Matsui Iwane

Matsui Iwane

General Iwane Matsui ( Jap. 松井石根 Iwane Matsui * 27. July 1878 in Aichi Prefecture ; † 23. December 1948 in Sugamo Prison , Tokyo ) was the commanding officer of Japanese troops for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre were responsible .

Life

Matsui Iwane achieved the rank of general in the Japanese army in 1933 . However, he retired from active service in 1935. In the summer of 1937, however, after the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was reactivated and on August 15, 1937, Emperor Hirohito personally appointed him commanding general of the Japanese expeditionary army in Shanghai . He was probably commissioned by Hirohito personally to take the then Chinese capital of Nanjing. When he left the imperial palace after the ceremony, he said to the then Japanese Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro : “There is no other solution than to break the power of Chiang Kai-shek by conquering Nanjing. That's what I have to do. "

General Matsui rides into Nanjing in front of his troops, December 13, 1937

Matsui planned to launch his attack on the city in November and was already moving his troops from Shanghai towards the city. However, for unknown reasons, he was replaced by Hirohito's uncle Prince Asaka Yasuhiko and instead was given command of the entire Japanese armed forces in the Chinese theater of war, the Central China Regional Army . On December 10, the units now led by Asaka began the attack on the city, which was successful on December 13 after the surrender of the remaining Kuomintang troops. Immediately after the military success of the Japanese armed forces, the war crime that would later become known as the Nanking Massacre began to unfold . The atrocities only halted on December 17th when Matsui Iwane triumphantly entered the city. Although Matsui was not present when the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese soldiers began, it is very likely that he knew about it anyway. The news of the massacre reached the Japanese court and the Japanese public through members of the Japanese foreign intelligence service. The Japanese government finally felt compelled to release both Prince Asaka and General Matsui from their posts in 1938.

After his release from the army, Matsui returned to his hometown of Atami and had a statue of the Japanese goddess of grace Kannon erected there with others , her face pointing straight towards the city of Nanjing. He was honored on April 29, 1940 for his military achievements.

In 1948, during the Tokyo Trials, he was charged with the war crimes committed in Nanjing , found guilty, and eventually executed in Sugamo Prison .

Web links

Wikiquote: Iwane Matsui  - Quotes

• Steen Ammenthorp: Iwane Matsui . In: The Generals of World War II . Retrieved January 11, 2010.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Matsui is the family name, Iwane is the first name.