Later, decades after the end of the war, Kunio Saito wrote a memoir and published it with a manga called "Tales of Army Infantry," which sold well in Japan, selling hundreds of thousands of copies one after another. Although there is a lot of defense for the Japanese soldiers who fought side by side, the evaluation of China's Eighth Route Army is also objective.

Among them is a memory of Kunio Saito, where the fierce battle ended near evening. When I went to the position, I saw that the dead bodies were stacked on top of each other, and several of the enemy were seriously wounded but not killed. These soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, who were on the verge of death, didn't know what to think when they saw the Japanese soldiers. Said: "Water, give me water". I put the kettle to the mouth of the dying Eighth Route Army soldier and fed it; One of them said "thank you" to me, and the other died without saying anything. …… For me, this battle is really "****". Now I still remember the young face of the Eighth Route Army soldier who begged me for water......

Although this person is also a Japanese soldier, he can be regarded as a Japanese soldier with a clear conscience. The anti-war tendencies were extremely pronounced. It's just that, according to the memory of the rest of his life, this Saito Kunio should have served hard labor in Siberia of the Soviets at this time. I don't know what deviations in history will send him back to Japan at this time.

However, the rest of my life knows that history is like the wings of a butterfly, sometimes it may be okay to fan hard, but sometimes, small details can lead to a completely different experience for a person. This is not unusual. Therefore, I did not intend to pursue it carefully.

Just said to Saito Kunio with a pleasant face: "You were hired." ”

Kunio Saito was overjoyed, and bowed to the rest of his life one after another: "Thank you, Mr. Yu!" Thank you, Mr. Yu! ”

Yu Sheng waved his hand and said, "However, I have one more request. ”

Mr. Yu said.

"I know that you are a peace-loving person, so I would like to ask you to recall the details of the war you experienced in the Chinese theater of war completely and objectively. Write it out, and complete it with a caricature. I'll be in charge of publishing it for you. The title of the book is "The Tale of the Army Infantry". ”

Kunio Saito had already planned this, but he had just returned to China and was still hungry. It can only be put on hold for the time being. Hearing Yu Sheng say this, he agreed loudly: "Hai! ”

After Kunio Saito left happily, the next candidate pushed the door open. It's just that what is on the table for the rest of your life is not a resume, but an investment plan. Yu Sheng glanced at it and found that this investment plan was very intimately written in Chinese, and the investor of the investment was actually the Osaka business group.

Yu Sheng asked, "What does this mean?" ”

The Japanese man in his fifties replied, "Our Osaka business group is very sincere in cooperating with Mr. Yu. And we are unequivocally anti-war people. If the name Osaka Merchant Group is not enough to make Mr. Yu hear. Then, the name of the Osaka Fourth Division, Mr. Yu must have heard of it. ”

Yu Sheng was a little surprised and asked, "Is there any relationship between the Osaka Fourth Division and the Osaka Merchant Regiment?" ”

In fact, this relationship is very simple, many children of members of the Osaka Merchant Group serve in the Osaka Fourth Division, and many soldiers who have retired from the Osaka Fourth Division will join the Osaka Merchant Group and inherit the family property. Put it this way. Does Mr. Yu understand? ”

The rest of his life couldn't cry or laugh: "I see." ”

In later generations, if you want to count which Japanese regiment was the most heroic and good at fighting in World War II, there may be a lot of controversy. But. If you want to count which Japanese regiment was the most peace-loving regiment in World War II, then there is no doubt that it was the Osaka 4th Division.

This is the place where the 4th Osaka Division was recruited. It is Osaka, Japan. The division was formed in 1888, and the main source of soldiers was greengrocers. In 1937, when the Japanese army invaded China. It was already equipped with the world's first-class weapons and equipment at that time, and became one of the oldest divisions in the Japanese army, which can be called the "elite" of the Japanese army.

However, this part of Osaka is different from the rest of Japan. In ancient Japan, the basic social structure was that peasants were attached to the daimyo who owned the land, and the daimyo who owned the land were subordinate to the shogun. And the shogun was nominally subordinate to the Japanese emperor, who was actually a puppet. This long-term unchanged social structure led to the formation of a strict relationship between superiors and subordinates and a culture full of obedience in Japan, which was also the psychological basis for the Japanese army's fanatical "loyalty to the emperor" in World War II.

Osaka has always been a commercial city in Japan. The inhabitants of this area do not depend on the land or the hierarchical system of daimyo to survive. On the contrary, because of all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes and the daimyo who manage the place, they will fight wits and bargain, and there will be no loyalty at all. Therefore, allegiance to the emperor is not at all.

Even though it was a national decree, young people in Osaka were forced to serve in the military. Nor will they "die for the sake of loyalty to the emperor and die for the great Japanese Empire", as propagated by the Japanese upper echelons. Most of the parting gifts are "Imperial Body Dache", which is translated into Chinese, which means "to save a small life, it is important to live".

And if they want to live, these soldiers who served in the 4th Division in Osaka will definitely not brainlessly obey the orders of their superiors to let them fight hard and die. Even within the Fourth Division, the so-called "three don'ts" principle of "don't pay for unnecessary sacrifices," "don't take part in unreasonable battles," and "don't pursue enemy troops who are desperate."

With these principles in mind, the Osaka 4th Division's precedent has been ironic ever since.

In 1937, the Japanese troops stationed in China were tight. So the Japanese transferred the 4th Division in Osaka to Northeast China. After two years of training, in 1939, in order to advance northward, Japan tested the reality of the Soviet Union and fought with the Soviet army at Nomenkan.

Subsequently, the Japanese Kwantung Army ordered two elite divisions stationed in the northern part of the puppet state of Manchukuo, Osaka and Sendai, to urgently mobilize to reinforce the front line. After receiving the order, the Japanese Sendai Division forcibly marched for four days from Hailar to Nomenkan. He went into battle on the day he arrived at the battlefield, and then suffered heavy casualties and was crushed by the Soviets.

The Osaka Fourth Division, on the other hand, suffered from procrastination after the order was given. The officers and men of the Osaka Division, after receiving the order for urgent reinforcements and the news that the Soviets were fierce, "fell ill" one after another due to various strange illnesses and asked to stay behind.

When the commander of the Japanese wing heard the news, he was furious. He personally sat in the infirmary to participate in the diagnosis, and only then did the various strange diseases of the Osaka Fourth Division quickly "cure". Subsequently, the Osaka 4th Division marched to Hailar. However, the fact that the work is not effective has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the Osaka Division. The pace of progress is incomparably slow. The Sendai Division traveled for four days. The Osaka Division walked for eight days. In this way, there are still a large number of people who are "left behind" for various strange reasons.

On the day that the Osaka 4th Division arrived at the front, the Japanese, seeing that the war was hopeless, reached an armistice agreement with the Soviets and declared an armistice. After the news of the armistice broke, the soldiers of the Osaka Division, who suffered from various "marching procrastination", were cured one after another. With lightning speed, he rushed to the front line. The soldiers of other divisions and regiments, who were very "sad" and had suffered a lot of battle losses, "complained" -- Lao Tzu was in such a hurry that he did not fight. It's really sad......

It is impossible to test whether the Japanese soldiers of other divisions vomited blood after hearing this "complaint......

Because the war was over when the Osaka 4th Division arrived at the front, not a single soldier was injured. When he returned, he was fully loaded, full of energy, ruddy in complexion, and his military appearance was neat and beautiful. And the Sendai Division and other Japanese regiments, which had been fighting hard for several days, were simply beggars begging for food under the comparison of the Osaka Fourth Division.

Of course. The Japanese know what the truth is. The Japanese Kwantung Army really couldn't see it, so the newspaper reported the Osaka Fourth Division's "My Invincible Imperial Army's Fourth Division Returns with Might" The news headline became "I Returned with Strength Without Injury to the Fourth Division of the Imperial Army." A word difference. The meaning is very different.

Of course, the Osaka 4th Division's fame in China was not due to the Battle of Nomenkan between the Japanese and the Soviets, but to the Battle of Xuzhou and the Battle of Changsha.

The Battle of Xuzhou began in early 1938. In order to open up the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, the Japanese occupied areas in North China and Central China. Eat the northern coastal region of China in one bite, so. The north and south attacked Xuzhou. The Japanese army coming from the south was the Japanese army that had captured Nanjing.

The 5th Division of the North China Front of the Japanese Army from the north, after defeating Han Fuqu, went all the way south, made peace with the Japanese marines who landed from Qingdao, and attacked Taierzhuang to the west, while the Japanese 10th Division also received an order to go south along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway in an attempt to make peace with the 5th Division from Qingdao.

Subsequently, it was the bloody battle of Taierzhuang. Although the Japanese army has superiority in weapons and equipment, it cannot stand the strength of the Chinese and has the will to defend the country to the death. It was filled with human lives and withstood the Japanese attack. While Li Zongren ordered the defenders of Taierzhuang to hold their positions, he ordered the Tang Enbo Corps to appear from behind the Japanese.

This dumpling-making tactic was extremely successful. The Japanese suffered heavy losses from the enemy. In this battle, more than 10,000 Japanese troops were annihilated. Although more Chinese soldiers died, the arrogance of the Japanese was half crushed, and it was the most important victory on the frontal battlefield. The annihilation of more than 10,000 Japanese also lifted the spirit of the Chinese, knowing that the Japanese were not invincible, and they could resist Japan with peace of mind from then on.

And the Japanese did not give in vain, after the defeat in the battle of Taierzhuang, the Japanese began to operate quietly, trying to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Chinese army in Xuzhou. At this time, the Japanese were attacking from the north and south, and if they held on, there was no doubt. It was just a repetition of the mistakes of the Japanese army in Taierzhuang, so Lao Jiang ordered Li Zongren to quickly break through.

In addition to letting Liu Ruming's troops stay in Xuzhou to attract the attention of the Japanese, Li Zongren ordered the defenders of Xuzhou to break into pieces after symbolic resistance, and wait for an opportunity to withdraw to the mountains and jump out of the encirclement of the Japanese army. Liu Ruming's troops, who remained in Xuzhou, also ambushed the Japanese Ninth Division in the area of Xiao County.

The Japanese did not expect that Li Zongren's subordinates, after being forced to be in a hurry, would also play guerrilla warfare, which would only be played by a sworn enemy, and they were caught off guard, allowing most of the defenders of Xuzhou to escape smoothly. When the Japanese were in a state of rapid demoralization, they planned to completely annihilate Liu Ruming's troops who remained in Xuzhou. At this time, Liu Ruming's troops resolutely abandoned Xuzhou City and fled after performing a few days of defending Xuzhou City, singing a perfect empty city plan to the Japanese. Not only did the Japanese not completely annihilate the main force of the Chinese army guarding Xuzhou, but they did not even capture an officer above the rank of captain.

Of course, the main reason why it was not caught had a lot to do with the Osaka 4th Division. After the Chinese army broke through, after more than a month of fierce fighting, it was already sleepy and tired. If the Japanese catch up at this time, the consequences will be unimaginable. And just when the Chinese army passed through a road on the Lusu-Anhui border, the vanguard of the Osaka Fourth Division, which was ordered to march south, appeared.

At this time, the Osaka Fourth Division was the army with the lowest battle loss rate, the most well-equipped and the most adequate personnel among the Japanese army. In the legion, everyone was red-faced, and morale was a mess.

The Chinese army took a position with a mortal heart, ready to fight to the death with the Japanese army, which seemed to be the elite of the elite. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, the Japanese army did not move. Although the Japanese army had clearly spotted the Chinese army, it had no intention of attacking.

Across the road, the soldiers of the 4th Division in Osaka turned a blind eye to the Chinese troops. As if no one was around, they began to cook and have a picnic......

And when the Chinese army dared to cross the highway and fled. The people of the Osaka Fourth Division also calmly continued to eat, without any intention of pursuing. As if they were not here to fight, but to travel.

Of course, because this kind of thing involves two countries, information such as the number of troops cannot be concealed at all. Since then, the Osaka Fourth Division has made a name for itself in China, but when the Japanese military department angrily asked why the Osaka Fourth Division did not shoot to stop the Chinese troops, the wing commander who led the Osaka Fourth Division to the south replied that they should strictly observe operational discipline, and that it would be a violation of discipline and wrong to intercept the Chinese troops without receiving an order to intercept them......

Judging from the fact that the Japanese military headquarters did not shoot all the Japanese soldiers of the Osaka Fourth Division, the Osaka Fourth Division should have been born to the Japanese.

The 4th Division of Osaka, which was transferred to southern China, participated in the largest battle in which it participated in the Battle of Changsha.

In November 1938, the Japanese army captured the northern part of Hunan, endangering Changsha. Lao Chiang knew that the strength of Changsha was too far from the Japanese army, and if he only relied on his troops to fight the Japanese, he was afraid that he would suffer heavy casualties, and he might not be able to hold it. Therefore, Lao Chiang ordered a scorched earth policy and planned to burn Changsha. After the Japanese entered Changsha, all the Japanese who entered the city were buried in the fire of Changsha. (To be continued.) )