Chapter 22: The Islands Dyeed Red (Part 2)
December 12, Sapporo City, the capital of Hokkaido Island
In the light snow of early winter, the streets and alleys of Sapporo were filled with people marching and shouting, holding various banners and singing various melodies. It looked almost as lively as a temple festival, but there was no trace of joy, only the real sadness and misery.
Many Japanese army officers and soldiers wearing khaki uniforms, as well as young students wearing black uniforms, all held banners with slogans such as "Protect the country and fight against traitors", "Loyalty fills the bones", "I would rather die than kneel down". Under the command of the young sergeant holding a saber, he sang the "Song of the Showa Restoration" with tears streaming down his face:
"... The powerful only know how to be proud of their family status, but there are really few people who care about the country; the rich and powerful only know how to boast about accumulating wealth, but they don't even think about the country!
...Under the spring sky of the Showa Restoration, men unite for justice! There are millions of soldiers in my chest, and thousands of cherry blossoms will be scattered when I die!
Rotten corpses passed by, and this body was swaying in the clouds. Worrying about the country, we stand tall and move forward, and the singing of men begins!
The sky was furious and the earth was shaking, and there was a very loud roar. Those who sleep in eternal calamity cannot sleep, Japan is awakening today! …”
And more workers and citizens have simply raised the red flag publicly, hung up the hammer and sickle badge, and sang the "Internationale" with a loud voice: "...Get up! Hungry and cold slaves! Get up! All the suffering people around the world! My blood is boiling, I have to fight for the truth..."
All of a sudden, "Song of the Showa Restoration" and "Internationale" were played one after another, and the red flag and the sun flag were one and the same. Veterans of the Russo-Japanese War, carrying sabers and medals, were actually arm-in-arm with propagandists of the Japanese Communist Party waving party emblems. One shouted to avenge the emperor, and the other shouted to defeat U.S. imperialism.
——At this moment when the country is facing subjugation and genocide, Japan’s most stubborn militarists and the most radical Bolsheviks have reached an extremely subtle consensus: they can no longer care about the national system and other things. Now is the critical moment for the survival of the nation, and the most important thing is Just fight to the death with the American devils!
Um? The Bolsheviks have no father and no king, and are treasonous? But where is the king in Japan now? Having no father and no king is nothing!
If in normal times we had seen so many "non-citizens" taking to the streets to incite chaos, the police and gendarmes would have rushed forward ferociously with sticks to suppress them. But now, the police and gendarmes are shrinking and hiding far away, never daring to embarrass the parade on the street. Even if any idiot dares to intervene occasionally, he will be greeted immediately with sticks and fists, and while fighting back, he will yell and curse: "...bastard! Even the emperor and the empire are gone now! What else are you saying about non-nationals? Are you a bastard?" Do you want to join the American devils? ”
Although they were humiliated, in the face of the fierce public sentiment, these policemen and gendarmes could only hide their faces and run away in despair. After all, the reason why they were able to dominate in the first place was because of the support of the state machine behind them. But now? The law is gone, the country is gone, and the emperor is gone. These seemingly majestic gendarmes and police are actually just like the "elders", "Wakatani", "generals" and "machi nosei" of the Tokugawa family after the fall of the shogunate. Already a waste that will be eliminated by the times, how can you still be brave in the face of the civilians and soldiers who are being stabbed?
Furthermore, after learning the news of the "Osaka Massacre" and discovering that they would be massacred even if they surrendered, even the most stupid and loyal policemen and military policemen were frightened out of their wits: What was the so-called "Provisional Japan"? The government" simply wants to deceive all citizens into going to hell! Before, the military asked everyone to die for the emperor, which was somewhat reasonable, but why do you want us to die for the wealth of you chaebols?
——The burning, killing, and looting by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in downtown Osaka was, strictly speaking, not a planned massacre, but a loss of military discipline caused by an unexpected incident. Although there are no clear statistics on the number of deaths caused before and after, it should not exceed 150,000 at most.
However, the citizens of Osaka who were fleeing could not stand it and spread rumors all the way, exaggerating the matter more and more. In addition, some thoughtful people took the opportunity to add fuel to the flames, referring to the "great achievements" of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Nanjing Massacre in the past, and the "great achievements" of Unit 731. "Achievements in scientific research on the human body", he just made up a lot of horrifying rumors, such as massacre of three million people in the city, "Australia "Continental Cup" killing competition, charcoal roasting babies, skinning people alive, raping and killing female students, scalping to record merit, using live people as targets for gun practice, using citizens to test poison gas and incendiary bombs, and disemboweling pregnant women With their bellies broken, Japanese prisoners of war and tired Japanese women lined up by the river to be beheaded. Thousands of headless corpses blocked the Yodo River outside the city...
In order to increase his persuasiveness, Wang Qiu, one of the masterminds behind the scenes, used his imagination to collect a lot of short videos and pictorials of modern Japanese bloody horror movies (later Japanese are very good at shooting this kind of subject), and selected After some content was edited, it was remade into a black-and-white film and black-and-white photos and handed over to the ship girl Comrade Sophie, who then disseminated it widely through the channels of the Japanese Communist Party and the Navy. The purpose of selecting the above-mentioned materials is to be as curious as possible, as disgusting as possible, and try to make people vomit after watching it, unable to eat for three days, or have nightmares for a week...
Therefore, under such an unprecedented wave of "screaming and killing attacks", the Japanese who were caught off guard were suddenly stimulated and went crazy!
You know, the Japanese in 1945 were not the fat and cute creatures of the 21st century "peaceful and idiotic country", but ferocious wolves who had received militaristic education since childhood. Not to mention that since the outbreak of the Pacific War, the wartime base camp has been instilling in the people all kinds of concepts that "American and British ghosts are murderous, cruel and perverted, sinister and vicious, and extremely vicious" and doing everything possible to carry out various slanders. Now, first the two nuclear bombs in Tokyo, then the burning of Kyoto, and finally the massacre in Osaka, the demonizing propaganda of the past and the bloody reality are immediately matched.
Many Japanese veterans themselves engaged in various acts of burning, killing, raping and looting during the battlefields in China and Southeast Asia. Now, comparing their feelings, they feel that the American devils will probably do the same in the Japanese archipelago. Therefore, all these exaggerated propagandas are naturally believed to be true. In particular, some retired veterans who participated in the "Nanjing Raiders" once laughed at these "inferior ethnic groups in China". They were really insensitive. When the imperial army's butcher knife reached their necks, they didn't even know how to resist. They only knew how to line up and be killed. What a bunch of trash who don't deserve to live in this world. Who would have thought that things would turn around, and now it was the turn of the warriors of the empire like myself to be lined up to be slaughtered! But why? Obviously, everyone has not lost. We have guns, cannons and planes in our hands. The US Army also has poison gas bombs! Why should we lay down our weapons and let the devils and beasts of the United States and Britain kill for fun? Even ghost aesthetics and perverted art come out?
And not only did he die alone, but the whole family, young and old, were tortured and killed in various ways! How can you tolerate such a thing?
Well, I understand, it must all be the fault of the plutocrats in the provisional government! They were the ones who colluded with the US military to bomb Tokyo, killed the emperor and subverted the government! Now we are using the bones of our imperial army and ordinary people to please the Americans! How heartless and treasonous!
For example, the Osaka Fourth Division, which was waiting to be reorganized and demobilized in Shanghai, learned of the embellished news about the "Osaka Massacre" and saw a bunch of fake and highly simulated photos of the massacre. The whole army was immediately excited, fearing that they would be killed soon. They would also suffer the fate of being massacred. They immediately took advantage of the opportunity before they were disarmed to openly rebel in Shanghai, restarted the "Greater East Asia Jihad", and declared that they would overthrow a certain "puppet regime supported by the United States and Britain."
When Chairman Chiang received this bad news, he had no choice but to mobilize troops and generals in an attempt to carry out an encirclement and suppression campaign. Unexpectedly, the troops that could be mobilized in the Jiangnan area at the moment were basically the puppet troops that had just been recruited. From top to bottom, they all belonged to the Japanese Taijun. Just the weak-legged type. Although it is said that it has the support of the invincible American father, after all, not even a hair of American aid has been seen yet - all of them have been intercepted by the Halsey Fleet and General MacArthur to fight.
On the contrary, the "receipt officers" of the Chongqing government who were parachuted down have been trying their best to accuse the recruited puppet troops in recent days, extorting and blackmailing them, causing the puppet troops to complain: Not only are they accumulating Not a penny of the long-arrears military pay was paid, but even the food rations were cut off. The puppet soldiers were forced to find food on their own. Even the weapons and ammunition were resold by the "receipt officers". For a time, morale was extremely low.
As a result, 200,000 "former puppet troops" who were short of guns, ammunition, hungry, demoralized and had an unknown amount of free pay were defeated by the explosive Fourth Division in a battle on the outskirts of Shanghai. Immediately, these beaten Osaka soldiers, while mobilizing Japanese surrender troops and expatriates scattered in various places, continued to march forward with great success, heading straight to Nanjing, looking invincible along the way. Unfortunately, Chairman Chiang had just "returned the capital to Nanjing" for more than a month. Facing the desperate Japanese counterattack, he had to escape on a riverboat again and announced that the Nationalist Government would urgently move to Nanchang... and it suddenly became the world's public opinion. A big joke.
Let’s get back to the subject. Over in the Chinese battlefield, we won’t mention the absurd scandal of how the Nationalist government was beaten by the surrendered Japanese army and once again lost the capital Nanjing. In the imperial homeland of the Japanese archipelago, there was also a turmoil, like a volcanic eruption. Especially in Hokkaido, which is far away from the main force of the US military, it is the most severely exposed to all kinds of red propaganda. However, it also has the largest number of troops stationed and hoarded supplies. Everyone from top to bottom is unwilling to sit back and wait for death.
Suddenly, no one took it seriously, whether it was military discipline or martial law. "Concerned people" from all walks of life, regardless of whether their political ideology is left or right, rushed to the streets and shouted slogans, declaring that "the whole country will be shattered." Even if they were beaten to death while standing, it would be better than kneeling down and being tortured.
While marching and shouting slogans, the men were collecting explosives and firearms, the old man began to polish his collection of samurai swords, and the women practiced bamboo spears and slingshots with unprecedented seriousness... Originally they only knew how to obey. The superiors and the Japanese, who had no ideas of their own, seemed to have turned from fools into lunatics in an instant. With red eyes, they wanted to fight for their lives against the American monsters who landed. The level was much more intense than the "anti-foreign" trend at the end of the Tokugawa period.
At least Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commander of the 7th Division at the Sapporo City Headquarters, knew very well that as long as he issued an order to obey the provisional government and surrender unconditionally, there would be a large group of red-eyed soldiers holding rifles behind him. He rushed into the headquarters and stabbed himself to death!
What's more, in your own heart, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, why are you willing to lay down your weapons and let others slaughter you?
——During the Pacific War, since all battlefields were far away from the mainland, when drastic changes broke out, the essence of the Japanese Empire's army was basically overseas, and there were only four regular field armies remaining in the mainland. Among them, the most elite Guards Division is the emperor's personal guard, stationed in Tokyo. As a result, it was first hit by a super-explosive combination of sarin gas, incendiary bombs and atomic bombs, and was knocked down. Then it heard that The Japanese Provisional Government was deceived and ignorantly laid down its weapons and surrendered to the US military. Now it is being used as free coolies to build airports and barracks for the American conquerors.
Osaka's 25th Division was completely wiped out by the US military in the New Zealand battlefield last year. Today's 25th Division is a new unit that has just been recruited this year. It has not been trained and organized in Osaka. He was confusedly ordered to surrender and was then attacked by the hostile Allied forces. The ANZACs were slaughtered in one breath, leaving only a few fish that slipped through the net and were running around the world, looking for people everywhere to cry out about the tragic experience of these Osaka recruits, and deeply regretted that they had not fired a single shot. He surrendered to the enemy and ended up with such a disgraceful end.
Then there is the 65th Division in Nagoya, which is now under siege day and night by tens of thousands of American troops. Although after learning about the tragedy in Osaka, the fighting spirit of the entire army is extremely high, and it seems that the soldiers can be used. But looking at this army's isolation and helplessness, it is estimated that the entire army is not far away from being destroyed.
Therefore, in addition to the Kwantung Army, the Korean Army and the North China Front Army from Hiroshima, which had just withdrawn into the country, the only regular forces of the mainland army on the Japanese archipelago were the Northeast Heavy Army Group headed by the 7th Hokkaido Division. Its core is the 7th Division stationed in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, and then the Soya Fortress garrison and Tsugaru Fortress garrison stationed at the north and south ends of Hokkaido island, guarding the Soya Strait and Tsugaru Strait leading to the Sea of Japan respectively. In addition, there are a bunch of miscellaneous The defense team, garrison team, transportation team, etc., with a total strength of about 100,000, can be regarded as a considerable force.
But the problem is that these armies deployed in the Hokkaido area are in a state of disarray just like the Japanese Empire today. Before, there was no commander-in-chief or military and political chief to take charge of the overall situation. Instead, they were directly under the wartime control of Tokyo. The base camp is now completely separate.
Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the current commander of the 7th Division with the largest number of troops in Hokkaido, was previously the garrison commander of Iwo Jima. The island belonged to the internal defense of the "Absolute Defense Circle" of the Japanese Empire. Therefore, Tadamichi Ribayashi, who originally belonged to the Kwantung Army, was ordered to lead his troops to Iwo Jima to build fortifications and organize troops for defense.
Unexpectedly, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi built a bunker fortifications under Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima for a while. The situation in the Pacific War was still far better than the most optimistic expectations before the war. The battlefield against the "American and British ghosts" was far away in New Zealand on the other side of the world. and Australia. In this case, an entire division's troops were idle on Iwo Jima, more than 4,000 kilometers away from the US military. It was a huge waste no matter how you look at it. So, this summer, the wartime headquarters ordered the Iwo Jima garrison to be dismantled and transferred to the Australian battlefield in batches to replenish the field divisions on the front line that had suffered heavy losses.
Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who had not fought in a war for several years, was transferred to Hokkaido to serve as the commander of the 7th Division. His main task was to improve military discipline, investigate the red ideology that had gradually spread in the army due to not having fought for many years, and investigate A series of underground smuggling cases said to have Army background.
Unexpectedly, on the day Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi handed over the military affairs of Iwo Jima and came to Hokkaido to take office, he encountered a nuclear explosion in Tokyo, and the entire wartime base camp was blown into radioactive dust. Next, before he could take control of the troops, the "Japanese Provisional Government" spread unconditional surrender notices everywhere, completely messing up the morale of the military and the people... Lieutenant General Kuribayashi Tadamichi was also confused now. The empire was gone, and there was no way. What kind of military discipline is being implemented?
Next, the Soviet border guards crossed the border south, and the border guards and Soya Fortress surrendered without a fight. The Soviet reconnaissance force advanced all the way to Asahikawa in central Hokkaido, only to be blocked by the 7th Division under the personal command of Lieutenant General Kuribayashi Tadamichi... But then, the domestic situation in Japan further developed, and the morale of the military and people was completely out of control. This professional soldier, who lacked sufficient political acumen, was soon completely at a loss.
At this moment, he was sitting in his office, looking at the lobbyist on the sofa opposite, Lieutenant General Tanaka Takayoshi, commander of Tsugaru Fortress, with an unpredictable expression on his face, "...Tanaka-senpai, you are saying that the red elements and the Red elements in Hokkaido are The Soviets across the street are interested in electing me to be the commander-in-chief of the Hokkaido Soviet Republic? How can this be achieved? All things considered, you are clearly more suitable as the military chief!" "...Oh, Kuribayashi-kun, please don't refuse. This position of commander-in-chief is yours in Hokkaido now. ! For a person like me who has just been released from a mental hospital, even if he takes that position, who will be convinced?" Tanaka Takayoshi explained with a wry smile.