Chapter 0170: Mutiny on a Snowy Night

Late at night on February 25, 1936, the goose feather snow was falling all over the world, and the city of Tokyo was silent. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

A bloody coup d'état is quietly being plotted.

At 5 a.m. on the 26th, nine core officers of the coup, including Captain Kiyosada Koda, Captain Teru Ando, Captain Kono Totobuki, and Captain Shiro Nonaka, led more than 1,000 officers and men to seize rifles, machine guns, and other weapons from the station's arsenal.

With weapons in hand, these people quietly set out from the 1st Division's garrison located in Miyakezaka on the west side of the Emperor's Palace, and stepped through the thick snow to assassinate the "bad guys around the Emperor".

The machine gun squadron of the 1st Infantry Wing, which was responsible for killing Prime Minister Keisuke Okada, was led by squadron leader Lieutenant Yasuhide Kurihara, with a total of 4 squads.

The four squads were the 1st Platoon of Kashikazu Kurihara, the 2nd Platoon of Second Lieutenant Toshihiko Ikeda, the 3rd Platoon of Second Lieutenant Hayashihachiro, and the Machine Gun Squad of Sergeant Kenjiro Ojima.

The assault team totaled about 300 men and included 7 heavy machine guns with more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition each; 4 light machine guns, more than 100 rifles, more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition; 20 pistols, more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and smoke cartridges.

This squadron of Lieutenant Yasuhide Kurihara arrived at the Prime Minister's Office at 5 a.m. on the morning of the 26th from the station north of Roppongi to the east via Tameike.

The squad leaders immediately ordered their troops to load their bayonets.

Then, Kurihara Yasuhide commanded the troops to open the gate, and Hayashi Hachiro's 3rd squad rushed into the courtyard first.

At this time, the alarm bell rang in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's Office, and the head of the inspection department of Murakami Yoshimo Saemon, the inspectors Kiyomatsu, Kiyomatsu Doi, and Shimizu and Shirou, who were serving as guards, quickly engaged in a shootout with the coup attack force.

As a result, all four policemen were killed by Hayashi Hachiro's team.

Lieutenant Awahara and a gendarme of the rebels rushed to the main entrance of the Prime Minister's residence, where the policemen in the room next to the gate slept soundly and were tied up before they could figure out what was going on.

The riot soldiers rushed into the lobby of the Prime Minister's residence, and a burst of gunfire smashed all the chandeliers in the hall, and the sound of gunfire woke up the Prime Minister's brother-in-law and secretary Matsuo Denzo, who hurriedly called the Metropolitan Police Department for help, but the police were repulsed by the rebels and fled.

Matsuo Denzo's phone calls were never answered, and he was in a hurry, but after thinking about it, there was no other way but to ask for help, so he had to call the Metropolitan Police Department again, and this time someone answered the phone, but unfortunately it was the rebels who answered the phone.

Matsuo was in a hurry, and immediately called the nearby gendarmerie, but the gendarmerie said that there was nothing they could do.

Matsuo Denzo was so angry that he threw the phone to the ground with a "snap".

When the rebels rushed into the courtyard of the prime minister's residence with shouts, the 73-year-old prime minister, who had heard rumors of a coup d'état, collapsed on his bed and said fatally: "They are finally here." ”

However, Matsuo Denzo refused to let Keisuke Okada sit still.

Matsuo dragged Okada out of bed and pushed him into the shower with a guard.

Then, Matsuo Denzo ran out into the courtyard with the guard, raising his arms and shouting, "Long live the Emperor!"

The soldiers of the coup d'état, seeing the guards rushing out immediately following a man, immediately surrounded him.

Because Matsuo Denzo looked very similar to Keisuke Okada, the rebels mistook him for the prime minister, and Lieutenant Kurihara, who was in charge of the team, immediately ordered the soldiers to shoot Matsuo Denzo to death.

Lieutenant Kurihara was still not at ease, so he asked the maid in the Prime Minister's Office to identify him, and the maid confirmed that the deceased was Keisuke Okada.

Keisuke Okada, under the protection of his brother-in-law and secretary Denzo Matsuo, dramatically escaped assassination.

The next afternoon, with the help of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Keisuke Okada, wearing a mask and sunglasses, disguised himself as a mourner, mixed in the funeral procession, and escaped from the prime minister's official residence occupied by the rebels.

On the same day, Minoru Saito, the Minister of the Interior, was also killed by the soldiers who staged the coup d'état!

The attack on the residence of Minister of the Interior Minoru Saito was one division of the 1st and 3rd Squadrons of the 3rd Infantry Wing, commanded by the commander of the 1st Squadron, Lieutenant Nao Sakai, about 200 men, carrying 4 heavy machine guns with more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition each; about 130 rifles with about 6,000 rounds of ammunition; More than 10 pistols, about 500 rounds of ammunition, and smoke canisters.

Minoru Saito, a 77-year-old admiral, had just attended a dinner hosted by the U.S. ambassador with his wife the night before, and had drunk a lot of alcohol.

When the coup soldiers stormed Saito's house, he was still asleep, and the coup soldiers broke down the door and were stopped by Saito's wife.

By the time Minoru Saito woke up and put on his pajamas, the soldiers had already broken into the bedroom.

The three officers raised their guns and opened fire at the same time at Minoru Saito, who was standing behind his wife, and Minoru Saito fell in a pool of blood.

Seeing this, Mrs. Saito threw herself on her husband's corpse and hugged her tightly and wept silently.

Unable to pull Mrs. Saito up, the young officers reached under her and continued to shoot at Saito.

Saito was riddled with bullets and was shot 47 times in total.

When the coup soldiers succeeded, they raised their arms and shouted "Long live the emperor" three times before roaring away.

At 5:15, the militants left Saito's residence and headed for the War Province, near the southwest of the Imperial Palace.

After the killing of Minoru Saito, the radicals of the Japanese coup believed that Senior General Watanabe Mototaro had sinister intentions at the Army Conference to identify Shinzaburo Mazaki secretly harboring a coup d'état, and succeeded Shinzaburo Masaki as director of education, and they decided that Watanabe Mototaro was a powerful figure of the "unification faction" and should be eliminated.

Leaving Minoru Saito's residence, Taro Takahashi and Yu Yasuda, squad leaders of the 1st Squadron of the 3rd Infantry Wing, led about 30 troops, armed with four light machine guns and several rifles, and drove directly to the residence of Watanabe Lotaro in Kamiogughiro, Suginami District, in a truck carrying personnel from the 7th Field Heavy Artillery Wing to pay respects at the "Yasukuni Shrine."

Watanabe lived in a Japanese-style wooden house, and when the papier-mâché trap was opened, the militants opened fire with pistols and machine guns.

Watanabe Shotaro, a 62-year-old thin old man, picked up a pistol and bravely fought back, but how could the pistol resist the machine gun, and how could the 62-year-old man resist these young soldiers!

Soon, Watanabe was beaten into a hornet's nest by a machine gun and rolled down the stairs.

Enraged at the dead Watanabe, Second Lieutenant Taro Takahashi drew his saber and angrily beheaded Watanabe before leading his troops to the War Ministry to join Nao1st Squadron Sakai, who was there.

……

Finance Minister Takahashi is Kiyoshi was also killed!

Exchequer Takahashi is Kiyoshi's residence, about two kilometers southwest of the Emperor's Palace, and to its southeast, only about 400 meters from the camp of the 3rd Guards Infantry Wing.

Takahashi was hated by the officers of the Shaozhuang faction for insisting on cutting the previous year's huge military spending.

The assault on Takahashi was the 7th Squadron of the 3rd Guards Infantry Wing, led by Lieutenant Kiaki Nakahashi, Second Lieutenant Yoshimichi Imaizumi, and Second Lieutenant Nakajima Waner, a student of the Artillery School.

The men assembled at 4 a.m., carrying four light machine guns, more than 100 rifles and about 120 men.

Before leaving, Lieutenant Kiaki Nakahashi explained to the soldiers the relationship between the mission and the Showa Restoration, and after enumerating the crimes of Finance Minister Takahashi in protecting the consortium and looting the common people, he emphasized the method of carrying out the mission.

Immediately, Lieutenant Nakahashi Kimei divided the troops into two divisions, one under the command of Imaizumi Yoshimichi, and guarded the direction of the Imperial Palace to the east in case the guards in the Imperial Palace were dispatched; The first one, led by Kiaki Nakahashi and Kanji Nakajima, marched to the residence of the Minister of Finance.

At about 5 o'clock in the morning, the 7th Squadron, which arrived at Takahashi's residence, deployed a strict guard outside the courtyard wall, and the rest of the personnel climbed over the wall to enter the hospital, grabbed the stewards of Takahashi's house, and forced them to take the coup soldiers to Takahashi's bedroom on the second floor.

When the rebels stormed Takahashi's bedroom, the miserable old man was still snoring rhythmically.

A lieutenant kicked open Takahashi's bedroom door and fired several shots at Takahashi Kiyoshi on the bed.

Immediately after that, another officer jumped on the bed, swung his saber and slashed off Takahashi's right arm, and then stabbed him in the stomach and stabbed him viciously from side to side.

Lieutenant Kiaki Nakahashi rushed into the bedroom, lifted the quilt, shouted "Heavenly Punishment", and fired three shots at Takahashi; Others also slashed and stabbed Takahashi Kiyoshi with bayonets and sabers.

Takahashi died of anger on the spot, and the murderers then politely apologized to Takahashi's family for the chaos caused, saying, "I'm sorry, it's really disturbing." ”