In the Battle of Kunlun Pass, chinese soldiers and civilians killed The Japanese Major General Brigade Commander Masao Nakamura, and Nakamura's death became the biggest highlight of the Battle of Kunlun Pass. What many people don't know is what an arrogant person Nakamura is. How exactly was he killed? It has to start at the beginning.
Masao Nakamura
Masao Nakamura was born in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan in 1895 and was poisoned by the spirit of Bushido from an early age. Masao Nakamura graduated from the Japanese Army Officer School and the Japan Army University. He successively served as a second lieutenant of the 35th Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army, a service officer and a member of the General Staff Headquarters of the Army, a military attaché of the Japanese Embassy in France, an instructor at the Army University, a captain of the 18th Infantry Regiment, an instructor of the Army Infantry School, a deputy military attaché of the Japanese Embassy in Italy, a chief of staff of the 12th Division, and the commander of the 12th Brigade. In 1905, Nakamura fought in the Russo-Japanese War. In the Russo-Japanese War, Nakamura's 5th Division defeated the Russian army, and the Japanese 5th Division received the title of "Steel Army".
In early 1936, Masao Nakamura invaded China with Lieutenant General Kishige Shimizu, the commander of the division. In March 1939, Masao Nakamura was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the 21st Infantry Brigade. Nakamura Masao participated in dozens of battles, including the Battle of Nankou, the Battle of Xinkou, the Battle of Taiyuan, the Battle of Pingxingguan, the Battle of Taierzhuang, and the Battle of Guangzhou. Masao Nakamura and his men's hands were stained with the blood of Chinese people, and Nakamura fought from the Russo-Japanese War to the War of Resistance Against Japan, from the northeast all the way to Guangzhou, and then to Guangxi. In Nakamura's eyes, the Japanese army was invincible. Masao Nakamura once shouted wildly to his subordinates: "The Fifth Division has killed invincible hands all over the world!" ”
Kunlun Pass
At the end of October 1939, the Japanese 5th Division (division commander Imabari Tsu) sailed south from Dalian and entered Qinzhou Bay on November 16. On November 24, the Japanese captured Nanning. On December 4, Nakamura Masao led the 21st Brigade to capture Kunlun Pass, a strategic point in southern Guinan, about 45 kilometers from Nanning. Kunlun Pass is tightly choked on the throat of the Guinan Highway traffic, and it is a place where soldiers and families must fight. So China mobilized more than 200,000 troops for the Battle of Guinan, the main battlefield was launched at Kunlun Pass, and the goal was to recover Nanning.
In order to lay the position of Kunlun Pass, the Fifth Army of the Chinese 38th Army, with a total of more than 50,000 people, was ready to launch an attack on Kunlun Pass. The Fifth Army headquarters was located in Jeonju and recruited many soldiers in Guangxi, so most of the junior officers and soldiers were Guangxi. The Fifth Army possessed tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery and other weapons imported from the Soviet Union, and its soldiers were of higher quality and more effective in combat.
After the Japanese army captured Kunlun Pass, only the second brigade of the 42nd Regiment of the 21st Brigade Regiment was left to hold firm on the mountain, and the captain of the brigade, Matsuki Sozanro, led more than a thousand of his men to defend Kunlun Pass, day and night to guard against the counterattack of the Chinese army, and the brigade commander Masao Nakamura led the main force back to Nanning. After the Chinese army counterattacked Kunlun Pass, the brigade was directly under the command of the division. The Second Brigade of the Japanese Army built strong bunkers, trenches, bunkers and other fortifications at the pass and the surrounding mountains in an attempt to hold on to Kunlun Pass for a long time.
At dawn on December 18, the Fifth Army began to storm the Kunlun Pass Japanese army. The 200th Division under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Army took the lead in launching a fierce attack on the Japanese strongholds with mechanized troops, and the units advanced step by step in accordance with the established strategy. In the evening of the fierce battle, the Rong 1st Division and the 200th Division finally captured Kunlun Pass, planted the battle flag on the top floor of this ancient pass for the first time, and the Second Brigade of the Japanese Army guarding Kunlun Pass was completely annihilated.
Tank unit of the 5th Army
At 10:00 a.m. on December 20, Masao Nakamura was ordered to lead more than 1,000 people from two brigades of the brigade's 42nd Wing to Kunlun Pass in trucks. When Nakamura Masao and the others reached Liutang, they were blocked by a regiment of the newly formed 22nd Division of the Nationalist Army, and Nakamura Masao and others were blocked in Liutang for two days and could not take a step forward. At this time, the Japanese troops on Kunlun Pass had exhausted their ammunition, and although the Japanese army dispatched a large number of aircraft to drop ammunition supplies, most of these ammunition supplies fell into the hands of the Nationalist army. Seeing that the Japanese army in Kunlun Pass was in danger, Nakamura Masao decided to leave part of his troops to entangle with the Nationalist army, and personally led more than 700 people to forcibly break through, cutting a short road through Qitang and groping in the direction of Batang.
At 11:00 a.m. on December 23, Nakamura Masao and others walked about 2 kilometers northwest of Qitang and were ambushed by the Nationalist army, Nakamura Masao was hit by a bullet and injured his left cheek, and after a simple operation by the marching doctor, he continued to cut the mountain village path.
On the morning of December 24, Nakamura masao and others arrived at the mountainous area on the west side of Jiutang, where Kunlun Pass had been seen far away. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the wounded Nakamura stood on the grass below the mountain, looking at the terrain ahead with a telescope and speaking to his subordinates. Just at this moment, Zheng (Tingji), the commander of the 3rd Regiment of the Honorary First Division, who was ambushed nearby, was observing the enemy situation, and Zheng saw from the telescope that there was a Japanese officer on the lawn next to the highway who was also looking at him with a telescope, so Zheng ordered the first battalion of the regiment to secretly move forward to occupy the nearby favorable heights, and concentrated mortars and heavy machine guns to bombard the Japanese troops on the lawn.
Kunlun Pass fallen soldiers
For a moment, mortar shells and machine gun bullets shot at the devils. Two shells landed around Nakamura one after another, and some of the Japanese troops fell to the ground, and some fled to Jiutang Street. Masao Nakamura was shot and wounded on the spot, the bullet penetrated from his left chest to his abdomen, part of his liver was exposed, and blood flowed, nakamura's medical staff immediately carried him to Jiutang Elementary School in a nearby street for rescue. At that time, it was getting dark, and the military doctor performed an open-belly operation for Masao Nakamura under a military horse lamp.
In the darkness of the night, Commander Zheng saw a house with faint lights. Although the light is faint, it is quite dazzling in the darkness. Zheng Tingji guessed that there might be Japanese troops hiding in the house, so he ordered the artillery to fire at the lights. After the firing, a shell landed on the roof of the elementary school, and suddenly a large amount of tiles and dust fell on the roof, and the smoke filled the entire house. The military doctor immediately used his body to block the abdomen that had been cut open, but it was still too late, and Nakamura's severed stomach fell into a lot of gray soil and rubble, and the military doctor had to take out these ash and rubble one by one and continue to operate.
At 20:30 that night, the operation was finally completed. However, due to the long delay in the operation, and the fact that Nakamura had too much rubble and lime in his stomach to remove, Nakamura's wound was seriously infected. At 5:18 a.m. on the 25th, Masao Nakamura died at Jiutang Elementary School. Masao Nakamura shouted to kill the invincible hand all over the world, and the leader of the Zheng Regiment killed him with three shells, if Nakamura Izumi knew, he would understand the principle of being a low-key person.
In a final battlefield diary on the evening of December 23, Nakamura wrote: "The reason why the Twelfth Brigade of the Fifth Division of the Imperial Imperial Army received the title of Steel Army in the Russo-Japanese War was because our tenacity defeated the tenacity of the Russians. But, at Kunlun Pass, I should admit that I met an army stronger than the Russians. ”
Masao Nakamura's Grave
After Nakamura Masao was killed, the officers and men of the Fifth Army recaptured Kunlun Pass after 12 days of fierce fighting, killing more than 5,500 enemy soldiers. In addition to killing Major General Masao Nakamura of the Japanese army, he also killed and wounded the japanese 42nd Wing Commander Sakatahara, the 21st Wing Commander Yoshinosuke Miki, the deputy Wing Commander Ikuta Fujiichi and the first, second and third major captains, etc. The Japanese 21st Brigade suffered more than 85% of the casualties and the Fifth Army suffered more than 10,000 casualties. Masao Nakamura, who once claimed to be "invincible in the world", was killed in Kunlun Pass, which should be an ending he could not have dreamed of. After Nakamura's death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Lieutenant General of the Army.
In 1946, in order to commemorate the Battle of Kunlun Pass, the local soldiers and civilians built a memorial tower on the mountain, and also erected a monument for the killed Nakamura Masao, which reads "The Tomb of Major General Masao Nakamura of the Japanese Fifth Division who died in the Battle of Kunlun Pass." "40 years later, Nakamura Masao's family came to Kunlun Pass, and after the tomb of Nakamura Masao was swept away, Nakamura's family thanked China for its generosity and generosity, and expressed gratitude for China's tree monument.
Kunlun Pass Memorial Tower
History is far away, but history is worth remembering for future generations. Only by cherishing peace and not forgetting the hardships of resisting Japan can we ensure peace in the world by strengthening the army and strengthening the country.