The following account is by a Japanese soldier who served in Shantung in 1942.
One of our regular operations was the labour procurement operation. We surrounded a village at dawn and made wholesale arrests among the peasants. Setting aside women, old people, and children, we handed over all the men to our commanding headquarters. They became the Chinese forced labourers who faced tragedy in the mines in various locations. The operation was ruthless. Not even a single ant was to escape the tightening circle of us soldiers.
Later, I was interned in Siberia. My four years of forced labour, I think, was a measure of atonement for my wartime actions.
一九四二年在山東服役的一個日本士兵有以下記述。
我們的一個常規行動，是徵集勞工。我們會黎明時分包圍一個村莊，大規模拘捕農民。老人、婦孺以外，被捕者都交給指揮總部。這些丁夫就成為許多礦場的華裔奴工，命運悲慘。徵集勞工行動十分殘酷，即使一隻螞蟻，都逃不出我們一步步收攏的包圍。
後來，我被拘留西伯利亞，從事奴工四年。也許，這算是給我戰時的行為贖罪。