『大東亜戦争への道』（展転社）
中村 粲
その３３ 第九章 赤色支那への対応 第５節 済南事件
１９２７年８月、蒋介石は国民革命軍総司令を辞任しました。下野した後、張群とともに９月末に来日し、青山の私邸に田中首相を訪問しました。
田中が蒋に説いた第１点は「この際まず長江以南をまとめるのが急務であり、さもないとその間に共産党が成長する。長江以南をまとめて北伐に着手する方策は最善の道で、これを行い得る人は貴下をおいてほかない」ということでした。第２点は日本は貴国の内争には一切干渉せざるべきも、貴下が南方を固めて共産主義を抑えることは大いに望むところで、そのためには日本の利権とその他を犠牲にせざる仮りにおいて、貴下の事業に協力を惜しまない」ということでした。
蒋介石は「今や支那と交渉する列強は数多きも、その真に緊切なる利害を有する者は日露なり。露国はこの意義の下に支那に干渉を加えたり。日本何ぞ干渉援助を加えざる理あらんや」と日本の干渉を望んでいることを披歴しているのでした。
田中首相との会談の後、蒋介石は間もなく帰国し、翌昭和３年（１９２８年）４月、再び国民軍革命軍司令として第二次北伐の軍を進めることになりました。北伐軍兵力百万、北軍は北京の張作霖大元帥以下１００万が対峙。４月中旬には国民革命軍（南軍）は、済南を包囲する体制に入りました。
済南は山東省の交通の要衝で、人口３８万を有し商業が盛んで、諸外国人も多く住み、日本人も２千人余り居住していました。ところが革命軍の北上につれ、済南が第２の南京事件に見舞われかねない事態となり、現地領事館から出兵要請が出されました。田中首相は居留門保護のためにやむなしと決心し、４月下旬出兵しました。日本軍は済南城に隣接する邦人の大部分が住む商埠地の東西に２カ所の守備地区を設けて居留民を保護しました。５月１日南軍（北伐軍）の入市とともに、日本国旗侮辱や反日ビラ添付など俄然緊迫のよう想定するに至りました。２日、南軍総指令蒋介石より、治安は中国側が絶対に確保するので日本軍の警備を撤去されたいとの要望があり、蒋の約束を信じた日本軍は夜を徹して防御工事を撤去しました。
事件は日本軍が警備を撤去した直後の５月３日に発生しました。南軍暴兵が満洲日報取次店・吉房長平方を襲撃略奪したのが発端でした。南軍兵士は駆け付けた日本人巡査にも暴行を加えたため、日本軍救援部隊が現場に急行するや、中国兵はたちまち逃走して兵者に隠れ、その中より銃撃を加えてきました。
ここにおいて彼我交戦状態に入り、中国兵による乱射掠奪は一挙に市中に拡大しました。まもなく停戦の申し合わせができましたが、中国軍はこれを無視し、白旗を掲げて停戦を呼びかける軍使さえ射殺する暴挙に出ました。市内は凶暴な中国兵のために修羅の巷と化したのです。居留民の死者２６名、暴行を加えられたもの３０余名、凌辱された婦女２、略奪被害戸数１３６という惨劇となったのでした。
事態の真相が明らかとなり、事件の解決には事実上の威力を示すほかなしとし、７日、第６師団に１２時間の期限付きで次の条件を出させました。
① 暴虐行為に関係ある高級武官の処刑。
② 日本軍の面前に於いて我が軍に抗争したる軍隊の武装解除。
③ 一切の排日的宣伝の厳禁。 ④ 略
しかし、先方がこれを拒否したため、日本軍は支那軍の立てこもる済南城攻撃に踏み切りました。支那軍は夜陰に乗じて城外に脱出、再び北伐を続行、日本軍は抵抗なく済南城を占領しました。
この中国軍の暴挙については、海外紙のほとんどが之を非難しています。北支の代表的な外字紙である京津タイムスは「日本軍がいなければ済南の外人はことごとく殺戮されたに違いなく、この点大いに日本軍に感謝すべきだ。日本軍は山東省を保証占領して惨劇の再演を防止すべし」と書いています。
・その３２，第９章５節： https://hassin.org/01/wp-content/uploads/Road33.pdf
・ 〃 第９章５節 英訳文： https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Road33E.pdf
令和６年１２月２０日
「史実を世界に発信する会」 会長 茂木弘道
協力者代表：神奈川大学教授 小山和伸
THE ROAD TO THE GREATER EAST ASIAN WAR
Nakamura Akira, Dokkyo University Professor Emeritus
(English Translation: Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact)
Part 33, Chapter 9: Contending with Attempts to Communize China-V
Chiang Kai-shek resigned his position of NRA commander in chief August 1027. In late September, he traveled to Japan, accompanied by his friend and adviser Zhang Qun, and visited Prime Minister Tanaka at his residence in Aoyama.
Tanaka urged Chiang to consolidate the region south of Yangzi: “As long as that area remains ununified, the CCP will continue to grow. I would suggest consolidating the area of the Yangzi, and waiting to set off on the Northern Expedition until you have established a stable base. This is a task you and only you can accomplish.” He then told Chiang, “Japan must not interfere in Chinese domestic strife. But if you succeed in consolidating South China, you will be fulfilling Japan’s most fervent hope. To that end, we shall do everything possible to assist you in this grand endeavor, to the extent permitted by international relations.”
Chiang even went so far as to reveal China’s true intentions: “We have dealings with many powers, but the only nations genuinely interested in China are Japan and Russia. Russia interferes in Chinese affairs for that reason. Why is it that Japan neither intervenes nor provides assistance?”
Soon after his meeting with Prime Minister Tanaka, Chiang Kai-shek returned to China. In April 1928 he once again took up the reins of the NRA and began the second phase of the Northern Expedition.
Chiang’s forces comprised a million men, as did the northern warlords’ armies commanded by Zhang Zuolin. Southern Army forces were poised to surround Jinan as early as mid-April.
Jinan was a commercial port and also a transportation hub in Shandong Province with a population of 380,000. Of its 2,160 foreign residents, 1,810 were Japanese. The mood in Jinan shifted abruptly to one of alarm with the northern advance of the NRA, as there was no guarantee there would not be a recurrence of the Nanjing Incident. Prime Minister Tanaka agonized after receiving a request for Japanese troops, but eventually decided that he had no choice but to send an army to protect the Japanese residents. Toward the end of April 1928, he dispatched solders to Shandong in what later became known as the 2nd Shandong Expedition.
Once the Japanese soldiers arrived in Jinan, they established two defensive sectors, one each in the eastern and western sectors of the commercial port, where most Japanese lived. On May 1, after the northern forces had withdrawn, the Southern Army entered the city, and as feared, began mutilating Japanese flags and posting anti-Japanese signs. Consequently, many disputes arose, and the atmosphere in the city suddenly became tense. On May 2 a message arrived from Commander Chiang Kai-shek requesting that the Japanese military dismantle their defensive barriers. Chiang guaranteed that order would be maintained. Believing that Chiang’s word was good, Japanese soldiers spent an entire night removing all the barricades and barbed wire they had put up.
The incident arose on the morning of May 3, soon after the Japanese had dismantled their defenses. It was precipitated by violent Southern Army soldiers who launched an assault on an agency for a Japanese-language newspaper, also the home of its operator. Japanese police officers who rushed to the scene were attacked by NRA troops. When a rescue unit arrived, the Chinese troops fled to their barracks, where they hid but continued to fire.
Disorderly combat ensued, spreading through the entire city, with the Chinese troops plundering and shooting wherever they went. Soon an agreement was reached between both sides to stop the violence, but the NRA troops ignored it, even shooting and killing a Japanese emissary bearing a white flag. The brutal Chinese troops soon transformed the city into a scene of carnage. Twenty-six Japanese residents were killed, and 30 injured. Two women were raped, and 136 houses were invaded and looted. The 6th Division proceeded to issue demands to the Chinese, who were to respond within 12 hours on May 7. They included the following:
(1) High ranking officers involved in the atrocities are to be executed.
(2) Chinese troops who clashed with Japanese soldiers are to be disarmed in the presence of Japanese military.
(3) All forms of anti-Japanese propaganda are to be prohibited.
When the Chinese refused to satisfy those conditions, Japanese military personnel decided to attack Jinan proper, which Chinese troops had taken over. The NRA soldiers fled the city under cover of darkness, and resumed their Northen Expedition.
Foreign media too condemned the Southern Army’s brutal deeds. The Chinese Peking & Tientsin Times, a foreign-language newspaper in North China, was even more enthusiastic in its defense of the Japanese: “If not for the Japanese military, every foreigner in Jinan would have been slaughtered. We owe a great deal to the Japanese. The Japanese military should secure and occupy Shandong province to prevent a recurrence of this tragedy.”
URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/book-article/2266/
PDF: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Road33E.pdf
MOTEKI Hiromichi, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact