1
My name is Zuo Xianliang. I was born in Yanshou County, Heilongjiang in 1922. After the September 18th Incident, the puppet Manchukuo government imposed severe taxes on the people of Northeast China. First, the "grain and grain yield lotus" policy. Only Japanese people can eat rice in , while Chinese people eat rice and white flour are economic crimes. forced the confiscation of farmers' grain. The second is the policy of "hard work and quotation" and recruiting workers free of charge. Men over 16 years old must bear the obligation of labor. The arrested workers left their hometowns and suffered a lot. Many people became alien ghosts.
1937 I was 16 years old. In order to avoid labor, my mother hid it from me two years old during the "state investigation" of the Japanese and puppets. Since 1939, like my father, I have been arrested every year as a laborer for more than half a year. In the past few years, I have worked as a cool laborer such as repairing "national highways", building airports, building walls, digging trenches, and hitting "Mingzi" (military matches).
1943, according to the information obtained by the Japanese and puppet authorities, I was 20 years old to serve as the "national army" military service. One day in the autumn of this year, I was actually the same age as me and had been a "national soldier" for two years. My cousin, wife and nephew Wei Yuwen, who lives in the neighboring village, asked me if I would like to be a "national soldier". When I want to be conscripted as a "national soldier", I feel full of fear. One day in the summer of 1941, I went to the county town to sell melons and saw with my own eyes a Japanese officer nicknamed "Gao Huizi". He used the battle knife with a scabbard, and violently chopped and beat a "national soldier" with a bandage around his neck, which made him covered in pus and blood. The "national soldier" was beaten and kept standing at attention. Whenever I think of that scene, I feel very uncomfortable, so when Wei Yuwen asks me, I told him that I am most afraid of being a "national soldier".
Wei Yuwen told that if you don’t want to be a “national soldier”, you must do two things: one is to specifically indicate the opposite direction pointed by the pointer when physically testing your vision, and the other is to corporal punishment for the unqualified person after physical examination, you must not confess the truth. Later, after the "National Military" physical examination failed at the end of that year, I was beaten three times in a row. I insisted that I couldn't see clearly, and said that the more I hit my eyes, the more blurred it became, and finally got through this level. But I didn't know that all important and confidential labor services in the Japanese and puppets would be allowed to be missed, and I didn't know that I would be arrested in two years to "731 Bacterial Force ".
2
In the spring of 1944, I suffered from typhoid fever and temporarily escaped the labor of this year.
On June 9, 1945 (April 29), I was doing farm work in the fields. The pseudo-district office sent someone to issue a notice, ordering me to work as a laborer on the "border line", without a deadline.
During the puppet Manchukuo period, whoever received such a notice would cause disaster to come from the sky. Because few people who go to "border" to work as laborers come back alive. The parents and the whole family burst into tears all night. My family has 10 people (parents, two younger brothers, two sisters, my wife and I, and two children). I am the eldest son and the main labor force of the whole family. If I go to work as a laborer, what will happen to the whole family’s life in the future? What's more, in the spring of this year, the 12 bags of rations hidden in the beach of Hetao in my family had been searched by the Japanese army, and the whole family had no food? But if I don’t go, the Japanese puppet authorities will arrest me and go to jail. He had no choice but to let others mercy. Ni He from the village was also sent to the "border" at the same time as me. The next day, my parents and relatives raised more than 20 yuan for me, and the villagers in the village cried and sent me over 10 miles away, leaving with tears. The tragic scene of separation from life and death will be unforgettable for me for the rest of my life!
After 530 workers in the county gathered in the county, the pseudo-county office mobilized Su Yaoguan, the head of the envoyment department, to give everyone a lecture. He raised his voice and said, "Your hard-working and salary-seeking team is working in the 'border'. There is no deadline. You must be mentally prepared. Don't run back. Running back is a death sentence, and the family members will be in jail!" After hearing the lecture, the workers cried bitterly, and everyone knows that this means that they will be farewell to their relatives in their hometown.
Then, the pseudo-county office spent two days to give the labor formation. The county has 1 squadron with 5 squadrons under its jurisdiction, and each squad has 3 squadrons under its jurisdiction. There are about 100 people in the team and about 30 people in the team. The squadron leader, squadron deputy, health chief and other squadron leaders are all assigned by the county mobilization department, and the squad leader and squad leader are selected by the squadron leader from the small labor leaders of previous years.
On June 13, after the team was organized, we were sent to Zhuhe County (now Shangzhi County) Railway Station. After taking the train for four or five hours, we arrived at Harbin Station . When we headed south to Sunjia Station , the crew asked everyone to pull up the curtains and warned everyone not to peel the curtains and look out, otherwise it would be a death penalty. The train walked for another half an hour and arrived at the Bungalow Station. After getting off the bus, everyone walked on their luggage for more than an hour and came to Laowutun. This is a labor camp in the Kwantung Kwantou Army's "731 Bacterial Force" of the Killing Devil's Cave.
s
There are five sheds in Laowutun, covering an area of about 1 mile square. To the southeast is a large playground, and less than 200 meters to the north is a labor cemetery with an area of about 40 acres. The place half a mile away to the south and west is also a labor house, where laborers are recruited from other places live. A large area about 3 miles south of the city is the camp, site and work area of the Kwantung Army "731 Bacterial Force".
In order to prevent workers from escaping, barbed wire mesh was laid around the shed area. There were 3-meter-wide and 2-meter-deep water moats outside the barbed wire mesh, and the trenches were filled with water. There is only one south gate in the shed area, and a fixed post is set up, and Chinese laborers stand guard. There were mobile posters outside, and they were all Japanese troops carrying guns and live ammunition.
The Japanese military stipulates that if a labor post finds suspicious situations such as intentional escape, they should immediately report to the higher level, and report to the Japanese labor service shift, and arrest and execute. When a worker goes to the toilet at night, he must first say hello to the guard post, otherwise he will be treated as a matter of escape. They also stipulate that workers are not allowed to write letters to their families and relatives, whisper when working in the site, are not allowed to leave the shed at will, are not allowed to speak when eating, are not allowed to wear clothes and sleep, and are not allowed to speak after turning off the lights.
After going to Laowutun Work Shed, each of the workers gave each of the green "renewal cloth" (cloth spun with torn cotton and torn clothes). The back of the hat was like a Japanese military cap, with 3 cloth straps. The next day was the Dragon Boat Festival. The Japanese army ordered all workers to gather on the playground and take photos together, and then paste their personal photos on the laborer's ID card for inspection and verification when entering and leaving the venue. After issuing the labor ID card, our squadron was organized into the "Unit 731" labor squad, and the team leader led the team into the field on the same day.
"731 Force " is a courtyard surrounded by a fence of seven or eight feet high and a high voltage grid on it. From the outside, it looks like a factory. It has a two-story square building inside, a power plant, a boiler room, many workshops and warehouses, and 3 high chimneys. There are two posts at the gate, and Japanese soldiers stand guard with 38 rifles. Laborers are not allowed to look in when entering the yard from the north gate of the site. Each person shows their ID card first, and the Japanese guards are searched and checked and verified by the gate.
During the body search and verification, the two guards were holding bayonet rifles and the two guards were holding fourteen-year-old pistols, all at the same time, and the scene was very scary. If a match is found, it is a death sentence. Once a team leader was working, he was covered in alcohol. When he was checking at the door, the Japanese army said that he stole alcohol and drank it, which killed all the teeth of his department, which scared everyone. Walk out of the east gate of the venue and enter the work area. There are also barbed wire fences around the work area. We must act collectively and not be allowed to act alone when eating, sleeping, and work and walk in the work area.
4
The work shed where the workers live is a shed cover built up with two wooden boards and herringbones. The shed cover is directly grounded, and a pedestrian passage half a meter deep and about 60 cm wide is dug downwards in the middle of the shed. On both sides of the passage are long paving made of half-inch thick wooden boards. When sleeping, everyone's heads were facing inward, their heads were pressed against the shed board, and their feet were hanging beside the bed. There is a small team living in a shed. The shed is about 40 meters long and less than 4 meters wide. There is a door at each end of the shed. There is no window, but the shed slabs are exposed everywhere. The shed is dark and damp, and the bed is covered with grass. Workers have developed skin diseases such as scabies and "hydrangea wind" in less than half a month after staying.
When eating every day, workers must sit cross-legged in the middle of their bed in advance in front of the aisle. The labor food class is responsible for setting up a rice bowl, a vegetable bowl, and a pair of bamboo chopsticks in front of the laborers and serving everyone with good food.Then, the team leader standing at the door of the shed shouted Japanese "Kasi Yomukedao" to the entire team of people. The workers shouted loudly, and at the same time, they folded their hands and bowed to their foreheads, their eyes closed, and thought to themselves: This food was given to me by the Emperor. About 2 minutes later, the team leader shouted "Yidadak Masi" again, and the laborers also replied in unison and then had a meal. During the meal, you can only hear the sound of "hiss and hissing" sucking, and hundreds of people cannot have a single voice.
Japanese people do not regard Chinese people as human beings, and treat labor like pigs and dogs. Daily daily meals: breakfast is sorghum rice sorghum rice mixed with half a bowl of dried soybeans; lunch is moldy corn flour mixed with acorn noodles and steamed buns; dinner is halves of sorghum rice mixed with soybeans porridge. The so-called vegetable soup, half a bowl is vegetable soup, and half a bowl is muddy water. The ratio of the team of No. 100 people when cooking is: 24 buckets of water, 2 scoops of salt, and 5 large baskets of lettuce. There was no drop of oil in the whole pot of dish. Every meal I was given some spoiled pickles that were thrown away by the Japanese. During the meal, the team leader and the team leader monitored him. He was not allowed to throw away food, and even the mud in the soup had to be drunk. Everyone is especially unwilling to eat the moldy Japanese pickles, but the Japanese require that they must be eaten thoroughly. Some workers will be scolded or beaten when vomiting while eating.
5
The first day I was assigned to the chainsaw yard, processing wood boards and recipes. It's dirty and tiring here. The Japanese have high requirements for work efficiency and do not give any rest time. I am a palm saw. I need to add water to cut wood with chain saw . Once the machine is opened, the saw water and sawdust are splashed all over my body and face. But the palm saw must keep its eyes open and stare at the saw opening. Otherwise, once it is pulled, it will be beaten and may be killed by the Japanese. Saw water and sweat soaked the whole body's clothes every day. In this environment, the laborers' skin contracted, their hair gradually fell off, and they often caught colds after more than 10 days. In less than a month, a coworker named Jing from my neighboring village in Hebei died of severe illness due to excessive starvation. She was only 22 years old. I contracted tuberculosis and often vomited blood. The Japanese do not treat you, and you still have to work. The laborers who came early told us that there are many new corpses buried in the labor grave north of Laowu Village every day.
There is a place dedicated to hosting sick workers at the edge of our shed area. The laborer surnamed Jing died shortly after he was sent here. When he arrived here, the team arranged for four of our coworkers to bring him up. We thought this was the place to treat the disease. There is no house in this place, and it looks like a flat earth bun from the ground. There is a semi-underground cellar door on the west side of the earth bag. When you enter, there is a large cellar. The door is very dark. When you walk in, you will see several soybean oil lamps hanging on a row of pillars. Under the lamp is a corridor dug down like a labor shed. There are thatched on both sides of the corridor for hospital beds, and there are some silent "patients" lying on it. The cellar is gloomy and cold, making people shudder.
A few of us walked in less than 20 meters and met a man in his 30s and dressed in rotten clothes. He said to us, "It's the one who sent him to the patient. Let him go back." When we returned, we saw a "patient" with a sallow complexion crawling out of the nostrils of a "patient". We quickly left there in horror. I guess the man had been dead for a long time. It is said that the dead people here dug a hole in the cemetery and buryed their bodies.
The 16 workers in the chainsaw yard were transferred to the timber yard to transport and stack timber because they were unable to complete the daily quota. The thin laborer, two people carried a large log of ash willow . When they walked, their legs were trembling, but they had to grit their teeth and persevere. The Japanese always shouted to do it quickly, and they also beat the workers with whips from time to time.
One day, when we were transporting the wood, we found two big-eyed thief (a yellow wild rat) under the pile of wood. The workers immediately surrounded it and stepped on it to death. No one expected that this incident caused a sudden disaster. After finding out about our Japanese foreman Guangang, he looked at the dead rats and got angry at us, and ordered the entire team of 30 workers to gather in an emergency and stand in a row.I stood tall at the front line, stepped forward to Guangang and shot left and right, slapped me twice in the face, making my ears buzzing and my eyes buzzing. Then I ordered me to defeat myself as I did. Below me is Xu Haishan, and I can't bear to hit him. This annoyed Guan Gang. He shouted "Baga Yalu" and slapped me hard for more than 10 consecutive days, then threw me to the ground and kicked me hard. My head was swollen and my face was covered in blood. Two teeth were lost at that time, and my eardrums were bleeding. My body was covered in bruises and my body rolled on the ground, screaming constantly. Seeing this, everyone was forced to slap each other until everyone was beaten to the point of bruising and swollen.
Later, Guan Gang found a translator and said to us: "In the future, when you see a mouse, you must catch a living person, and you are not allowed to stomp to death!" After being beaten this time, my left ear was almost deaf, and all my teeth were loose. Later, after escaping home, I changed into all my dentures. Everyone never understands why the Japanese are so close to mice? It was only after many years that I realized that the mice were used by the "Unit 731" to cultivate plague bacteria.
One day, a Japanese officer came and the captain asked me to go with him. This Japanese officer took me into a large workshop in the field. He gestured to tell me to walk as he did, only looking forward and not looking around. I nodded to agree. When I entered the door, I saw that there were several large machines in the open workshop, which were roaring and trembling, causing the ground to tremble continuously. I saw six Japanese people wearing yellow work clothes, white gloves and masks, looking at the machine. The Japanese officer who led me forward and the Japanese who were looking at the machine didn't know what to say, and it seemed that they wanted me if they wanted me. Those Japanese waved their hands to refuse. At this moment, I suddenly remembered what the workers who came here said: "The workers transferred by the Japanese alone have gone but never returned." Thinking of this, I immediately became nervous and sweated all over. Fortunately, the Japanese officer who brought me asked me to come back when he saw everyone waved his hand. I walked out of the workshop and my sweat was already soaking my whole body's clothes. After returning to the shed, everyone said that I was lucky.
6
On July 17, the labor squad leader Teng suddenly ordered more than 500 workers in our squadron to dig a large hole in the empty field 300 meters southeast of the site. Guan Teng deceived us and said that this was for air defense. So we got up early and dug holes in dug late, and we had to work for more than 16 hours a day. Although everyone worked hard, a short Japanese foreman (whose name) holding a wooden stick in hand was still slow and shouted, "Hurry! Hurry!" He tried to beat anyone with a wooden stick. In this way, we worked until August 8, and dug into three square pits with a depth of five or six meters and a length of 40×50 meters. We never expected that these three pits were the tombs of those who were later buried alive by the "Unit 731" in order to eliminate the evidence of the crime.
Later I learned that there were four or five hundred Chinese people locked in the prison of "Unit 731". On August 9, Kwantung Army Command ordered the "Unit 731" to turn on the gas switch, and the gas poisoned all the people inside to death through the prison ventilation duct . The body was poured with gasoline and set on fire, buried in these three large pits. In 1957 after liberation, when Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Company built a family building and dug the foundation, these three large pits were dug out. The pits were densely filled with white bones, and they were cleaned up and loaded with 3 trucks.
7
One day more than a month later, the whole squadron got up before dawn and started eating and gathered to set off. No one knows where the laborers go and dares not ask. More than 20 Japanese people, including the labor squad leader Teng, rode tall horses, and followed up from front to back of the team. On the way, the workers were driven to trot all the way. After walking for about five or six hours, the team came to , Songhua River, and . At this time, the Japanese were divided into two teams, carrying laborers across the river bridge, and heading west to Sun Island (I didn't know it was Sun Island at that time) and stopped. I saw a circle of red floating objects floating on the river. The workers all thought that the Japanese were going to drown everyone, and they were very panicked.
After a while, the team leader who was summoned by the Japanese to a meeting came back and conveyed that the Imperial Army rewarded everyone with bathing today. The red float on the river is the boundary line and cannot be exceeded. Those who cross the boundary are a death sentence. After saying that, he ordered the workers to take off their clothes and lined up to the water.Seeing this situation, everyone did not believe it was to take a bath, but still thought it was going to be drowned. When approaching the float, the water was almost gone, and the team was a little messy. At this time, I heard a shout from the shore, "Turn back and move freely." Only then did the workers realize that it was really taking a bath.
is in the water for less than an hour, and the tired and hungry workers can no longer swim and gather in shallow water to rest, but no one can go ashore without orders. Seeing this, the Japanese ordered everyone to come up for dinner, and it was already noon. For some reason, the Japanese were particularly "gracious" this time and sent two small steamed buns to each person. Everyone was delighted and finished it in just a few bites. This is the only exception to give food to white flour. It’s a pity that there are too few 2 small steamed buns in front of the hungry workers. After the meal, the Japanese announced that they would hold a wrestling match. All 20 Japanese people were on the court, and each labor team had to play at least 3 players, one-on-one matches. They stipulate that workers will be rewarded with a box of foreign cigarettes at a time when they fall. The competition lasted for nearly an hour, and every Japanese fell three or four workers one after another, and none of the workers on the field won the prize. Ni Heya of this village gritted his teeth and fell twice with Guan Teng before being fallen. He is considered a stronger opponent that the Japanese have encountered, and the others have lost miserably. Every time the laborer fails, the Japanese will laugh with contempt. This "match" is actually about throwing the Chinese people to have fun. Even walking is so shaking that the workers are not the opponent of these fat Japanese people who eat and drink.
The sun was westward, and the labor force was like a Tathagata, and he trotted five or six hours all the way back to the shed. Many people crossed their legs and sat on the pavilion, but before they could pick up their bowls, they pierced their heads into the underground aisle or fell on the pavilion and fainted.
8
On August 9, the panicked Japanese labor squad leader Fuji led the translator and gathered more than 2,000 Chinese workers on the playground to teach in Japanese. The translation said, "The Russians came from Mudanjiang . We destroyed all the buildings here. The Russians came here and saw that there were no buildings and left. After the Russians left, we will rebuild them again! After the buildings were destroyed, we will send you home by train. At that time, you can take whatever you want!"
Everyone was so happy that they heard that the Soviet Union sent troops to attack Japan. They said privately: "This time, Japan is going to be over. We will no longer be slaves to the destruction of the country." At this time, every Japanese officer and soldier seemed to have lost their souls, with a sad face, but they were even more fierce to Chinese laborers.
That night, after dinner, the laborers who had been tired for a day were about to rest, and the labor team suddenly ordered all the workers in our squadron to gather in an emergency and run into the field to load the train. It turned out that the Japanese army was about to escape. We carried the heavy rectangular wooden box (I don’t know what it was inside) and ran to the train. The Japanese soldiers thought it was slow to work, so they forced us with guns and shouted: "Hurry! Hurry!" Starting from the evening of the 9th, they kept loading until the night of the 10th. They worked for a day and two nights without resting, so tired that I vomited blood. In the end, the Japanese family members also got on the tank truck. At this time, all the Japanese, the arrogant and arrogant spirit of the past, disappeared, and they were all scrambling to escape.
After loading the train, we were tired and sleepy. We entered the shed for less than two hours. In the early morning of August 11, a group of Japanese soldiers with live ammunition suddenly came to surround the shed, yelling, and using guns to force us to go to the farm to burn the warehouse. There are dozens of large warehouses in the site, and Chinese workers are not allowed to get close to them on normal days. When we opened these warehouses, we saw that some were piled with square wire cages, including rats, big-eyed thieves, monkeys, and some were filled with cows and horses. At that time, I didn’t know what these animals were used for (I only realized after liberation that they were used for bacterial experiments and bacterial production).
Japanese soldiers were like fierce gods, staring at their eyes and shouting while forcing us to carry wood into the warehouse as fast as possible, poured gasoline and alcohol, and then ordered to burn it. The firelight was together, and the horse, cow, rat, and monkey were in chaos. The fire burned for three days and three nights, and all the warehouses were turned into ashes.While we were burning the warehouse, the Japanese started to blow up buildings in the site. The Sifang Building, power plant, boiler room and workshops that were not allowed to be watched by Chinese workers were all blown up. In fact, this is evidence of the crime of destroying bacterial troops on the eve of the collapse of the Kwantung Army.
Japanese people are in a hurry and panic, like a dog that is stranded. Japanese people like Guan Gang, who are usually wearing Union uniforms, now wear military uniforms, wear weapons, and carry swords. When they see the Chinese, their eyes are red. We workers also had a premonition that the Japanese devils would definitely struggle to kill and silence them, so everyone had the idea of running away.
9
The health chief of our labor squadron is the one mentioned earlier who taught me to deceive the "National Soldier" physical examination. He is a bloody man. He doesn't want to sit and wait for death. He wants to lead the squadron workers to escape from the demon cave. On the 13th, he secretly ordered everyone to grind the steel shovel he used to, so sharp that it could cut off his hair. He said that if the Japanese soldiers come to chase them, we will fight with them with steel shovels!
It always rained those days. We had been dry for several days and nights without rest. We were tired and hungry, and our clothes were all wet with sweat and rain. We were so exhausted. We often fainted from laborers. I vomited blood several times in succession. I heard that I was going to run away, and everyone was energetic. All the hardships and fatigue were gone at once, so we all started to grind the shovel.
It was still raining in the middle of the night, and explosions kept coming from the site, shaking the shed back and forth. At around 2 a.m. on the 14th, Wei Yuwen ordered to start running away immediately. Everyone acted immediately in horror and excitement. Our team of more than 30 people rushed out of the shed while riding the storm night, split the wire mesh wall with a steel shovel, crossed the ditch hand in hand, and then drilled into the sorghum field and ran northeastward. By dawn, it had already run dozens of miles, and the rain had stopped at this time. Looking at the distance of "731", there was still thick smoke rising into the sky.
Everyone walked into the melon field to eat melons and suddenly found a Japanese soldier hurriedly walking from the avenue in the northeast. When he got closer, he saw that he was about 20 years old, wearing a yellow coat, carrying a steel helmet and a backpack, and there was a star on the collar seal, without weapons. He seemed to be a newly enlisted soldier and fell out of the team. He was surprised to see us Chinese holding steel shovels and couldn't understand what they said. He raised his hand and bowed repeatedly, meaning that he begged us to spare his life. It would be easy for us to kill him at that time. However, these kind Chinese people, seeing that they are still children, will have parents at home looking forward to him going back, and they can't bear to kill him. Everyone repays his kindness and lets him run away. The Japanese soldier didn't dare to fly back and seemed to have escaped.
We walked for 5 days and 5 nights in total, and finally escaped from the murderous devil's cave. After arriving at home, I heard that the Japanese government had surrendered unconditionally, and the joy of no longer being a slave to the destruction was unspeakable. I escaped from death and returned home, hugging my head with my parents and wife and crying. My weight dropped from 66 kg when I was walking to 46 kg, and I often vomited blood from the mouth since then. After lying at home for a year of treatment and recuperation, my health gradually recovered.
