General Nogi (iz prošlog posta) nakon bitke kod port Arthura u ruko-japanskom
ratu u kojoj su mu poginula dva sina* napisao je pjesmu na kineskom jeziku:
Kako samo sumorno i neutješno izgledaju
planine i rijeke,drveće i trava.
Bojište,tek osvojeno,čitavih 15 kilometara uokolo,
Miriše na prosutu krv.
Ovaj vatreni konj odbija da ide dalje a ovaj čovjek,ojađen i nijem.
Stoji sam samcat pred tvrđavom Chinchou pod zracima izlazećeg sunca.
* If Height 203 was taken and field artillery deployed there, Port Arthur would be bombarded to smithereens in no time. The Russians heavily guarded the hill. They were equipped with machine guns, that cut down charging Japanese troops like hay by a scythe. Thousands of Japanese officers and men were killed in their suicidal charges on the fortified hill. One of the charging Japanese officers was First Lieutenant Katsusuke Nogi, the elder of General Nogi’s two sons. The younger Nogi led a company attack and was shot down almost as soon as he gave orders to charge.
Immediately after that suicide attack, the younger brother of the fallen company commander was assigned to General Nogi’s third army. Second Lieutenant Yasusuke Nogi, fresh from the Military Academy, reported for duty at his father’s headquarters. General Nogi’s chief of staff decided to keep the young lieutenant as an aide-de-camp to the father. The general vetoed the decision of his chief of staff, who argued that if the lieutenant was not kept at the headquarters, he would be killed in action just like his elder brother and that there would be no son to continue the Nogi family line. General Nogi told his chief of staff: “If my two sons were not killed in action, how could I face the parents of those thousands of soldiers killed at the foot of Height 203?” Yasusuke was made a rifle platoon leader. He led his platoon on a suicide attack on Height 203 only a week after he had met his father at the latter’s headquarters. Height 203 was taken a couple of days after Yasusuke had been killed. The Russian garrison at Port Arthur surrendered in January 1905 soon after the Japanese had captured the fortified hill.(Axis History Forum)
Dead Man Soundtrack