Chapter 20 Toshiro Diary (18)

He also seemed very energetic.He said: "It's not a big deal, it doesn't hurt at all, it will be fine if the bleeding is stopped. Isn't it dead yet! I will go to battle in the future. It is often said that he died on the way to the rear where there are military doctors. There was a hint of fear. Although the military doctor tried his best to rescue him, he died of excessive bleeding in the end. But until the last drop of blood was shed, and only his last breath was left, he still had a peaceful expression and a smile on his face.The military doctors all sighed sincerely, saying that they had never seen such a strong soldier.

The mortars struck again. After our third team handed over the task of defense to another team, we went back to the place before the assault to pick up the backpack. By the time we got our knapsacks and returned, the last regiment that was dying by the roadside had also escaped.This extremely intense hell performance that lasted for three days from the tenth also stopped suddenly. Intense voice, needless to say in the past, maybe I will never hear it again in the future. For some reason, suddenly a gunshot was heard from far and near, as if there was a sudden power outage, all the enemies fled, right?An incredible tranquility.

It was a quiet night with a moonlight like water.We entered the city (referring to Sifang City).The bright moonlight came in through the gaps in the shelled windows and shone on the stairs, which were in a mess.The columns on the reinforced concrete had fallen, the roof had been ripped off, and there was debris everywhere, with nowhere to stand.The cold moonlight shone on the ruins, casting mottled black shadows.I bathed in the moonlight in the silent ruins and looked down at the land. The cold wind came in through the holes in the military uniform. At this time, the land was exhausted after the fury and lay quietly.Both the enemy and the enemy, who were as crazy as beasts, fell silent at this moment.

In the silence of the sudden shutdown of the factory that slaughtered human beings, some comrades-in-arms have already slept forever and will never know tomorrow; some comrades-in-arms are still groaning in pain due to serious injuries. Death can happen to us anytime, but I'm still breathing, I'm still. live. It's almost to Nanjing, I can still go back alive! There was a red fire burning in the basement.I wanted to hide in a fence on the corner of the second floor to sleep, but the cold was unbearable, so I had to go downstairs and into the basement. In the basement, we gathered around the fire, cooked together, and talked about the war situation and things about Nanjing.There is a water pipe deep in the basement. Of course, the water flowing out of the water pipe cannot come from the water source, it is the water accumulated in the pipe.I put water in the kettle, boil the water, and cook.The firewood for boiling water is furniture such as tables and chairs.

The squadron leader asked me about the raid.According to the soldiers, the No. 1 and No. 2 detachments were ready to launch a night attack, but the squadron leader gave the order to retreat because he was afraid or suspected that it would not succeed.The soldiers in the command squad didn't know where the squadron leader was, and couldn't find it no matter how hard they looked. Of course, the squadron leader didn't hide, but the soldiers were very suspicious.I was lying on the cold hard concrete floor. December thirteenth. At seven o'clock in the morning, we lined up and set off.At this time, the squadron leader announced: "Nanjing fell last night, enter the city immediately!"

what!Nanking was finally captured, and we all talked in low tones and congratulated each other.How rejoicing and inspiring that our efforts have finally paid off! We suddenly realized that the sudden cessation of the enemy's gunfire around ten o'clock last night meant that the enemy had fled.If the squadron leader had the courage to take advantage of the victory and pursue it, we would have made great achievements and won greater honors!Really sorry!The reason why Nanjing can be completely captured is because our night attack disintegrated the enemy's last line of defense.We all regret it. If the squadron leader gives the order to advance, our hands will be the first to hang the Japanese flag on the tower, and our brave night attack will be even more brilliant.But we have regrets.Even so, we were proud that whoever got to town first had contributed to the night raid, so we all felt worthy of the praise.

The first detachment was ordered to protect and contain the wounded.I acted as the temporary team leader and led seven team members to stay in the city. In order to prevent the remnants of the enemy from attacking, we transferred the three wounded to the basement and ordered the team members to take turns to monitor on the roof. I patrolled around.The wounded with wounded hands and feet have been bleeding profusely since last night. Nursing is very difficult. With the absence of military doctors and health workers, there is nothing we can do but to say some words of comfort.In the basement of this empty building, we gathered around Qinghuo, happy for the fall of Nanjing, but heartbroken for the painful groans of our comrades-in-arms.There is no furniture in the room, it is completely like a monster, cold and empty, the columns are crumbling, and the roof is damaged. This dilapidated scene speaks of the cruelty of the shelling.Deep in the basement sits a paper cutter.

I went out to see the battle.The warm sun shines on the earth, and the golden light is brilliant. This is the weather of Xiaoyangchun. It is hard to imagine the intense massacre last night.But when I came to the slope for a walk, I saw countless ammunition scattered around the gun mount of the "Y-shaped bunker" made of sandbags, the ammunition boxes that the enemy failed to take away when they fled, the blackened soil and the The corpse of the enemy who just died, I seem to have seen the massacre of inhumanity, heard the roar of the beast. I climbed up there, killed the enemy there, shouted there. I think I killed it everywhere Enemy, I can’t help but feel a lot of emotion. Last night I went to throw a grenade, and I threw a grenade where there are gunpowder brooms, bullet brooms, and machine guns. It was a hundred meters or more away from here. The corpse of the Chinese soldier in the trench is like They lay in a mess as if they had taken off their casually thrown military uniforms. It seemed that the enemy fled in panic. Thousands of rounds of unopened ammunition were discarded, and the cross iron pickaxes used for construction were also thrown on the ground. The barbed wire gleamed in the morning sun, giving people the illusion of being strong.

Suddenly, I found a dying enemy.Just as he was about to stab him to death, he weakly opened his eyes, raised his black hands, and muttered something in his hoarse voice, while taking out a small notebook from his pocket, and handing it to me.Why is he doing this?What did you write?It's a suicide note.I took it over and saw that it was just five inexplicable Chinese characters. He probably thought he had finished writing, but he didn't know whether it was because of his unconsciousness, or because he had bled so much last night that he couldn't hold the pen firmly. His handwriting was light and intermittent, crooked and difficult to read.After he finished writing, there was a smile on his face. He tried his best to write these five words, as if he had exhausted all his last strength.His face was completely that of a dead man, with a death gray color, the color I often see on the faces of dying comrades in arms.Dark gray death soaked his skin.He didn't seem to be in pain at all, just quietly waiting to die.He had a smile on his face as if in a dream, maybe there was a scene of plowing in the field with his beloved wife covered in mud; or he dreamed that he was holding a lovely child; or such a warm picture appeared in front of his eyes : Chickens are playing happily in the spacious yard, and ducks are playing in the stream beside the yard.There was another smile on his face covered in mud, blood and grime.

I can't help but feel pity for him. He is also a hero who died for his country, and he is not guilty. He is only carrying out the order of his motherland.I couldn't bear to stab him to death. At this time, Private Omori asked: "Dong, kill?" "Well..." I said perfunctorily. "I'm going to die anyway, kill it!" Omori raised his pistol. "Then don't stab, just shoot..." Omori's gunshot announced his death. I found a booklet with a red cover from his arms. The cover read: "Instructions from Generalissimo Jiang, secret." Put it back in his arms.

Bottles of white powder, women's red handkerchiefs and shoes were scattered in the trenches at the rear, and none of the detachment soldiers were killed, they all fled. At around ten o'clock in the morning, the heavy artillery observation team came.They climbed onto the roof and installed the phone.The Artillery Major climbed onto the roof, observed the situation with binoculars, and gave orders to the Signal Corps.Because the stretcher soldiers who took care of the wounded in the dressing station hadn't come yet, we had to ask the captain of the artillery brigade to call the military doctor of the field heavy artillery team to see a doctor. He readily agreed and made a phone call.The remnants of the enemy may come to attack at any time, and we still have three wounded, and we feel very uneasy. The arrival of the artillery seemed to give us a little reassurance, but before the military doctor came, there was an order to transfer, and the artillerymen came again. I don't know where he went, but the lucky star who came suddenly left nothing behind. We must step up our guard.The pain and bleeding of the wounded are increasing. We cannot sit idly by and must get in touch with the outside world.The casualties of our squadron were still kept in Zhang Xueliang's house in the rear, so I walked back along the way I charged. Four bodies were being cremated there, and the flames were blazing.There were two wounded in another room, and the stretcher soldiers carried the wounded away. One of the wounded sighed and asked sadly, "Has the dead guy been cremated?" "It's almost burnt, and it will turn to ashes in two hours." "Really?" His voice was grim and mournful, "I am saved from being burned." He said in a trembling voice, desperately denying the possibility of death, but his mouth seemed to be stuck by something, trembling, and his voice trembling.Then he covered his head with his coat, and with a long sigh, began to sob. "Yeah, your injury is nothing serious, don't worry, you will recover after ten days in the dressing room, don't worry! His head seems to be injured, he didn't answer anything, just got up and lay half down. Outdoor The wood was crackling and burning, and he muttered in his coat: "I was number four yesterday, one, two, three, four, number four, and I've had a hard time in my heart, and I've been in pain ever since." Timid, although he was careful everywhere, he was still injured. "(In Japanese, "four" is the same as "death", so Japanese people often have the superstition that "four" means "death".). I said, "This is a superstition! Being number four in line does not mean you will die or be injured." But then I suddenly remembered that I also had a bad mood because I was number four in line. When we went out, In the corridor of the barracks, there was a quarrel about receiving the metal number plate.There was a soldier whose ID card number was fourteen, and another soldier looked at his number and said, "You must be the first to die." The soldier on the fourteenth was very angry when he heard that, and had a big argument with that soldier. shelf.Another quarrel ensued, this time with the soldiers who had taken number forty-four. "Death is death." The soldier was teased by others. This corpse identification card is made of metal, oval in shape, and hung on the back by a thin rope. If someone dies in battle and the body becomes fragmented and cannot be recognized, this corpse identification card will come in handy. The belief in this baseless superstition is in essence a rejection of science and should be ridiculed, but the Japanese cannot help but believe it.Associating "four" with "death" makes me feel disgusted and disturbed.Secretly divination in his heart, if the result of the divination is auspicious, he will not tell others about the good result, but just hide it deeply in his heart, lest the auspiciousness will escape from the body after telling.If the result of divination is bad, he will speak out the result, trying to reduce its efficacy, thinking that as long as it is spoken out, it will not stay in the body, but will escape from the mouth, so it is always chattering he said .But at this time, he didn't say: "I did a fortune-telling, and the result was not good." Instead, he said: "Today, I feel that something is not quite right. Is it possible that I am going to die?" "Speaking out, it is tantamount to telling people: "I am ready to die." Humans have a very strong desire to survive!Even if they can calmly say that they are ready to die, most people don't mean it. When we face death, we feel the preciousness and beauty of life more strongly, yearn for it more strongly, and envy the health that can run around in the mountains and fields. All in all, people are weak. We also clearly realize that people who are timid, insecure, suspicious, and fearful are more likely to be tempted. Death is possible everywhere, and the bullet broom is sucking blood greedily. When people are extremely weak, uneasy, and suspicious, if God declares that "if you fart at 5:32:30, you will die", the soldier will definitely not fart at 5:32:30.For such a small thing as big as a sesame mung bean, he may believe it to be true, or even if he doesn't believe it, he will definitely think that he can't do bad things. But this superstition, which is actually very boring, was limited to before the outbreak of war. Once the war started, under the hail of bullets, fear, anxiety, and suspicion were all thrown away, and I only believed that life and death were destined. The word "life and death" was like a light, and I don't know how many times it flashed in my mind.Everyone must accept their fate on the battlefield, this is the last philosophy. At the last moment, no matter whether you are dodging the bullet or facing the bullet, there is no safe place. There is danger everywhere, and death is possible everywhere. At that time, life and death must be determined. Even if you take small things to heart, believe in superstition, doubt the results of divination and fear, if you go to a place to avoid death, there is still more than enough time. It is very important on the battlefield to believe that life and death are destined, and to be sure that you will never die.I was convinced that the bullet would not hit me because I was thinking in my heart: After so many battles, I was not injured at all.This certainty may be because I believe in the Nichiren sect like Warrant Officer Uchiyama, and I believe that God will pray for me specially; maybe it is because the result of today's divination is good; maybe it is because I brought an amulet today.Although I have no such grounds, I am sure that the bullet will not hit me. I couldn't help feeling ups and downs, remembering that my sister in Osaka once visited the God of Day and Night and prayed to God.She wrote to me and said: No matter how terrible the bullets hit you, you will never die.I have always believed in this sentence. Each of us wants to live, not to die, but even so, we did not shrink back when we fought.This is because we both want to live and believe that life and death are preordained.What is fate?I can't explain it, but we feel its mysterious power.Now there is a wounded soldier who is facing death, terrified and yearning for the beauty of life.Wrapped in his coat, he writhed and struggled.Anyone can feel like him. The air was filled with the stench of burning people, and there was the sound of flames burning outside the house. "Hey! Don't be sad, the health team will be here soon, and you will recover soon and return to the squadron. Goodbye." I meditated along the way, getting farther and farther away from the blue house.Suddenly there was the sound of "clack-clack" from a car. When I looked up, it turned out that it was a car loaded with grain and ammunition by the heavy soldiers, and it was the small luggage team of the first brigade.Because of the bad road, they didn't catch up with the big troops after they landed, and they were slow, and they didn't get here until now. One of them, surnamed Zhongkou, was from my hometown. "I heard that the First Battalion was wiped out, yes?" he asked. "It's not that serious." I replied sadly. "Really? That's good. Nanjing has fallen, and we have won!" He exclaimed excitedly.I jumped up like a whipped horse: "Yes! Nanjing has fallen, we have won! We have won." And said: "Yes, Mr. Jinzang, we have won!" I shouted while running with. Everyone is waiting for my return.They were bayonet-armed and were on guard to prevent enemy attacks. They said they wanted to place the wounded as soon as possible, because the wounds were very painful without treatment.In the afternoon, two stretcher soldiers arrived with great difficulty. When we handed over the wounded to the health team, night was about to fall. We decided to stay here tonight, but we had no food and had to solve it ourselves. In the evening, the artillery team and the train team also came here. I wore shoes that were painfully hard like boats, and walked on the asphalt road.There is a sign on the side of the road, which says "Sifang City Road". The lush trees are neatly arranged, and there are white benches under the trees. It is a place for girls to walk and couples to talk about love. But move your eyes to the slope on the left, where there is an unsightly trench. On the dug out loess, there are scattered cosmetics of the Women's Army, and the corpses of Chinese anti-Japanese heroes are lying here and there. I approached the artillery.The artillerymen tied their horses to roadside trees and were preparing their vehicles for dinner.I begged one of the soldiers for a little rice, and he said he wanted to give it to me, but because there were very few of them, and he was not allowed to give it to the soldiers of other teams. I am begging everywhere like a monk who begs for alms.Suddenly found Sasebo's baggage team, they were stationed in a bereaved family school.I told the sentinel everything from the night attack last night to now with the wounded, and asked him if he could give some rice for the wounded to eat.The sentinel seemed very sympathetic to me, told me to wait a moment, ran inside, came out after a while, and took me to the second lieutenant.The second lieutenant took pity on me and gave me four liters of rice.The sentry told the second lieutenant about our situation in detail, so the second lieutenant gave me soybean paste as a side food.I didn’t expect to get soy sauce, so I thanked you repeatedly. After saluting, I was about to leave when the second lieutenant said, “Wait a minute, there is something good for you to eat, don’t tell others.” The second lieutenant walked out of the room while talking, I have a paper bag in my hand. "This is dried shredded radish, it's delicious. Don't tell anyone, my army rarely has it. This is a special meal, specially for you." The second lieutenant whispered, as if handing me a gem. I thanked you a lot and left there. On the way, there was a square pool that looked like a source of running water. Many soldiers washed rice there. I also filled the kettle and returned to Sifang City. We slept in a corner of the basement, and the sentry stood on the stairs in the basement, no matter how many enemies came, we could deal with them.We put the planks together for a bed, put on coats, and it became a bedroom. On the 14th, at 10:30 in the morning, we walked on the Sifang City Road in the sunshine under the sunshine.Sasebo's transport team is still in the survivor's school.I am very grateful to the second lieutenant who gave me the shredded radish.This school for the survivors is said to be the school for the children of the survivors of Sun Wen's revolutionary army.Remnant Sea, where more than a dozen Japanese military planes are piled up in the school, crosses the main road and turns right. On the slope grass, there are several stone inlaid characters that read "New Life Movement". Black and puffy corpses.The high city wall finally unfolded in front of our eyes. The outside of the city wall is the moat, and the water inside is very deep.The bridge has been destroyed and only one person can pass through it.There are three gates in the center, this is the city gate we dream of.In order to occupy this door, many comrades were killed or injured, but we reached the end smoothly.What a blessing! The three city gates opened in the city wall form a tunnel-shaped stronghold, without decoration, it is extremely strong.The iron gates on the inner sides of the earthen bunkers on both sides were closed, and only the middle one was ajar. On the iron gates were some white writing expressing emotion for history: Ono troops occupied at 3:10 am on the 13th. what!The Ono Force was the first to occupy!He was the first to occupy Nanjing! The reporter "clicked" to take pictures.The unshaven soldiers were smiling, and even the sound of cars and horses seemed to express laughter. Everyone was immersed in the joy of victory, excited and excited.There were no clouds in the sky, and the sun seemed to be shining brightly in spring. "Hey, reporter, have you reported to the mainland that the Ono troops were the first to occupy it?" "It's reported! A telegram was sent early this morning, and the interior must be full of joy now." We are relieved, relaxed, satisfied, joyful and at ease.Walking into the city gate that was damaged by shelling, we can see the broad Nanjing city street in front of us. On both sides of the broad road, there are red, yellow and blue art billboards. A few steps forward, there is a celadon building on the right. A palace-like house built with large tiles and vermilion columns, with a flea market on the left.We ate lunch in the square of the Old Loan Market, looking for our way back to the squadron.The street where the enemy was still running around the day before yesterday, today our soldiers are safe and walking on it with knives. The streets of Nanjing were almost undamaged, and there were few traces of shelling or bombing. The doors of every house were tightly closed, and no citizen was in sight. The warm sun shone on us, and we walked whistling.There are many soldiers of the Ono Army in front of the Central Hotel. I heard that this is the headquarters of the regiment.I asked the wing adjutant where the squadron had gone, but the hideous-looking adjutant was silent and didn't answer.At this time, an adjutant of the First Squadron came, and he told me very warmly that the Third Squadron would be back in a short time and was currently guarding the city.I gave a military salute and walked out of the adjutant's room.When I joined the army and became an active soldier, Lieutenant Nakanishi was already a major, and he is still a major now.He is a ruthless officer who is lecherous and drunk.In his eyes, soldiers are just fools, and the death of a soldier is as indifferent as a button on his uniform.Soldiers in the communications team in front of the hotel were busy setting up wires. Not long after, the squadron came back. "Look to the right!" I asked the team members to line up and salute the squadron leader. "lay down!" "We sent the wounded to the health team, everything went well, it's here now." After the squadron leader inquired about the situation of the wounded, he went to the headquarters, and the third squadron marched towards the city gate. The soldiers in the squadron had a lot of snacks. It is said that they stayed in the snack shop last night. It's been a long time since I stuffed my stomach with dim sum.At some point, Noguchi returned to the squadron with two coolies. He was so talented that he actually stuffed a bag full of chocolates. "Yesterday (the "yesterday" here refers to December 17th.) The city entry ceremony was held. The First Battalion participated as a representative of the Ono Army. You were not there, but everyone participated." The comrade-in-arms said to me. "It's a matter of course. We fought until the end, and in order to carry out the order, we stayed to take care of the wounded." We gathered in the square and were arranging sentries and allocating dormitories when an order suddenly came to us to take prisoners.It is said that there were about 20,000 prisoners. We marched lightly and hurriedly. Twilight crept beneath our feet, and soon night fell.Although it was pitch black and the stars twinkled, we continued to walk without stopping. After walking three or four miles, we saw countless cigarette lights flashing and disappearing, and heard the noise like frogs. About seven thousand prisoners were disarmed. , sitting in the field.Their chief had already left them and fled, leaving only the captain of a military doctor.The field where they sat was lower than the road, so it was clear at a glance. Two white flags tied to dead branches fluttered in the night wind.The 7,000 captives sitting around the flag are truly spectacular. It is ridiculous and pathetic to imagine the ready-made white cloth tied to the branches, and then swaggering forward to surrender. They managed to manage to have more than two regiments of troops, but they became prisoners without any resistance, and there must be a corresponding number of officers in such a large number of troops, who knew that none of them escaped, it is really admirable !We only have two squadrons. If the 7,000 of them bombed the camp and rioted, I am afraid that the strength of our two squadrons would have been wiped out long ago. We lined them up in four columns, with the white flag in front, and we started marching alongside them. Some wore light blue cotton military uniforms, light blue cotton overcoats, and light blue hats; some wore quilts; some wrapped their heads in blankets; Military uniforms were replaced by civilian clothes; some wore hats, and some did not; , There are also people who don't give it to them and only care about themselves.They scrambled like ants, and looked like a bunch of vagrants.They are not disciplined, and there is no order, like a group of demented sheep whispering and walking forward.