Chapter 3 3. The story of Mid-Autumn Festival under the moon

September 27, 1939, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Luo Wenlang, Major of the 3rd Battalion, 19th Division, 55th Regiment of the 28th Army, had a problem with sleeping with leggings. Since the start of the war, I have been unable to untie my leggings every night. I have no choice but to sleep well every night.Especially today I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Two days after the war in northern Hunan, the 55th regiment rushed to Wukou, Pingjiang County under the order of the division commander Tang Boyin.On the way, they passed by Luo Wenlang's hometown, Fulinpu, and entered the village after dark. The whole battalion camped in the small village of the battalion commander's house, and the battalion headquarters was naturally set up at the battalion commander's home.

Luo Wenlang wanted to go home but was afraid of going home, because there was something big that his parents didn't know.The parents killed the chickens and cut the meat to entertain the people in the battalion department to drink. After all, they were at their own home and the team led by their son.Luo Wenlang borrowed the door plank and straw and arranged guards, so he hid at his parents' bed before going back to his house.The next day, before dawn, I got up and gathered the team for dinner and started on the road. Arrived at Wukou at noon on the 22nd, and received an order to gallop to the camp to reinforce the 95th Division against the enemy's landing. The 3rd Battalion was the vanguard battalion of the division's reinforcements, and traveled day and night. When they arrived at Dongtang, more than 30 kilometers southeast of Yingtian, on the 23rd, they heard that Yingtian had fallen into the enemy's hands.

Luo Wenlang found Luo Qi, the commander of the 95th Division who had withdrawn from the camp, and asked for a task.Luo Qi was waiting for him, and immediately conveyed the instructions of Commander-in-Chief Guan Linzheng: The 19th Division reinforced the Yingtian troops to take over the defense of the Dongtang position. Before the brigade arrived, Roach asked Luo Wenlang's battalion to take over a section of the position that was originally guarded by a supplementary regiment.Roach gave him a map, drew a line on the map with a pencil, and a line marked Luo Wenlang and his battalion on it, and asked a combat staff officer to take him to see where the line was on the ground , One piece handles the handover for the two.

When the team was leading up, they saw a group of stragglers retreating like rabbits, grabbed a platoon leader and asked, it was the supplementary regiment.Ten minutes after leaving the division headquarters, the enemy has already come up. Luo Wenlang and Wu Yacui, the deputy battalion commander, led half a battalion each, and counterattacked Dongtang in two directions. Fortunately, the devils only had one exhausted squadron, and they pressed back with one charge.Immediately deploy two connection positions, one company as reserve. At dusk, the 55th regiment came up, and together with other troops from the 19th division, they replaced the 95th division, which had suffered heavy losses from the enemy landing in the camp, to the rear for reinforcements.The head of the regiment placed the 3rd Battalion of Luo Wenlang on the left wing of the regiment.

In a blink of an eye, it came to the 27th, which is the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the old calendar.During the war, few people thought about what kind of day it was, and it was overcast that day.Luo Wenlang tossed and turned on the grass, his mind was in a mess. At 11 o'clock, suddenly there was loud gunfire from the direction of the position, and a shuttle of machine gun bullets hit the house where the battalion headquarters lived, and the thatch and dust on the roof fell on Luo Wenlang.not good! Luo Wenlang took the mother-in-law (the squad leader of the battalion division) and the reserve team to rush to the position. The position was on the top of the mountain. When he reached the mountainside, he saw Rong Fayu, the lieutenant and platoon leader of the 8th company, retreating with more than 20 soldiers. Retreat" while drawing out his pistol, Rong led the soldiers back again.

Sure enough, the Japanese army took advantage of the night to attack the position. The commander of the 8th company, Yi Zuitao, was shot and killed, and a dozen people were stabbed to death by the Japanese army in melee combat. The rest were defeated and the high ground was occupied by the enemy. The head of the regiment learned that Dongtang had fallen, so he personally led the regiment's reserve team to come. He looked at the map under the lantern to discuss countermeasures with Luo Wenlang. The division commander Tang Boyin called after him and ordered him to restore the position before dawn, otherwise the regiment and battalion commanders would be forced to do so by military law.

The enemy did not continue to advance after capturing the high ground. Luo Wenlang estimated that firstly, the enemy could not see the route clearly in the dark, and secondly, there would not be too many troops.He didn't use the regiment reserve team, and he took the 4th squad of the 7th company and some of the retired people from the 8th company to go up the mountain quietly.When approaching the position, I saw more than 20 soldiers of the 8th Company hidden in a mountain depression.It turned out that it was the scattered soldiers collected by the sergeant squad leader Tan Tianrong, who were lurking here for help.He was afraid that no one would come to help, and under the eyes of the Japanese army, it would be troublesome at dawn.

Tan Tianrong was very happy to see the battalion commander leading the counterattack in person. Taking his soldiers as the guide, each of them prepared a few grenades and charged up the hill.The terrain above can be seen even with eyes closed. The grenades were jammed into bunkers, trenches, and fortifications, and the battalion commander led a charge.There were 40 to 50 Japanese soldiers, more than half of them were killed or injured, and the rest fled north to the village where they were originally defending.At this time, it was more than 4 o'clock in the middle of the night, and the moon had just come out of the clouds. It was bright and silvered the earth.

The position is stable, and tonight is August 15th again.The moonlight brought out the messy past for him to deal with, Luo Wenlang put on his clothes and went out of the house, sitting under the moonlight and weeping alone. Before the war, he received bad news that his elder brother Luo Yinnong was killed in battle in Jiangxi.Luo Wenlang has 3 brothers. The elder brother is the eldest son, who is responsible for half of the family. The brothers have a very good relationship.My elder brother joined the army first, and in the 50th Army, with his bravery and leadership in combat, he became a battalion commander in a few years. Under the mobilization of his elder brother, he and his younger brother all joined the army.

According to the law of military service in wartime, it is enough for a family to have one in the army, but the devils are beaten for the common people themselves. Before his brother died in battle, he was the deputy head of the regiment. The 50th Army first told him the bad news.Catch up with the war, there is no time to calmly comfort parents, take care of the funeral, a stone weighs heavily on my heart.The sister-in-law is hardworking and honest, she has a boy with her, and she is pregnant again, so she will have a long life in the future. The night dew was bleak and the moon was like ice, and Luo Wenlang couldn't help shivering.

It was overcast, but there was the moon beyond the clouds, so it wasn't particularly dark.On the main road, a procession of long black shadows hurried southward.Tan Yizhi reined in his horse and looked back, the queue was quiet and orderly, not like a tired army that had been fighting for days and nights. After conquering Bijiashan, the outpost of the 195th Division, the Japanese army forcibly crossed the Xinqiang River.At this time, the water of the Xinqiang River is only knee-deep, and cannot form a natural barrier.The natural barrier of the Japanese army is the blood of the defenders. The 195th Division fought brutally, with corpses strewn across the field several times in front of the front line, and the water in the Xinqiang River was also blood red several times. From the night of the 23rd to the early morning of the 25th, the two armies did not take a breather. Neji Okamura wrote Tan Yizhi's name in calligraphy and hung it in the military tent. After the Japanese army successfully landed in Yingtian, they were stalemate with the troops defending the left wing of the Ninth War Zone for several days, slowly advancing, and gradually threatening the front and back of the defenders. On the evening of the 27th, according to the combat plan, Xue Yue ordered the 15th Army to withdraw to the next defensive area between Miluo and Shangshan City, so this bloody division marched all night. In the second half of the night, the troops had a rest.The soldiers sat on the ground, packing their legs and packing. The heavy soldiers ran around distributing dry food. The food soldiers who set off in advance brought the steaming big pot of rice soup into the team. Although no one in the queue made any noise, they were full of enthusiasm. . The division headquarters rested on the flat ground of a small farmyard by the road.Tan Yizhi sat on a grain-milling stone, ate a mouthful of dry food and a mouthful of hot soup.The moonlight shines through the clouds, and the familiar warmth of the farmyard's ridged courtyard permeates my heart.The Mid-Autumn Festival happens every year, and the strong men fight several times!Tan Yi's heart was ups and downs, and his poetic thoughts were springing up: The horse's head hangs tomorrow, and the three armies are like a rainbow. The night cold tea is used as wine, and the stars fall into the cup. The sixth detailed report of the first battle of Changsha in the ninth war zone (Part 1) List of Enemy Officers and Soldiers Captured in the Changsha Battle of the Ninth Theater (made on October 20, 28) ... Serial number: 5 No.: 6th Squadron, 103rd Wing, 101st Division Grade: Unknown Name: Konto Fujiyuki Gender: Female Age: 30 Birthplace: 165, Nakabai-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture Capture Date: September 27 Location of capture: North Dashaping area of ​​Tongcheng Captured troops: 1st Battalion and 3rd Company of the Field Supplementary Regiment of Luo Qijiang's 82nd Division of the 79th Army of Xia Chuzhong. Remarks: Claiming to open a restaurant with the army and wear a military uniform, her husband was killed as a prisoner. ——The item is now stored in the Second Historical Archives of China.The whole case number is 787. Every year when the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated, I will think of that Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the only Mid-Autumn Festival spent abroad in my life, and it is also a very sad night. In the 1960s, a woman named Jinteng Fujiyuki told a story about the Mid-Autumn Festival in the book "Unbearable Looking Back".Judging from the "Introduction to the Author" and the stories she told, she is the "prisoner of war".It's just that she didn't "open a restaurant with the army", and according to the "Introduction to the Author", she was born in 1920, when she was not 30 years old, but 19 years old.Xia Chuzhong's subordinates have never seen an oriental woman again, and the difference is not so far away. I don't know if there is another reason.And let's hear her story: In my hometown, how much happiness the Mid-Autumn Festival brings us!Especially when I was young, on the night of August 15th, my mother would set up a small table on the porch outside the room.I really like the vase my mother put on the table. For this festival, "Autumn Seven Herbs" will be inserted in the vase.I still remember that there are green leafy branches, sweet root grass, kudzu hemp, yellow flowers, dragon teeth, morning glory, and eupatorium.It looks great together. But on that Mid-Autumn Festival night, I knelt on the ground all night, and I was the only one in the room, facing east.Because it was always cloudy in those days, I couldn’t recognize the direction, but I heard that houses in China are also like Japan, with more windows facing south. No matter what, my heart is facing the direction of my hometown. During the Mid-Autumn Festival when I was a child, apart from my favorite vase, there were all kinds of food my younger brother liked on the table.These are fruits harvested in autumn, apples, persimmons, chestnuts, and some dough.The snow-white dough should be dotted with red and green. My brother is like a greedy kitten, always eating what is on the plate when everyone is not paying attention.My father pretended not to see it, and when he just picked up a golden persimmon, he grabbed his hand and made the whole family laugh.The mother took some things from the house and said to the younger brother: Eat these, the plate is dedicated to "Yueyou".On that day, the moon was called "Yueyou" or "Yueke". But on that Mid-Autumn Festival night, I spent it in tears of remorse, self-blame and pain.In the middle of the night, I thought, at this time his soul should return to his home in Hiroshima. My husband Saburo Kondo came to China in the autumn of Showa 12, that is, in 1937 when the China Incident occurred.His troop designation is the 103rd Regiment of the 101st Division. Saburo has a strong physique and a good-looking talent, and was assigned to be a machine gunner.Everyone at that time knew that anyone who went abroad to fight was in great danger. In our town, a man surnamed Akita asked his son to chop off his right index finger with an ax to escape the war.That summer, when Saburo signed up to join the army, my mother said to me: You should marry Saburo, so that he will go to war for the emperor with peace of mind, and if life and death are at stake, he will die calmly with less worry . My father was the mayor of Peizhong Town at that time, and he had a high prestige, and I was her only daughter.Saburo's family is an educational family that has been passed down for four generations. His father is the principal of Honmachi Middle School. On the second day after Saburo put on the mighty military uniform, the two families held a grand wedding for us. The governor of Hiroshima Prefecture and the chief of the army came to congratulate us, and a reporter came to visit the two fathers and us. A few days later, Saburo went to the barracks to participate in training.The night before we left, we stayed up all night. I put the auspicious charm embroidered for him stitch by thread on his chest and said, "Please fight bravely for the honor of the Emperor and the Kondo family, please!" Just entering autumn, he left.He was not allowed to go home before leaving. I saw him in the sea of ​​people seeing him off.I was squeezed in front, only 10 meters away from him, and I called his name amidst a flood of cheering shouts.As if he heard it, he tilted his head slightly to the side, but he walked forward without seeing me.My tears couldn't help flowing, and flowed for many nights. But until now I regret it very much. Why did I have to go to China that time? It was the summer of the 14th year of the Showa era (1939), and the government wanted to organize a condolence group to China with people from all walks of life.My father and Saburo's father disagreed at first, but then the people of Kyoto agreed, because I was the daughter of the mayor and news of my marriage to Saburo had been published in the newspapers. The condolence group crossed the sea by boat, first went to Nanjing, and divided into two routes. I was on the South Road and took the train to Wuhan.We held symposiums, reports, and distributed condolences in some units, and also participated in the award ceremony for those who have made great contributions to combat in Nanchang.A general said that a limited operation in Hunan was about to take place.When I heard the Hiroshima 101st Division among the troops participating in the war, my heart beat rapidly. So I asked to go to the 101st Division on behalf of Hiroshima County to condolences to the soldiers. A few days later, Wuhan agreed to my request, but asked me to return within a week, because the battle in Hunan had started for a few days, and the 101st Division was undertaking a difficult task. I took the car of the headquarters to Xianning, and then changed to the car of the 101st Division to the 103rd Regiment.Before getting out of the car, I heard the slow and rapid sound of cannons coming from a distance. The dull sound was like thunder in spring. The captain of the 103rd Regiment is Shimizu-kun who lives in Onomichi, a port city in the southern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. People from his hometown are naturally very friendly when they meet each other.After I told him my wish to see Saburo, he said that the squadron that Sanlang was in was equipped to deliver supplies to the logistics troops, and he was not at the station.But he agreed that I would go to see my husband after the condolence activities in several other brigades.Mr. Qingshui smiled and said to me, "It's really like an old Chinese story." I am very happy, and I walked three brigades in two days.Meet with the soldiers, say some words of encouragement, and introduce some things about their hometown supporting the front line.Soldiers greeted me with cheers and tears, and many entrusted me with letters home.I wanted to finish my work quickly so I could meet my husband. At this time, the 103rd Regiment received a mission to go south to a place where the three provinces meet.Captain Shimizu received a call asking me to go back.I said that I must meet my husband. Speaking of work, I have been to other brigades. If I don’t go to Sanlang’s brigade, how disappointed the officers and soldiers there will be! Perhaps the latter reason played a role. Mr. Qingshui called his superiors, talked for a long time, put down the phone and said with a smile: "You willful Miss Jiao!" In the room where I was locked up, on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I didn't dare to think about it, but I couldn't help recalling that terrible scene over and over again. The day I arrived at Saburo's residence was September 27, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Japan.I was happy for this coincidence, and I decided to ask him before going to bed: what day is today? When we met, Saburo already knew that I was coming. He might not look too happy in front of other people, but I could see how much he was looking forward to my arrival even a minute earlier. He didn't seem to be as thin, dark, and tired as I imagined, but he didn't seem to have changed much, except that the beard at the corner of his mouth became stiffer, and he looked more like a mature man. Saburo's team leader was from Sanyuan, and he arranged for Saburo to have a two-day vacation, but the brigade had just received the task of serving as a guard for the baggage truck that was attacking with the big brigade.Once the convoy and brigade leave, there is no place to stay, so they cannot stay.So I put on a military uniform, pulled my long hair into a steel helmet, got into the empty containment vehicle with him, and followed the transport team. As soon as the car started, we held hands tightly.The driver smiled and stretched his neck forward on purpose, not looking at us.But what can we do?Saburo stretched out his arms and held me by his side, I could feel his heart beating fast. As the convoy headed south, the roads were all damaged, and the cars wobbled and bumped on the ruts of the tanks and the temporary smoothing.I heard gunshots from time to time, and I looked out the car window, and Saburo said relaxedly: It's okay, we are still far away. Unfortunately something happened.The shelter car we were in was broken down on the road, and some part needed to be replaced. The driver took out a bunch of tools, opened the cover of the front of the car and started repairing it. The car in front was getting farther and farther away. Only our husband and wife, the driver and the compartment board remained in this car. two soldiers. When I couldn't hear the sound of the motor of the car in front of me, and the surrounding was deadly silent, I became frightened and held on to Saburo's arm tightly, feeling the strangeness of this land for the first time after going abroad.The mountains, the water, and the trees are all so strange.Saburo comforted me and said: "Don't be afraid, I felt the same way when I first came here." At this moment, I really wanted to take Saburo back to Japan and never come back again.This is not the home of the Japanese. Then, the most tragic thing happened.I heard gunshots, as if they were hitting the car from all directions.Saburo told me to lie down in the driver's cab and don't move. He jumped out of the car with a gun.I shouted: "Be careful!" He didn't answer. I was terrified and trembling all over. I heard Saburo and the soldiers on the carriage firing guns, and I heard Saburo shouting: "Behind the tree! Behind the tree!" I didn't dare to look up. Afterwards, I realized how weak and powerless I was in the war. .There was a loud sound of bullets in the driver's cab, and someone shouted, "I've been shot!" It wasn't Saburo. After an unknown period of time, the gunfire stopped.As if in a dream, I lightly got out of the car.Surrounded by some strange faces, there was only hatred in their eyes, many guns were pointed at me, and they did not speak. I found Saburo next to the rear wheel of the car. He was lying on the ground, bleeding from his ribs and back, and he was motionless. I knelt down and took the gun out of his hand.I hate all guns, forever. I hugged him and turned to face me, wiping the dirt off his face.His eyes were not shut as tightly as they sometimes do in sleep.At that moment, my mind was a little numb, and I wanted to cry but there were no tears.I took off my helmet and let my long hair hang over my chest.I asked him to take one last look at his wife, who had come to see him from afar.I put my mouth in his ear and said softly to him: Saburo, let's go home. ——"Unbearable Looking Back" Tokyo Yiyu Bookstore 1969 edition. Chongqing, Huangshan Villa.Every window was shaded from light by double thick curtains.Tonight's protagonist came on stage from the eastern valley, and the orange moonlight made people feel that it hadn't fully woken up from a day's deep sleep.The feeble moonlight sprinkled on the roof, balcony, and nearby hillsides, intersections, and bushes of this building.The dark figure with the gun catches every sound in the silence.Only when the distance is very close can the spots of the moon printed on the helmet be seen.Inside the wall is another world.The lobby, living room, and dining room are brightly lit.All kinds of flowers, mainly chrysanthemums, bloomed just in time, and the gramophone played a cheerful Cantonese music in a low voice. Everything gave people a strong festive atmosphere. Chiang Kai-shek walked in front in a black silk gown, and together with Soong Meiling in elegant attire, led the guests into the restaurant talking and laughing.At the dining table, Soong Meiling smiled and skillfully arranged the guests in the appropriate positions, and the service staff in clean white uniforms deftly waited for the guests to sit down. This is Chiang Kai-shek's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, except for a few military and political officials, most of them are his family members.The guests and relatives all saw that Chiang Kai-shek was in a happy mood tonight, and he was talking about some light-hearted topics with a smile on his face, and he seemed to talk a lot. In September 1939, China's Anti-Japanese War entered its third year. After experiencing the huge turmoil and chaos at the beginning of the war, the government and the army gradually stabilized and adapted to this unprecedented war in history. Start on track. According to the figures released by Minister of Military and Political Affairs He Yingqin when he reported the national situation to Chinese and foreign reporters on the 13th of this month, the area occupied by the Japanese invaders in China is 521 counties in 12 provinces and cities.The price Japanese imperialism paid for this was also extremely heavy.Not long ago, on August 30, the Hiranuma Cabinet of Japan, which had been sworn in for only eight months, announced the general resignation. Kiichiro Hiranuma’s predecessor, Konoe Fumimaro, was also because of the government’s work under his leadership, mainly because the established goals of the Sino-Japanese War failed to fulfill its goals. Haikou boasted to the Congress that the domestic political and economic situation had deteriorated and he had to submit his general resignation.A few days ago, when Wang Pengsheng reported the recent political situation in Japan to Jiang, Jiang said: "Konoe said that China will be destroyed in three months, but it will not work in three months, and it will not work in three years. I don't know if it will work in 30 years or 300 years. He stepped down in 8 months. Is there a good way for Abe? How long can he be prime minister?" Sure enough, Nobuyuki Abe, who succeeded Hiranuma as the prime minister of Japan, resigned as the cabinet chief in only four and a half months. Most of the dishes on the table tonight are Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan dishes that Chiang Kai-shek loves.Chiang Kai-shek did not drink, but served his cup symbolically to greet his guests.During the dinner, everyone made an appointment in advance, as if no one would talk about the domestic war situation or the international situation. They chatted about the world and the world, and talked about it, avoiding accidentally leading the topic to important and unpleasant content. On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the world situation changed fundamentally.Reporters and critics of foreign newspapers have used the term "Second World War" which sounds fresh, exciting and somewhat frightening.China's diplomatic work has been very active in recent times. In April, Wang Zhengting, the ambassador to the United States, negotiated a loan of 20 million US dollars with the Bank of America on behalf of China. In May, Stalin replied to Chiang Kai-shek, expressing his willingness to exchange arms for Chinese tea, wool, raw hides and other goods.A month later, the first batch of light and heavy firearms, including artillery and heavy machine guns, arrived at the frontline troops of the Central Army through secret transportation channels in Xinjiang and Mongolia. In August, Gu Weijun, Guo Taiqi, and Qian Tai attended the 19th Congress of the League of Nations on behalf of the Nationalist Government, exposing the atrocities committed by Japanese imperialists in aggression against China internationally, and appealing to the world's peace forces to support China's war of resistance.Soon afterwards, non-governmental organizations in the United Kingdom and the United States launched the "China Week" campaign to urge the government to aid China.Groups of foreign friends who voluntarily aided China in the fight against Japan came to China from thousands of miles away. Among them were doctors, journalists, ordnance engineers, and even retired veterans who asked to go directly to the front to fight. "It would be great if the United States could be drawn into this war." Through Soong Meiling's subtle influence on a daily basis, Chiang Kai-shek imagined the wealthy and prosperous young country on the other side of the ocean.So he talked about the United States on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and talked about the letters he exchanged with President Roosevelt due to the "tung oil loan". That was in October last year, Song Ziwen flew to the United States, and borrowed from the United States in kind with tung oil, a Chinese specialty but lacking in the United States.China proposed a loan figure of 400 million U.S. dollars, and the U.S. agreed to 25 million U.S. dollars. It made people feel like "extraordinary asking price and repaying the money on the spot".But it was borrowed after all.For the first time, there will be countless times in the future.Song Meiling once said softly to Chiang: "I will do something in mobilizing the United States to aid China in the war of resistance." The extraordinary talent shown by the beautiful lady will impress him, and won the glory for Chinese women in the world, so that Soong Meiling personally reached the peak of glory in life. Outside the window, the full moon has stepped into the middle of the sky, shining golden light on the boundless land of China.