Chapter 5 3. I participated in the murder of General Zhao Shangzhi

\n In 1927, in accordance with the requirements of Tanaka's Memorial "Plan for China Policy", in order to strengthen its policy of aggression against China, the Japanese government promulgated the "Educational Rescript" for compulsory education and the "Soldiers' Rescript" for military education.These decrees vigorously advocated that all citizens "defend Manchuria, the lifeline of the north, for His Majesty the Emperor and the country." At that time, I had finished my active service, transferred to the reserve service, and was married.However, with the expansion of the Manchurian Incident, our reservists have already begun to enlist in the army.One day, in Miyagi Prefecture, I saw a news in the newspaper: "120 Manchukuo police officers are recruited from the six counties in the Northeast, with a monthly salary of 70 yuan." So, I happily applied.After passing the exam, I joined the army on October 14, 1935, and took the first step in the invasion of Manchukuo.I knew very well that it was not the Chinese people who invited us to go to China, let alone the Chinese people who asked us to kill their lives, burn down their houses, and rob them of their belongings.We became part of the invading army entirely of our own volition, and the responsibility is entirely my own.

Before Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, I worked successively in Xinjing Special City, Changchun County, Sanjiang Province, Baoqing County, Jiamusi City, Tangyuan County, Heli City, Yilan County, local police academy, Fuyuan County, Fujin County and other places.I am a war criminal who committed countless crimes against China. Before telling about my own crimes, let me talk about "Manchuria" for readers' reference. The so-called "Manchukuo" is not an independent country, but a Japanese colony with a puppet government, which includes the three eastern provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning) and Xing'an province.According to the "Manchurian Protocol", the commander of the Kwantung Army concurrently served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Manchuria and the governor of the Kwantung Continent. This is a trinity ruling system.Puyi, known as the emperor, is purely a manipulated puppet.He once testified in court in the Far East Military Court and said: "I did everything the commander of the Kwantung Army wanted to do." From a formal point of view, the separation of powers among the legislative, judicial, and administrative powers was purely in name. That's all.Under the control of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, in terms of administration, the Japanese Chief of General Affairs who implements the will of the Japanese government manipulates the Chinese Prime Minister; in terms of legislation, the notorious former Gendarmerie Captain Amakasu Masahiko freely operates and says whatever he wants; The same is true in the judiciary.What's more, in each county, the county magistrate of the "County Judicial Office" serves as the presiding judge, and the police officer serves as the prosecutor. Trials can be conducted without lawyers.As a result, Manchukuo became an out-and-out Japanese colony.Therefore, below I will refer to "Manchukuo" as "Puppet Manchukuo".

When it comes to police officers, most people will think that he maintains law and order and catches robbers.However, what we Japanese police officers have done is exactly the opposite. We indulge the robbers, arrest the victims, and kill the victims. It can be said that we police officers are all accomplices of the robbers and murderers. The first task of the police officers was to forcefully suppress those "bandits" who opposed Japan's policy of aggression against China and the establishment of the puppet Manchukuo. From 1871 to March 1, 1932 when the Puppet Manchukuo was established for more than half a century, Japan has been continuously aggressing China, including the Russo-Japanese War, the Wanbaoshan Incident, the September 18th Incident, etc. Taking the three northeastern provinces as the battlefield.This caused the Chinese people to suffer bloody massacres repeatedly. Therefore, three generations of Chinese people have a deep hatred for the "Oriental devils".

Therefore, when the Puppet Manchukuo was established, the anger of the Chinese and Koreans erupted together, setting off an armed uprising aimed at national independence and liberation, and igniting a prairie fire of revolutionary struggle.Thirteen anti-Japanese teams from various parts of the Northeast united to form the "Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces".The situation at that time was: Yang Jingyu, Commander of the First Army Wang Detai, Commander of the Second Army Zhao Shangzhi, Commander of the Third Army Li Yanlu, Commander of the Fourth Army Zhou Baozhong, Commander of the Fifth Army

Li Zhaolin, Commander of the Sixth Army Chen Rongjiu, Commander of the Seventh Army Eighth Army Commander Xie Wendong Li Huatang, Commander of the Ninth Army ... (Original text. - Translator's Note) The soldiers of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces all left their parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children and came to the Anti-Japanese base areas.They are revolutionary warriors rooted among the 30 million people in the three northeastern provinces, and they are patriots of China. We police officers regard them as thorns in the side. As long as we have the slightest suspicion of someone on the street, we will immediately arrest him, torture him, put him in prison, and kill him.Moreover, during the "crusade", the commander can kill people at will.The second task of the police officer is to assist the Japanese army in plundering the rich resources of the Puppet Manchukuo.In this we are the accomplices of robbers.

Relying on force, Japanese imperialism withdrew from the United Nations, aggressively invaded China, and launched the "Great East Asian War".Most of the resources and materials needed for this war were looted from Manchukuo. Here is an example of plundering agricultural products.One day, the Soybean Section Chief (Japanese) of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Puppet Manchukuo Government said at a police officer assembly: "One of the decisive factors in the outcome of a war is soybeans. Manchuria is known as the third soybean-producing country in the world. For this To win this war, all soybeans should be sent to Japan. Please don’t forget this.” He is asking us to support the plundering of soybeans.

Not only for soybeans, but the puppet government has also issued a compulsory collection order for all agricultural products, and the executors are us police officers.We seized all the sorghum, corn, millet, soybeans, etc. from the farmers in the areas under our jurisdiction, and only allowed the farmers to eat rice bran and wild vegetables as staple foods.Due to hunger, the farmers even caught and ate mice. Even so, I am still thinking, maybe there is still food hidden in one of them!With a pistol in my waist, I asked my subordinates to carry rifles and search house by house.As long as anyone is found to be hiding even a handful of food, they will be arrested on charges of violating the law, tortured, made false confessions, forced to press their fingerprints, and then put him in prison.

Now let's talk about the murder of General Zhao Shangzhi. On October 1, 1941, I was appointed as the chief of the special affairs section of the Xingshan Police Department in Heli County.The work there has several characteristics: First, it governs the entire Xingshan area - the military secret protection zone (commonly known as the fortress zone); second, this mountainous area (now Yichun County) was the base of the anti-Japanese army activities in the past; third, Xingshan Street is also known as Crane Gang Street is divided into two parts: New Street and Old Street. The Old Street is the famous Hegang Coal Mine, where Chinese workers come and go frequently.Especially the coal mine area is an easy hiding place for anti-Japanese elements and Soviet spies.Therefore, I deployed an intelligence network to both the mountainous area and the urban area, set up secret strongholds in both the old and new neighborhoods, and sent dozens of spies posing as fur traders to the mountainous area.

In January 1942, according to intelligence from the Central Committee (the Police Department and the Secret Service Section of the Ministry of Public Security), Zhao Shangzhi and several of his subordinates had entered Manchuria.I discussed with Director Tiani and adopted two countermeasures: first, order the spies of fake fur traders to collect accurate information; And ordered the security team to be on strict alert.After discussing with the Chinese security captain, Xue Ze sent spy agent Liu Deshan into the mountain. The task assigned to him was: take the security team as the center, and move within the range that he can return on the same day. Whenever he sees a stranger, immediately Just report it.However, after Liu Deshan entered the mountain, he did not come back after two days. Xue Ze reported it to me, and I reported it to the director, and considered the next step.I thought that Liu Deshan might have been captured, and this bait was useless.It would be better to send a double agent in, and I ordered Anazawa to send another specially trained agent into the mountain.After careful consideration, Xue Ze decided to send a Li who he thought was the most suitable into the mountain.

On February 13, when I went to work at the police station, Superintendent Anazawa came from the Indus River Guard and was waiting for me.As soon as we met, he said in an excited voice: "Kill Zhao Shangzhi!" "Really? That's great! Tell me quickly." As I said this, I sat on the chair without taking off my coat because of my excitement. up.Sergeant Anezawa told me in detail.The spy Liu Deshan sent out at the beginning met General Zhao Shangzhi and his party on the night of entering the mountain, and was caught by them.However, because he didn't bring anything with him, and he had compiled a set of answers about his name, address, and occupation in advance, he got away with it all at once.Later, with the approval of Zhao Shangzhi, Liu Deshan was absorbed into their team.From that day on, they walked around the valley together. It was the coldest time and the food was scarce, so it was very difficult.

A few days later, Agent Li sent by Xueze also entered the mountain.Agent Li was also captured by five Anti-Union fighters, and was subjected to the same interrogation as Agent Liu.Since he did not reveal any flaws, he was also absorbed into the Anti-Union team. A few days later, one night, Li and Liu secretly met each other.Li said to Liu: "In the security team, everyone is very worried to see that you have not returned. It is so cold and there is no food. It seems that they will not survive for a few days. What should we do?" "As long as you don't get killed, you will go back one day" After a while, Agent Li came up with an idea and said to Liu: "I see, let's lead them to attack the guard to grab food." "Is it okay to not report to the guard captain?" I will make arrangements." After Agent Li persuaded Agent Liu, he proposed to the Anti-Japanese Army the next day to attack the Wutong River Guard to grab food.The suggestion was accepted, and Agent Lee was also given a gun. In the middle of the night on February 11, the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces began to act.Agent Li led the way at the front, followed by General Zhao Shangzhi and Agent Liu in a single file, advancing through the miscellaneous forest under the moonlight. When they came to a wooden house in the mountains, Agent Liu suddenly shot General Zhao who was walking in front.Detective Li, who was at the front, quickly ran towards the security team.Agent Liu's behavior was clearly seen by the anti-Japanese allied forces behind them. They were so angry that they shot at Agent Liu together and killed him on the spot.General Zhao was seriously injured in the abdomen and was carried into the wooden house by his comrades. At this time, after the Japanese garrison received the report from Secret Agent Li, Sergeant Anazawa immediately led all his team members into the forest, surrounded the wooden house, and shot inside from all sides.After a while, there was no movement in the wooden house, and the Japanese army rushed into the wooden house and captured General Zhao who was seriously injured.They took General Zhao back to the guard and began interrogation.No matter how the enemy asked, the general didn't say a word, just looked at them contemptuously.Until the last moment of his life, General Zhao was angry with him and said: "You are lackeys of Japanese imperialism! There is nothing to say to you bastards. Even if you say it, you are playing the piano to the cow-it is useless!" After saying this, due to excessive blood loss and serious injuries, General Zhao passed away at around 8 o'clock in the morning on February 12th and died heroically. After hearing this, I said to Anazawa: "Oh, good job! So, where is the body?" "By the way, there is a car coming here this afternoon, and it will pull the body over." The body of the general who came was completely naked, frozen like a jade sculpture.A Chinese policeman went to a photo studio to take pictures of the body.Then, put the body in the yard.I drafted a report entitled "The Killing of General Zhao Shangzhi, Commander-in-Chief of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces" (the original text - translator's note), which was approved by the director.Then, I called the Special Affairs Section of the Sanjiang Provincial Police Department, and it was answered by the affairs officer Yoshimura. I said loudly: "We killed General Zhao Shangzhi!" "Are you talking nonsense?" He asked with a smile.I replied seriously: "Who is talking nonsense? I am seriously reporting you." "That is to say, it is Commander Zhao Shangzhi! It seems that the Heli County Secret Service Director's strategic battle has won. Then, let's find his former adjutant Li Huatang to confirm." (Li Huatang has defected and surrendered. —— Translator's note) He was right to say that.Various security agencies in Manchukuo, including the Kwantung Army, Japanese Embassy and Consulate Police, Foreign Ministry Police, Manchurian Army, Manchurian Gendarmerie, Xing'an Army, Manchurian Police, Rural Self-Defense Groups in various cities, Railway Guards, and Security Teams of Pioneering Corps, etc. , A reward of 10,000 yuan was already offered for General Zhao Shangzhi's head a few years ago.If the Japanese army caught him, he would be awarded the "Golden Medal" for meritorious service! The date for Li Huatang to confirm the remains has arrived.The Jicun affairs officer from the province, the chief of the police section and the chief of the special affairs department from the county brought Li Huatang here.The road in front of the police station became lively due to the ban on traffic.Li Huatang walked to the corpse and took a closer look, then nodded and said, "It's Zhao Shangzhi, that's right!" After speaking, he turned his face away, and his mood can be imagined.A celebratory banquet was held that evening.The next morning, General Zhao's body was transported to the Jiamusi Police Department by car.A few days later, the county called Director Tian Jing and said: "In order to write a report to the central government, please come to the county." That is to say, the report to the central government must be written by the county The chief of police, the chief of the special affairs department, the chief of the provincial police department, and the chief of the special affairs department jointly wrote it out, and the report I drafted was useless. For this reason, I was very angry. However, a week later, I received a call from the province: "Take Zhao Shangzhi's head and fly to the Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security in Xinjing immediately!" At this time, I was very happy. At Jiamusi Airport, several people who drafted the report handed me the report and the white wooden box containing the head of General Zhao Shangzhi, and I took it on the plane to Xinjing.As soon as I arrived in Xinjing, I took the car that came to greet me and went all the way to the Minister's Office of the Ministry of Public Security of the Puppet Manchukuo.Minister of Public Security Yu Mangshan received me.When I opened the white wooden box lid to show him, he rejoiced and said, "Good! Good!" Then, I went to the office of the Chief of the Secret Service, He, who had been transferred to Xinjing from the Sanjiang Provincial Police Department.He said to me: "Sanjiang did a good job this time. Section Chief Ando and you are both meritorious ministers. I will report the bonus to you immediately, and you can tell Section Chief Ando!" We passed General Zhao's head to each department for a look.Then, I left Xinjing and returned to Sanjiang Province.Later I heard that the head of General Zhao Shangzhi was sawed off by the guards of the Sanjiang Provincial Police Department, and they threw the body into the Songhua River; temple. During my 10 years as a police officer in Manchukuo, I lost all my humanity and became an "Oriental devil" without knowing it, and committed countless crimes against the Chinese people. I participated in the murder of General Zhao, not just for the general, but for the crime committed against the thirty million Chinese people in the three eastern provinces at that time, causing them to be immersed in great grief for losing the leader of the anti-Japanese struggle and anger.In fact, this is a crime that I cannot erase in the history of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.Because of my crimes, the victory of the Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Movement and the National Independence and Liberation Movement was greatly delayed.The more I think about it, the more I feel that the crime I have committed is unforgivable.Therefore, it is a matter of course that I was included in the list of Japanese war criminals (incarceration number 353). However, the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Government have implemented an extremely lenient policy towards us war criminals.We have lived in the Fushun War Criminals Management Center for 6 years, where the basic principles of humanitarianism such as "respect for human rights", "no intrusion" and "active treatment" have been implemented. Due to the meticulous care of the staff of this management office, which is as good as that of relatives, we have all gradually completed the transformation from "ghost to human" to varying degrees.Later, we were all released back to China. In this dying year, I will fight to the end for opposing the war of aggression, for the friendship between the people of Japan and China from generation to generation, for the Japanese society to become a real democratic society, and for the progress and reform of Japan! Author bio: He joined the army in October 1935. In October 1941, he served as the chief of the special affairs section of the Xingshan Police Department in Heli County, Heilongjiang Province. After participating in the murder of General Zhao Shangzhi in 1942, he served as the chief of the police department and the police assistant of the police department of Fujin County, Heilongjiang Province.