Everything about Huanggutun Incident totally explained
Huanggutun Incident (
Chinese: 皇姑屯事件;
Japanese: 張作霖爆殺事件) was an assassination plotted by Japanese
Kantogun that targeted
Fengtian warlord
Zhang Zuolin. It took place on
June 4,
1928 at
Huanggutun rail station near
Shenyang in which Zhang's train was destroyed by an explosion. This incident was concealed in Japan at the time and was referred only as "
満州某重大事件" (
Manshuboujudaijiken A Certain Important Incident in Manchuria).
Background
The
Beiyang Army split up into various factions after the death of
Yuan Shikai in
1916. Zhang Zuolin, being the leader of the
Fengtian clique, was one of the most powerful warlords as he held complete authority over
Manchuria.
At the time of the
First United Front (1924), the foreign support in China was generally divided as below:
The
Fengtian clique's support from abroad was
Japan, which wanted to gain more benefits such as natural resources from
Manchuria, while the
Kantogun was the army supporting the clique. The "co-operation" between
Fengtian and
Japan satisfied each other's benefit demands. At first, they were quite friendly to each other. Zhang admitted Japan for different kinds of priorities in Manchuria. The many anti-Japanese movements in Manchuria were suppressed strictly by Zhang; whereas the
Kantogun helped Zhang in two Zhili-Fengtian Wars, suppressed the anti-Fengtian uprising by
Guo Songling (a senior general of the
Fengtian clique) and gained absolute control of the Beijing government. However, Zhang just needed Japan's aid for consoildating and expanding his territory whereas Japan wanted to occupy Manchuria with Zhang. After Zhang achieved his targets, he tried to improve relations with the United States and the United Kingdom and kept Japan at a distance. The US and Britain got the same rights as Japan, which irritated the Japanese and dissatisfied them with Zhang.
In
1927, Japan suffered from the
Great Kanto Earthquake and successive economic depressions. The Japanese government wanted to expand Japan's power economically and militarily, and at the time, China was a target. The nationalists in Japan would often use
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's failed invasion of
Ming China as a context to this effect. Another one of the purposes was to establish a good image in front of the Japanese people. In accordance with the
Tanaka Memorial, the Japanese would invade Manchuria first. Therefore, some officials in the Japanese government suggested eliminating Zhang as quick as possible and installing a puppet, because he didn't obey them.
On the other hand, the
Northern Expedition led by
Chiang Kai-shek of the
National Revolutionary Army gained great success as they successively defeated
Sun Chuanfang,
Wu Peifu and other warlords of the Northern Faction, as well as the
Beijing government controlled by Zhang Zuolin. After the Nationalist army restored their rule in
Northern China, they seemed to want to restore their rule over
Manchuria which was still officially part of the Republic of China. Zhang left Beijing for
Shenyang on
3 June,
1928.
The Japanese were also anxious as the Nationalists, the
Communists and other elements in the Northern Expedition at the time were supported by the
Soviet Union. The Soviets as the successors of Japan's traditional enemy, the
Russian Empire, was looking to restore its influence over Manchuria,
Korea and possibly
Sakhalin. They had already made puppet governments in nearby
Mongolia and
Tannu Tuva. Japan needed a context to effectively establish control over Manchuria without combat or foreign intervention and they believed splitting up the Fengtian clique via assassination would do so.
Outline of the Incident
The explosion
Zhang left Beijing to go to
Shenyang on the night of the 3rd of June by train. The train traveled along the
Jingfeng Railway, a railway from Beijing to Shenyang. This railway was patrolled by Zhang's troops. The only location along the railway that wasn't under Zhang's control was a bridge several kilometres east of Huanggutun railway station, where the
South Manchuria Railway crossed the Jingfeng Railway on the bridge. The South Manchuria railway was a railway operated by the Japanese and guarded by the
Kwantung Army. An officer of the Guandong Army planted a bomb on the bridge. When Zhang's train passed the bridge at 5:23 a.m. on the
4th of June 1928, the bomb exploded suddenly. Several of Zhang's officials such as
Wu Junsheng (吳俊升), the governor of
Heilongjiang province died immediately. Zhang was fatally wounded and sent back to his home in Shenyang. (Huanggutun is in the outskirts of Shenyang.) He died several hours later.
Direct plotters
Staff officer Daisaku Koumoto (planned the assassination)
Captain Kaneo Toumiya (responsible for executing the plan)
Sapper 1st Lieutenant Fujii Sadatoshi (Set the explosives)
Aftermath
The purpose of the assassination was to make the Fengtian clique split up. This can be understood through the fact that Kantogun was providing support to Yang Yuting (楊宇霆), a senior general in the clique as an understudy of Zhang who would give more priority to Japan and consolidate Japan's power over Manchuria. Also, another purpose was to create chaos in Manchuria, which the Japanese army could exploit to create a base in Manchuria, for a possible future Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria and to dissuade Soviet or KMT involvement.
However, Japanese planners failed to anticipate the role that Zhang Xueliang (張學良/张学良), the son and successor of Zhang Zuolin, would play in the aftermath of his father's assassination. The younger Zhang, in order to avoid any conflict with Japan and chaos in Manchuria, didn't directly accuse Japan of complicity in his father's murder. Instead, Zhang quietly carried out a policy of cooperation with the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, with the result that within a short period of time the reunification of China was effected.
The assassination, which was conducted by low-ranking officers, didn't have the prior consent of the Japanese military or government. In fact, Emperor Hirohito harshly criticized the event and would later dismiss the Japanese Prime Minister of that time, Tanaka Giichi for the incident. Zhang was the de jure head of state because he held absolute power over the internationally recognized Beiyang government based in Beijing. These events after Zhang's death culminated in the Invasion of Manchuria and the establishment of a puppet government under Henry Puyi Aisin Goro (Puyi).
Zhang fled Manchuria after the Japanese invasion, taking his forces inland and eventually ending up in the areas around Xi'an in the mid-1930's. In time, due to his military prowess, Zhang Xueliang became an important figure in the Kuomintang. Angry at the Japanese for the murder of his father, and at Chiang Kai-shek for the latter's refusal to resist Japan's incursions into China, Zhang ultimately turned against Chiang, kidnapping him in late 1936 so as to force him to end his battle against the Communists and turn against the Japanese. In exchange for Chiang's agreeing to form a new united front with the Communists to resist Japan, Zhang freed Chiang and agreed to be arrested for his actions. He spent the next several decades in prison under the Kuomintang, first in China and later in Taiwan. He was eventually given freedom and died in Hawaii in 2001.
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