793.94/8586
The Consul at Mukden (Langdon) to the Ambassador in China (Johnson)32
Sir: As perhaps indicating the strength of Japanese troop concentrations and Japanese defense preparations on the “Manchukuo”–U. S. S. R. border, I have the honor to report information confidentially volunteered by a source connected with the Kwantung Army.
My informant states that in the Tsitsihar area (presumably the northwestern sector of the border) there are stationed at present two divisions of Japanese troops.* This force, he declares, is to be augmented this spring by the addition of two more divisions, raising the total of Japanese troops in the Tsitsihar zone to 40,000, more or less. The reinforcements, it is said, are to be drawn from South Manchuria and from Japan.
Trenches are being dug, my informant declares, along the border. Supplies of food and munitions sufficient for three years of peace-time use are being stored in and behind the line of trenches.
This office is unable to pass on the accuracy of the information supplied. It may be said, however, that the report would seem to be in accord with the Kwantung Army’s expressed aim of augmenting its strength to at least one-half† of that of the Soviet Far Eastern Army, now alleged to be over 300,000. The northwestern frontier is an extended and important sector. Viewed within the framework of the Kwantung Army’s expansion program, the claim that some 40,000 Japanese troops are to be concentrated in the Tsitsihar area does not seem extravagant. To what extent this force is and will be equipped with artillery, tanks and aircraft is unknown.
[Page 916]No large movements of troops are known to have taken place recently through Mukden. It is quite possible that detachments dispatched from Japan for northern, western and eastern Manchuria land at Seishin or Kashin, Chosen, and proceed to their details by way of Tumen or Tunhua.
The report that a system of trenches is being constructed, if true, can perhaps be interpreted by military men. To my mind the statement appears to be inconsistent with the strategic dictates of the “Manchukuo”–Siberian border.
Very respectfully yours,