Chapter 8 6. Bloody facts

Long-term acceptance of militaristic education deprived us of humanity in the brutal war of aggression against China, and committed countless crimes that cannot be tolerated in human history.In particular, we have carried out a heinous massacre of the unarmed Chinese people engaged in peaceful production and life, which is really worse than a beast. It has been more than 40 years since the war ended. In Japan, the passage of time has made some people forget the cruelty of the war. They not only cover up the historical facts of the war, but even wantonly beautify the war of aggression.Under such circumstances, we, the Hiroshima branch of the China Returnees Liaison Association, would like to expose part of the crimes we committed in that aggressive war and tell them to the younger generation who do not know about the war.

I enlisted in the 42nd Fukuyama Infantry Regiment on December 1, 1939, when I was just 20 years old.After three months of training, I sailed to China on April 1, 1940, landed in Hankou, and took the first step in my invasion of China.I was assigned to the 2nd Company of the 232nd Regiment of the 39th Division with the 5th Division as the main force, and was stationed in Xiaogan, Dangyang County, Hubei Province.Later, our company stationed at Xiaojiagang, a small station on the Beijing-Hanzhou railway line. A few days after the on-site training for the recruits started, the instructor said to us: "Field training today—assassination of living people!" So, the straw man who was used as a target on the training ground was replaced by a few Chinese in rags .

The instructor said: "These are the enemy's spies, you should assassinate them with bayonets immediately!" The 90 recruits were divided into three squads, and after the squad leader gave the order to "assassinate", the recruits shouted "Wow!" Running toward the live target with the bayonet-tipped rifle in hand. The recruits who had never killed a living person were trembling with fear, and their steps were crooked.They didn't dare to stab the heart of a living person with their eyes open. Instead, they stabbed forward indiscriminately with their eyes closed. Some stabbed their shoulders and some stabbed their stomachs.

After I saw my companion failed in the assassination, I thought to myself: "I have to perform well, the officer will give me a promotion!" I took a deep breath, and rushed over with a "Wow..." When I saw China When the person's eyes full of hatred, he was so frightened that he immediately closed his eyes tightly, lowered his head and stabbed forward. After this training, whenever I was on guard at night, I always saw that Chinese man with hateful eyes approaching me, which made me break out in a cold sweat immediately.Later, I found out that the Chinese who were assassinated by us were not spies at all, but ordinary farmers captured from nearby villages.

On the banks of the Sushui River in Dangyang County, Hubei Province, there is a temple commemorating the famous general Guan Yu in "Three Kingdoms".There is also a white temple 80 miles away from Guan Temple, which is Baiyang Temple.Baiyangsi Village is the material exchange point between Hubei and Sichuan, and it is a base of the anti-Japanese armed forces. At that time, I was an orderly for a company commander, and my rank was first class soldier (the promotion of ordinary soldiers is from second class soldier to first class soldier, then to first class soldier, and then to captain).The messenger sounds nice, but in fact he is always called around by the company commander, bringing him meals, washing clothes, carrying rations, carrying luggage, and acting as a guard. He is a servant who is never idle for a moment.Even so, I still thought "as long as I work hard, I can be promoted to commander faster than others", so I followed the company commander very hard to participate in the notorious "Sanguang Policy" model - Bai Yang The temple village was swept up.

The battalion commander summoned the company commanders to Dadongdong Village for a meeting, and issued an order to sweep Baiyangsi Village: First, kill all men, women, old and children in the village!Second, take away all the livestock and all kinds of useful things!Third, burn the whole house down! All the companies gathered at the Sushui River, nervously preparing for night markings and noise reduction measures.As the winter sun set, a biting wind blew by the river.This operation started at midnight, and we all tied a strip of white cloth on the back edge of our combat cap as a night mark.The silent and rapid march began, and I walked desperately for several hours, and I was very tired.When we were sweating profusely and walked halfway up the mountain, the command "stop moving forward and stand by" came from the front.Everyone didn't even take off their backpacks, and lay down to rest on the spot. Their sweaty backs became cold after a while.In this way, I don't know how long it has passed.

Suddenly, the sound of field heavy artillery bombardment from neighboring troops came from the Sushui River.With the arrival of dawn, I realized that the shell had hit the White Temple.The sound of rumbling explosions spread in all directions. At this time, each company entered Baiyangsi Village almost at the same time. Crying, shouting, cursing, and the sound of breaking objects mixed together, and the whole village was in chaos.In front of a farmhouse, recruits pulled an old man out of the house by force.The old man refused to leave, and while saluting with both hands, he said, "I'm sick!" Seeing this, I ran over, and said to the recruits, "That's the way to deal with nasty guys!" Push in the door, close the door, block the door with sorghum stalks, and light a fire.

The fire spread into a large area in an instant, setting off a pillar of fire that soared into the sky.The screams that were almost crazy in the room gradually disappeared.Seeing this, the company commander shouted to me with satisfaction: "Okay! Go to the next one!" After a while, shouts of "go away" came from all directions. This is because the soldiers used guns and bayonets to force some old people, women and children to gather together. Seeing the scene of old women and infants crying and begging for help, I really think it is a living picture of hell!The grain, oil, wine and other food looted by the soldiers piled up in a big pile in a short while; there were also 6 live pigs, 11 yellow cattle and buffaloes.The company commander got a Chinese horse from somewhere, and exclaimed triumphantly: "Look! This is the glorious result of the battle!"

The looted things were forced to be transported back by the Chinese. The team stretched for several kilometers on the mountain road.This Baiyangsi village with only 150 households was bloodbathed by more than 500 Japanese soldiers from 5 companies of the 1st Battalion.Here they carried out 3 hours of cruel atrocities such as killing, plundering, raping women, and setting fire. Just about a month after the aforementioned assassination training, the "Battle of Yichang" began, and all officers and soldiers of the 232nd regiment participated in this operation. Before we set off, according to the deployment of our superiors, in addition to carrying weapons, ammunition, and food and grass as usual, we also specially distributed gas bombs (see the information at the end of this article for details), gas masks, and condoms (to prevent infection during rape) sexually transmitted diseases).

During the Japanese invasion of Sui County, Tang County, Zaoyang, and Dahong Mountain, Zhang Zizhong, commander of the Chinese 33rd Army, died in battle.After that, the Japanese army crossed the Baihe River. In this battle of crossing the river, because he mistook Hexin Island for the opposite bank and launched a storm, the commander of the 233 regiment, Kanzaki Osaku, died in battle, and the Japanese army suffered great losses.As a result, a new order came from the superior: "The 39th Division crossed the Han River near Wangjiaji on the night of the 31st, and attacked the high ground east of Wu'anyan; the 3rd Division cooperated in the operation."

It was in this battle that we used gas bombs. The Japanese army's field heavy artillery and the Chinese army's mortar fire were deafening.About an hour later, there was only the sound of Japanese artillery shells exploding on the Chinese position, but no Chinese mortar counterattack could be heard.We took advantage of this opportunity to secretly transport the folding rubber boat used for landing to the river, and then pushed the rubber boat into the water under the fire of the Chinese army's Czech light machine guns. After boarding the rubber boat, the platoon leader ordered us: "Gas bombs are going to be used, put on the gas masks immediately!" The rubber boat rowed quickly to the opposite bank, and as soon as we heard the order to "disembark", we jumped into the waist-deep water and fought back with light machine guns in both hands.It took about an hour, we landed together with the second echelon, and turned to attack the positions of the Chinese army. We encountered stubborn resistance from the 36th Regiment of the 58th Division of the 55th Army of the 33rd Army of the Chinese Army in Leijiahe.When our army was oppressed by the firepower of the Chinese army and it was difficult to move, the superior ordered us to "use poison gas bombs!" I still remember that the wind speed was about 3 meters that day, and the wind direction happened to blow towards the Chinese army positions. It was a cloudy day with low air pressure.We took out the gas bombs from the small red tubes, lit them on fire with friction plates, and threw them at the Chinese army positions.When the white smoke filled the Chinese army's position and gradually disappeared, we put on gas masks, picked up bayonet-mounted rifles, and charged into the Chinese army's position. 1. Types of gas bombs 1. Throwing poison gas cylinders (small red cylinders, green cylinders, thrown by manpower); 2. Launch poison gas cylinders (large and medium-sized red and green cylinders, launched by grenades); 3. Artillery uses gas bombs (red and green shells, fired by field guns). 2. The nature and lethality of gas bombs 1. Sneeze-inducing gas bomb (red tube) is a light green solid in appearance, which can paralyze the oxygen absorption function in the blood, make people sneeze, cry, and cause death in a short time. 2. Tear gas bomb (green tube) is light yellow solid in appearance and has a strong irritant, causing tears, coughing, and headaches. In severe cases, convulsions, chest pains, and breathing difficulties can lead to death. 3. The decadent gas bomb (yellow tube) has a brown liquid in appearance. When it touches the skin, it causes severe pain and blisters within two to three hours; it passes through the respiratory tract and causes all internal organs to malfunction and die. 4. Asphyxiating gas bomb (brown tube) is a light brown liquid with a low boiling point and light specific gravity, which can spread in the air in a short period of time and cause people to suffocate to death.