Having said this, Umezu Yoshijiro hesitated for a moment and then said: "Four, order the 23rd Division to immediately blow up all the entrances and exits of Hyrule Fortress and all positions exposed on the surface, and then the entire division will cover the Empire.
The expatriates in Hailar, before April 6, retreated to the line from Wangye Temple to Qianguerros, built fortifications on the spot, and participated in the blockade of the Anti-League."
After issuing the order for the 23rd Division to withdraw south, Hyōtaro Kimura breathed a sigh of relief before he could hear Umezu Yoshijiro finally speak. Umezu Yoshijiro's eyes suddenly flashed, and he suddenly said: "As for Hyrule's
All Manchus, especially those who participated in the construction of Hailar Fortress, as well as the remaining laborers in Hailar Fortress, including all Koreans, will be executed. No matter how many there are, none of them should be left alive."
"The empire has leaked enough secrets. We can't let any situation in Hyrule Fortress be in danger of being exposed. Even if we can't use it for the time being, we can't let our opponents use it. You have to find a way to give twenty
The Third Division will mobilize a batch of vehicles, ammunition, and gasoline in the shortest possible time."
Umezu Yoshijiro's several consecutive orders made Kimura Hyōtaro stunned. In order to protect the secrets of Hyrule Fortress, killing all the Manchus in Hyrule was his suggestion, but once it was actually implemented, Kimura Hyōtaro couldn't help but
There is a creepy feeling.
Although when he was in charge of the 32nd Division, when he was carrying out a campaign against the base areas of the 18th Shandong Army, the number of Chinese he killed was no less than that of the Chinese in Hailar. In fact, the number was even much greater. Moreover, the then third-in-command
In order to eliminate the 115th Division of the 18th Group Army operating in Shandong, the lieutenant general of the Army who was the head of the 12th Division personally issued an order to kill all men, women, old and children in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines and burn all the houses.
During his raids on base areas behind enemy lines in Shandong, the 32nd Division became accustomed to killing, robbing, and raping. Even this dignified lieutenant general, the division commander, took the lead on many occasions to personally rape captured female prisoners of war and capture
civilians. Those female prisoners of war, as long as they were a little bit pretty, almost never escaped his clutches.
Although he did more excessive things when he was in Shandong. But that was without public orders after all, and the killing places were mostly in rural areas. Even in places like county towns, in order to maintain the rule of the Japanese army, how much
I have some scruples and can't do it so blatantly.
Isn’t the large-scale massacre that was blatantly ordered now a bit too much? It’s not that Kimura Hyōtaro pitied the so-called Manchus who became the targets of the massacre, let alone his conscience at this time. No matter how many Manchus died, for
It doesn't matter to him.
Rather, they were worried that once this move was exposed, it would cause great damage to the empire's image in the international community. The massacre and rape that occurred after the Battle of Nanjing that year had caused serious damage to the empire's image.
Even after many years, it has not been completely eliminated.
Although the Imperial Foreign Ministry staff have become extremely thick-skinned, they can still find excuses to explain or even shirk events no matter how serious the impact is on the international community. Moreover, the Army decided the matter or did it.
The personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have long been unable to interfere with matters, and now they have become accustomed to it.
But for him, what he is more concerned about is the serious impact it will have on Manchukuo after the massacre. Those Manchus who are still resisting will definitely be like the Chinese people after the Nanjing Incident. Not only did their resistance not change due to the massacre,
Instead of weakening, it is becoming increasingly tenacious.
If we give up after the massacre of Hyrule, the evidence left there will be even more difficult to destroy. It will also leave a good propaganda material for the Anti-Japanese Alliance. No one will give up. This will have a serious impact on the reputation of the empire, and even
It can leverage the propaganda opportunities of the Kwantung Army's rule over Manchukuo.
Hailar is not in the mainland of China, but in the Manchu Empire. It is the so-called royal paradise that the empire keeps creating. Moreover, Hailar is not the deep mountains and old forests and poor ravines of Northern Manchuria where the anti-union activities were originally located. What did the Kwantung Army do and how many people were killed?
There's simply no way of knowing.
Massacring the city here will probably do great harm to the empire's rule in Manchuria, and it will be a serious blow to the empire's image in Manchuria. Any opponent will not fail to seize this rare publicity opportunity. This matter
Once something happens, it is impossible not to leak it out. For a fortress group that has no effect, it is really not worth the gain.
As for the air defense commander and the head of the Special Intelligence Division, I am afraid that they should be investigated first before making a decision based on the situation. After all, they are officers of the empire, and they must be handled with caution. One of them is the captain of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment,
One is Lieutenant Colonel, and they are all very high-ranking officers. They were forced to commit seppuku all of a sudden. I'm afraid it's hard to explain.
Especially the captain of the Colonel-General, it was very difficult to deal with. After all, since the establishment of the new army, the Japanese army had lost battles, neglected their duties, or even because of some unexplained and unclear factors.
There are a few, but most of them are low-ranking officers below the level of Major, and there are very few officers at the level of Lieutenant Colonel.
Just like during the civil war during the Beiyang Government in China, no matter how deep the resentment was, no one broke the practice of sparing the generals from death. The tradition of samurai seppuku, among the Japanese army who kept preaching the spirit of bushido, although there were often high-ranking
It happens that officers force subordinates to commit suicide. But the same applies only to low-level officers, and middle- and high-level officers will never do it.
The reason is very simple. No one has ever made a mistake. Especially in the army, the corruption of senior officers is not as bad as that of the Chinese army, which they have always looked down upon. You force others to commit suicide, etc.
One day your control falls into the hands of others, and it will be extremely bad if they are manipulated in the same way.
When Tsarist Russia was overthrown and the White Russian Army was chased by the Soviet Red Army and had no way to escape, when it retreated into Manchuria, the hundreds of tons of gold and a large number of weapons they carried were confiscated by the Kwantung Army. However, in the end, less than a few dollars were handed over to the national treasury.
Ten tons, the remaining huge amount of gold has disappeared.
Later, when the leader of the defeated army asked Japan for the gold, the whole of Japan, including the royal family, worked together to cover it up. And the huge amount of confiscated weapons and the large amount of money they received after being sold to the Feng army were also inexplicable.
Disappeared. Except for a small amount that was allocated to the Kwantung Army Intelligence Department, the rest of the money simply disappeared.
As for the whereabouts of the money and gold, no one can give an explanation. If the events of that year are found out clearly, the Kwantung Army, including the top brass of the Japanese Army, and even the royal family, according to the so-called bushido spirit, senior officers who should have committed seppuku would not
In a few.
With this experience, even if the high-level leaders of the Controlling Faction and the Imperial Way Faction fought fiercely, they would always show mercy to each other in the end. At most, they would be relieved of active duty and assigned to reserve duty. Especially Lieutenant Colonel
Except for a few exceptions, none of the above-mentioned officers would be forced to commit seppuku or be executed.
You know, when dealing with mid-level and senior officers above the rank of major, the military department always raises its hands high and puts them down gently. No matter how serious the crime is, they are usually dismissed from their posts, and there has never been an example of the death penalty.
.It is extremely rare to force a Colonel Captain to commit seppuku like this.
This is probably the first time in the history of the Japanese Army that an officer at the rank of colonel was asked to commit seppuku. Even the former artillery colonel in the army who was interested in conducting coups, after several failed coups, at most he was only in their research on coups.
The restaurant was locked up for several days. Even when the background of the coup was being investigated during the February 26 incident, he was only relieved of active duty.
In the Japanese army, all those who can reach the rank of lieutenant colonel or above are graduates of the Army University. These people rely on the relationship between teachers, students, and classmates. Almost everyone has built a strong network of relationships. So even if they are stabbed
Even catastrophic disasters will escape under the protection of the network of connections. This is also an important reason why the army's behavior of overpowering the superior is repeatedly banned.
As for a first-level officer like a colonel, no matter what kind of crime he commits, as long as he does not assassinate the emperor, the most severe punishment is usually just to retire from active service, and he can return to active service at any time if necessary. If such a person commits seppuku, the person who will be offended is often
Not one person, but a group of people behind them.
Perhaps seeing the hesitation in Kimura Hyoutarou's eyes and knowing the reason for the hesitation in his heart, Umezu Meijiro smiled indifferently and said: "Kimura-kun, if the two of them don't die, then you and I will be the unlucky ones. You won't
I thought the base camp would not pursue the matter of a large-scale air attack on one hundred troops."
"I am the commander of the Kwantung Army, and you are the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. You and I are the final decision-makers on all deployments and troop allocations of the Kwantung Army. Especially you, Kimura-kun, as the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, have to make all decisions.
We must take responsibility for the matter. It is almost impossible for you and I to say that we have no responsibility at all for this matter."
"I heard that Prime Minister Lu intends to transfer you as the new Army Undersecretary, and has basically obtained the consent of His Majesty the Emperor. At this critical moment, you will never want to be replaced because of some unexpected accidents that should not have happened.
Let your career as a general end here."
"In other words, you don't want your military career to end when you reach the rank of lieutenant general. You must know that becoming a general is every emperor's dream. You don't want this to happen, and I don't want my soldiers either.
My career has stopped here, and I don’t want to disappoint His Majesty the Emperor.”
"Kimura-kun, don't forget the fate of General Ueda Kenkichi, the former commander of the Kwantung Army. If they die, we can only bear one-third of the responsibility at most. If they don't die, you and I will be unlucky. So, for the sake of our future,
, For the sake of the entire Kwantung Army, these two people must die. Mr. Kimura, only dead people don’t talk nonsense.”
"Besides, it is better for a colonel or a lieutenant colonel to commit seppuku than for a general or a lieutenant general to be ordered to retire early. What's more, if this matter is strictly investigated, asking them to commit seppuku is not an outlier.
, it can even be said to be held high and let go.”