and fell down. The boat set off again.We found that we were hungry and chewed on the compressed biscuits. In front of me was the military doctor Captain, who also took out compressed biscuits. I took out a small handful of precious granulated sugar and handed it to the captain. The military doctor laughed happily at this unexpected delicacy. The precious sugar was specially given to the military doctor because I hope that if I get injured, he can treat me earlier. I have not washed away this base selfishness.This is a shameful act!This kind of flattery is not what a man should do!I am ashamed of such an act of meanness, and I turn away. As twilight falls, the team must move on.The medic said: "I don't know where the battalion leader is going to go. There is only a single battalion going forward. It's really brave. But..." There was a sense of terror in the military doctor's words. ... He probably wanted to say, what would happen to us if we were surrounded by the enemy! I know military doctors are timid. The boat finally approached a river bank, tents were quickly set up on the bank, and the camping began.I don't understand why tents should be set up. What should I do if I encounter an enemy plane attack?I am puzzled by this. We don't know where we are in China, we can only say that it is somewhere in China. The weeds were shivering, and the cold was getting worse as the night progressed.In a place where nothing is known, in front of the enemy's eyes.dark world.I feel a certain uneasiness.Due to the prohibition of picnics, the sound of chewing compressed biscuits can be heard constantly in the dark.No one spoke, and the sound of the flowing river was not heard, only the footsteps of sentries walking on the grass gently crawling towards the pillow.It is a world of silence and darkness. The night was swallowed by the sun, the sky gradually turned white, and the world woke up at dawn, and we started to move forward.The boat has withdrawn to Peach Horse Head.Walk on the slopes along the embankment to avoid being spotted by the enemy.My left ankle hurts from walking, but, keep going. Every village is overgrown with summer plums, but eating them is forbidden by order, so we cannot satisfy our appetites. At this time, we arrived at a village.Private First Class Okuyama ate Xia Mei against the law. He is a kind person. He has been in the army for two years, and he is often targeted by the squadron leader, who thinks he is a difficult guy to train.Seeing him eating Xia Mei, Warrant Officer Uchiyama beat him up. This warrant officer is not a bad person. He reprimanded the soldiers severely in front of the squadron leader. He wanted to show that he was disciplined in front of the twenty-five-year-old squadron leader, but we don't think so.This is a battlefield, don't talk about tomorrow, even today's life is not known if it can be saved.There are other ways besides hitting people.Of course, hygiene must be paid attention to, but how can the fruit on the tree be dangerous?There is no danger of being soaked in poison. It is fresh and can be used as food to fill an empty stomach that has not eaten breakfast.The boss's thoughts are too worrying. What a soft, peaceful landscape it is.Quiet green swamps, lush trees, blue sky, houses with wide courtyards, quiet land, a world without a trace of noise, and chickens pecking happily.Where is there any war!Where is the terrible brutal slaughter! Why must this heaven be made into a miserable, troubled world? "The god of peace can only walk with the god of war." Is the peace disturbed in order to keep it? Is this smoothness a small part, or is it just a superficial phenomenon? At this time, we were ordered to cook in the village as soon as possible, and we caught the chicken and roasted it and ate it. As soon as breakfast was over, we started to move forward again.Nearly twelve o'clock, there was a sudden whistle of bullets: there are enemies! The attack began immediately.Our third squadron is the vanguard, leading the charge.Strangely, the enemy's bullets stopped suddenly after flying only a few rounds.The third team I was in guarded the left side of the embankment and advanced.Although it was a fight, he couldn't fight when he was hungry, so he ate Xia Mei.After advancing two to three hundred meters, the enemy was nowhere to be seen, so we rested on the embankment. "The third team disperses and advances!" We received this order and spread out towards the sorghum field with empty stomachs.As soon as the enemy saw us, they fired countless bullets at us. We couldn't hear the sound of shooting, only the sound of "instigation" of bullets passing through the air flew by our ears.It was the first time in my life that I was shot by an enemy bullet.We lie tightly on the ground. Scattered soldiers fell on the ground sparsely, and enemy bullets flew overhead with a deafening sound. For some reason, I didn't feel the slightest bit of terror, I didn't feel the slightest bit of uneasiness, and I didn't feel too nervous either.I judged the height of the bullet. As long as we lie down, we will be safe and bullets will not hit us. Although it was the first time I encountered such a scene in my life, I don't know why I didn't feel horrible. Is this because although I know that bullets will kill people, but because I haven't had any tragic experiences in the past, Is it because I haven't really experienced the cruelty of bullets emotionally?Or was it because the scene encountered at first was not cruel enough and tragic? Someone said: "No matter how heavy the backpack is, if there are bullets flying, you will forget the weight of the backpack. Whether the backpack is on your back or not, you can hardly feel it without touching it with your hands." But I still feel that the backpack is heavy, and I feel hungry. , my body is very tired.I turned over and lay down, looking at the blue sky.Enemy bullets were still flying three or four feet above me. I light a cigarette.My active comrade-in-arms, Komazawa, slowly crawled towards me, stretched out his hand and said, "Let me take a sip too." I suddenly thought, if this is not done well, I might die, and this cigarette might be my last cigarette. branch.So, I lit another one. Let it go wherever you go, this kind of brazen thought is entrenched in my heart. Time passed without being able to move on.I still just lay there blindly. I took out the notebook in my arms and wrote: September 22nd at 2:10 pm. Now, the enemy's bullets are coming densely, I don't care.I don't feel scared at all.The backpack is very heavy, and it seems that the body will not be able to hold on. Being attacked like this, it seems that he will be killed by the enemy.The bullets flew over my head like flashes of light, and I was writing while looking at the blue sky.Let the bullets fly, I want to rest like this for a while.The body is already too tired.