A fact from 8th Division (Imperial Japanese Army) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 9 January 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that 199 of the 210 soldiers of the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army's 8th Infantry Division froze to death as a result of a winter training accident in January 1902?
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Latest comment: 17 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
why did they freeze to death? reasons, what happened?--Tresckow 22:19, 8 January 2007 (UTC)Reply
Because it was a hundred year ago, would be the shortest answer. Coincidentally, on this year (1902), several records were set in Northern Japan for the coldest recorded temperature (still unbroken in several places) and severe blizzards would have been predicted had today's weather forecasting technology were available back then. Also, while troops were recruited from local areas, very few, actually only surviving soldiers, were from mountain regions and had the knowledge of trekking in snow. These soldiers improvised their clothings and carried extra supplies, as well as taking necessary precautions (never eating snow, for example). Lessons learned from this were used in Russo-Japanese War and beyond significantly reducing weather-related casualties. --Revth 02:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)Reply
