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The Manchurian Incident of 1931 has been called by some the real beginning of World War II. Certainly it began the conflict between China and Japan that exploded into open warfare in 1937 and continued until 1945. The blame for the Incident has long been settled; officers of Japan's Kwantung Army in Manchuria planned, executed, and directed the operation on their own, without authorization from Tokyo and, in fact, against the intent of repeated orders from headquarters. But, acting alone, no small clique of officers, however talented or well-placed they might be, could have defied their superiors, led an army to victory in the field against overwhelmingly superior forces, and successfully created a new political entity. Their actions had to have at least the tacit approval of much of the army's leadership. Equally important, they had to have allies within the army who would assist their efforts. A surprisingly large number of those allies were officers assigned to intelligence duty, especially intelligence directed toward China.
Kwantung Army staff officers Colonel Itagaki Seishiro and Lieutenant Colonel Ishiwara Kanji were the prime activists in the Incident. They were both operations-oriented officers who would one day become full generals. Itagaki had served earlier in his career on the intelligence staff at army headquarters, and had been an assistant attach in Peking. As Senior Staff Officer he headed the Kwantung Army's intelligence section and served as the liaison with the Mukden Special Service organ, an intelligence-gathering center. Ishiwara had no direct intelligence connection, but his interest in China was so great that he turned down a proffered assignment in Europe in favor of one in China, a most unusual decision for a War College graduate. These two officers were joined by Major Hanaya Tadashii, second in command of the Mukden Special Service Organ, and by Captain Imada Shintaro, assistant advisor to Manchurian warlord Chang Hsueh-liang and attached to the Mukden Special Service Organ. According to three participants in the events, twenty-six officers either took part in the plot, knew of it in advance, or were actively engaged in the illicit creation of Manchukuo. Of these, eleven were involved with intelligence functions, and nine were primarily concerned with China. Of the ten officers most deeply involved, eight were intelligence officers,...