Chapter 342: The Fine Tradition of the Osaka Division
"What are you thinking about? Why don't you come and pour the wine?" Terauchi Shouichi looked at Terauchi Isamu's absent-minded look and gave him a lesson in a stern tone.
"Hi!" Terauchi Isamu was so frightened that he trembled again and did not dare to neglect, so he quickly poured wine for the two of them.
"Brother, Terauchi-kun is now a senior general of the empire. Don't be too harsh on Terauchi-kun!" Okamura Neiji advised.
To talk about why Isamu Terauchi is so afraid of his uncle, we have to start with the Osaka Division.
Because the Japanese Army implements a regional reserve recruitment system, the area where each army division usually guards is also the hometown of the division's officers and soldiers and the area where they can replenish their troop sources. The Osaka Division is usually stationed in Osaka, Wakayama, Japan and other places. The officers and soldiers of this division
All are from this area.
Because the Japanese Army often names a division with the name of a place or the name of the division chief, so the Osaka Division is also called the "Osaka Division".
Isamu Terauchi was born into a family of small traders. Later, he was appreciated by Juichi Terauchi and was able to study at the Mainland University.
I was a small businessman myself, and my thoughts got back on track while I was in mainland China. After graduation, I joined the Osaka Division. As a result, I met thousands of colleagues. Terauchi Isamu's thoughts were influenced by the colleagues around him, and he went astray again.
Osaka is a very famous city in Japanese history, and was even the capital of Japan for a time. During the Warring States Period, Osaka was a battleground for military strategists. The Ishiyama Honganji Temple that broke out a ten-year war with Oda Nobunaga was in Osaka; Toyotomi Hideyoshi
After taking charge of Japan, Osaka was also used as the central city of his rule, so Osaka has always been very prosperous.
During the Tokugawa Shogunate's rule, Osaka has developed into Japan's largest economic city. After Osaka officially opened its port, a residential area was specially planned for foreigners to live. Therefore, Osaka has a very strong commercial atmosphere and is very avant-garde in thinking.
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small book booth
Later, Japan formed a division, and the Osaka Division ranked Osaka among the Class A divisions, second only to the Tokyo Division, Sendai Division and Nagoya Division.
But what is interesting is that when the Osaka Division was formed, it gave its code name: "Yodo".
You know, the use of the word "Yodo" is very unique! After all, the code names of other Japanese army divisions at that time mostly used words with the meaning of "martial spirit": for example, "Yong" in the Second Division,
"Wu" of the Ninth Division, etc.
However, this does not mean that these traders-turned-soldiers are not "brave"!
In 1933, Private Matsui of the Osaka Division ran a red light in downtown Osaka, which triggered an "internal strife" between the officers and soldiers of the Osaka Division and the local police.
The then division commander Juichi Terauchi was furious when he learned that his soldiers were "bullied"! In order to "maintain the dignity of the Imperial Japanese Army", he resolutely led his men to smash up the local police station. It can be seen that the Osaka Division
These traders in the group are "incomparably brave"!
Since this division is so "valiant" from the division commander to the soldiers, why have they been criticized and disdained by people during World War II? In fact, there are three main reasons:
First of all, it is because the Osaka Division was exposed for reselling military supplies during the war. This broke the image of the "brave and warlike" Japanese army and the hearts of Japanese senior officials! In addition, the Osaka Division is not like other divisions.
They are brainless and fanatical, and they always carry out "Long Live Charge". To put it bluntly, no matter the officers and soldiers of this division, they cherish their lives!
However, in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of the Osaka Division, they were not doing this for fun, let alone being cowardly. You must know that Osaka was the forefront of Japan's "Meiji Restoration" after all. The people there became rich early and the people's wisdom was enlightened early.
As for the anti-Japanese fanatics in the Kanto region of Japan, especially those in Hokkaido who have never seen much of the world, they are like being beaten to death if they are fooled by the top brass of the Japanese army.
The people of the Osaka Division are very calm: they know that when they want to make a fortune, they must do their best, but if it is a war, especially a battle that is uncertain, they will never fight to the death!
Therefore, they were not deceived by "Long Live the Emperor"! As for the war, it was the business of those Japanese politicians and the Emperor himself. Who would really fight for it? After all, they still had to go back alive to continue doing business and make a lot of money.
Therefore, as the standing Class A division of the Japanese army, the Osaka Division's combat effectiveness is not low, but the soldiers are not willing to fight for it.
When Japan announced its unconditional surrender in August 1945, the Osaka Division was resting near Bangkok, Thailand. Completely different from the Japanese who did not want to believe the outcome of the defeat, the Osaka Division accepted the reality of surrender and returned to the homeland extremely quickly.
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When the almost full Osaka Division returned to the Japanese port, everyone was rosy-cheeked and lively! This scene even surprised the malnourished Japanese people. According to Japanese statistics at the time, the Osaka Division was the largest military center in the Southern Army.
An army with the lowest death rate and the most abundant equipment and supplies.
...
In the early 1930s, the Japanese base camp put a lot of effort into reinvigorating the fighting spirit of this unit. The conclusion was that the commander plays a decisive role in the combat effectiveness of a unit. Therefore, the Japanese base camp successively transferred several famous generals
Reorganize the division.
In 1932, Juichi Terauchi was appointed commander of the Osaka Division, which was stationed in the country at this time.
By this time, Isamu Terauchi had already prospered, and together with his colleagues, he resold military supplies to local Osaka merchants.
As a result, as soon as Touichi Terauchi took office, Isamu Terauchi was arrested as a typical example.
Although Touichi Terauchi was tolerant of outsiders and even led soldiers to openly smash up the police station, in order to clean up the atmosphere of the Osaka Division, he was very cruel to Isamu Terauchi.
In front of many soldiers, Isamu Terauchi was beaten to pieces with a riding crop by his uncle.
Therefore, within two years of Juichi Terauchi's tenure, the atmosphere of the Osaka Division has improved on the surface. Remember, it's only on the surface.
This also caused Terauchi Isamu to tremble with fear when he saw Terauchi Shouichi.
In 1937, due to the shortage of Japanese troops stationed in China, the Japanese base camp transferred the Osaka Division to Northeast China and placed it under the Kwantung Army.
At this time, Sawada Shigeru served as the division commander of the Osaka Division. Although the soldiers of the Osaka Division had just arrived outside the customs and were not familiar with the place, the soldiers were well organized in each camp and soon became integrated with the locals.
Sawada Shigeru was an outsider in the Osaka Division, and he had no choice but to hope to be transferred out of the Osaka Division as soon as possible.
Two years later, the Osaka Division finally had the opportunity to "show its face."
In 1939, a war broke out in the Nomenkan area. The Kwantung Army ordered two divisions stationed in Osaka and Sendai in the northern part of the puppet Manchukuo to mobilize urgently to reinforce the front line.
After receiving the order, the Sendai Division (the Second Division) marched for four days from Hailar to Nomenkan. They entered the battle the same day they arrived on the battlefield, but were quickly defeated.
On the contrary, although the dispatch order of the Osaka Division was issued, it was delayed in "holding troops back".
The reason is that after the mobilization order was issued, the number of disease patients in the division increased sharply. Looking around, the entire battalion was full of officers and soldiers who asked to stay behind for various reasons.
At this time, Isamu Terauchi already had the rank of center left and served as the captain.
Under his secret instigation, most of the soldiers in his brigade were admitted to the hospital.
The commander of the regiment at that time was so furious that he personally sat in the infirmary to participate in the diagnosis, and then reluctantly organized the troops to march to the front. The joke of "the commander of the regiment changed his profession to become a doctor" spread among the Japanese army.
However, the matter was not over. The soldiers of the Osaka Division played a new trick - "passive sabotage".
From Hailar to Nomenkan, the Sendai Division walked for 4 days, but the Osaka Division walked for 8 full days, and a large number of personnel fell behind.
Coincidentally, on the day the Osaka Division's advance team arrived at the front line, both sides declared a truce.
When the news came, the officers and soldiers of the Osaka Division who had fallen behind quickly followed up and returned to the team as if they had taken a "powerful pill". Isamu Terauchi even led the team to the front line.
The two sides had originally agreed on a truce, but they almost started fighting again because of the actions of Isamu Terauchi.
Even many of the officers and soldiers left behind rushed to the front line despite being sick, while complaining with great frustration: They had no chance to fight this battle!
The then division commander Sawada Shigeru said: The Osaka division was too dispersed.
What is extremely ironic is that on the way back, the Osaka Division, fully equipped and full of energy, became the most powerful force in the Japanese army. However, the Second Division, which was the first to arrive on the battlefield, lost all its armor and was full of wounded soldiers.
camp.
The officer in charge of news and propaganda of the Kwantung Army really couldn't stand it. He took up his pen and changed the headline of the news "My Invincible Imperial Army's Osaka Division Returns with Power" that the Japanese newspaper submitted for review to "I Invincible the Imperial Army's Osaka Division".
"The Regiment Returns with Power", mocking this "weak" unit in a roundabout way.
Later, the senior Japanese army officials thought that since successive division commanders could not change the atmosphere of the Osaka Division, they simply started with middle- and low-level officers and soldiers, eliminated a group of soldiers with corrupt military discipline, and replenished the remaining veterans in batches to other divisions.
, and then recruit a group of new soldiers from Osaka.
This is also the reason why Terauchi Isamu has acquaintances in various divisions.
Isamu Terauchi still remembers the scene when he parted with his squadron leader Kuroto.
At that time, the farewell speeches of various Japanese military units had their own characteristics. For example, the Sendai Division said "the military will last forever" when the war situation was good; when the situation was not good, it said "Kudanzaka met" (Yasukuni Shrine is in Tokyo's Kudanzaka).
However, when Terauchi Isamu was waiting for the officers and soldiers of the Osaka Division to say goodbye, what he said was "kōshin oikiri", which translated means "take care of your precious body", "your body is the most important thing", or simply "preservation of your life comes first".
Later, when the Japanese army attacked Hengyang and Zhijiang, they encountered stubborn resistance from the Chinese army.
As soon as the battle began, the veterans from the Osaka Division repeated their old tricks. From officers, non-commissioned officers to veterans, they were admitted to the hospital one after another, passively but reasonably refusing to fight.
When the injured Japanese soldiers arrived at the hospital, the "seniors" of the Osaka Division who were "recuperating" still asked: "Why are you risking your life like this?"
When asked why they were unwilling to participate in the war, these "sick patients" said proudly: "I heard that we are serving as sheep attackers in this attack. This is very boring. If it is the main attack, we must fight hard.
It’s a battle.”
When the Pacific War broke out, all Japanese military units were engaged in fighting against the Allies, and the Osaka 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 force.
, still stationed in Hudu.
Until April 1942, the Osaka Division was transferred to the Philippines, and together with the 5th, 18th, and 21st Divisions, participated in the final attack on the Corregidor Fortress.
In this battle, the Osaka Division went uncharacteristically smoothly and successfully completed its mission. In the end, all the U.S.-Philippine troops in the Bataan Peninsula surrendered. Afterwards, I learned that this was not the Osaka Division's change of gender, but that the U.S.-Philippine troops in the Philippines had been
It has been cut off from supplies for many days and has been surviving on "salt and green vegetables" for several months. It is not new at all to collapse at the first touch.
However, this victory brought great glory to the Osaka Division. In his hometown of Osaka, it was even more popular. He felt proud that "Thanks to the Osaka Division, we defeated the enemy of Bataan."
The only regret was that it was later discovered that the merchants in Osaka used this opportunity to celebrate the victory to resell wartime rationing materials and take advantage of the opportunity to do business. The base camp knew the details of the Osaka division, so it was really difficult to know how to train it.
I tried my best but couldn't figure it out.
Due to the reputation of the Osaka Division, it was not very popular in various theaters. Therefore, until the end of the war, this unit was constantly transferred behind the Japanese front lines and never participated in any major battles.
Why is the Osaka Division so unique among the Japanese army and "weak" and invincible? This is caused by Osaka's unique culture.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In ancient Japan, the basic social structure was that farmers were attached to the land-owning princes (namely daimyo), and the princes were subordinate to the emperor. This has not changed for a long time.
The social structure of Japan has led to the formation of a cultural characteristic of strict superior-subordinate relations and a spirit of obedience. It was also the psychological basis for the Japanese army's widespread fanatical "loyalty to the emperor" during World War II.
However, Osaka is a little different. This place is a famous commercial city. Most of the residents are related to business and have very limited respect for the princes.
On the contrary, around issues such as exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes, the people of Osaka have been fighting and bargaining with the princes for hundreds of years. The so-called loyalty is not even mentioned. Therefore, the emperor's status in the hearts of the people of Osaka is also different from that of other places.
Not quite the same.
Although during World War II, soldiers born in Osaka were also bewitched by Nazism, Osaka people would not rush to "die for loyalty to the Emperor and die for the Empire of Japan" and would try their best not to die.
When ordered by superiors, officers and soldiers born in Osaka are also accustomed to "bargaining" and "careful calculations" and will not follow through with their eyes closed like other troops.
Even within the Osaka Division, the so-called "Three Don'ts" principles have been formulated: "Don't make unnecessary sacrifices," "Don't participate in unreasonable battles," and "Don't pursue enemy forces at a dead end."
Japanese historian Yukisuke Seki made a short summary of the Osaka Division in the last part of "The First Useless Division of the Japanese Army", which makes some sense, "If the Japanese army were like the Osaka Division, it would probably be
There won’t be a war between Japan, right? If so, there won’t be Japan’s defeat..."
