It’s not without reason that Changshu is suddenly in a tight situation.
The Dragon Boat Festival raid was successful and the Japanese's 103rd Brigade, also known as the Yamada Detachment, was directly destroyed. He also provoked Matsui Iwane and sent an interpreter back.
The translator reported Dano's words to Matsui Iwane via telegram.
In addition to being furious, Matsui Iwane could only find other ways to retaliate against the Chinese army.
Matsui Iwane has always had deep malice towards the Chinese buried in his heart. To talk about this, we have to start with the September 18th Incident.
After the "September 18th Incident", Japan supported Puyi to establish a puppet regime and declared the independence of the puppet Manchukuo. At this point, Japan's "Manchuria lifeline" problem seemed to have been solved through the puppet regime.
However, how to get the international community and even the Republic of China government to recognize Manchukuo as a "fait accompli" has become the most troublesome issue for all walks of life in Japan.
Matsui Iwane believes that there are many political factions in China, relying on his high-level connections in China and his special relationship with the Chairman (Matsui Iwane and the Chairman are friends, but it was later proved that these Japanese friends are unreliable, except for Matsui)
In addition to Iwane, there are also Sasaki and others. They all claimed to be friends of the Chinese before, but after they turned against each other, they killed more Chinese than anyone else.)
At that time, Matsui Iwane believed that with his special relationship with the Chairman of the Generalissimo, he could find a loophole and obtain the actual recognition of the Puppet Manchukuo from the Republic of China government.
In February 1936, Matsui began a trip to South and Central China in a private capacity to lobby for his "Greater Asiaism" and to test China's reaction.
At the end of February, he first came to Guangdong and Guangxi via Taiwan, and met with Hu Hanmin, a right-wing member of the Kuomintang who had deep conflicts with the chairman of the Standing Committee, and leading figures of the Guangxi clique Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Chen Jitang and others.
But he did not achieve any results. This trip was nominally to persuade these people to support Chiang, but in reality it was to detect the tone of various political forces in China on the Manchu and Mongolian issue.
Because the two years when Matsui Iwane visited China for inspection were exactly the two years when China's civil war gradually subsided and anti-Japanese sentiment rose.
And once all the Chinese troops turn their guns to the outside world, it will be a great disadvantage to Japan.
So on March 12, Matsui arrived in Nanjing and held talks with Zhang Qun, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government.
On the 24th, Matsui visited the Chairman of the Generalissimo and offered to help resolve the Southwest Issue (i.e., the conflict between Chiang and Hu Hanmin and the Guangxi clique). Chiang refused to comment. However, Matsui Iwane proposed to recognize the puppet Manchukuo issue, which was immediately rejected by Chiang Kai-shek.
categorically refused.
At that time, Matsui Iwane told the Chairman that if you are unable to publicly recognize the Puppet Manchukuo due to domestic pressure, you can just recognize it in fact instead of making a public statement.
However, his request was still flatly rejected by the Chairman.
At this point, Matsui's trip to South China and Central China ended in failure, but this did not stop his ambition to conquer China.
In March 1936, he made several speeches, demanding that the Chinese government be taught a lesson. He must raise the hammer and give the Nanjing government a blow to wake them up and make them reflect.
Hence the horrific Nanjing Massacre.
In other words, the Nanjing Massacre was entirely planned and implemented by Matsui Iwane.
Therefore, no matter whether the Dragon Boat Festival angers this old devil or not, the result will be the same. He will not let the Chinese go.
Therefore, after Matsui Iwane received the battle report from Xie Jiaqiao, he made a decision to re-plan the direction of the attack.
Because the battle at Xiejiaqiao was originally a sneak attack and test. Since the Chinese were prepared, they must also change their tactics.
Moreover, the loss of a Yamada detachment was not in Matsui Iwane's eyes, because his layout in the Changshu area was almost complete.
He had only one operational idea in Changshu, which was to create chaos.
By massacring Chinese people to create panic, they drove the Chinese people to the Changshu area, and then ordered Japanese soldiers who were proficient in Chinese or elite Japanese troops to pretend to be refugees and sneak into Changshu City together.
So, under the orders of Matsui Iwane, on the way west from the Songhu area, corpses were strewn across the fields, including the corpses of innocent people everywhere.
The little devil kills people when he sees them and robs things when he sees them. He does all kinds of evil.
So when war is not restrained, there is only one consequence: people will turn into beasts.
The Japanese soldiers were like animals and acted recklessly on the land of China.
Driven by the Japanese soldiers, those ignorant people acted as the vanguard of the Japanese. They were heading to Changshu City along with a large number of Japanese spies and even elite troops of the Japanese.
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In the early morning of the 17th, around 6 a.m., a group of more than 300 refugees broke into a temporary checkpoint ten miles outside Changshu City on the highway.
The 44th Division is responsible for the defense of the Changshu area. In addition to fighting the Japanese army head-on, the rest of the division is blocking the refugees coming from all directions. This will greatly consume the soldiers of the 44th Division.
Therefore, it can be said that Matsui Iwane's combat plan was very successful. On the one hand, the refugees consumed the strength of the Chinese army, allowing the Sasaki brigade to divide and encircle the enemies on the periphery. On the other hand, it sent a large number of spies to carry out sabotage.
Create confusion.
At this time, Changshu is in danger!
"Let us pass! Let us pass!"
"Have your conscience been eaten by dogs? You can't defeat the Japanese, but you can't stop us people."
"Yes, if you hadn't retreated again and again, we wouldn't have left our homeland."
"Let us go. Changshu is a rice warehouse. At least we can have enough to eat."
"Don't talk nonsense to them, let's get through!"
"Yes, if we break through, I don't believe they dare to shoot!"
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Hundreds of people surged forward together, and the officers and soldiers with only about thirty people could not stop them.
The leader of the platoon leader, whose surname was Zhang, took out his gun and pointed it in the sky and fired.
After two gunshots, the people were finally shaken.
Zhang Pai Chang yelled: "Folks, it's not that I, Zhang Jie, am unkind. But if I let you in now, I will harm you. Changshu is not a paradise, it is a hell. The Japanese will attack soon. You go in."
One death,..."
"Don't listen to him. There is a division stationed in Changshu. With so many people, can't we defend the city of Changshu? They just don't want to care about us, don't we, folks?"
A short man with a Northeastern accent took the lead in shouting.
Another person also echoed: "Yes, they just don't want to care about us and let us fend for ourselves."
"Yes, let us pass! Yes, let us pass!"
The other people around him suddenly felt justified after hearing this. They all raised their fists in the air and pushed the officers and soldiers guarding the checkpoints! . . .