Chapter 6 4. The Unforgivable Crime

The long Showa era has finally come to an end, and the curtain of the Heisei era has begun.Many citizens attended Emperor Showa's funeral, and some shed tears.Many news reporting organizations only know how to praise Emperor Showa, but they don't know that the emperor should be held accountable for the war.At that time, our Liaison Association published a book called "The Emperor's Army", and a newspaper that called itself "the conscience of Japan" refused to publish an advertisement for our book.However, Emperor Showa, as the highest person in charge of launching the war, died without apologizing to the people of the invaded Asian countries. Isn't this a fact that everyone with a conscience should not forget?

After the war, more than 40 years passed.In Japan, more and more people do not know about the war.Therefore, some people may say, "What are we talking about now about war!" However, we will never forget the war, and we strongly hope that the Japanese people will never forget that war. For the younger generation, including my children, we don't want them to go through the pain that our parents experienced--the weight of guilt is so heavy that we can hardly breathe.If there is no correct reflection on that war, Japan will be divorced from the international community, and its future will inevitably be very dangerous.

After I graduated from literature, I worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Education and the school for two years. In July 1941, I was certified to enlist in the army of Sakura.At the time, I was only 29 years old.In the second year, he became a soldier of the 59th Division of the North China Dispatch Army and crossed the sea to China.In order for Japan to exercise military rule over China's Shandong Province, I worked very hard. I worked as an assistant in the security unit of the 111 regiment headquarters for three years, and then I was transferred to the machine gun company and worked as an assistant in the recruit education unit.At that time, I was a corporal in the army, and under the orders of the battalion commander, I committed an unforgivable crime.

In June 1945, our 111th regiment received an order from the division headquarters to build a position in Suogezhuang on the outskirts of Qingdao. It is said that the purpose was to prevent the US military from landing here.At that time, I was in charge of educating recruits in Xintai, where the regiment headquarters is located.Once the recruits' education was over, I was in charge of sending them back to Suogezhuang.From Tai'an to Jinan, and then to Chengyang, they all took trucks.There is still 100 kilometers from Chengyang to the destination of Suogezhuang, and we have to march in a hurry despite the scorching heat and the danger of minefields laid by the Eighth Route Army.

In order to prevent our invasion, the Eighth Route Army planted minefields here.Most of the land mines are land mines made by filling stones or glass bottles with explosives. Therefore, the engineer battalion in our division cannot detect them with landmine detectors.The commander of the troops who had no other options came up with a poisonous plan and issued an order to let the Chinese migrant workers carrying equipment with the army to "step on landmines", that is to say, treat people as landmine detectors.The Chinese migrant workers were driven to the front of the line and stood in a row of 20 meters. Behind them was a row of Japanese soldiers holding bayonet-mounted rifles and forcing them to move forward.This allowed the Japanese troops to safely march behind them.As a result of this, four or five Chinese were killed by landmines, their bodies were carried to the side of the road, and the procession moved on.

Suogezhuang is a small village with only about forty families.Our team camped in this small village.In the north of the village is a high mountain of several hundred meters, in the east of the village is a hilly area, and in the southwest of the village is a river plain with many willow trees.A company of soldiers was sent to the hilly area east of the village to repair fortifications.They took off the door panels of every house in the village, sawed down the willow trees in the southwest of the village, got some bricks and stones, and built trenches and bunkers there.When the troops came, they plundered all the grain, food, chickens, pigs, etc. in the village, and ate them.

The purpose of gathering the recruits here this time is to accept the review by the battalion commander. The review in the field usually focuses on shooting and swordsmanship, but this time it is different from usual.The order from the battalion headquarters stated that this inspection, in addition to shooting, was "assassination of living people." The day of the review was June 12, and there was not a single cloud in the sky.Before noon, the shooting was reviewed on the flat ground in the south of the village; in the afternoon, it was time to "assassinate the living". At that time, more than 30 Chinese were being held in the camp, all of whom were peasants who had not escaped in time.The battalion commander ordered these people to be distributed, four or five for each company.I took a guard and took the four Chinese assigned to the machine gun company to the battalion headquarters.

There is a crop field at the east end of the village, where four wooden stakes have been laid, and a deep hole has been dug next to each.Around the area, another ring of guard posts was sent out.After seeing this scene, the expressions of the four Chinese people changed.They said one after another: "I'm a peasant, let me go!" "I'm not the Eighth Route Army, don't kill me!" Among them, a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old looked me in the eyes and said, "My family is only Mom is alone! She is waiting for me to go back, let me go home" As he spoke, his tears flowed down.At the last moment of his life, this young man still had extravagant hopes for the conscience of the Japanese soldiers, and kept crying. "My mother is the only one left at home! She is waiting for me to go back." This sentence deeply hurt my heart and reminded me of my own mother.However, I can't satisfy the boy's wish, even if I take my life, I can't save him.My heart was beating so hard.At this time, in my heart, the concept of "war is a product of inhumanity" was formed.After a while, the four Chinese were tied to four stakes.

The afternoon review begins.The battalion commander, Captain Atsuta Victory, rode a horse and came to the scene proudly. As an assistant in the education unit, I took the recruits to a depression about 100 meters away from the four "live targets", introduced the "enemy situation" to them and said: "The few people in front are enemies, we must kill them!" Then, I gave an order to the four people at the head of the four-row column: "Let's go!" The four recruits quickly climbed up the slope, when the instructor, Warrant Officer Ikeda, shouted: "Charge!" The semi-crazed recruits rushed forward with bayonets in hand, one fell down, and another ran to the "live target" He stopped in front of him, and the other two didn't know what to do. "Bastard! That's the enemy! Assassinate!" Hearing the instructor's yelling, the recruits seemed to wake up, widened their eyes, and assassinated forward.However, the tip of the knife is either up or down, or left or right, and it always misses the vital parts. "Okay!" After hearing this order, they stopped assassinating.

The four people in the second row set off, and the situation was the same as in the first row.In this way, the parade of assassinating the living is finally over.At this time, the setting sun on the summer land turned blood-red, shining on the shouting and moaning Chinese and the blue-faced Japanese recruits at the same time.After a while, those Chinese people were stabbed with blood all over their bodies, and lost their lives, while the Japanese recruits were all pale and lost their color, with their heads bowed, without saying a word. That night, the company held a banquet for the recruits. The veterans said, "This time, you have become real soldiers too. Congratulations!" In the pain, until the end, there was no smile.

In the fifth spring of his detention in China, a "confession campaign" was launched in the Fushun War Criminals Management Center.All of them confessed all the crimes they committed in the war of aggression, and expressed deep apology in front of the Chinese people. I had a college education and considered myself a "progressive", so I said "I was critical of the war policy at the time, and I was also angry at the brutality of the Japanese army", and I also said " Responsibility for wars and war crimes rests solely with the Emperor and those who follow the Emperor and give orders” and so on.By saying these words, I actually want to completely escape my responsibility for war crimes.Through the study of the war criminals management office, I gradually realized that it was I who invaded other countries with knives and guns and did all the bad things?Am I not an out-and-out aggressor myself! In September 1956, as a war criminal, I was deported without prosecution.As soon as I thought that the Chinese people I killed would never be resurrected again, I felt that my guilt was lifelong and could not be relieved.I should take the wishes of the victims as my own wishes, that is, to eliminate unjust wars and to strive for permanent peace in the world.We should compare our hearts with the hearts of the victims, and never allow Japan to embark on the path of aggressive war again. Today's Japan has not only blatantly made the military budget exceed 1% of the total national economic budget, but has also begun to subtly embark on the road of militarization.The emperor has been beautified, the old national anthem is still being sung, and the old national flag is still flying high.We war criminals are actually the victims of the "Emperor System" of the past, and we will never allow Japan to return to the old state system.We Japanese citizens must seriously criticize the emperor system and the "war road" of the Showa period.We must clarify the responsibility for the war that the emperor should bear, and the responsibility that the Japanese people should bear, and return to the international community with a sense of apology.I believe that only in this way can Japan have a bright future. Author bio: In 1931, he joined the army in Sakura; in 1932, he came to Shandong Province, China as a soldier of the 59th Division of the Japanese Army, and later served as a non-commissioned officer of the 59th Division. In September 1956, he was exempted from prosecution by China and released back to China.