The Chinese army's initiative to attack Dandong has surprised Japan, and the subsequent burning of Dandong has shocked Japan even more. Whether it is Japanese diplomats or some warlords and politicians, the Chinese they know are cowardly and incompetent, and they are always constrained and afraid of things.
There will be additional influence, especially on the Beiyang government and the Beiyang Army under its command. There is no other adjective to describe it except greed for life and fear of death.
Although when the Beiyang government established the Central Army with great fanfare, many intelligence officers lurking at the top of the Beiyang government more or less hinted at Yuan Shikai's high hopes for the Central Army. However, according to the research and discussion of Japan's local intelligence agencies, the so-called Central Army is nothing more than
In the name of safeguarding one's absolute right to rule, the Central Army has expanded its organization, from officers to soldiers, and has remained almost unchanged.
However, the result seemed to be unexpected, but it also seemed to be expected.
The reason why I was surprised was that the Central Army stubbornly held on to its position and did not care about various external influences and blatantly turned from defense to offense. It seemed that it had already adopted an attitude of expanding the Liaodong War. As for the burning of Dandong, it was a disaster in all aspects.
This is an immoral and barbaric act, but it can also be seen from this that the Central Army in Liaodong is still essentially an old-style army.
On the day the 10th Central Division launched its raid on Dandong, various political forces in Japan could no longer hold back. The main combatants clamored for more troops in Liaodong, but the democrats and intellectuals believed that the Fifth Division should be severely punished for its unauthorized actions, and
End the Liaodong War as quickly as possible and eliminate the impact of this military conflict.[
Even though Yuan Su ordered manpower to fight the fire starting the next day, the overwhelming fire in Dandong was already out of control. The fire fighting took more than three days, and during the fire fighting period, more than 100 casualties were caused.
The fire was barely controlled on November 9th.
The central urban area of Dandong and part of the southern urban area were burned to the ground by fire. More than a thousand houses were damaged, and four blocks were completely reduced to ruins. Most of the Japanese official offices, military units, warehouses and even train stations, ferries, etc. in Dandong were destroyed.
More than 90% of them were also irreparably damaged.
It is undeniable that among the two-fifths of the city destroyed by the fire, ordinary people who had not had time to evacuate were more or less accidentally injured. Among them were Chinese people, as well as Korean and Japanese expatriates. According to preliminary statistics from Japan, about
Seventeen Japanese officials were missing in the flames.
As for the specific casualty statistics, China will only do some covert and hasty investigations. I believe that the truly careful investigation will eventually come from Japan and spare no effort to invest in it.
During these three days, the Fifth Division was still trapped on the Liaodong defense line and could not move. The Japanese Second Fleet consumed a large amount of supplies every day to provide cover for the landing troops, and even began to use supplies reserved for the Eighteenth Division to attack Qingdao.
The main force of the Fifth Division in Gaizhou was troubled by both street fighting and positional fighting. Compared with the large battles of the previous few days, although the casualties were effectively contained, the pace of the attack was difficult to move.
When the division headquarters heard about what happened to Dandong, everyone was extremely excited.
Otani Kikuzo sent seven or eight messages in a row, notifying the Fengtian Consulate to request diplomatic condemnation, sending them to Dongjiaominxiang in Beijing to ask the embassy to take charge of the matter, and sending petitions to Tokyo in succession, asking the cabinet to severely investigate the Dandong incident.
China took responsibility and immediately approved the order to increase troops in Liaodong.
At the same time, many officers, staff and staff of the division headquarters unanimously requested to mobilize the 18th Division to Pulandian and Zhuanghe to intercept the Chinese Army's 10th Division. They also requested reinforcements to Gaizhou as soon as possible after their ability.
Otani Kikuzo had previously had the intention to mobilize the Eighteenth Division, but Kamio Mitsuomi has been unwilling to cooperate. Now with the Dandong incident as an inducement, he felt that it was time to show off his cards to Kamio Mitsuomi. If the Eighteenth Division still refused
If you send troops, you can only declare the battle failed and apologize to the emperor with death.
Then on the afternoon of November 9th, he sent his adjutant Kimiji Okubo back to Port Arthur with his own handwritten letter, taking full responsibility for persuading the 18th Division to join the war as soon as possible. Before leaving, he also gave special instructions that no matter what Mitsuomi Kamio's attitude was, he could follow
Other generals at the Eighteenth Division Headquarters began lobbying. As long as most officers of the Eighteenth Division supported the war, Kamio Mitsuomi would no longer stand idly by under pressure.
Just when the Fifth Division pinned its last hope on the 18th Division to send troops, the Japanese cabinet held two emergency meetings on the Dandong incident. However, the results of these two meetings were not very satisfactory. Although the voices differed,
But most of them still blame the Fifth Division for acting on their own without permission. Now that they have incurred bad consequences, they are themselves to blame.
Not all Japanese warlords and political forces supported the war in Liaodong. After all, for many warlords and politicians, they had long turned their attention to the battlefield of the world war, and it was by no means limited to disputes in the Far East. Therefore, in the end, it was still
Voices based on the Lord’s and He’s stance have slightly gained the upper hand.
On the morning of November 10, the Japanese Cabinet officially appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Naito Shinpei as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy, and immediately set off for China and the Beiyang government to launch a formal diplomatic negotiation meeting to negotiate on the peaceful resolution of the local military conflict in Liaodong. At the same time,
The Japanese Minister in China, Yoshitoshi Hioki, was ordered to come up with a solution to the "21" issue as soon as possible. If he cannot properly handle this diplomatic crisis, he will be "persuaded to resign."
The Army Ministry also made a more detailed statement on the twelfth day after the Liaodong War began, and issued a more stringent order to the Lushun Command. In the previous twelve days, due to the dispute between the cabinet and Congress over the Liaodong issue, the Embassy in China also
Because they were cut off from the demonstrations, they didn't know exactly how to control the Fifth Division. So they only issued some vague official documents and orders.
This time, Army Minister Oka Ichinosuke, under the clear instructions of Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu, issued a military restriction order on the Lushun Command, requiring the Fifth Division to immediately cease fighting with the Chinese army, and all troops from all walks of life returned to the Lushun Fortress to stand by. At the same time, North Korea and the mainland
Military investigators and gendarmerie were dispatched respectively to conduct a strict and thorough investigation into this unauthorized war.
Navy Minister Yashiro Rokuro also immediately called the Second Fleet stationed at the Lushun Naval Base and ordered the Second Fleet to cease the war quickly. Naval transport ships assisted the evacuation of the Yingkou Fifth Division, and the entire fleet returned to the Lushun Naval Base to stand by.
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[This is the third update. Although there are not many words, it is still my best effort. I hope all readers will continue to support me!]