The confessions of Japanese war criminal Fujita Shigeru

The original text of confession written by Fujita Shigeru. [Photo/saac.gov.cn]

According to the written confession of Fujita Shigeru in August 1954, he was born in 1889 in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan and went to Shanxi, China in August 1938 to join the Japanese War of Aggression against China, serving as colonel and commander of the 28th Cavalry Regiment. He took the position of lieutenant general and commander of the 59th Division of the 43rd Army in March 1945. He was captured in Hamhung, the Korean Peninsula in August 1945.

Fujita Shigeru [Photo/saac.gov.cn]

Major offences:

August 1938: arrested 6 local inhabitants in Hejin, Shanxi, "interrogated these arrested people through torture and beating, and killed them";

November 1938: "searched for and killed most of the inhabitants of Sanluli Village" in Sanluli Village, 40 kilometers to the northeast of Yuncheng, Shanxi;

Mid-January 1939: in Zhangliang Village, Anyi County, Shanxi, "told all officers, 'Killing people is a quick way to get soldiers accustomed to the battlefield, as it can test their courage. For this purpose, it is better to use the captives.' 'Bayoneting is more effective than shooting.'" In April, in Xiaxian County, "I ordered the commander of the First Squadron…to order 9 soldiers under his command to bayonet to death 9 captives." On 15 August, in Zezhou, Shanxi, "I ordered the First Squadron and the Second Squadron to take 8 and 9 captives respectively as teaching materials and bayonet those captives to death";

From March 1944 to April 1945: "used 74 gas shells (green colored shells)" while serving as commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade;

April 10, 1944: "I called all regiment commanders together at the Brigade Headquarters in Guide and ordered that" "regiment commanders could authorize the use of gas shells. During the battles, 20 gas shells are equipped for each cannon of the cavalry and 10 gas shells for each cannon of the regiment", and "try to kill captives on the battlefield as far as possible and calculate them into 'combat achievements'";

Confessions of other criminals

May 2, 1944: "bayoneted 4 captives" in Huangqiwei Village, 10 kilometers southwest to Xuchang, Henan;

May 21, 1944: "shot dead 12 Chinese people (including 1 woman)" in Luoyang, Henan;

March 27, 1945: "massacred all inhabitants of about 50 households in a village along the Dengxian County-Laohekou road, which is 200 meters to the north of Zhulinqiao, killing seniors, women, children... and other inhabitants"; "used gas shells during the attack in Maqushan" on the same day;

May 9, 1945: "killed many Chinese people" in Shiqiao, 25 kilometers northwest to Yishui, Shandong, and "burned down the entire Shiqiao Village"; in the same month, "ordered the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Squad to use cholera virus to fight a germ war during the battles"; "gas shells and gas canisters were used" when attacking the Eighth Route Army in Haoshan; "to prevent soldiers from stepping on land mines placed by the Eighth Route Army, more than ten Chinese people were ordered to lead the way, i.e. to walk in the mine field in front of the troops";

June 1945: "maltreated and killed captives in Jinan", and "over 600 captives of the Jinan Internment Camp who had been forced to build battle positions were bayoneted to death in soldier training after 15 June";

"Arrangements after announcement of armistice: I called all squad commanders together on 17 August (1945) and ordered them to do the following: first, to destroy all kinds of documents (to get rid of criminal records of the Japanese imperialism, especially the evidence of cracking down on the Communist Party of China); second, to bury special bombs (gas shells, incendiary ammunition, smoke projectiles, light tracers and some fuse tubes); third, to destroy gas masks..."

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