n;TERNn Tl CNJcL ~1111 TARY TRl3UN.t.L FCh THE FAL EAST TRANSCRIPT CF FRCCEEDINGS 29 CCTOBER 1947 pp. 31,968 32,058 DAYlD l\'ELSON SUTTC·N PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ (' PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ 29 OC'rOBER 1947 \ I N D E X Of WITNESSES Def'ense' ·Witnesses ~1ATSUURA, Kusuo (resumed) 31969 Cross (cont'd) by Mr. Blakeney 31969 MORNING RECESS 31992 Redirect by Colonel Ivanov 31993 (~itness excused) 3199, /MURAKAMI, Keisaku 31996 Direct by Colonel Ivanov 31996 NOON RECESS 32014 Direct (conttd) by Colonel ~vanov 32015 Cross by Mr. Blakeney 32017 Question by the President of the Tribuna 1, Sir w illiarr '~!ebb 32020 Cross (cont'd) by 11r. Blakeney 32021 AFTERNOON RECESS 32038 Cross (eont'd) by Mr. Blakeney 32039 Question by the President of the Trib:unal, Sir William Webb 32042 Cross (corit 1 d) by Nir. Blakeney 32043 Cross ( cont 'd) by Mr. Blewett 1 32049 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ 29 OCTOBER 194? I N D E X Of 1NITNESSES (cont'd) Defense' Witnesses IVIURAKAMI, Keisaku ( cont' d) Question by the President of the Tribunal, Sir William Webb 32051 Cross (cont'd) by Mr. Blewett 32052 Redirect by Colonel Ivanov 32056 INDE.X Of EXHIBITS Doc. Def. Pros. Flor In· -~ ~ No. Description --I dent .Evidence- 3372 Affidavit ~f NIDRAKAMI, Keisaku 32007 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ 31,968 1 Wednesday, 29 october 1947 2 - - - 3 4 INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL . FOR TilE FAR EAST 5 Court rouse of the Tribunal War Ministry Building 6 Tokyo, Japan 7 8 The Tribunal met, pursuant to adjournment, 9 at 0930. 10 11 Appearances: 12 For the Tribunal, all Members sitting, with 13 the exception of: HONORABLE JUSTICE R. B. PAL, Merber 14 from India, not sitting fr?m 0930 to 1600; HONORABLE 15. JUSTICE B. V. fl. ROLING, Member from the Kingdom of 16 the Netherlands, not sitting from 1330 to 1445. 17 For the Prosecution~Section, same as before. 18 For the Defense Section, same as before. 19 20 (English to Japanese and Japanese 21 to English interpretation was made by the 22 Language· Section, IMTFE.) 23 24 25 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ MATSUURA CROSS ------· ··-------------- ---------·-----~- --· -----, i B 1 MARSHAL OF THE COURT: The International i n I r 2 ,. Military Tribunal for the Far East is now in session. t 0 3 TEE PRESIDENT: All the accused are present n 4 except SHIRATORI, who is representeo. bjr eounsel. We & 5 have a certificate from the prison SJTgeon at Sugamo y e 6 certifying that he is ill and une..bla to attend the 1 d 7 trial today. The certificate will b? reeorded and e n 8 filed. 9 Major Blakenejr. 10 11 ... KUSUO M A T S U U R A, called as a witness on 12 I · I beh9.lf cf t'ne prosecution, ::.~P?Drn?d the stand and 13 testified through Japanose : nt e;: p~~.Jters as 14 follows: 15 I CROSS-EXAMINATION 16 BY Rffi. BLAKEl'JEY <ccntimJ.ec.) ~ 17 Q Afte:r 7t)Ur· trans "fe:r:o to the Kwantung Army 18 in 1943 you testtried it was quite clear that war 19 would be sto..:r-ted aeainst the USSR. Did you ev"-lr see 20 21 the Kwantung Army operations plans for, say, the 22 year 1943? 23 A I have never seen the operations plan. 24 Q Did you see the operations plan for the year 25 1944? I,. A I have not seen it. ! PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ MATSUURA CROSS 31,971 1 the Kantokuen not only provided for large ... scale 2 maneuvers but also constituted an operational plan 3 for operations against the USSR, did it? 4• A Yes. 5 Q Yesterday you told us something in detail 6 about various maneuvers that were carried out by the 7 Kwantung Army during your time there. You mentioned 8 particularly two: one which you said took place near 9 Chamussu for the purpose of practicing withstanding 10 cold and one at Tsitsihar, a river-crossing operations 11 maneuver. 12 Isn't it a fact that each year in the 13 Kwantung Army there was one large-scale maneuver? 14 COLONEL IVANOV: The prosecution objects to 15 this question as being repetitive and outside the 16 scope of the affidavit. 17 THE PRESIDENT: It certainly is repetitive, 18 Major Blakeney. I would not say it is outside the 19 scope of the affidavit though. 20 21 MR. BLAKE~~Y: He bas never before been asked 22 about any other maneuvers than those two he mentioned. 23 In order to show that these two maneuvers mentioned 24 by him were not the special, significant things that 25 he says, I wish to extract the information that such maneuvers occurred annually. PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ VL.l\ TS 1:JURA CROSS 31,972 COLONEL IVANOV: Your Honor, I must say 1 2 that the Kwantung Army each year held not only one maneuver but they held maneuvers in spring and in the I winter. I. 5 THE PRESIDENT: Colonel, you cannot give I 6 evidence; but we have heard this from other witnesses I 7 and I do not think it is contested that there were 8 annual maneuvers. I '! 9 COLONEL IVANOV: We think that this line of I 10 cross-examination is just a waste of time. 11 11HE PRESIDENT: I think we are all in 12 agreement with that. 13 Q Who told you the contents of the 1945 14 operations plan? 15 A 'I'he person ·who gave me the explanation was 16 Lieutenant Colonel ONO, Katsuichi, who was my superior 17 officer, who was in charge of the signal service 18 section. ~ Was he an operations officer? A He was a staff officer. 22 Q I didn't ask you that. I asked you if he 23 was an operations officer. 24j A He was staff o.f·f'icer in charge of signal ~, I service. LJ I -----~O~-·--~ifu1a~s~h.~e~aun~o~p~e~r~a~t~iwo~n~s~~o~fuf~iwc~e~r~?L·---------------­_t PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ L'L4.TS UDBA CROSS 31 '973 ~---·----A-· He- 'INas not an opera t1.ons officer. ·-I 1 I' Q Was he given access to operations plans? 2 1 A I think, naturally, he was in that position. 31 Q Did he tell you that he had seen the plan? 4 A He o.idn't say that he saw it. 5 Q How did Re say that he got his 1.nformation? A He made no explanation as to how he obtained 7 the information. Q What did he tell you were the contents of 10 the 1945 operations plan? 11 A That the operations plans for 1945 was an 12 operation for the defense of the internal regions of 13 Manchuria, that the duty of the Kwantung Army· was the 14 defense of Korea. 15 The contents of the operations plan vms 16 that at first the units along the Soviet-Manchuln..lo 17 border, especially those on the east front or the 18 north :front, were, while offering resistance, gradually to withdraw, offering-- THE l~DNr.roR: Japanese court reporter. (i~lhereupon, the Japanese court reporter 22 read.) TBE I1TTERPRETER: "I o.o not think the explanation I made, as transcribed by the reporter, is clear, tt statement of the witness. I -- PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ NIATSUORA CROSS 31,974 , I We shall attempt an inte~pretation of a 2 previous statement: 3 The contents of the operations plan was 4 that Japanese units along the Soviet-Manchukuo 5 border, especially those facing the east and northern 6 fronts, were gradually to withdraw while resisting. 7 A (Continuing) Let me repeat that at first 8 units along the border, especially those on the 9 eastern and northern fronts were, in accordance with 10 the resistance situation,to hold out --to conduct 11 holding-out operations; also to conduct a large­ 12 scale repulsive operation against the Soviet Army 13 in the area west of the railway running between 14 Cb.angchun and Dairen which is believed to be the 15 ob,ject of the USSR's attack -- offensive actions 16 in their attack from the westward direction. 17 Q When did the Lieutenant Colonel tell you 18 about this? 19 A The end of June, 1945. 20 ·Q Where? 21 A In an anteroom of the staff department of 22 the Kwantung Army. 23 24 Q Did he tell you how he got his information? 25 COLO}ffiL IVANOV~ The prosecution objects to your Honor, because the whole group of questions ---------------------- PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3f9014/ UATSUURA CROSS 31,975 1 connected with the plan "f 1945 is outside the 2 scope of the affidavit and the examination-in-chief. 3 THE PRESIDE~IT: The objection is overruled. 4 Q Answer the question. 5 A He did not tell me where and how he obtained such information b~t I believe tb.at it is only natural 7 that he would be able to obtain such information in 8 view of the fact that he was a staff officer in the 9 first section, and being staff officer in charge of lO cornmunications he would naturally be j_n a position to 11 know. 12 Q The staff officer in charge of communications 14 would naturally have communicated to him t~1e part of 1 15 the plans that concerned hirn, wouldn t he? 16 A The matter concerning the staff officer in 17 charge of communications, I cannot relate it to you 1s here.