This article is slightly longer #WWII characters #
The Nanjing Massacre has always been the focus of the author's study of the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan, so I have collected a lot of historical materials to study and deepen my skills. In fact, the Nanjing Massacre, as a disgraceful event in the history of human civilization, has been engraved forever in history, although the Chinese people can never forget this matter, but do we really understand these things?
We do not know that, so far, Japan is still vigorously denying the facts of the Nanjing Massacre, the view of denial is ridiculous, we do not know how many criminals have escaped punishment and died, we do not know, even the Tokyo Trial and the Nanjing Court have punished only a small number of murderers.
In modern times, large-scale massacres have occurred from time to time, from the Turkish massacre of Armenia to the genocide of nazi Germany against the Jews, to the Bosnian civil war and the Rwandan holocaust not far away, the causes of these events are nothing more than ethnic hatred and the established policy of the state, but for the slaughter of a national capital, looking around, except for Nanjing in December 1937, everything else is very far away from us, and this incident actually occurred in the 20th century, when the achievements of modern civilization accelerated. Nature seems out of place.
So, what led to the tragedy of the Nanjing Massacre? How was it made by demons? I think most of the Chinese people are not very familiar with the ins and outs of this matter, so let me tell you my own opinion:
The Japanese army in Nanjing began on December 13, lasted for six weeks of massacre, including rape, robbery and other vicious incidents, the city of Nanjing has since become a hell on earth, there are Japanese recalls, the Zhonghua Gate is paved with corpses, when entering the city as if to enter the ghost gate. Its tragic situation was even feared by the Japanese troops who followed behind the city.
How did such a massacre unfold?
Unfortunately, although the Nanjing Massacre was an ironclad case, it was supported by a considerable amount of factual evidence, and some of the war criminals who caused this tragedy have already been brought to justice. But so far, many of the details of the catastrophe seem to be forgotten. I went through a large number of historical materials, especially the relevant materials of the Japanese army, including the wartime documents of the Japanese army, the memoirs of the officers and soldiers of the Japanese army, the diaries, and the legal documents of the Tokyo Trial and the Nanjing Trial, and tried my best to restore the truth of the matter.
<h1>How the Nanjing Massacre was organized</h1>
Let's start with the officers.
The Japanese Sixteenth Division was ordered to enter and garrison the city of Nanjing, and the commander of the 30th Brigade, Michiichi Sasaki (Major General), was appointed chairman of the Nanjing Aftermath Committee.
On 13 December, the agitated soldiers ignored the dissuasion of their superiors and killed the captives one by one. Thinking back to the blood shed by many comrades-in-arms and the hardships of the past ten days, not to mention the soldiers, I myself would like to say" "Kill them all." On December 16, Fengming swept the area north of Purple Mountain. Although the gains were modest, both companies searched for hundreds of defeated soldiers and shot them. On January 5, remnants of soldiers who insisted on illegal operations in the outskirts of the city were gradually captured, and thousands of people were shot and executed in Shimonoseki.
It seems that the massacre was carried out spontaneously, and it can be seen from the diary that although the Japanese army has a very strong sense of obedience, it does not seem to care whether the behavior outside of obedience is decent, and after experiencing the major blows of the fierce Battle of Songhu, it produces a serious revenge psychology and the ecstasy after the capture of the capital of the National Government, and the two emotions are intertwined, thus producing a special emotion, which seems to contain the perverted pleasure of the so-called bitterness and abandonment of human nature. This led to the Nanjing Massacre.
But I think it's just one aspect, and this sentiment is just a catalyst for atrocities.
As mentioned earlier, the Sixteenth Division was ordered to enter the city and sweep (note this word) scattered Chinese soldiers in the city, and the Sixteenth Division was the unit that slaughtered the largest number of compatriots in Nanjing, from officers to soldiers, and the diary of the division commander Nakajima Imago wrote:
On December 13, the Alpine Swordsman came to visit, and there were exactly seven captives at the time, so he ordered him to try to behead, and he also ordered him to try to behead with my saber, and he cut off two heads brilliantly........... The policy of captivity was largely rejected, and it was decided to adopt the policy of total and complete elimination. Because this measure was never conceived at the beginning, the General Staff was so busy that the Sasaki unit alone (the above-mentioned thirty brigades and regiments) disposed of 15,000 people, a squadron leader of the garrison Taiping Gate handled about 1,300 people, and the seven or eight thousand people gathered near the Xianhe Gate needed a large trench, which was difficult to find, and it was scheduled to be divided into a squad of one or two hundred people and led to the appropriate place to deal with it...
Nakajima's image of imasa is extremely unbearable in most accounts, such as some people refer to him as Little Himmler, an expert in thought control, intimidation and torture, and his biographer Hisashi Kimura also called him "a beast" and "a violent man", and his personality can be described by the word "tiger force", this person not only lived in Chiang Kai-shek's official residence in Nanjing, but also stole a large amount of property, completely a reckless image. A lieutenant general who wrote such a thing that was contrary to military discipline and inhumanity into his diary was not something that a high-ranking military could do casually, because such things were easy to be caught, but Nakajima Wrote it and showed it off, which showed how unbearable it was. But although Nakajima's diary contains the facts of the Nanjing Massacre, can a division commander only give this order to slaughter the whole city?
Obviously not.
<h1>Who gave the order for the Holocaust? </h1>
I tried to find clues from the diaries of Japanese soldiers, but unfortunately, it seems that the massacres were all spontaneous acts and had strong emotional overtones: (the names of the people in this paragraph are all soldiers of the Sixteenth Division of the Japanese Army) Masuda Rokusuke: On the 14th, the purpose of the sweep was to pick out the remnants of the soldiers. The Fourth Squadron alone took out four or five hundred men and shot them all at the Xuanwu Gate. It is said that the other teams are basically this number......... Going to the refugee camp to carry out a sweep, the liaison officer of the second squad, former Captain Yuan, and others found all the elderly remnants in a building, pulled them out of the corner, and then tied them with wire strings, scolding: "Because of you, I don't know how many comrades have been sacrificed, because of you, caused the Lao Tzu to work so hard"....... They were all shot near Xuanwu Gate. Takeichiro Uedaba: On December 14, 10 of the 300 captives were executed, and they encountered resistance. Higashi Shiro's diary: 7,000 prisoners were taken in, and it is said that they were divided into groups of two or three hundred people, and all of them were killed. Although I don't understand why so many captives were killed, I always feel that it is inhumane........ Every day, trucks brought prisoners in, and we had them stand side by side on the docks and shoot into the river. Kitayama and the Diary: On December 13, a prisoner was captured, and the comrades said that their comrades died a terrible death, and just killing him could not be satisfied....... Takashima Ichiyoshi's diary: On December 14, when asked how to deal with Oshima's lieutenant prisoners, the adjutant replied: Drag anywhere and kill them... A total of 1200 captives were killed.
Most of the prisoners of war and civilians in Nanjing were on the same page.
The content of the two pictures comes from the Asahi Shimbun
Judging from the diaries I intercepted above, it seems that the Japanese army only carried out the massacre through personal will, and from the situation recorded in the massive diary, all the records are similar, the key words of the content are shooting, rape and looting, it seems to be only the outbreak of the individual animality of the Japanese army, which does not have a clear authorization word, and the word "sweep" is extremely vague, if it is not to view the diary, the word has a lot of room for expansion, but put these diaries together, The problem is clear: to sweep is to kill, but who gave the order to sweep? At that time, in the Sixth Division and the Sixteenth Division in Nanjing, if the soldiers were like this, it was a large-scale and organized massacre.
The Japanese soldier Kazuo Tsone (described later) wrote in his memoirs:
Kurihara Toshiichi of the 65th Regiment of the Sixteenth Division, Tayama Brigade, said: "We told them that they would be temporarily locked up on Jiangxin Island. But when they were transported to the center of the river by boat, they distanced themselves from them and then opened fire together and disposed of them. That night, we killed boat by boat until dawn, then poured gasoline on it, replaced the hook with willow branches, and dragged them one by one into the rapids of the Yangtze River to let the water wash away. The number of people killed by our unit is 13,500. I can't believe it when I think about it now. ”
"The killing of the captives was carried out on the night of December 17 to 18. At noon, the captives were tied behind their backs, and then they were connected one by one, and then taken to the Yangtze River, about four kilometers from the shelter.
Because there were more than 10,000 people, by the time they were all escorted to the river, it was already dark. In the distance, an island could be seen in the center of the river, and the boss said, 'Take them in that island.'
However, then suddenly 'Shoot!' At the command, we opened fire together, and the shooting lasted about an hour. In order to escape horizontal shooting, they desperately climbed above the pile of dead people, and as a result, a three- or four-meter-high human wall was piled up. ”
In this massacre, it is also recorded in the "History of the Local Troops from The War" issued by Kurihara's subordinate units: the military headquarters issued an order to "execute", but the commander of yamada's second brigade decided to release the prisoners to the other side. However, just as the captives were being divided into a dozen boats and headed for the opposite shore, the other shore opened fire on the captives. So the captives who remained on the shore began to riot, attacking the Japanese soldiers guarding them, so we opened fire and killed a thousand or so people. (There is a corresponding description in the following article, and the content of the two articles is the same)
Kurihara said of this "self-defense shooting theory": "How can those prisoners, whose hands are tied behind their backs, unable to move freely at all, how can they carry out a collective riot?" The massacre is a fact and should be made clear. ”
There is no dispute about this. The Japanese army was absolutely command-first. Such a large-scale massacre cannot be the personal behavior of the lower classes. From the perspective of the composition of the army, it can be said that this is definitely an organized act. The former soldier from Kyoto described the scene in his diary: Because "our squad could not kill anyway, we had to borrow a machine gun from the X machine gun unit, and then bring in six light machine guns and all the infantry with rifles" in the squadron.
However, the content of the memories that are written and written is still conflicting with each other, and the mouth of whom the command comes from is still a cloud.
The Japanese army held the Nanjing entrance ceremony on the 17th, with Matsui Ishigen in the front and Hatohiko Asakamiya and Heisuke Yanagawa in the rear
<h1>Class A war criminal</h1>
General Matsui Ishigen was the commander of the Central China Dispatch Army at the time, and after the Battle of Songhu, five of his divisions pounced on Nanjing like mad dogs, but Matsui Ishigen fell ill before capturing Nanjing, so he gave the command to someone else.
At that time, Matsui Ishigen issued this order:
The entry of the Imperial Army into the capital of the enemy country is a major event in our history........ will attract the attention of the world. Therefore, the troops must not be allowed to enter the city in a chaotic manner..... Let them know in advance what to keep in mind and where foreign rights and interests lie within the walls. Robbery by soldiers is absolutely prohibited. If necessary, the ministry sentry. Robbery and causing fires, even if they are not accidental, must be severely punished. Gendarmes and auxiliary gendarmes were sent into the city to prevent violations of the law.
Unlike the subsequent denial of the Nanjing Massacre by other Japanese war criminals at the Tokyo Trial and the Nanjing Court, Matsui Ishigen's order to strictly enforce military discipline when he captured Nanjing is indeed traceable, and even when the International Military Tribunal for the Far East pronounced Matsui Ishigen's death sentence, he confessed to Professor Nobukatsu Kayama of the University of Tokyo, who taught the prisoners Buddhist teaching in Sugamo Prison:
"I gathered everyone together and roared with tears in my eyes: 'It took a long time to let the emperor radiate light, but because of this atrocity, everything is over.'" But everyone laughed when they heard it. One division commander went so far as to say, 'That's what should be done.' During the Russo-Japanese War, I went to war with the army as a lieutenant. Compared with that time, the commander of this division was extremely bad. In terms of Bushido and humanity, it is very different now than then. ”
Although it is not clear who Matsui Ishigen refers to, it is thought that it refers to TheRasuke Yanagawa or Nakajima Imai. Yanagawa Heisuke, the commander of the Hangzhou Bay landing operation, once shouted in his speech: "Mountains, rivers, plants and trees are all enemies."
Although Matsui Ishigen denied his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre, as the commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, as the commander of the army, it was naturally difficult for him to escape responsibility, because he had issued an order to "sweep", which was vague and intended to maintain the order of the entry ceremony on the 17th. However, from the historical data, Matsui Ishigen did give an order to ensure the normal order of Nanjing City, although this order now looks like a fart, but from a logical understanding, there is nothing undesirable.
Asaka Palace Hatohiko and Yanagawa Heisuke naturally acted in accordance with the two orders he issued. In my opinion, as an invading army, the second order is more difficult.
In fact, before the destruction of Nanjing, Chaoxiang Palace had already acted as the commander of Matsui Ishigen.
<h1>Brutal military orders</h1>
From the Japanese left-wing work: War and Man, I found orders for massacres.
The relevant personnel of wakamatsu's wing recalled: "It was very hard for our superiors to arrange for us to find food for the captives." They were so hungry that they "pulled grass out of the shelter's yard and ate it." In fact, we are very worried that "in the event of an uprising, our wing will be able to suppress it." On the 15th and 16th, there did not seem to be an adequate supply of grain and grass. The commander's entrance ceremony was held on the 17th, and no mistakes were allowed, so the Shanghai Dispatch Army issued an order to Major General Yamada Tsuji, commander of the 103rd Brigade, to "dispose of the prisoners". And this disposal task is frequently supervised. The commander of the Yamada Brigade resolutely refused to carry it out. I also supported the commander of the Yamada Brigade, and made it clear that I had a "difficult to obey" attitude. However, the Shanghai dispatch army issued a tough order to carry out the disposal. Disposal means "kill".
(Unlike kazuo Sone's recollection above, this recollection shows that the Yamada Brigade was prepared not to carry out the "disposal" order, but encountered a prisoner resistance on the way to release and opened fire in panic.)
This fragment is the same thing as the previous recollection of Kazuo Sone, and the result will not be repeated here.
According to the recollection of Yoshio Kodama, an aide-de-camp of the 38th Regiment of the 16th Division:
"When the first line of the wing approached the city of Nanjing, one or two kilometers away, and they were engaged in a scuffle, the adjutant of the division said by telephone that it was the order of the division and regiment: 'The surrender of the Indochina soldiers cannot be accepted and disposed of.'" ...... I could not accept this order from the commander of the division, Nakajima Imasago, and I had suggested it to the chief of staff and other staff officers several times, but I had not been able to get their consent, so I was also responsible. ”
People who know the history of World War II know that Germany and Japan both used the "elite" strategy in combat, emphasizing quality rather than quantity, and that a company guarding tens of thousands of prisoners is naturally a great burden, and the food problem is difficult to solve.
According to the testimony of Masahisa Sawada, an artillery observation squad leader of the Sixteenth Division, "The number of prisoners was about 10,000, so I reported to the commander of the army, and the command ordered that they be shot immediately." This order apparently came from the chief of staff of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, Imanuma Mori, who dealt with the day-to-day work, so that the lives of thousands of captives were at stake, and he had neither the right nor the audacity to deal with them without authorization. Of course, the Chief of Staff may give orders on behalf of the Chief Of Command, but he must not be in charge of such a major issue.
Well, this order obviously came from the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and the commander at that time was King Hatohiko of Chaoxiang Palace.
King Hatohiko of Asaka Palace
At that time, his headquarters issued a series of orders and stamped his personal seal with the words "Top Secret, Destroy After Reading". The explicit message in these orders is to kill all captives.
There is a passage in which Yong Yong, the chief of intelligence staff of King Hatohiko of Chaoxiang Palace, admits to Tanaka Takayoshi (an important figure in the Songhu War of Resistance) that he forged the order on his own initiative, and it was reported at the time that about 300,000 Chinese troops had been cut off from retreat, but "it was a big problem to place so many prisoners and give them food." Chang Yong thought of a stopgap solution to the problem: "I immediately order all the troops, and all the prisoners must be killed." So he sent an order by telegram in the name of the commander, and the text of the order was destroyed after it was read.
Whether this thing is true or not, I don't know. However, this matter was revealed by Takayoshi Tanaka.
This is also why, when I look through the historical materials, it is all vague information.
However, it must be pointed out that even if Chang Yong forged the order, the Chaoxiang Palace could not escape its responsibility, and in the war, the responsibility of the top level bore the brunt of it.
The commander of the army, King Hatohiko Asakamiya, was the uncle of Emperor Hirohito of Japan, and on December 2, 1937, he was appointed by the Emperor of Japan to succeed Matsui (promoted to commander-in-chief of the Central China Front) as the commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and on December 5, he rushed to the front line to take up his post, and he was bound to communicate frequently with the commanders of the divisions by telephone and telegraph to command the nearest command.
<h1>Escaped war criminals</h1>
Let's look again at a record from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East about Matsui Ishigen:
Date and time: March 8, 1946, 1330-1615 hours
Location: Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Japan
Attendees: Ishine Matsui
Interrogator, Translated by Thomas H. Morrow: Denis Kildoyle
Reporter: Uona R Coberley (questioned by Colonel Morrow)
Q: It is said that Chaoxiang Palace will be a field commander who should have inspected the first troops to enter the city. Is that right?
A: Yes.
Q: Asaka Palace married a daughter of Emperor Meiji, didn't she?
Q: Some people say that the Imperial Xiangguan should be extremely responsible for what happened in Nanjing, but because of his relationship with the emperor's royal family, few people, or no one, pursue this, right?
A: I don't think so. Chao XiangGong only joined this unit ten days before it entered the city, and his contact with this unit was short. I don't think he's responsible. I would say that the commanders of those divisions and regiments should be responsible for this.
Q: Who are the commanders of these divisions?
A: Asakami's forces included the 3rd Division under Lieutenant General Fujita, the 9th Division under Lieutenant General Yoshizumi, the 11th Division under Lieutenant General Yamamuro, and the 16th Division under Lieutenant General Nakajima. The Tenth Army, commanded by General Yamgawa, included the Sixth Division under Lieutenant General Tanisuo. There were also the Fourteenth Division and the 106th Division, but they did not enter the city of Nanjing.
Q: What is the name of the army commanded by asaka?
A: Shanghai Expeditionary Force.
Question: It was this unit that the Tenth Army joined, didn't it?
Q: Who else but Admiral Yanagawa of the generals you mentioned died?
A: Nakajima is also dead. Everyone else is alive.
Q: Do you know where everyone but Gu Shoufu is now?
A: I'm not sure where, but I believe they're somewhere in Tokyo or Osaka.
Q: Is there anyone in prison besides Gu Shoufu?
A: No.
Q: You said you entered Nanjing on the 17th. Did you see the bodies of dead citizens, including women and children? Or something like that?
A: By that time, the bodies had all been cleared away. I only saw the bodies of some Chinese soldiers at the West Gate.
Q: China's War Crimes Commission said that after the occupation of Nanjing on 13 July, hundreds of thousands of residents were killed and the city was burned and plundered. Is there any evidence other than your statement that Nanjing was mistreated during the occupation?
A: This is completely untrue. Such allegations are unfounded. I dare to vouch for it in my honor.
Q: Before that, did you hear that Chaoxiang Palace was accused of letting his men indulge themselves in the city of Nanjing?
A: I've never heard of it. I don't believe there is such a thing.
Q: So you don't know where Abend got the information that Asaka Palace was extremely responsible for the performance of the Japanese army in Nanjing, but was never named because of the special relationship between Asaka Palace and the royal family?
A: I don't know where he got this information from.
Q: Where is Chaoxiang Palace now?
A: In Tokyo.
To this day, Matsui Ishigen's behavior at the Tokyo trial is very puzzling, as the commander, he did not disclose the situation in Nanjing at that time, and after that, he played down in The Japanese military circles, if he did so, he might involve members of the imperial family. He never blamed the Emperor or Asaka Palace in court, and he told the prosecutor that it was his duty to die for them.
On February 12, 1938, when Asaka Palace returned to China, Hirohito met at the Imperial Palace and praised his "achievements" in slaughtering the castle, and specially gave a pair of silver vases carved with the chrysanthemum emblem of the Japanese Imperial Family to show praise and restore the imperial status of Asaka Palace because of the "achievements". His rank was also promoted to general for his "meritorious service" in the massacre. Prior to this, Hirohito heard that Asaka Palace had led an army to capture Nanjing, and had told Prince Shunin palace, the chief of staff of the Japanese base camp and also his uncle, that he was extremely satisfied with Asaka Palace's actions in Nanjing. Accordingly, the Palace of The Idle Courtyard sent a congratulatory message to the Asaka Palace: "Outstanding achievements, unprecedented in history." Since then, Asaka palace and Hirohito have become more closely related, meeting often and playing golf together.
After Japan's surrender, in order to evade trial, Hirohito first transferred the royal family members who had been entrusted with important military positions from the military, and after meeting with MacArthur, finally obtained a promise from the U.S. government that "the emperor and members of the imperial family shall not be tried." Chaoxianggong, the first perpetrator of the Nanjing Massacre, was eventually able to escape capital punishment and go unpunished, entertaining himself with golf all day long, and died on April 12, 1981 at the age of 94.
Writing this, I feel bad.
<h1>Write at the end</h1>
Nanjing has always shown endless charm to every person who is keen on history, but the Nanjing catastrophe is a historical event that every historical person cannot bear to pay attention to, and what it shows is the historical trauma brought about by the poverty and weakness of a country. Facts are before us, and our struggle to get justice that belongs to us seems to be struggling. Cognitive history not only knows the details of how things happen, the reflection that history brings to people is what we really need to learn, which is also a respect for history and people, and I sincerely hope that one day, the unjust souls in that fog, the undead imprisoned behind the digital wall, can emerge their clear faces under the gaze of the world.