"A war that cannot be won should not be fought, and a war that can be won should be fought?" Those who think that as long as the war can be won, they can open fire at will, and they should all be sentenced to death! death penalty!! This is a line from the Japanese film Warlord (aka The Turbulent Showa History).
The opening of the movie "Warlord"
In the early 1970s, the Japanese film "Warlord", translated by the Shanghai Film Translation Factory, was released on a small scale in the mainland as an internal reference film, and in that special era, it was definitely a privilege to be able to watch "internal reference films", and it was also a capital to brag and show off among small partners.
The film Warlord takes place in 1936 with the "II. The "26 Incident" begins with the assassination of the Cabinet Minister of State and the Army General by the Young Officers of the Imperial Family, in which the Army Education Director Watanabe Shotaro is shot and killed by the rebellious young officer, and he is also the only Army general shot dead in the incident. This article will talk about Watanabe Ingotaro, why did he die at the gunpoint of a rebellious young officer?
In the movie Warlord, Tsukitaro Watanabe is assassinated
Watanabe Shotaro (1874-1936) was a native of Aichi Prefecture, Japan, born into a tobacco merchant family, but from an early age he was adopted by the peasant Watanabe Shosei, graduated from the 8th Infantry Section of the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School in November 1896, and was assigned to serve in the 19th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Brigade regiment of the Ninth Division.
On December 15, 1900, Watanabe Wasotaro was admitted to the 17th Class of the Army Academy, where he was joined by Hata Hidetaro, Hayashi, Nanjiro and others, and became the "Sabre Group" among the 45 graduates of the period, and was assigned the saber by Emperor Meiji and assigned to the 36th Infantry Regiment of the 18th Brigade regiment of the Ninth Division as a squadron leader.
Army University "Sabre Group"
After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Ninth Division was incorporated into the combat sequence of the Third Army, watanabe Tsutomu accompanied the division on expeditions to northeast China, successively participated in the Battle of Lushun and the Battle of Fengtian, was wounded on the battlefield, and after recovering from his wounds, served as an aide-de-camp to Yamagata Aritomo, chief of staff of the General Staff Headquarters, and won his trust, and Yamagata Aritomo was the "father of the Japanese Army" and was able to work at his side, which was of great benefit to his future promotion.
During his tenure at the General Staff Headquarters, Watanabe served in China, Germany, and the Netherlands, and served as Deputy Military Attaché Assistant Officer of the Japanese Legation in Germany and Deputy Military Attaché of the Legation in the Netherlands, and served as the Chief of Foreign War History in the Fourth Department of the General Staff Headquarters, and on August 10, 1920, he was promoted to Major General of the Army and became the commander of the 29th Infantry Brigade, and after training in the field troops, he was transferred back to the General Staff Headquarters as the Fourth Minister.
Watanabe Shotaro
On May 1, 1925, Watanabe Ingotaro became the principal of the Japanese Army University as a lieutenant general, and the principal of the school was mostly a lieutenant general in the army, but there were not a few people with the rank of major general in the army, watanabe served for less than a year, and was transferred to the commander of the Japanese Seventh Division on March 2, 1926, and three years later on March 16, 1929, he became the minister of aviation, and from June 1930 to July 1931, he served as the commander of the Taiwan Army.
On August 1, 1931, Watanabe was promoted to Army General and again served as Minister of Aviation and Military Counsellor, and on July 16, 1935, The Director of Education, General Masazaki, was defeated in a factional battle, and his post of Director of Education was removed, and Watanabe Tsukitarō succeeded him as Army Education Director.
After the purges of the Imperial Sect, Minoru Masazaki was the core leader of the "Imperial Sect", which caused great dissatisfaction among some of the young officers of the "Imperial School", first major general Nagata Tetsuyama, chief of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Army Province, who was beheaded by Saburō Aizawa on August 12, and then the director of education, Watanabe Ingotaro, was also in the "second. Assassinated by the rebels in the "26 Incident", this scene is reviewed at the beginning of the film "Warlord", but unlike the content of the film, Watanabe Shotaro was shot by machine guns and his head was cut off, which shows that the young officers who assassinated him hated him to the extreme, and the influence of the leader of the "Imperial Taoist Faction", Masazaki Heisaburō, among the young officers was also evident.
Tsutomu Watanabe in the movie
Emperor Hirohito was awakened in his sleep, and when he heard of the military rebellion, he was extremely angry, "The old minister who killed the old man, such a brutal officer, regardless of his spirit, should not be forgiven in any way." I will never allow the violent generals to act recklessly, and I must suppress this incident as soon as possible! The Army is literally pinching its neck! ”
Soldiers standing guard in front of martial law command
Participation in the "II. The officers and men of the "26" rebellion were quickly suppressed, and all the middle and high-ranking generals who had ties with the "Imperial Dao Sect" were also thoroughly purged, and Watanabe Ingotaro was posthumously awarded the Order of rising sun Kirisame of the first class, and he was awarded the Order of the Golden Eagle of the Third Class during his lifetime, and the "Golden Eagle Medal" was divided into seven levels, from the "meritorious first rank" down to the "seventh grade of merit", a medal expressed in terms of merit, and only awarded to the navy and army soldiers with military merit.