Iwane Matsui
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General Iwane Matsui (松井 石根 Matsui Iwane?, July 27, 1878 - December 23, 1948) was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army and the commander of the expeditionary forces sent to China. He was sentenced to death by hanging by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for being responsible for the Nanking Massacre.
He was born in Aichi prefecture. He fought in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–05, and graduated from the Japanese Military Academy in 1906. He became the commanding officer of the 29th Regiment from 1919 to 1921. From 1921 to 1922 he was attached to the Vladistok Expeditionary Force Staff, and from 1922 to 1924 he was made head of the Harbin Special Services Agency of Manchuria. He was then made commanding officer of the 35th Brigade until 1925. From those posts he was sent to be Head of the 2nd Bureau of the General Staff from 1925 to 1928, then attached to the General Staff until 1929 when he was made general officer commanding 11th Division until 1931 when he was again attached to the General Staff. From 1931 to 1932 he was a member of the Japanese Delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference and then again attached to the General Staff until 1933.
He attained the rank of general in the Japanese Army in 1933. And became a Member of the Supreme War Council until 1935, except for the period from 1933 to 1934 when he was Commander in Chief Formosa Army District, on Formosa. In 1933 he became one of the initiators of Grand Asia association, and also established Taiwan-Asia Association.
In 1935 Iwane Matsui retired, but came out of retirement to become the commander of the Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force during the Battle of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was personally appointed to that post by Emperor Hirohito[citation needed] on August 15, 1937, perhaps because he was a friend to Chiang Kai-shek, and while leaving the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, said to General Sugiyama, minister of Army, according to the memoir of then-prime minister Konoe Fumimaro[1]: "There's no solution except to break the power of Chiang Kai-shek by capturing Nanking. That is what I must do."
On August 23, the SEF was sent to Shanghai, which was reinforced with the 10th Army commanded by Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa later in October. On November 7, Central China Area Army (CCAA) was organized by combining the SEF and the 10th Army, with Matsui appointed as its commander-in-chief concurrently with that of the SEF. After winning the battles around Shanghai, the SEF suggested the Headquarters of the General Staff in Tokyo to attack Nanking. The order was delivered on December 1 of 1937, at the same time, the CCAA was rearranged and Lieutenant General Yasuhiko, Prince Asaka, an uncle of Hirohito, was appointed as the commander of the SEF, while Matsui stayed as the commander of CCAA overseeing both the SEF and the 10th Army. The real nature of Matsui's authority is however difficult to establish as he was confronted with a member of the imperial family directly appointed by the Emperor.
On December 10, 1937, the SEF began its attack on Nanking, and the Kuomintang forces that remained surrendered on December 13, 1937. The Nanking massacre began immediately afterwards, but halted only temporarily[citation needed] when Matsui and Asaka marched triumphantly into Nanking on December 17, 1937.
While Matsui himself was not present during the beginning of the atrocities (he was ill at the time), he was aware of what his men were doing in the city, as were members of the Japanese foreign service who had followed the army into the city. Word began to trickle out of Nanking, and growing pressure was placed on the Imperial government to recall the SEF's officers.
Concerning atrocities in Nanking, Matsui noted in his war journal about rapes (December 20) and looting (December 29) and wrote it was very much regrettable that those behaviors destroyed the reputation of the Imperial Army. He also mentioned "a number of abominable incidents within the past 50 days" at the memorial service for the war-dead of the SEF held on February 7[2] and rebuted in tears the officers and the soldiers in the place, saying that atrocities done by a part of the soldiers had dropped down the reputation of the empire, such a thing should not happen in the Imperial Army, they should keep the disciplines strictly and should never persecute the innocent people, and so on[3].
Both Matsui and Asaka were recalled to Japan in 1938. Matsui retired, and returned to his hometown of Atami. Along with several others in the community, he built a large statue of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, facing in the direction of Nanking. He was decorated on April 29, 1940 for his role in the war.
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[edit] Trial
In 1948, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East found him guilty of class B and C war crimes, and he was hanged that December at Sugamo Prison, alongside six others, including Hideki Tojo.
Matsui's Buddhist confessor Hanayama wrote of the conversation he had with Matsui on November 29(some say it is on December 9). "I am ashamed of the Nanking Incident... I participated in the Russo-Japanese War as a captain, but the division commanders at the time and now are totally different. In the Russo-Japanese War, the handling of the captives and other managements were excellent. But it did not go like that this time," said Matsui according to Hanayama. "After the memorial service, I gathered up everybody and warned them with tears of anger. Both Prince Asaka and Lieutenant General Yanagawa were there. [I told them] we came all the way to stand on the majesty of the Emperor, but the dignity [of the Imperial Army] was lost at a stroke through the brutal acts of the soldiers. But then everyone laughed. To my displeasure, a certain division commander even uttered, 'of course.'"
He was 71 at the time of his death. In their decision, the Tribunal wrote:
The Tribunal is satisfied that Matsui knew what was happening. He did nothing, or nothing effective to abate these horrors. He did issue orders before the capture of the city enjoining propriety of conduct upon his troops and later he issued further orders to the same purport. These orders were of no effect as is now known, and as he must have known. It was pleaded in his behalf that at this time he was ill. His illness was not sufficient to prevent his conducting the military operations of his command nor to prevent his visiting the City for days while these atrocities were occurring. He was in command of the Army responsible for these happenings. He knew of them. He had the power, as he had the duty, to control his troops and to protect the unfortunate citizens of Nanking. He must be held criminally responsible for his failure to discharge this duty.
The first edition of The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, followed the IMTFE's lead in blaming Matsui for the massacre arguing the traditional view that Matsui planned the invasion of Nanking and was Asaka's commanding officer during the Rape. Chang however revised her position in subsequent editions and insisted on the fact that Matsui was sick during the massacre and that Asaka was therefore the officer in charge.
James Yin and Shi Young's book of the same title also blames Asaka for the massacre, and portrays Matsui as a helpless figurehead stuck between a prince and an emperor. The truth is a matter of continued debate.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Yoshida Hiroshi Tennou no guntai to Nankin jiken 1998 Aoki shoten, ISBN 4-250-98019-7, p.71
- ^ Higashinakano Shudo The Nanking Massacre: Fact Versus Fiction 2005 Sekai Shuppan, Inc. http://www.sdh-fact.com/ ISBN 4-916079-12-4, ISBN 4-916079-13-2, p.171; the original Japanese edition: Nankin gyakusatsu no tettei kensho 1998 Tendensha ISBN 4-88656-153-5 C0021, p.263)
- ^ Yoshida Hiroshi Tennou no guntai to Nankin jiken 1998 Aoki shoten, ISBN 4-250-98019-7, p.164
[edit] References
- http://www.generals.dk/general/Matsui/Iwane/Japan.html General Iwane Matsui
- Higashinakano Shudo The Nanking Massacre: Fact Versus Fiction 2005 Sekai Shuppan, Inc. ISBN 4-916079-12-4, ISBN 4-916079-13-2, http://www.sdh-fact.com/ (Original Japanese edition: Nankin gyakusatsu no tettei kensho 1998 Tendensha ISBN 4-88656-153-5 C0021)
- Yoshida Hiroshi Tennou no guntai to Nankin jiken 1998 Aoki shoten, ISBN 4-250-98019-7.
