893.01 Manchuria/671
The Consul General at Mukden (Myers) to the Minister in China (Johnson)13
Sir: As of possible interest, I have the honor to report upon certain cases of Japanese ruthlessness in connection with their operations against so-called bandits. There is good reason to believe that the general details of these cases are substantially correct. In this connection it may be mentioned that certain foreigners who are in close touch with natives in the general vicinity of Mukden have stated in reply to my inquiry that very few cases of extreme brutality have been brought to their notice. If a deduction may be drawn from the limited information available on this subject, it would seem that indiscriminate bombing from airplanes has been one of the most common forms of ruthlessness in the past. However, in the recent drive against the insurgents in the eastern districts in this province the Japanese appeared to have confined bombing from airplanes to the outskirts of villages or towns where little or no damage was done.
A small detachment of Japanese troops which was looking for bandits near the Hun river, south of Mukden, during the first few days of September inquired of several farmers working in a field if they had seen any bandits, to which question one replied in the negative. He was forthwith bayoneted and the others who then tried to run away were shot. The village chief reported the matter in person to the Japanese authorities at Mukden and the Japanese sent two officers to the village to investigate. While the investigation was being [Page 339] made, a large detachment of Japanese soldiers arrived and the opinion was expressed that this village was only saved from reprisals by the presence of the investigators. It is possible that the boldness of this village chief was considered undesirable.
During the first week of September the representatives of twenty villages came to Mukden and reported to the provincial authorities that their villages are subjected to bandit raids and then are visited by detachments of Japanese soldiers who frequently treat them worse than the bandits. They also complained of the indiscriminate bombing by airplanes whether or not bandits are present and requested that the matter be brought to the attention of the Japanese military authorities. It is understood that the provincial authorities have done nothing.
On the night of September 15, 1932, the Big Swords made a surprise attack on Fushun which was far more successful than press reports indicated. About thirty Japanese were killed including four important men—their identity is not known but it is presumed that they were engineers or officials of the Fushun Collieries—and property to the value of over Yen 350,000 destroyed. Some days later, probably after a Japanese investigation, the whole population of three villages near Fushun including men, women and children, were induced by Japanese soldiers or gendarmes to go to a ravine in the nearby hills where they were mowed down by machine guns. A recent report is to the effect that they were asked there to hear a lecture on Manchoukuo. According to a report of this massacre which was made by a Chinese officer of the Provincial Government who had been sent to inquire into the matter in view of the many rumors that were current, only one girl nine years old miraculously escaped death and was found among the dead by the relatives who were permitted to remove the bodies. The number killed was nearly 4000. The information regarding this case and the two preceding ones was obtained from official sources in strictest confidence and is believed to be reliable.
In an endeavor to ascertain the reason for this massacre, one observer learned that the raiders looted a warehouse in which a special brand of flour was kept and that it was the people of the villages where these bags were found that were massacred. The Chinese officer did not apparently report this story and even if true it is uncertain whether it has any relation to this incident. It has recently been heard from a reliable source that the Japanese troops intended to massacre the inhabitants of several other villages in that vicinity but were dissuaded from doing so by Japanese civilians (presumably South Manchuria Railway officials) who pointed out that if there were more incidents of this kind all the Chinese employees of the Fushun mines would leave. As it is, the Manshu Nippo, Dairen, of October 2, 1932, [Page 340] carried a news item to the effect that one-third of the Chinese workers at Fushun have returned to their homes in Shantung and neighboring provinces and that Japanese factories and enterprises are greatly handicapped by this development at a time when workers are urgently needed. Information from a Chinese official source is to the effect that nearly 20,000 workmen at Fushun have returned to Shantung. These two reports are in practical accordance and it seems reasonable to conclude that the exodus was caused by the above mentioned incident. It may be explained in this connection that the vicinity of Fushun has always been a hot-bed of banditry and that the Fushun Collieries have for years been preyed upon by bandits. Possibly it was the purpose of the military to take advantage of existing conditions to wipe out the chief offending villages, a measure that may have seemed the only effective one under the circumstances.
A number of reports concerning the bombing of villages in this vicinity following the raids on Mukden late in August has been heard. There was one report that Hun Ho P’u was bombed by airplanes after the bandits had departed killing some fifty villagers. Another story (unconfirmed) was to the effect that one of the bandits or irregulars who was caught during a Mukden raid told his Japanese captors that he was a native of a certain village and that six headmen of that village were forthwith arrested and shot. It was subsequently learned that he belonged to another village and had evidently given the wrong name to protect his native place. Between June 19th and September 1st T’unghua, the seat of the headquarters of the insurgent leader T’ang Chu-wu, was bombed six times from the air. It is interesting to note that the casualties of the first air raid numbered about 40 killed, largely women and children, and of the other raids only one killed.
A very interesting example of intimidatory propaganda used by the Japanese during their recent drive against the insurgents in the eastern districts was a large poster, copies of which were seen in every village by Vice Consul Hall on his recent journey from Nantsamu to Malientun. Half of the poster was of a light color and the other half dark, the figure of a giant Japanese soldier being portrayed in the center. On the light side the soldier is extending a giant hand toward a miniature figure holding a Manchoukuo flag; on the dark side he is pointing a sword dripping with blood toward small recumbent figures. The poster also carried a brief legend in Chinese characters, the general purport of which can be readily imagined.
The following details are of interest as showing methods to which the Japanese military at times resort. During the early part of September, a small Japanese garrison was holding the railway station at Yingp’an, on the Mukden-Hailung line, which is a short distance northeast of Fushun. The surrounding country was then overrun by [Page 341] irregulars and bandits and apparently this small garrison was subjected to frequent attacks. An American missionary accompanied by several Korean Christians arrived there late in the afternoon on his way to Mukden and at the inn where they spent the night he was interrogated in a gruff manner by the officer in charge in regard to his identity. When satisfied on this point, he began intimidating the Koreans and Chinese who had accompanied him. They were soon ordered out of the inn and according to their story were put in a trench that surrounded the soldiers barracks. Soldiers then aimed rifles at them and advanced on them with fixed bayonets. After an hour or two they were permitted to return to the inn and on the next day proceeded by cart with the American to Fushun. It is surmised that the main reason for this intimidation was the officer’s displeasure at seeing these Koreans attached to an American for protection.
Although it is probably true that the Japanese military do not resort to extreme measures without provocation, it seems reasonable to believe that they intend to handle the “bandit” situation in the most effective manner possible according to their standards and that when harsh measures appear the more practicable they will be applied. According to available information, there is no evidence of the application of unduly harsh measures during the recent drive in the Tungpien area.
Respectfully yours,
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Consul General at Mukden in his unnumbered despatch dated November 8, 1932; received December 5.↩