Chapter 11 7. Japan's "Father of Military Dog Troops" was defeated in Jinzhou

On November 27, 1931, the Japanese army occupying Shenyang launched its first attack on Jinzhou, and fought fiercely with the Northeast Army near the Raoyang River.According to a frontline reporter from "Tokyo Daily News", at 10 o'clock in the morning that day, two kilometers east of the Raoyang River, the Second Independent Garrison Battalion of the Japanese Army, which attacked Jinzhou on a military column, took the lead in fighting with the Chinese defenders.This time, the Northeast Army did not adopt a policy of non-resistance, and stubbornly resisted the Japanese troops coming along the railway.

During the fierce battle, the Chinese army uncommonly dispatched heavy equipment and launched a counterattack against the Japanese army with armored trains.The Japanese armored train and the Chinese armored train "Zhongshan" fired at each other. As a result, the Japanese armored train was shot and failed. Captain Itakura Shigeru, the acting captain of the second independent garrison brigade who commanded the battle on it, was seriously injured. Two people who were in charge of driving the train The driver of the Manchurian Railway (a Japanese army reservist) was also shot dead.The Japanese army was forced to retreat and was defeated back to Xinmintun, and the first attack on Jinzhou failed.Captain Itakura died on the way back.The Japanese army later buried him beside the railway near White Flag Fort, which is regarded as a commemoration of this "hero".According to Japanese military history, the first attack on Jinzhou failed, Captain Itakura was killed, and the officers and soldiers of the Second Independent Defense Brigade were forced to return by train (November 27, 1931).

The picture above is the Chinese armored train Zhongshan that killed Itakura. This is an aerial photo taken by the Japanese army from the plane. It is also the only full-vehicle photo of the Chinese armored train that has been seen so far, from the equipment car at the front to the two turrets. The artillery car, engine car, armored command car, coal car, and the second artillery car, troop carrier, and tail car at the rear, let us clearly see the whole picture of the Chinese armored train's combat for the first time, which is precious.The menacing Japanese armored train rushed towards Jinzhou, but suffered a big loss in the hands of its Chinese counterparts.

This battle was a rare counterattack by the Northeast Army. However, the Chinese army participating in the battle could not have imagined that the killed Captain Itakura turned out to be quite a well-known figure in the Japanese army.Itakura Shigeru, who once served as the research director of the military dog ​​department of the Japanese Army Infantry School, is known as the "father of the Japanese military dog ​​unit". It was he who introduced dog breeds from Europe and improved the Japanese military dog ​​breeds, making them an important accomplice in the Japanese war of aggression against China.Japanese military dogs have been raised since 1914, and there are research classes.However, the research team leader Nakasa Yoshida, who was in charge of this work at the time, focused on using Japanese local dog breeds, and even concentrated on studying impractical subjects such as using military dogs to pull carts, which led to the slow development of the Japanese military dog ​​business in the early stage.After Itakura took over as the director of the military dog ​​department, he established a military dog ​​training center in Chiba, specializing in breeding military dogs for the Kwantung Army.

Perhaps in order to promote the practicality of military dogs on the battlefield, Itakura was transferred to serve in the Northeast Kwantung Army in 1931. He raised several military dogs in Inaba Town, the Japanese residential area in Shenyang where he lived. Before the "September 18th" Incident, the military dogs used by the Japanese army in the Northeast began to enter the actual combat level. Captain Itakura took part in the attack on the North Camp and brought three military dogs with him.These three military dogs are named "Nazhi", "King Kong" and "Mary". "Not fighting.Although they felt that there was a certain danger, the Japanese army generally believed that the Northeast Army would be defeated at a touch, so they deliberately tested the use of military dogs on the battlefield.

However, in actual combat, it failed to achieve the expected effect at all.The three military dogs trained by Itakura did rush to the barracks of the Northeast Army under the sound of gunfire as expected, but they disappeared immediately.At the end of the battle, the Japanese army discovered that both King Kong and Nazhi were killed by officers and soldiers of the Northeast Army, and Mary simply disappeared. People who dare not kill you, killing your dog is not a violation of the non-resistance policy.Lao Sa secretly figured out the psychology of the officers and soldiers of the Northeast Army at that time.As for the whereabouts of that Mary, if you think about the Northeast people's preference for dog meat at that time, could it be that they ran outside and were caught by a fellow...

This is probably a bit of black humor rarely seen by Chinese people during the "September 18th" incident. Perhaps, this result was beyond Itakura's expectation. However, the "father of Japanese military dogs" obviously had no time to make any improvements.Although the Japanese army was progressing smoothly, occasionally the Northeast Army resisted tenaciously and still suffered heavy casualties.The captain of the Kwantung Army's Second Independent Garrison Brigade was wounded in the battle of Changchun. The experienced Captain Itakura was temporarily appointed as the acting captain of the brigade. As a result, he was "broken" under the city of Jinzhou.

Just kidding, the armored train looks like a dragon, and a dog owner in Itakura went to provoke the dragon, isn't he courting death? However, Itakura and his military dogs were killed one after another, which became a gimmick of the Japanese propaganda agency. The two military dogs King Kong and Nachi killed by the Northeast Army were described as brave warriors in danger. On July 5, 1933, the Japanese army The "First Army Military Animal Merit Commendation Ceremony" was held, and the two military dogs were awarded the "First Class Medal". At the same time, a monument commemorating them was completed at Zushi Enmeiji Temple.

After Itakura died, the Japanese army donated his "Julie" to his widow, Zhenzi Itakura. The dog died of illness the next year. In 1932, the Japanese army attacked Shanghai, and the 19th Route Army rose up to fight the war. In the battle, the Japanese army used military dogs again. A military dog ​​named "Yizhi" that Itakura had raised in Japan also participated in the battle, but it was still in vain.Military dogs are not suitable for use on large-scale battlefields. They are a type of arms suitable for security, security, and low-intensity conflicts. They are used in offensive warfare, which is irrelevant.Afterwards, the Japanese army summed up its experience, and its military dog ​​units posed a major threat to the Chinese military and civilians in operations such as chasing down the anti-Japanese coalition forces and suppressing civil resistance.

It is worth mentioning that during this battle, the Japanese recorded that the plainclothes team of the 19th Route Army also used military dogs. They used military dogs to carry explosives to attack Japanese strongholds. This strange method of warfare surprised the Japanese army. This may be the first time that the Chinese military dog ​​unit has been put into battle.