Chapter 9 08. War mobilization orders have been quietly issued

On this day, the commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army Shigeru Honjo, staff officers Itagaki and Tahara arrived in Changchun from Lushun with more than 50 people. They inspected the Second Division and the independent garrison and gave lectures, demanding that the Japanese army obey orders and fulfill their bounden duty of defending Japan's interests in Manchuria. This is an ad hoc review.In fact, Commander Honjo's inspection of troops on September 13 was only part of a series of inspections of troops.Beginning on September 7, Commander Honjo led senior staff officer Seishiro Itagaki and chief staff officer Ishihara Kanji to conduct an unusual review of the Kwantung Army's troops stationed along the Manchurian railway line: Departed from the Army Command and inspected the Japanese troops stationed in Dashiqiao, Haicheng, Anshan, and Lianshanguan; on the 10th, he arrived in Shenyang, inspected the troops and listened to the report of Major Hanaya Masa, a member of the secret service, and met with Consul General Hayashi Hisakujiro; on the 11th, From Shenyang to Tieling; on the 12th, came to Gongzhuling, where the headquarters of the Japanese independent garrison is located, and inspected the headquarters of the independent garrison, the first garrison brigade, and the second cavalry regiment; Arrived in Changchun to inspect the emergency dispatch and boarding exercises of the troops stationed there, as well as the tactical exercise on the map under the command of the brigade commander; on the 15th, Honjo returned to Shenyang, and on the same day he inspected the 29th Wing and the Second Independent Garrison Brigade, and watched the night dispatch exercises of the troops stationed in each unit; on the morning of the 16th, he inspected the drills of the armored car team and the mountain artillery team of the 29th Wing; in the afternoon, Benzhuang came to Liaoyang. Tactical exercises and dispatch exercises on the map.

Although Commander Shigeru Honjo is 5 years younger than his predecessor, General Takashi Ryoka, he was 55 years old at the time. In just 10 days, he almost visited the main military strongholds of the Kwantung Army along the Manchurian Railway. A very unusual thing. In August 1931, Lieutenant General Honjo Shigeru replaced General Hishikari Takashi as the new commander of the Kwantung Army.Honjo's new role is just a routine product, or is it the secret intention of Japan's top authorities?In any case, Honjo, who has served as Zhang Zuolin's military adviser and is known as a "China Hand", will be more familiar with the situation in Northeast China than Hishikari Takashi.

In early August, Honjo participated in a military conference held by the Central Department of the Japanese Army, mainly attended by officers at the division commander level.In Japan, divisions are the highest organizational unit of the army, and division commanders are the highest-ranking military officers, generally held by officers with the rank of lieutenant general, and their status is very important.During the meeting, Benzhuang carefully studied a top-secret document called "Outline of Strategies for Solving the Manchurian-Mongolian Issue".The main content of the document is: to ease the Zhang Xueliang regime’s anti-Japanese movement mainly through negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; if the anti-Japanese movement is fierce, it is necessary to take military action; the military force required for military action and its operational command issues are drawn up by the General Staff Headquarters Plan; to strengthen ties with the cabinet meeting and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs authorities, so that domestic and foreign people can understand the real situation of Manchurian anti-Japanese, and take careful measures to seek support or understanding for future military operations at home and abroad. These measures are expected to take effect within one year.This document was only newly released in June and July, and it seemed that the passion of the Japanese fanatic soldiers still remained on it, which encouraged the no longer young Honjo.

Before going to China to take office, Honjo wrote a letter to the Japanese Prime Minister Nanjiro, stating his "work ideas": In order to make Japan a first-class power in the world, "we must take advantage of the world's financial decline, the failure of Russia's five-year plan, and the unification of China." Before reaching it, it has indeed occupied Manchuria, which I have been operating for 30 years, and made it "integrate with our North Korea and the mainland."It can be said that Benzhuang actively supports the solution of the so-called "Manchurian and Mongolian issues", which can also be understood as the armed occupation of Northeast China.

According to the original intention of the Central Department of the Japanese Army, Honjo was sent to Northeast China to replace Takashi Hisashigai at this time, in order to send a new head to the Kwantung Army, which had repeatedly caused troubles, so as to weaken the army's mobility.However, compared with his predecessor, Honjo's "work ideas" in the Northeast are more radical, and he is more daring to support the bold actions of young military officers. Before taking office, he had already discussed Japan's Manchukuo policy with Hayashi Mijuro, commander of the Korean Army. , also reached a consensus.In the future, when the Kwantung Army launched an incident, without the support of the Garrison Army, the Kwantung Army would not be able to carry out military operations throughout Northeast China with its strength.The process of history is often so paradoxical.

After Honjo took office, he first listened to the report on the situation of "Manchuria" by Chief of Staff Miyake Miyake and Senior Staff Officer Seishiro Itagaki.After that, on September 1, he issued the following instructions to all officers and soldiers of the Kwantung Army: Now that I am under the command of the commander of the Kwantung Army, and I am taking on other important tasks,... the situation of Manchuria and Mongolia is becoming more and more critical, and it is not allowed to be safe for a day. The responsibility of the Kwantung Army is really heavy.Those who are highly expected in this job, I only hope to rely on my elite soldiers, work together, and work together to cope with the changing situation and devote ourselves to extending the great cause of the national destiny.

If there are still a lot of official words in this instruction and the intention is not obvious, then put it together with the instruction issued by the village after completing the inspection of the Kwantung Army more than half a month later, and you can see the essence of it. The mystery lies.In this instruction, Honjo first summed up the advantages and disadvantages of the troops discovered during the inspection, and said the following passage: More importantly, due to the appropriate leadership of the division commander and the hard work of the generals, although the garrison of each unit is shallow, the combat preparations have made steady progress and the morale is also very strong. This is the most satisfactory job.Nowadays, the situation in Manchuria and Mongolia is becoming more and more uneasy, so please do not rush to settle down. In case of an incident, all troops should take active actions on their own initiative, have the determination and preparation necessary for a certain period of time, and do not make any mistakes.

Obviously, it is not too much to say that this is a pre-war mobilization order, but it was issued in a tactful and obscure form. On September 1, on the morning when Honjo completed his first instructions after taking office, he listened to the opinions of the Chief of Operations Staff Ishihara Kanji on combat, and he still hadn’t quenched his thirst. "Full Mongolian problem" opinion.One is the supreme commander of Japan's strongest garrison in China, and the other is a "think tank" for the Japanese army's China issues. After field research, especially after talking with staff officers such as Ishihara and Itagaki, Honjo had a clearer understanding of himself and the mission of the Kwantung Army in China. On September 3, Honjo wrote the article "Conversation with the Commander of the Garrison Division and the Commander of the Independent Garrison".First of all, he believed that anti-Japanese sentiment was raging in China at that time, and the Chinese government intentionally condoned, supported and even organized the people to do so, so "I secretly thought that the time for the final solution was approaching."Secondly, he judged that in the Chinese army, the sentiment of insulting the Japanese army is spreading. Some people deliberately advocate anti-Japanese ideas, so "it is difficult to guarantee that they will not take actions that challenge me", so "it will eventually lead to a frontal conflict between the Japanese and Chinese troops." With a great determination to fight against it, the front-line army "under no circumstances should be passive, and should resolutely carry out its tasks, and never lose the prestige of the national army...".Third, to resolve the Manchurian-Mongolian issue, we should "capture the good opportunity mentioned above, and there is absolutely no room for dispute" and express our firm determination to take military action.Fourth, it is believed that the reason why the government has been unable to make up its mind “is that domestic public opinion has not yet reached this level of awareness.” However, to raise the level of awareness of domestic public opinion, one cannot rely on waiting, but to “introduce the truth of Manchuria to the country. necessary".In the end, Honjo proposed a strategy in which the army does not take the lead, but secretly manipulates behind the scenes in the situation of creating momentum for war in Japan:

At present, the lectures held in various places at the opportunity of the Nakamura incident have achieved considerable results in popularizing the understanding of the Manchukuo-Mongolia issue and general national defense thinking. This is certainly carried out with the understanding of our army. Calling it has nothing to do with our army, otherwise, it will reduce the effect... This speech, which can be called the "Situation and Task" of Honjo's version, is full of fictional China threat theories, war theories, and conspiracy theories. , It can be said that it is the same approach but the same result, "cooperating after the plan".

The arrival of Commander Honjo gave great encouragement to the Kwantung Army staff.Later, the direct participant in the Nakamura spy incident, Staff Admiral Katakura, recalled: Soon after Commander Honjo took office, I visited the Commander's residence with the senior staff officer.At that time, Staff Itagaki asked the commander: "In case of an incident in Manchuria, do you plan to ask the central government for instructions to deal with it later? Or do you exercise your authority to complete the task and handle it arbitrarily?" To this, the commander replied: "The situation in Manchuria is delicate. Therefore, I plan to act with caution; but if it is within my authority, I will take responsibility, even if it is my own arbitrary decision, I will implement it." The commander's answer inspired our determination.Later, Staff Officer Ishihara said: "Although Benzhuang lacks a strategic mind, he is very outstanding in terms of strategy."... He is exactly what we were looking for.

The so-called "arbitrary" that appears repeatedly here refers to the power of the commander of the Kwantung Army to act according to his own decision in an emergency without the approval of his superiors. "Regulations"-the "constitution" within the Kwantung Army. With the full support and planning of the young staff officers, and the commander's promise not to hesitate to use arbitrary power, all obstacles for the Kwantung Army to launch an incident have been removed, and the rest is waiting to create an excuse to act. On the morning of September 18, after Honjo finished his summary report on the 12-day review of military activities, he led Staff Ishihara and others back from Liaoyang to the Kwantung Army headquarters in Lushun.That night, the September 18th Incident happened.The Kwantung Army's "Manchuria Incident Confidential Political Strategy Diary" has the following records about the events that happened that day: The situation of this temporary review is very similar to this incident, and the various troops seem to have partially carried out pre-drills; also, the state of extreme tension due to the Nakamura incident is also very necessary to ponder.People with discerning eyes and wide knowledge will be able to see through this. It can be seen that it is not too much to say that Shigeru Honjo's inspection of the troops this time is actually an order for war mobilization. From 1921 to 1923, Benzhuang Fan served as Zhang Zuolin's military adviser. During Zhang Zuolin's visit to Japan, Benzhuang served as Zhang's translator. This China hand maintained a good personal friendship with Zhang's family.After the September 18th Incident, he transported the property belonging to the Zhang family to Zhang Xueliang in Beiping by train, repaired a letter, and sent someone to send it to the young marshal.Zhang Xueliang said to the visitor: I don't want these things. Although Benzhuang and I used to be friends and have a good relationship, we are no different from enemies now.I am a soldier, and he returned my property to me, which means that I fought to protect my property, which is humiliating to me.The visitor had no choice but to transport the things back.