After retreating and regrouping, the Manchurian-Mongolian force struck again in July though not on their own but this time supporting the Kwantung army. Following the “Operation Qahar” and the Battle of Taiyuan, the cities of Datong, Baotou, Zhanhgjiakou (Kalgan), Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan were captured by September. Later Zhangjiakou became the provisional capital of the Mongol United Autonomous Government.
Another issue was coming up in Outer Mongolia. At the beginning of August the Outer Mongolian Prime Minister Peljidin Genden had been arrested at a Crimean resort. He had been virtually deposed since 1936 and had been “convinced” by the Soviet advisers to have a rest. After an interrogation by the NKVD he had “confessed” to belonging to an espionage ring, other members being Marschall Demid and the chef of Mongolian military intelligence Ochirbat. Genden's successor Anandyn Amar had requested Soviet military intervention in order to counter the imminent Japanese aggression. Already on 25th of August the 26000 men strong army corps had crossed the border. It was commanded by Ivan Konev, who in 1945 would lead the final assault on Berlin together with Marshall Zhukov. One of the favours which the Soviets expected for their support was the appointment of Khorloogjin Choibalsan, a rigid Stalinist, as Minister of Interior. As early as the 28th of August, the Soviet Deputy People's Commissar Frinovski had presented Choibalsan a list of Mongolian citizens suspected of involvement in espionage and sabotage. The wave of NKVD terror had swept over the Mongolian Republic.
Although the presence of the Soviet troops in Outer Mongolia was negatively perceived by Kwantung army it did not deem it to be an imminent threat. The Harbin department was working hard on spreading propaganda to the Soviet controlled territory, leveraging the Stalinist purges and correspondingly rising dissent for their own purposes.
The events in the far Xinjiang also kept the department busy. Generally Xinjiang was located outside the direct interests of Japanese strategists. However they were aware of the de-facto Soviet control of the region and knew that large numbers of arms supplies from the Soviet Union were travelling to Kuomintang via Xinjiang.
The ruthless regime of Sheng ShiCai brought the Muslim Uigur population to the end of their patience. The insurgency started in April 1937 in the southern parts of the province was quickly spreading in all directions. Sheng had entrusted the suppression of the rebellion to the Dungan general Ma HuShan but Ma had started a game of his own thus Sheng had now to deal with two adversaries. Sheng's troops, poorly trained and underpaid were constantly losing ground. The local population supported the rebels, destroying the roads and cutting-off the supply chains. In some cases Sheng's troops acted as marauding gangs, looting the villages on their way. This alienated the population even more.
In May Sheng realized that he would not be able to suppress the rebellion with his own forces and appealed to the Soviets. His request was readily approved. In June two army groups: Naryn's and Osch's, were assembled, ready to cross the border. On the outskirts of Moscow in Reutovo the NKVD's Dzierzynski division had been secretly dispatched to support both army groups. The soldiers and officers were not allowed to keep their uniforms or any badges identifying their belonging to the Soviet army. Instead they were issued with clothes resembling the Xinjiang army. They entered Xinjiang at the end of August. Despite the high motivation and valour of the insurgents they were no match for the trained and experienced army using panzer and air force. By December the last pockets of resistance were crushed.
Looking at all these events of the summer it is not surprising that the Army Intelligence Department of the Kwantung Army had a lot to do. Therefore the message from Shanghai was not deemed being a top priority and was left to be analysed by some junior officers.
On Tuesday of the following week Lieutenant Hayashi was processing the radiograms when he stumbled across the report from Shanghai. He immediately informed Major Kato who was in charge of Mongolian affairs and Colonel Yamashita who was supervising the intelligence in the areas near the Soviet border.
Colonel Yamashita was a real veteran of Russian and later Soviet affairs. During the civil war he served as a young officer at the Japanese expeditionary corps in Vladivostok where he has learnt Russian. This was of great use to him when he received an assignment to Harbin to work in Akigusa's section. The city had a populous Russian colony. The vast majority were the White Russians who fled the Bolshevik regime after the Civil War. They were soldiers, army officers and civilians. Colonel Yamashita divided them into four major groups.
The first consisted mostly of the officers harbouring deep hatred towards anything Soviet. They were willing to cut the throat of each Bolshevik whoever would hand them the knife. Especially the circle around General Semenov was actively co-operating with Japanese.
Another group felt it being below the dignity and honour of a Russian officer to serve a foreign power against the fellow Russians even if they were Bolsheviks. They were especially averse to any co-operation with Japan, who had humiliatingly defeated Russia in 1904.
The third group was longing for the lost motherland. They had occasional contact with the Soviet authorities. Some of these folks were the employees of the China Eastern Railway which the Soviet Union had sold to Manchukuo in 1934. Their majority of their colleagues who returned home after the deal were arrested in 1937 on the charges of espionage for Japan. The Soviet Consulate General which was still operating in Harbin, was courting this group. They were regularly invited to all important events. The consulate supplied them with literature and glossy brochures describing the happy life of Soviet citizens in the first socialist state on Earth. The “patriotic businessmen” were allowed to trade with the Soviet state-owned companies.
The rest were rather politically indifferent and hoped to continue living in Manchuria or to emigrate elsewhere should the situation turn from bad to worse.
Soviet intelligence had a well-established network of agents in all of these groups. Yamashita was aware of that but it was not his task to deal with them. Counter-espionage tasks were the responsibility of the secret police Kempeitai.
Yamashita's network was composed from a broad spectrum of Russian emigrants. Some of them were just in a desperate financial situation and were trying to earn some money providing trivial information. Although they were of no real use, Yamashita still kept them on though paying them only small amounts. He was mostly interested in the third group since it was them who had contact with the Soviets. Some of them were even allowed to travel to the Soviet Union or Mongolia. For example one merchant who was visiting Mongolia in July had provided information on the rumours about the possible Soviet military intervention.
Yamashita's direct superiors were very satisfied with his work but the high commando of the Kwantung army kept him at arms lengths. The reason for this was his open disagreement with the so called “Go North” group. Until 1939 Japanese military strategists were not sure about the direction of their major assault in Asia. The “Go North” group advocated military action in Soviet Siberia. Their rationale was based on the assumption that armed conflict with Soviet Russia was anyway inevitable and with the threat from the North any action in China and further to the South would be jeopardized. The majority of Kwantung army generals supported this idea.
The “Go South” group's counter-arguments included the strength of the Red Army and fierce climatic condition which would not allow for rapid military success. The continued operations in China and further advance towards British and Dutch colonies in the South were much more promising. The colonial armies there were weaker than the Red Army and the terrain much better. Furthermore the Japanese could present themselves to the nations along their advance route as fellow Asians and liberators from the “white man’s yoke”.
Eventually the “Southerners” prevailed. With the hindsight of post 1945 history we know that both groups had valid points. The impressive military successes in the first years showed the correctness of the “Go South” group assessment. At the same time the experiments of Kwan
tung army in challenging the Soviets at Khasan Lake 1938 and Halchin Gol 1939 were a fiasco. This re-confirmed the prudence of avoiding conflict with the Soviet Union.
In 1945 however the “Northerners” could see their point being confirmed, although it was too late to be of any use. They had always warned that one day the Soviets would strike; it was just a question of time. This is what eventually happened despite the neutrality pact being still in force.
But back in 1937 the “Northerners” were dominating the Kwantung top brass. Yamashita's reports were very much appreciated but at the same time criticized for emphasizing the strength of the Soviet army and not paying enough attention in identifying weak points. These allegations were not fair. Yamashita had for example correctly predicted some technical problems experienced by Soviet armoured vehicles. They were ill-suited to be operated in the desert. The events in Xinjiang confirmed that. This challenge of the intelligence section was not the only one. Generally the military operations staff did not value their intelligence colleagues very high. For them their tasks were mainly including reading the newspapers, listening radio broadcasts, monitoring the rumours and occasionally intercepting the military communications. The value of this information was considered being “nice to have” and the military operations believed that they can collect it themselves. The officers deployed to the intelligence section were often seen being not good enough for serving in military operations staff and were not duly respected. Furthermore the navy had its own intelligence unit which did nor coordinate its actions with the army's intelligence wing. The intelligence section of Kwantung army had a better stand. In China and South East Asia the army had a substantial number of informants and had possibilities of aerial reconnaissance. Sometimes the assessment groups were sent under the disguise of merchants or common visitors.
In case of the Soviet Russia these options were out of the question. The border was sealed off and the agents who crossed it legally were under close surveillance. The few local informants who were not arrested after crossing the border could hardly be contacted and gathered information collected.
Therefore the main focus was on signal intelligence. With the help of Polish code-breakers Japanese Intelligence was able to monitor the communications between Soviet army units but had always to update their knowledge since the code books were changed at regular intervals.
2
Having read the report Yamashita's main attention was attracted by the airfield construction in the Northern Xinjiang and the purpose of the geological research in the area. He immediately sent a coded radiogram to Changchun describing what information was available and asking them to show it to the mining specialists.
The old scriptures and some gems of an ancient Mongol prince were not relevant to him but he wanted to discuss the matter with Major Kato. He called Kato who suggested coming to Yamashita's office in the afternoon.
Kato brought a small bag of peanuts with him.
“You should try them Colonel. I like peanuts very much but have never tried something like that.”
Yamashita tried a few.
“Indeed major, very delicious. Thank you. Where have you got them from?”
“They are from Hubei, a friend of mine has brought them yesterday. Please keep the bag, I have more.”
“Thank you very much. Now, what do you think about this matter with the ancient scripts?
“Oh, if you ask me I would prefer if we’d found the sword of Chengiz Khan. But our propaganda department is very interested. They can use it to support our pan-Mongolian campaign.”
“You know much more about Mongolian affairs than I do but could you briefly summarize which advantages could we expect if we undertake a covert operation to seize the treasure?”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking about this whole morning. Let's start with potential pitfalls. This found very likely originates from Prince Galdan. First of all Prince Galdan was actually an Oirat, a Dzungarian. He alienated the Khalkha Mongols and was fighting the Manchus. Thus the question is how the story would be perceived by our Mongolian allies and most of all by Pu Yi who after all is a Manchu and,” Kato smiled, “a Macnhurian Emperor. At the same time this story could be interpreted in a way that he was trying to re-unify the Mongols to be able to defend their freedom from Chinese Qing, not the Manchu dominance. Just imagine: the ghost of the ancient Mongol warrior giving a sign to his compatriots in the form of treasure which was hidden for centuries and has been found at the exact moment so critical and meaningful for the young Mongolian State!”
“Could the Mongolian communists in Urga make use of this?”
“No. They have completely spoiled their relationship with the lamas. Furthermore the communists will never use religious texts for their propaganda.”
“Then we can conclude that we should get this treasure. Personally I am rather interested in the new airfield and the geological research but I think we both can work out a nice operational plan. Let's suggest a meeting with the heads of sections for tomorrow.”
The meeting was scheduled for 10:00am the next day. Apart from Yamashita and Kato, Yamashita's chief Akigusa, the SSA chief Major General Michitaro Komatsubara and a captain of the code-breaking section attended the meeting.
Kato spread the map of Xinjiang on a tripod.
“May I start Komatsubara – sensei?” he asked. Major General Komatsubara was usually addressed with this title meaning a teacher, a scholar.
“Go ahead.”
“Yesterday Colonel Yamashita and myself discussed this report. It contains two important points. First, the information about the Sino-Soviet mining project and the construction of an airfield north of the town of Altay,” he showed the location on the map. “The airfield does not appear to be of major military importance but the nature of the mining project is being kept secret even to those working at the site and we should figure out what is behind it.
“Secondly, a treasure found at the mining site is of significant importance for Mongolian history and tradition. If we can get the treasure in our hands, it would support the work of our Mongolian propaganda department.”
“Why are you sure that the airfield is not intended for military purposes?”
“Sensei, the Soviet army is not operating in this area. Their focus is on the southern Xinjiang. And, if needed their air force could reach the area from the bases in Urumqi and Karamay. Furthermore the Soviets are using an airfield in Hovd in Outer Mongolia.”
“This is a valid point. What is your action plan?”
Yamashita took over.
“Sensei, we would like to dispatch three agents to support the “Watchmaker” based in Urumqi, and the “Carpenter” operating at the site. According to our information the Russian engineer who has found the treasure reported it to the superiors but they did not show much interest. This may change quickly, thus the whole action should be completed within ten days at the latest.
The “Carpenter” will return to the site having recovered from his ailment. In the night the “Carpenter”, along with another agent, will break the lock of the store building and take the samples. At the same time two other agents will take the treasure. Both groups will meet at a predefined rendezvous point where a truck arranged by the “Watchmaker” will wait for them. They will leave the truck in Altay and change to another one. In Urumqi they’ll hide for a week and then move towards Lanzhou, Xian and Shanghai.”
“Major, could you please put a scale on the map?” Kato did.
“From Harbin to Altay it’s over 3000 km. Under current circumstances the support group will need at least a full week to get there. Dispatching them by airplane is out of the question. First, the Commando will never approve our airplane flying to Xinjiang. Should the Soviets capture it, this would be a godsend for their propaganda. Second, I am not aware of any aircraft being able to fly a round trip of 6000 kilometres. Even if they can re-fuel in Baotou this will still not be enough. Furthermore the current situation in the South does not
allow for allocation of additional resources at this point. Do we have enough agents locally?”
“We do, sensei,” said Yamashita. “However they do not have radio transmitters and, with the exception of the “Carpenter”, are informants rather than agents trained for operative actions.”
“How many?”
““Aquarius” and “Peony” in Urumqi and “Owl” in Hami.”
“We have no other choice but to involve them. How will they be informed about the operation if they have no radio equipment?”
“If I may, sensei,” said the code-breaking section officer, “They listen to the Central Broadcasting Station news from Nanjing every evening. Our man there will place an announcement about the storm approaching Urumqi. This means that the “Watchmaker” will expect them at four in the afternoon two days later. The password and reply have already been agreed in advance.”
“Sounds reasonable. You can have my approval. Any further questions? Good, then let's get started.”
Xinjiang, October 1937
The nights had became cooler in the last two weeks. Though the tent was made of canvas and the blankets were good, Voronov was not looking forward towards spending the winter in the area. He had received permission to explore the nearby hill in order to install the signal light there. On one of his visits he noticed that the leather bags in which the scripts were stored had started to develop mildew. Though not an archaeologist, from his knowledge of construction materials, he knew that spaces which were sealed for a long time and then opened were susceptible to climatic factors.
The treasure of Galdan Page 7