Chapter 24 22. The Truth About "Jihad"

That was on December 25, 1943, which was coming to an end. At that time, the 232nd Regiment of the 39th Division I was in was stationed in Dangyang County, Hubei Province, which was famous in the "Three Kingdoms" and went up 300 kilometers along the Yangtze River from Hankou. Going northwest from Dangyang, crossing the beautiful ridge of Bashan Mountain covered with green forests, and walking another 25 kilometers, in a valley, there is a village called Baiyang Temple, where about 100 peasant households live. At that time, our battalion went around several times in an attempt to wipe out the anti-Japanese guerrillas who had established an anti-Japanese base in the Baiyang Temple area.However, instead of reaching our goal, we always suffer great losses.The head of the group, Hiroshi Hamada, who was very anxious, finally showed his housekeeping skills, planning to kill all the residents in the Baiyang Temple area, and at the same time plunder more food and wine needed for the Spring Festival.

During the invasion of China, I would remember clearly what happened every year when the Spring Festival was approaching, no matter what, those things were things that I would never forget! One night on the eve of the Spring Festival this year, we crawled forward under the starlight and quietly entered the position of the temple tree branches. Unexpectedly, there was no shadow of guerrillas at all.Only then did I feel relieved.In the cold winter night with only the last 5 days left in December, we held a banquet for officers at the battalion headquarters before departure. At that time, we were drunk from the heat and sweating, but now we are fully awake.I looked at my watch and it was 20 minutes past the scheduled time.I was no longer the same as before, and hurriedly shouted loudly, urging the soldiers of all platoons to climb up the small hill in front of the left immediately, and at the same time urged the signal soldiers to prepare the signal flares.

If this flare is fired, the main force of the entire battalion will simultaneously attack Baiyangsi Village, about 2 kilometers northeast of here.There was an eerie silence all around. With a sound of "boom", a blue flare hit the sky above our position, and the surroundings were suddenly as bright as day, and our soldiers were clearly seen on the mountainside.Everyone watched the bright white signal flare intently. Suddenly, at this moment, a storm of machine gun bullets flew towards us from the opposite cliff. "Lie down! Absolutely hidden!" I realized that I was under a sudden attack, and I uttered a shrill cry.The hillside we were on seemed to be attractive, and machine gun bullets fell on our position like popping beans, making us dare not move.I looked up and took a closer look, only to find that our soldiers were all dressed in white.It turned out that we attacked a group of farmers carrying homemade cloth on the way here, and wrapped all the white cloth we grabbed around ourselves.At night, this white cloth becomes the most conspicuous target.

"Bastard! Throw away the white cloth on your body!" I roared angrily. The orderly was behind me, trying to help me take off the white cloth I was wearing. I pushed his hand away, took off the white cloth myself, and stuffed it into the document bag. "Bastard!" The more anxious I became, the longer the flares fired by the Chinese army on our heads continued to linger.After the signal flares went out, the sky was darker than before, but the gunfire of the Chinese army became more and more intense, without stopping for a moment. Due to my bad mood, nervousness, and the cold weather, I was shivering all over, so I had to lie there and wait for the dawn.

It was hard to get light.There were only a few wisps of black smoke left on the side of Baiyang Temple, and gunshots rang out from time to time. "The people in Baiyang Temple are all hostile to us. After entering the village, no matter men, women, old or young, they will kill all Chinese people when they see them? Take all the good things away! Burn down all the houses! Only in this way can we have a good Spring Festival !" I remembered the words of the head of the group, and I was even more anxious.This is an excellent opportunity, as long as you go down the mountain quickly, anyone can grab a lot of things.However, our company commander always assigns me such unlucky jobs.I really hate him.

At this moment, a man galloped over on horseback along the river bank.This is Lieutenant Yusaburo Kawakami, commander of our 2nd company. Company Commander Kawakami called me on horseback, as if I was willing to stay on the mountainside and be shot. He scolded me head and face, and ordered me to lead troops to sweep the village immediately.After he finished speaking, he went to the third row.I suppressed the anger in my heart and looked down the mountain. On the flat land by the river below the mountain, there were a dozen or so peasant households with thatched cottages.Maybe because it was still too early, the farmers were still sleeping, and there was no one there.

"Okay, let's see mine!" I took a deep breath like a wild animal before pounced on its prey, and ordered the squads to find a good target and immediately enter the village to sweep.More than 30 soldiers who had been waiting impatiently ran down the mountain and headed straight for the houses. After I saw the direction of each squad, I also took the orderlies down the mountain and went to Squad 1.At this time, Squad 3 had already run to the farmer's yard 200 meters away, and the bayonets on the soldiers' guns were shining against the rising sun. The farmers who were suddenly attacked hurriedly ran along the river to the mountains and forests to seek refuge.An old lady with bound feet fell on a stone on the river beach after walking a few steps.

"Shoot! Kill these guys!" As I yelled as I ran, the light machine gun went off.The gunshots broke through the morning fog and roared among the valleys.The bullets flew towards the river, bouncing on the stones.Those peasants fell down one by one. Panting heavily, I came to a farmer's house.I just walked into the kitchen of his house, and I bumped into someone, who was bumped into by me all of a sudden.I was startled and quickly raised my pistol and pointed it at him.It turned out that Zeng Tian, ​​a newly enlisted private first class, was lying there, throwing out the blood-stained saber in his hand.Seeing that it was me, Zeng Tian quickly got up and stammered, "Pai, platoon leader! Here, there is, there is a big fat pig in this house, put, put it..."

"Bastard! I'll kill you before I kill the pig!" I pushed Zeng Tian away and ran towards the stone wall behind the house.I think the farmers may have fled from the backyard into the mountains. When I climbed to the top of the stone wall, I happened to see a farmer running with a small bag on the wall stack about 40 meters away. "Stop!" I yelled, but he didn't even look back, and ran desperately on the stone wall. I hooked the trigger of the pistol hard, and screamed "Ah", the farmer was holding the small bag, leaned forward, and fell from the 5-meter-high stone wall.

Only a farmer's cloth shoe covered in mud remained on the stone wall.Those are the cloth shoes of the farmers who have endured hardships and stood hard work on this land for generations.I kicked the cloth shoe off with my riding boot.And ran forward like a madman.Not far behind the stone wall is a pine forest, and you can vaguely see farmers taking refuge in it. The light machine gun of Squad 1 was mounted on the roof of the house and fired at the pine forest. When I left from the first house, all the furniture, oil bottles, jugs, and food bags in his house were piled up in the yard by the soldiers.

Soldiers, carry the bloody dead pig to the middle of the yard.Several bloodstains were left on the ground.Everywhere there was the breaking of furniture, the wailing of domestic animals, and the hoarse shouting of soldiers. The red-eyed soldiers shouted "Hey, is your squad leader there?" They didn't seem to hear my voice, and ran out waving short knives.And I wasn't angry.Although the farmers are poor, they are also preparing for the Spring Festival.The couplet written on red paper has been torn off.Below the stone steps at the door, there was a murdered peasant lying there.It seems that he got up from the bed and ran out the door, where he was stabbed to death.He didn't even wear cotton clothes, there was a clear cut on his back, and his white shirt was stained a lot red. After paying the expensive land rent, there is only the last straw bag of rice left in the family.I usually don't want to eat it at all.It was also taken away this time, and a lot was spilled on the ground in the yard. I walked up the steps with my duties and went into the house.In the dark kitchen, there was a smashed water tank, a broken spinning wheel, some broken things, firewood, etc. thrown all over the floor.This place has been ransacked. We went to the second house again.Again, there isn't a single thing of value left.I was about to go out in disappointment, but the orderly, a private surnamed Jue, came out of the house and stopped me: "Your Excellency, Platoon Leader! There is a woman! There is also an old man." "What? Woman? Where is it?" I felt a strange sense of tension.In the corner of the dimly lit room was a barely discernible hut. On the upper wall of the hut, there is only one window about the size of two bricks, which lets in a little light.There was an indescribable stench in the hut. On a wooden bed, lay a woman with a thin quilt covering her body.Her pale face showed panic and pain, and her whole body was trembling. This woman, about 25 years old, was very thin, and she was very sick. A farmer stood in front of the bed, protecting her with his body: "Spare me! My daughter is sick... help her" The old man begged me with folded hands.The father and daughter obviously didn't have time to escape and wanted to hide.The father knelt down and continued to beg, his eyes filled with tears. How could this simple farmer, who had worked hard all his life, kneel down and beg for forgiveness for a robber who broke into his house without any reason?Isn't it the result of these robbers breaking into Chinese territory to let the sick daughter lie on the hospital bed and moan so much? As long as there is a little bit of conscience, people will never look down on this kind of atmosphere... However, at that time, I had to go further in the opposite direction under that situation. "Hmph! Old bastard! You are all collaborators!" I kicked the old man on the shoulder with my muddy foot. At the same time, Senior Soldier Hori thrust his bayonet into the back of the weeping woman who was having difficulty breathing.I put the pistol on the farmer so that he wouldn't move, and urged Hori, "Stick! Stab that woman to death!" One second, two seconds, three seconds passed, and the tip of the bayonet of Senior Soldier Hori was trembling on the woman's back. I became more anxious and shouted: "Stab! Stab! Stab quickly!" The farmer's body seemed to be pressing towards me. At this moment, there was a loud gunshot in the house, and suffocating gunpowder smoke filled the hut. Hori shot and killed the woman. At this time, the raging fire had surrounded every household in the whole village... The straw roofs immediately shot up black smoke and pillars of fire as soon as they saw the fire.The family's house is now engulfed in flames.The soldiers surrounded the loot, laughing and talking loudly.At this time, I felt that there was no need for me to stay here any longer.Also, I seem to have an uneasy nervousness about not getting out of here sooner. "Let's go! Do you understand! Take everything you can! In this way, our Spring Festival is enough! Don't let these guys escape!" I ordered the old man and three other farmers to be tied up in a row, and let them pick up all the things we looted. "Stand up, old man!" The farmer still didn't stand up.In the blink of an eye, I witnessed my daughter being killed, things being robbed, and the house being burned down... What will happen to such a farmer?What's more, he didn't even have the strength to stand up.However, I don't care about all of this. I hit him with the scabbard of my saber, bound him with a rope, and pulled him up by force.What the farmers carry on their backs and shoulders is the crystallization of blood and sweat created by their hard work in a year!The rice sacks, fat pigs and live chickens weighed them down, but I had no mercy for them. The team walked past the burned ruins of houses one after another.Soldiers in our platoon were also carrying looted things on their backs, and chased the company headquarters along a road by the river without looking back.On the way, we saw the corpses of several farmers.After walking for 3 miles, I saw a village with only 20 or so families. All the houses were burned down, all the earthen walls collapsed, and the surrounding area was turned into a sea of ​​flames. In an open space next to the village, more than 30 women and children were sitting on the ground crying.A woman held a nursing baby, without tears, just staring blankly at the ruins of her yard. The cries and whimpers of the children could be heard everywhere, and the whole village became a living hell. The soldiers of the whole company stood in a circle, surrounding the women and children.At this time, the 2nd and 3rd platoons had arrived, and they robbed quite a lot of things, including 11 cows alone. The 2nd platoon leader Nagai and the 3rd platoon leader Fujii are happily surrounding the company commander to report the number of homicides and looting of pigs and cattle. "How is it? Second Lieutenant Lutian, have you won any battle results?" The company commander asked as soon as he saw me. "Yes, please take a look!" I turned my head and pointed. "Huh? There are only 4 cows: Inoue has 5 cows plus 1 horse... Your platoon is the smallest!" Kawakami said not very happy. "How? How many enemies have you eliminated in each platoon?" Kawakami asked the crying women, "Hey! Fujii, how many enemies have you eliminated?" I interrupted. Fujii stood up, patted his buttocks and said, "Ah! Today, I killed 11 and a half by myself. The half refers to the child in a woman's belly." After Fujii said this, he went up to the women shamelessly.With the scabbard of his saber he forced the women to turn their faces to him, as if examining something.At last he said, "Hmph! These fellows are paupers! Not a single earring!" "Your Excellency, Company Commander, what should we do with them? Let's put a grenadier among them." As soon as I said this, Kawakami picked up: "Idiot! Do you still use grenades to deal with them! Just use ordinary shells!" As soon as Kawakami finished speaking, everyone laughed. At this moment, an order came from the battalion headquarters, asking us to hurry on our way.The battalion headquarters requested immediate withdrawal from the current station.Because we have been surrounded by guerrillas, everyone's face has turned ashen blue with anxiety. "Retreat! Put everything on the horses and oxen! Don't leave any looted things behind!" There was confusion for a while.To the north of the burned Baiyangsi village, this frantic team stretched far and wide. In this way, more than 100 innocent Chinese peaceful farmers around Baiyang Temple were killed, most of them were women and children.Some were burned, some were killed, and some had their heads cut off.A pregnant woman was shot in the abdomen, killing two at once.Not only that, all the food and livestock that the farmers worked so hard to produce were taken away, and more than 100 houses were reduced to ashes in an instant. Such an extremely cruel behavior, the purpose is only to meet the needs of the Japanese army to prepare wine and food for the Spring Festival. How can we acquiesce in this behavior?How can those victims die of hatred! Such hatred will never be forgotten!Under the cover of the beautiful rhetoric of "jihad", the facts of the crimes committed by the Japanese invading army in China are just like this! As a junior officer of the Japanese invading army, today, when I calm down and recall the scene at that time, I am so ashamed and remorseful that I have nowhere to hide, and I feel deeply guilty.I was originally a simple and honest rural youth in Japan, but because of the enslavement education given to me by the invading army, I actually killed innocent and brotherly Chinese farmers, women and children. For me who committed such a serious crime, now, the murdered Chinese people have given me a chance to be born again!When I think of this, I can't help but feel my responsibility.All these misfortunes are the consequences of the war of aggression! I will never allow such a thing to happen again! I want to give my all to resolutely oppose the war of aggression! Author bio: Formerly served in the 232nd Regiment of the 39th Division of the Japanese Army, with the rank of second lieutenant, aged 39 (born in 1918), born in Shimane County, with 14 years of education.