Under the command of chief retainer Kampei Sagawa, these shock troops were especially effective. It is said that the spear art of the Aizu clan was without equal in all of Japan. Inside the castle, spear experts such as Sokichi Irie and Kotaro Shiga killed scores of the enemy in the fighting, while women and children fought fires under the command of a fire brigade from Edo (later Tokyo), under a hail of shrapnel from enemy volleys fired from Mt. Oda.
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