The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi, is a 1940 Japanese war film directed by Kōzaburō Yoshimura.
To make the film, Yoshimura toured the actual battlefields in China.
[2] Following his death during the Battle of Xuzhou in 1938, Nishizumi was declared Japan’s first "gunshin", or War God.
His career became the subject of legend and widespread praise throughout Japan, spawning numerous biographies, songs, and novels in his honor.
Cinema theorist Kate Taylor-Jones suggests that along with films like Mud and Soldiers and Chocolate and Soldiers, The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi offered "a vision of the noble, obedient and honourable Japanese army fighting to defend the Emperor and Japan.