Chapter 29 Twenty-seven, I killed thirty people at a time

What I want to tell here is an incident that happened in Wucheng County, 100 kilometers northwest of Jinan City, Shandong Province, in the autumn of 1941. At that time, the machine gun company (commander Sakata) of the 42nd Battalion (commander Yoshino) of the Japanese Independent Mixed 10th Brigade was stationed in the northwest corner of the county.I am the deputy captain of the Gendarmerie Guard, and when I came to this company with the instructor, Second Lieutenant Ben, it was already the first ten days of September in the windy autumn. That night, we were waiting for the counterattack of the Eighth Route Army.After dinner, some of us recruits hid in a corner of the room and smoked, when we heard the sound of gunfire outside the window.

At this time, the non-commissioned officer on duty ran in and shouted: "You recruits, what are you doing there? Come here!" We immediately ran to the guard box to gather.The company commander, Lieutenant Sakata, said to us: "All of you come with me!" We had a total of more than 50 people, braved Chinese bullets, and crawled along the foot of the western city wall.This is a wave of the Eighth Route Army entering the county seat, and the county guard is fighting with light machine guns, grenades and rifles.We finally reached the watchtower where we were to be garrisoned.Lieutenant Sakata immediately issued an order: "Shoot! Shoot! Don't let the Eighth Route Army approach us!"

After two hours of fierce fighting, with three fires in the street, the gunfire gradually died down and finally stopped completely.Soon after, the victory trumpet of the Eighth Route Army was sounded all over the city. Lieutenant Sakata, who was anxious like ants on a hot pot in the watchtower, kept hearing reports that drove him mad with anger. First of all, I heard that 300 Eighth Route Army troops gathered outside the east gate, crossed the Wei River in a grandiose manner and left. Then I heard Sergeant Yamanaka, who was an instructor in the county police brigade, came back and reported that 300 county policemen had defected to the Eighth Route Army with the equipment they had just received from the Japanese army. Deputy Captain Yang commanded.

After a while, I heard that the Miyaji detachment stationed in Liuguantun was surrounded by Chinese troops and was fighting hard. As soon as the call for help came, the phone line was cut off. Sakata frantically turned around in the watchtower. "Hmm! Call Vice Captain Yang!" "What? Liu Guantun fell so soon?" Sakata sat against the wall in a state of desperation, feeling dumbfounded. At this time, the soldiers from Dashan stepped forward and whispered to Lieutenant Sakata, "Company Commander, the fire over there must be the watchtower in Liuguantun!" "Bastard!" Sakata cursed distractedly, and opened his eyes to look across the Wei River.When he saw the pillar of fire soaring to the sky, he couldn't help but lower his head.It was a horrible time for Lieutenant Sakata and all of us.

The official report received the next morning stated that the 27 officers and soldiers stationed at Liuguantun, headed by Second Lieutenant Miyaji, were all wiped out.After a while, Lieutenant Colonel Yamada, the commander of the 43rd Battalion, appeared in front of us with a dusty face under the order of the brigade commander.He is tall, about 1.90 meters, with a slender build. Lieutenant Sakata immediately ran out in fear to report the situation to him. "Bastard! I don't want to hear your crying! Don't you boast that you are an impenetrable wall? Why is this Liuguantun a piece of paper? And the county police team you are so proud of, why did you even send weapons and ammunition to the Eighth Route Army? Huh? What else do you have to say? Don’t have a laparotomy! Open your lap! What face do you have to live!” Lieutenant Colonel Yamada roared angrily, the flesh on his face twitching.

"Your Excellency, Battalion Commander, I'm convicted. I'm still alive, and I want to conduct a thorough raid to make up for my crimes," the small, dark and thin Lieutenant Sakata replied in a low voice. "Okay! Got it! If you fail again this time, I'll shoot you right away!" After speaking, he drove towards Liuguantun in 10 large trucks with hundreds of officers and soldiers. After a while, Lieutenant Sakata's scolding and Second Lieutenant Ben's roar came from the square in front of the sentry box.Then, "I don't know" and the sound of whipping came again.Listen carefully, this is the sound coming from the warehouse in the kitchen.

I walked over with the other soldiers on the mountain, and quietly pushed open the warehouse door.It was a long and narrow hut about 4 meters wide and 2 meters wide. The walls made of red bricks were about 1 foot thick. There were no windows, only doors, and the canopy was very low.We see a man in his mid-thirties standing there with his hands tied behind his back and his long, unkempt hair. "Ah! It's Vice Captain Yang of the county police force!" I said softly. "What! Even the deputy captain is unreliable?" At this time, I remembered a conversation between Lieutenant Sakata and Deputy Captain Yang in the company commander's room during the day.

At that time, I was the one who led Vice Captain Yang into the house.When the orderly on duty brought the tea into the house, Company Commander Sakata handed it to Captain Yang himself, and said, "Vice Captain Yang, you and I spent a year reorganizing the county police team and conducting training together. Last night's The incident was a complete surprise to us! You have to rest assured! Hahaha" Sakata smiled deliberately, while Yang lowered his head and said nothing. "Yang Jun, what I want to blame you is that you have to take responsibility for the fact that those people went to the Eighth Route Army with guns and ammunition, and don't lie! I am also responsible, that is, I only consider helping you. I made a promise to my superiors that if the county police team is not reorganized, I will commit suicide by caesarean section. Yang Jun, do you understand? I am sincere to you all."

Captain Yang's face was livid, and he lowered his head without saying a word. Sakata suddenly raised his voice and asked, "Mr. Yang! First, tell me who incited the troops to surrender to the Eighth Route Army? Tell me the details of what happened yesterday." However, Captain Yang still looked at the ground without saying a word, and remained silent for a long time. "Yang Jun! You didn't speak, did you not understand me?" Sakata asked in a soft voice on purpose.Captain Yang bit his lip and clenched his fists. "Sakata, I have made up my mind to say 'Sayonara' (goodbye) to the Japanese army and the Japanese from now on!" He said, his eyes clearly showed his hatred for Sakata.

"What? Yang Jun! I don't understand at all, please tell me the reason!" Sakata slapped the table with his hand and stood up. "I am Chinese! I am Chinese!" Yang Gao excitedly issued a declaration of breaking up diplomatic relations. Now, my mind still remembers how he looked during the day.It was completely different then than it is now. "You traitor!" Lieutenant Sakata ignited anger in his heart. At this time, Soldier Sakamoto opened the door and brought in more than 30 Chinese businessmen, farmers, workers and women.With their hands tied behind their backs, facing 10 gleaming bayonets, and listening to insults, they stood in front of the warehouse door.

We pushed these more than 30 people into the warehouse one by one.They yelled at one another: "Devil!" "Beast!" "Japanese devil!" Together, it's like a pile of cargo, so crowded that you can't even breathe.Someone couldn't stand up, and one fell down, and the other person was on top of him, and he couldn't stand up even if he tried to stand up.So they began to curse again. "Devil!" "Japanese devil!" "Bastard!" "×your mother! Japanese devil!" Several of us Japanese found thick planks, nailed the door firmly, and then topped it with two thick and large wooden sticks. At this time, an old man's voice suddenly came from the house: "The Eighth Route Army never killed us. We can live freely. But the Japanese devils won't let us live! We must fight!" I was thinking, who is this familiar voice? "By the way, this voice is the adjutant surnamed Li!" shouted Captain Tanizaki. "By the way, it's Lieutenant Li. I thought he had poor eyesight, but when the watchtower in Liuguantun was first built, he once came to the company commander. He said that the Eighth Route Army took our watchtower. Call it 'the sickle neck of the black snake', and this incident surprised everyone." After finishing speaking, Captain Hamaguchi spat on the ground with a "snap", and then said: "So, Liu Guantun is so It’s not surprising that it’s about to fall. Adjutant Li, who knows the inside story, must have led the Eighth Route Army there!” Hearing Hamaguchi's words, I cursed secretly in my heart: "Bastard! Even one of them can't believe it!" I thought of the faces of my soldiers Murata, Yamanaka, and Yamada who died in Liuguantun in the same year, and my heart was filled with disbelief. Chinese hatred. At this time, the people in the warehouse shouted together: "Down with the Japanese devils!" "The Japanese devils, open the door!" Then, it was them!Boom!Boom!Boom!The sound of kicking the door. We anxiously found a few more big wooden sticks and pushed them against the door.Under the faint moonlight, several sentries led us to the barracks to rest. However, the angry curses of those people are always ringing in my ear drums, and I can't sleep even if I want to sleep. "Hey, Kato, there is still a female teacher in the warehouse!" Private First Class Negishi whispered in my ear. "Well, that woman yelled like the men, as if she was not afraid of death!" At this time, the image of the female teacher came to my mind again, and she said to us solemnly: "I I am a Chinese teacher, and it is natural for me to educate Chinese children! There is no need for foreigners to interfere in this matter, and I have no obligation to report to you!" I haven't slept since last night, and I'm extremely tired, but I can't fall asleep.I seemed to see the man in the long gown saying: "I'm a businessman, so I know how to do business!" Another man said: "I don't know anything about the Eighth Route Army. You know, tell me about it." !" Suddenly, there was a gunshot of "Bang! Bang!" in my ears.I sat up all of a sudden, and it was already bright outside the window. "Ah, isn't it a dream?" I said, instinctively picked up the rifle and ran to the warehouse. I saw a tall figure running over from the kitchen, desperately running towards the stairs of the watchtower. Two or three soldiers below the watchtower were aiming their rifles at him, and when he ran past he was knocked down.A pool of blood immediately appeared on the ground.At this time, he tried his best to lift his head up again, staring at the Japanese soldiers, clearly saying "I must take revenge!" before falling down. We went up to him and saw that his hands were covered with blood.what!They probably ran out after digging up a foot-thick brick wall with their hands!We looked at each other, and I said, "It's okay if he's dead, but if those guys run away, it's a big problem!" We followed Captain Hamaguchi and hurried to the warehouse. "These guys are really powerful!" The soldiers on the mountain were the first to exclaim.We saw a large hole with a diameter of more than 30 centimeters was dug on the red brick wall of the warehouse. The blood of the Chinese people was left beside the hole. Now, their protests and curses are no longer heard.I was taken aback. "Hey, can't you still hear the voice!" From the crack of the door, a faint voice could be heard inside, which was enough for Lieutenant Sakata's highly excited nerves who hadn't slept for two days. "Hey! Too slow! Too slow! Seal the door!" Lieutenant Sakata issued an order to us.We quickly brought paper and pasted the door several layers, as well as the hole. In this way, Sakata still worriedly blocked these two places with some black soil, and stepped on them again and again.Lieutenant Sakata put his ear against the red brick wall and listened again and again, then let out two dry laughs, and returned to the company office as if he was satisfied.He also ordered a guard to be set up here in the warehouse, and the guard should be changed every hour. When getting up in the morning of the third day, the sentinel quickly ran to the company commander and reported: "Your Excellency, the prisoner is completely silent in the warehouse!" "Okay, I'll go right away and continue to be vigilant!" Lieutenant Sakata, who relied on drinking to eliminate his uneasiness and wavering, got up from the bed weakly. At this time, Second Lieutenant Ben's voice came from the adjacent room: "You may not die of starvation if you don't eat for three days, but..." After breakfast, the warm sunlight illuminated the roof, and we followed Lieutenant Sakata's instructions to the warehouse door, dug out the pile of black soil, opened the door, and a foul smell rushed out from the crack of the door. At this time, the faces of us soldiers and Lieutenant Sakata changed, and we stood there silently.There, the farmers who were still plowing the fields three days ago, the female teachers who were still teaching students to be patriotic, the businessmen who were still doing business in the store, and the workers who were still working...all have become soulless corpses . Until now, when I think of the inhumane militaristic thinking of "kill someone, everything can be solved", I am still filled with infinite regret. Author bio: In 1941, he was the deputy squad leader and corps leader of the 42nd Battalion Machine Gun Company of the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade of the 59th Division of the Japanese Army.