Tongzhou Mutiny
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The Tongzhou mutiny (), sometimes referred to as the Tongzhou Massacre, was an assault on
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese civilians and troops by the
security forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several countries, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of irregular military and paramilitar ...
of East Hebei Autonomous Government in Tongzhou,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, on 29 July 1937, shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which triggered the outbreak of the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
. Approximately 260 Japanese and Korean residents were killed in the assault. This event escalated tensions between China and Japan, contributing to the further deterioration of relations following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.


Background

Tongzhou was the capital of Tongxian (now the northern part of Tongzhou District, Beijing) and was located about 30 km east of Beiping (now Beijing). As a result of the Japanese operation to divide the five provinces of North China for political purposes, Tongzhou became the capital of the East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government, established by
Yin Ju-keng Yin Ju-keng; (; Hepburn: ''In Jyokou''; 1885 - December 1, 1947) was a politician in the early Republic of China, later noted for his role as chairman in the Japanese-controlled East Hebei Autonomous Government and subsequent puppet regimes ...
, who declared autonomy from the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
government in Nanjing. At the time, the main force of the Japanese army defending Tongzhou had been deployed, and only a small unit with poor combat capabilities remained in Tongzhou. The Japanese army considered the East Hebei Autonomous Government's security forces defending Tongzhou to be friendly forces, so the attack was an unexpected event. There are various theories about the reason for the incident. On July 7, three weeks before the Tongzhou Incident, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, in which
Song Zheyuan Song Zheyuan (; October 30, 1885 – April 5, 1940) was a Chinese general during the Chinese Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Biography Early life and education Born in the village of Zhaohong, northwest of the seat of Lao ...
's 29th Army clashed with the Japanese garrison in China. Originally, the Tanggu Agreement of May 1933 established a demilitarized zone to avoid military conflict between Japan and China, prohibiting both sides from entering, and the Chinese police force was to maintain public order. For this reason, the security force was mainly made up of Han Chinese and horse bandits who had fled from Manchuria to avoid the Japanese army, and these were commonly called "miscellaneous troops." The East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government was established as a result of Japan's efforts to separate North China, which was still seeking to expand its influence in the region. Led by
Yin Ju-keng Yin Ju-keng; (; Hepburn: ''In Jyokou''; 1885 - December 1, 1947) was a politician in the early Republic of China, later noted for his role as chairman in the Japanese-controlled East Hebei Autonomous Government and subsequent puppet regimes ...
, a pro-Japanese graduate of Waseda University, the Self-Government Declaration was announced in Tongzhou on November 25, 1935, and in December the autonomous government began to operate, with two autonomous government security forces established. In opposition to the East Hebei Autonomous Government, the Kuomintang government established the East Hebei Administrative Affairs Committee (Jidong Government) (chairman: Song Zheyuan). The East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government's Security Forces were a security force that was trained by soldiers dispatched from the Japanese Army's China Garrison, and were made up of the Training Corps and five General Corps, the First, Second, Third, and Fourth. In reality, they were paramilitary organizations, but in principle they were called the Security Forces, as an organization for maintaining public order. Although some of the aforementioned "miscellaneous forces" still had strong anti-Japanese sentiments, many of them were employed as part of the Security Forces in order to avoid conflict with them. Within Tongzhou city, one division of the First Security Forces General Division (Commander: Zhang Qingyu) and one division of the Training General Division (Commander: Yin Ju-Keng, Deputy Commander: Zhang Qingyu) were stationed, while one division of the Second Security Forces General Division (Commander: Zhang Yantian) was stationed outside the city. The Second Division of the First Security Forces General Division was also equipped with heavy machine guns and field artillery. However, the unit was formed from part of the former Northeast Army (Chinese version), and anti-Japanese sentiment was by no means favorable, and some of the troops were cadres with strong anti-Japanese sentiment, anti-Japanese units, and bandits. 215] At around 7 p.m. on November 20, 1936, about 400 men from the 5th and 6th companies of the Changli Security Force stopped their locomotives on the Beining Railway between Tongzhi and Kaiping, and abducted Major Furuta Ryuzo, commander of the Shanhaiguan garrison, Captain Matsuo Shinichi, commander of the Luanxian garrison, Captain Nagamatsu Kyoichi, medical doctor Katagi Eikyu, and Kazue Kusumi, along with 10 other Japanese passengers. 617] The rebellion was put down, but Major Furuta took responsibility and committed seppuku. 618] In Tongzhou, like the Western powers, Japanese troops were stationed for the purpose of protecting Japanese residents, based on the Beijing Protocol following the Boxer Rebellion. This Tongzhou unit was originally intended to be stationed in Tongzhou, but Vice Minister of the Army Umezu Yoshijiro strongly opposed it, stating that stationing in Tongzhou, far from the Beijing-Tianjin Line, was not permitted under the spirit of the Beijing Protocol. Instead, the unit was stationed in Fengtai, southwest of Beiping. 9At the time of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, about 45 members of a platoon (platoon leader: Lieutenant Fujio Shinichi) of the China Garrison Infantry First Battalion and seven members of the Tongzhou Military Police were stationed in Tongzhou, and on the night of July 18, the China Garrison Infantry Second Regiment (regiment commander: Lieutenant Colonel Kayashima Takashi) arrived from Tianjin and stayed at Tongzhou Normal School. 0According to the "Development of Operational Plans for the China Garrison Army" dated July 15, 1937, supply bases were established in Tongzhou and Fengtai in preparation for the "First Phase of the Clean-up Campaign" ote 1 and it was assumed that the combat command post would advance to Tongzhou or Fengtai between battles ote 2 At the time of the Tongzhou Incident, the main force of the Japanese Second Regiment, which was defending Tongzhou, was deployed to Nanyuan, south of Beijing, and there were only personnel in Tongzhou who were not combat-capable Japan considered the Jidong Anti-Communist Autonomous Government Security Force to be a friendly force


Causes

There are several views as to the cause of the mutiny of the East Hebei Army. * Revenge against Japan for the aforementioned bombing.寺平忠輔, 盧溝橋事件, 読売新聞社, 1970 * Propaganda radio broadcasts by the Kuomintang which made them believe that the KMT had won at the Marco Polo Bridge. * The conclusion of a secret agreement between the KMT and the East Hebei Government. * Indignation at the flood of opium drugs countenanced by the East Hebei Government.江口圭一, 十五年戦争研究史論, 校倉書房, 2001


Aftermath

In addition to Japanese military personnel, approximately 260 non-Chinese civilians living in Tongzhou in accordance with the
Boxer Protocol The Boxer Protocol was a Protocol (diplomacy), diplomatic protocol signed in China's capital Beijing on September 7, 1901, between the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including ...
of 1901 were killed in the uprising. An American journalist who visited the site reported that 117 Japanese and 106 Korean civilians were killed; Chiang Kai-shek's private diaries (published in the 1970s) recorded 104 Japanese and 108 Korean casualties. Approximately 60 foreign civilians survived and they provided both journalists and later historians with firsthand witness accounts. The Chinese set fire to and destroyed much of the city. Anti-Chinese sentiments were further intensified in Japan. The popular Japanese slogan in those days was "To punish China the outrageous", or its shorter version . The Japanese military adventurists stationed in China used this incident to justify further military operations under the pretext of protecting Japanese lives and properties in and around Beijing. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the Japanese defense team at the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on 29 April 1946 to Criminal procedure, try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their cri ...
(the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal) submitted the official statement made in 1937 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as the inevitable cause of the Sino-Japanese conflicts, but presiding judge Sir William Webb KBE rejected it as evidence.


Gallery

Occupied Tongzhou by IJA.JPG, Japanese soldiers on walls of Tongzhou Survivor of Tungchow Mutiny.JPG, Japanese survivors of the Tongzhou Mutiny Massacred corpse of a Japanese victim of the Tungchow Massacre.jpg, Victims of Tongzhou Mutiny Massacred corpses of Japanese victims of the Tungchow Massacre 1.jpg, Victims of Tongzhou Mutiny Massacred corpses of Japanese victims of the Tungchow Massacre 2.jpg, Victims of Tongzhou Muntiny Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper Article on the Tungchow Mutiny.jpg, Newspaper
Yomiuri Shimbun The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...
reporting on the incidents


See also

*
Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence agai ...
, an analogous massacre in Europe during World War II. *
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
*
Nikolayevsk incident The Nikolayevsk incident or Nikolaevsk incident () was a series of mass killings that took place in the region of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur during the Russian Civil War. The massacre and terrorism perpetrated by the Red Army under Yakov Tryapitsyn ...
*
Nanking incident of 1927 The Nanking Incident ( zh, c=南京事件, w=Nan2-ching1 Shih4-chien4, p=Nánjīng Shìjiàn, first=w), also known as the Nanking Outrage or Nanking Massacre, occurred in March 1927 during the capture of Nanjing (then romanized as Nanking) by th ...
*
Tonghua incident The Tonghua incident was a mass killing of rebelling Japanese soldiers and civilians that occurred on 3 February 1946 in southern Jilin, China. Background Tonghua, being the local transport hub, had a large influx of refugees in 1945. The first ...
* Jinan incident


Notes


References

* Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, ''History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)'' 2nd Ed., 1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. pp. 177–180, Map 2 * {{coord, 39, 48, N, 116, 48, E, display=title 1937 in China July 1937 in Asia Conflicts in 1937 20th-century rebellions Beijing in World War II Massacres of the Second Sino-Japanese War Collective punishment Massacres committed by China Anti-Japanese sentiment in China Anti-Korean sentiment in China Anti-Korean violence Mutinies