A Captured 'Crooked Stock' That Accompanied Me Through the Entire War

In 1937, Zhao Wanlin, a soldier in the Eighth Route Army, captures a Japanese Type 11 light machine gun—nicknamed the "Crooked Stock"—on the battlefield. This very weapon follows him from northwestern Shanxi to the Jin-Cha-Ji border region, earning a fearsome reputation among the enemy troops. After Japan's surrender, the machine gun travels with Zhao to the Northeast, where it is used to eliminate ruthless bandits and crush American-equipped Nationalist elite units. As part of the Fourth Field Army, Zhao and his trusted firearm advance through the Shanhai Pass, fighting all the way from the frigid northeast wilderness to Hainan Island in the far south, helping to liberate the entire nation. Yet just as peace seems within reach, the outbreak of the Korean War calls him once more. The same Crooked Stock crosses the Yalu River alongside Zhao, racing across the northern and southern banks of the Han River. Through every major campaign from the anti-Japanese war to the Korean frontline, the captured gun returns home at last, having fought in every battle from start to finish—carrying with it the full arc of a soldier's epic journey.