Since the 1930s, instigated by the extreme ideology of militarism and under the name of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," Japan has carried out aggression and expansion against China in a dignified manner, and has carried out horrific killings of the Chinese people, casting an indelible historical shadow on the Chinese nation. The countless crimes committed by the Japanese army on Chinese soil can never be forgiven and forgotten.
The Japanese invasion of China
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation unanimously went abroad and established a united front of the Chinese nation. During this period, the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party of China were later reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolution, which was later known to all of us as the Eighth Route Army, and they fought against the enemy and defended the country
Eighth route army
Made an indelible contribution.
Compared with the National Army, which has "foreign sponsorship," and the Eighth Route Army, which was born among the broad masses of the toiling people and was born and raised, its armament is much more backward. At that time, many soldiers did not even have a decent pair of shoes, usually a pair of straw shoes and leggings, and the military uniforms on their bodies were full of patches, often not enough to eat and wear, and the combat conditions were very difficult.
Big knife straw shoes
But even under such harsh conditions, in the face of the advanced armament, steel-armored Andniks, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army did not have the slightest timidity and fear, and with their tenacious will and superb tactics, they put their lives and deaths on the sidelines and were in armaments
The expulsion of the Japanese from the land of China under quite a disparity is truly admirable.
In line with the principle of "thrift and thrift, no waste," the Eighth Route Army took a major shortcut to raising its armaments, that is, to "disarm." Just as the so-called "fighting monsters all the way to the upgrade", the Eighth Route Army relied on the collection of Japanese armaments to maintain the supply of weapons and ammunition, and recovered a lot of vitality, and some of these artillery and gun shells collected in the War of Resistance Against Japan were even used until the Korean War.
Then, since the enemy's equipment could be confiscated, why did the Eighth Route Army still insist on wearing straw shoes and refused to wear captured Japanese boots? Three reasons for you
Japanese boots are a "double-edged sword"
Military boots
Shoes, placed in the modern era of abundant materials, peace and tranquility, are all necessities of people's daily lives, not to mention the war-torn and material-scarce period of the War of Resistance. For soldiers who join the army, the quality of a pair of military shoes can prove the military strength and even combat ability of an army to a certain extent. Because soldiers need to rely on a pair of military shoes to protect their feet from damage whether they are marching or fighting, in order to maintain good combat ability.
Japanese army
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Japan vigorously developed industry and carried out modern military armament construction because of the Meiji Restoration, and also learned the military system and military equipment from the West, and achieved great results; it was not only able to build large military weapons such as battleships and cannons, but also had great advantages in soft power manufacturing, which gradually expanded its ambition to launch aggression and expansion.
Showa 5-style shoes
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression against Japanese Aggression, the military boots of the Japanese army invading China were showa five-type military boots, which the Japanese army called "knitted boots", while the Eighth Route Army called them "yellow leather shoes" and "red leather shoes". This kind of military boots are extremely exquisite workmanship, the material is also very good, the whole shoes are made of high-grade cowhide, in order to enhance the waterproof performance, the upper is the use of flared appearance, strong and wear-resistant, but also very warm, the only defect is not anti-slip.
Japanese troops in military boots
In order to solve this problem, they also embedded anti-slip iron nails in the soles of their shoes to increase friction, and walked up and stomped, figuratively known as the "iron hooves of devils", leaving a deep psychological shadow on many ordinary Chinese people who suffered during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
With excellent workmanship and materials, showa five-type military boots can play a good protective role for both feet, which is very conducive to long-term long-distance marching operations. But it also has a fatal drawback, which is that it is too bulky. According to the recollections of anti-japanese war veterans, because the shoes are too bulky, it often leads to a slowdown in the marching speed of the Japanese army climbing the mountain, which is not conducive to flexible combat in the mountains, so that the Japanese Kou have repeatedly suffered from guerrilla raids by the Eighth Route Army.
Japanese soldiers and military boots
At the same time, this pair of military boots cost a lot of money, nearly half of the monthly salary of ordinary Japanese soldiers, except for the first distribution is free, and if it is broken later, it can be paid out of pocket. Therefore, many soldiers will take special care of their military boots, and when crossing the river, they will take off their boots to avoid getting wet, so that the speed of the march will be further reduced.
On the whole, although the Japanese military boots during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression did protect their feet well and the marching army was able to go further, its bulkiness and heavy cost also invisibly reduced the flexibility of combat and marching. This is also the main reason why the Eighth Route Army is "disgusted", you know, one of the magic weapons of the Eighth Route Army is "flexibility". Many fighters are very good at guerrilla raids, and they have to intersperse flexible combat back and forth between various terrains, how can a pair of bulky military boots meet the combat style of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army?
The Japanese army crossed the river to change their shoes
Not only that, but the Eighth Route Army did not have any mechanized troops, and the marching army could only rely on two feet, unlike the Japanese army, which could be transported by trucks and ships. During the march of the Eighth Route Army's long trek, a pair of bulky leather boots also consumed much more physical strength than wearing straw shoes. Moreover, the Eighth Route Army's food and grass supply was also very limited, often insufficient to replenish the physical strength consumed by leather boots. Therefore, the Eighth Route Army would rather wear straw shoes than leather boots, and the physical strength saved by relying on grass shoes at a critical moment may be able to save its life.
sandals
In addition, compared with the Japanese military boots, many eighth route army soldiers wear homemade straw shoes, very light, low cost and simple production, can be made from local materials, can be continuously supplied, rotten can also be compiled a pair. However, the defects of straw shoes are also very obvious: the feet are ground and not strong, they are easy to wear, and they do not play much protective role for the feet.
Therefore, many warriors will collect a lot of rag strips and stuff them into straw shoes to fill them at any time to make their feet more comfortable. Even so, many fighters were still covered with blood blisters and scars due to improper protection of their feet, and their combat effectiveness was greatly weakened, and they eventually died. From here, we can also see the hardship and bitterness of the combat conditions of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army at that time.
The Eighth Route Army weaves straw shoes
Some people who see this will definitely have such an idea: If at this time, choosing to wear captured Japanese boots to protect the soldiers' injured feet, wouldn't it be possible to reduce the casualty rate of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army? Unfortunately, the reality is often not so simple.
Japanese boots are not everywhere
First of all, the captured materials seem to be rich and diverse, and in fact, they are not evenly distributed to each person. Especially in the middle and late period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, after years of conquest, Japan's finances consumed a lot of military expenditure, and a large number of laborers were lost at home, resulting in an increasingly depressed economy and increasingly tight material supplies.
In order to maintain sufficient weapons, ammunition and artillery costs, the Japanese army began to cut corners from logistics work, and the expensive military boots were its targets, first shrinking its materials, and then reducing its number, from a pair of personnel to only elite troops can be distributed, ordinary soldiers can only wear hard rubber shoes.
The Eighth Route Army captured weapons
Therefore, there are even fewer Japanese boots that can be captured by the Eighth Route Army, and it is even more impossible to distribute them equally to each soldier. For the Eighth Route Army, which is good at unity, "either everyone has it or everyone doesn't have it." The concept of "not engaging in special, not engaging in gaps, and treating all people equally" was already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at that time, and if one soldier wore leather boots and other soldiers did not, it was not conducive to the ideological atmosphere of unity and equality within the army, and naturally it would not be accepted by the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army.
Secondly, because the military boots have a size distinction, it is not a random set that can fit the foot, coupled with the fact that the Japanese army at that time was generally short, and the shoe size was relatively small. Therefore, even if the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army accept to wear Japanese military boots, it is difficult to meet those who can fit, and those leather boots that do not fit the feet basically have no room for improvement, and forcibly wearing them will increase the possibility of grinding feet, so there is no need to leave leather boots.
The military boots of the Japanese army are "the iron hooves of the devils"
In addition to the stupid weight of japanese military boots, which led to the Eighth Route Army not loving to wear them, there was another important reason, that is, symbolism. In the eyes of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese military boots, known as the "iron hooves of devils", symbolize Japan's aggression against Chinese land. The soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, who had always hated the Japanese Kou, naturally disdained to wear the Japanese military boots to fight, and in their view, wearing the Japanese military boots to fight the war undoubtedly helped the Japanese invade the Chinese land.
At the same time, in the hearts of many ordinary Chinese people, this pair of military boots of the Japanese army has also brought endless disasters and shadows to people: the anti-slip iron nails on the japanese military boots have become a very common detail in the atrocities of these invaders. In the famous anti-war novel "Bitter Cauliflower", such a plot is mentioned: "The devils looked at the old man, sneered a few times, and then raised their fur boots with iron nails and kicked him fiercely." ”
Japanese atrocities
Some survivors of the persecution of the Japanese Kou atrocities also trembled when recalling the atrocities of the Japanese Kou: "A ghost who passed by me, he thought that I was distracted and had no energy to work, so he kicked me hard in the leg, and the palm nails of his fur-turned boots hung up on my pants, kicked the blood on his legs, and landed on his legs." ”
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
This pair of "iron hooves" of the Japanese Kou symbolizes the tragic history of China's humiliation and aggression. Therefore, for the Eighth Route Army, they would rather wear straw shoes than "iron hooves of devils." In the end, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who fought hard relied on a pair of simple straw shoes and tenacious will to drive the devils wearing "iron hooves" out of the land of China.