Mukden Incident

The plot to blow up the South Manchuria Railway on September 18, 1931 (Showa 6) triggered the Manchurian Incident. It was previously known as the Liutiaogou Incident, but a 1980 academic report in China suggested that it should be renamed the Liutiaohu Incident, after the name of the place where the incident occurred. In March 1931, a military coup planned by the Ugaki Kazushige Cabinet was discovered (the March Incident). Colonel Itagaki Seishiro, a senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army, and Lieutenant Colonel Ishiwara Kanji, the chief staff officer of the same army, had already drawn up plans to take possession of Manchuria and Mongolia, but after the March Incident, Ishiwara wrote "Personal Views on the Manchuria-Mongolia Problem" and drew up plans to launch military action in Manchuria and use that as an opportunity to carry out military reforms within the country. The Liutiaohu Incident was a plot to make these plans a reality. The Kwantung Army's plan was also joined by Lt. General Tatekawa Yoshitsugu, Chief of the First (Operations) Division of the General Staff, Colonel Shigeto Chiaki, Chief of the China Section, and Lt. Colonel Nemoto Hiroshi, Chief of the China Team. The military action was brought forward when the plan was leaked, and was carried out on September 18th. The amount of explosives was calculated so as not to affect train operations, even though the South Manchuria Railway tracks were to be blown up. With the explosion as a signal, Senior Staff Officer Itagaki, who was in Fengtian, ordered attacks on Fengtian City and Beidaying, Zhang Xueliang's army quarters, in the name of the army commander, and by the 19th, the military action had been carried out as planned, occupying major cities along the South Manchuria Railway, including Yingkou, Andong, Fenghuang City, and Changchun. The plan also called for Korean reinforcements, but General Kanaya Hanzo, Chief of Staff, called off the dispatch. So an incident occurred in Jilin, and the dispatch of troops to Jilin was carried out, which led to the Korean army unilaterally crossing the border. In response, immediately after the incident, the Wakatsuki Reijiro cabinet, which adopted a policy of non-expansion, endorsed military action at a cabinet meeting on the 22nd, approved the expenditure of the budget, and on the 24th issued a statement acknowledging the legitimacy of the military's actions, approving them.

[Kimishima Kazuhiko]

"The Kwantung Army by Toshihiko Shimada (Chuko Shinsho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1931年（昭和6）9月18日の謀略的満鉄線路爆破事件。満州事変の引き金となった。従来、柳条溝事件と通称されていたが、1980年の中国における学会報告で、事件現場の地名などから柳条湖事件と改称すべきであると提起された。31年3月、宇垣一成(うがきかずしげ)内閣を企図する軍事クーデターが発覚した（三月事件）。関東軍高級参謀板垣征四郎(いたがきせいしろう)大佐や同作戦主任参謀石原莞爾(かんじ)中佐らはすでに満蒙(まんもう)領有計画を作成していたが、三月事件後に石原は「満蒙問題私見」などを執筆、満州で軍事行動を起こし、それを機に国内の軍事的改革を断行する計画を作成した。柳条湖事件はこれらの計画を具体化する謀略であった。関東軍の計画には、軍中央部の参謀本部第一（作戦）部長建川美次(たてかわよしつぐ)中将、同支那(しな)課長重藤千秋(しげとうちあき)大佐、支那班長根本博中佐らも加わっていた。軍事行動は計画の漏洩(ろうえい)により早められ、9月18日に実行された。満鉄線路の爆破といっても、列車の運行に影響を与えないように爆薬量が計算され、爆破を合図に奉天(ほうてん)にいた板垣高級参謀が軍司令官名で奉天城と張学良(ちょうがくりょう)軍の宿営北大営(ほくだいえい)を攻撃させ、19日中には計画どおりの軍事行動で営口(えいこう)、安東(あんとう)、鳳凰(ほうおう)城、長春(ちょうしゅん)など満鉄沿線の主要都市を占領した。さらに計画には朝鮮軍の増援があったが、参謀総長金谷範三(かなやはんぞう)大将が出兵を中止させた。そこで吉林(きつりん)で事件を起こし、吉林出兵を実施、これに伴い朝鮮軍を独断越境させた。これに対し、事件勃発(ぼっぱつ)直後、不拡大方針をとった若槻礼次郎(わかつきれいじろう)内閣は22日の閣議で軍事行動を追認し、予算の支出を承認、さらに24日には軍の行動の正当性を認める声明を発表し、軍の行動を容認した。

［君島和彦］

『島田俊彦著『関東軍』（中公新書）』

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