However, the matter was not over, and the soldiers of the 4th Division played a new trick - passive sabotage.

From the time it arrived, the 2nd Division walked for 4 days, but the 4th Division walked for 8 days, and a large number of personnel were left behind.

Coincidentally, on the day that the advance team of the 4th Division arrived at the front, the Soviet Union and Japan declared an armistice. When the news came, the officers and men of the Fourth Division who had fallen behind quickly followed as if they had taken a strong pill, and there were even quite a few officers and men who remained behind

"Sick" rushed to the front, while still complaining with great regret that he had no chance to fight. On the way back, the 4th Division became the most powerful unit in the Japanese army, while the 2nd Division, which was the first to rush to the battlefield, lost its armor and was full of wounded soldiers.

The officer in charge of news and propaganda really couldn't look past it, so he picked up his pen and changed the word "My Invincible Imperial Army's Fourth Division Returns with Might" submitted for review by the Japanese army newspaper to "I Return with Strength Without Injury to the Fourth Division of the Imperial Army," and ridiculed this one in a roundabout way

"Soft eggs" troops. Although it was out of all its appearances, the Fourth Division was quite lucky, because at that time, the Japanese army invading Central China was in a tight situation and urgently needed reinforcements, so the Japanese military headquarters had no choice but to give up pursuing the Fourth Division and urgently transfer it to the south for reinforcements.

The 4th Division was transformed into a member of the elite 11th Army of the Japanese army.

"With the Fourth Division participating in the war, the battle that could have been won will also ......be lost" In fact, the reputation of the Fourth Division has long been heard of by the Chinese army, and the Chinese army has encountered one as early as this period

"Strange Japanese Army". At that time, in the face of the encirclement of the Japanese army, he commanded an army of 400,000 to skillfully jump out of the encirclement of the Japanese army.

However, after the Chinese army broke through the siege, it was already sleepy and lacking in people, and it had lost a lot of heavy equipment, and its combat effectiveness had been sharply reduced.

While crossing a road on the border between Lusu-Anhui Province, the tired Chinese army suddenly found a well-equipped Japanese army on the road.

Exhausted, the Chinese army spotted the enemy in a panic and left the road in confusion and retreated to the nearby mountains.

Strangely, after a long time, no Japanese troops were chasing, and the commander of the Chinese army was surprised and sent people to investigate, but saw that the Japanese army had no intention of pursuing at all, on the contrary, the Japanese army was still cooking in a grand place on both sides of the road.

This strange Japanese unit was none other than the southward detachment of the 4th Division

"Saving your life is the most important thing"

Although the Fourth Division is said to be a nest, after all, there are many veterans. Due to the heavy combat losses of the Japanese army and the urgent need to replenish the veterans, the officers and men of the Fourth Division were transferred from time to time to other divisions and regiments. At that time, the parting speeches of various departments of the Japanese army had their own characteristics, such as the Second Division, which said "the military fortune is long when the battle situation is good"; When the situation is not good, say "Kudanzaka" (Yasukuni Shrine is in Kudanzaka, Tokyo). However, when the officers and men of the Fourth Division said goodbye, they often said "the imperial body is a big cut", which translates to "take care of your body", "the body comes first", or simply "the most important thing is to save your life".

The Japanese encountered stubborn resistance from the Chinese army during their attack on Hengyang and Zhijiang. At the beginning of the battle, veterans from the 4th Division repeated their old tricks, from officers, non-commissioned officers to veterans, who were hospitalized and passively but reasonably refused to fight. When the wounded Japanese soldiers arrived at the hospital, the "seniors" of the Fourth Division who were "recuperating" still asked: "Why are you playing with your life like this?" When asked why they were reluctant to participate in the war, these "sick numbers" said arrogantly: "I heard that we are acting as a feint attack in this sortie, which is very boring. ”

The independent 15th Engineer Wing, which was composed of reserve officers and men of the 4th Division, led by Yokoyama Daisa, made meritorious contributions. In Ito Masanori's "The Last of the Imperial Army", it is mentioned that this wing played a great role in repairing the bridges and culverts blown up by the Allies, "The incompetence of the Osaka soldiers is just a misinformation, at least in the case of this wing, and its dedication has caused the senior officers of the military headquarters and the division headquarters to go to express their gratitude and admiration at night, and its selfless dedication to public service is extremely admirable... [Comment: It seems that this wing is indeed not bad, but, in the final analysis, the work of repairing bridges and roads is not the same thing as going into battle after all. ]

With the outbreak of the Pacific War, all units of the Japanese army were engaged in the battle against the Allied forces, and the Fourth Division finally had the opportunity to make a contribution. The base camp intended to assign the division to the Southern Army, but the Southern Army only reluctantly included it in the reserve and was still stationed in Shanghai. It was not until April 1942 that he was transferred to the Philippines to participate in the final assault on the Corregidor Fortress together with the 5th, 18th, and 21st Divisions. The Fourth Division went uncharacteristically smoothly in this battle, successfully completed its mission, and finally surrendered all the American and Philippine troops present. It was later learned that this was not the Fourth Division's change of character, but that the Philippine American and Philippine troops had been cut off from supplies for many days, and had been living on "salt and vegetables" for several months, and it was not new at all to collapse at the first touch.

However, this victory brought great glory to the 4th Division, and it flew frequently in its hometown of Osaka, with a sense of pride that "thanks to the dispatch of the 4th Division, it was able to defeat the enemy in Bataan". The only regret was that it was later discovered that the vendors in Osaka had taken advantage of the victory celebration to resell wartime rations and take advantage of the opportunity to do business.

I know the details of the Fourth Division or the base camp clearly, so I really racked my brains about how to use it. Because of its reputation, the Fourth Division was not very popular in all theaters, so until the end of the war, this unit was constantly moving around the rear and never participated in major battles.

At the time of Japan's surrender in August 1945, the 4th Division was resting near Bangkok, Thailand. Unlike other Japanese units that refused to accept defeat, the surrender and return of the 4th Division went exceptionally smoothly. When all the officers and men of the Fourth Division, ruddy-faced and healthy, appeared in the Japanese ports, the Japanese who were malnourished and desolate were very surprised. According to statistics, the Fourth Division was the unit with the fewest casualties and the most complete equipment and materials in the Japanese Southern Army. The US military described the division as "peace-loving." The day after returning to China, officers and men ran to the US barracks, neatly set up stalls, and sold war souvenirs