Nakanogō Incident

The Nakanogō Incident was a skirmish between the Yamatai Imperial Army and the Chiseian Royal Navy, supported by the Chiseian Resistance, between 2 June 1936 and 3 June 1936. Both countries were not at war at the time.

On 1 June 1936, the Chiseian submarine Porohumbe-12 was on a secret scouting mission within Yamataian waters along the coast of the New Territories in preparation for Operation Hiyari, the invasion of the New Territories planned for the next winter. At around 11 PM, the surface-running submarine ran aground on a sandbar off the shore of Nakanogō, a fishing town under Yamataian control. With the submarine in an exposed position, at around 12.15 AM on 2 June Captain Nupuri Ekashiba sent a team of five sailors led by Lieutenant Kanayachi Hotene to the shore in hopes of finding help and potentially a tugboat to free the submarine before daybreak.

At around 1 AM, Lieutenant Kanayachi's team found a group of willing fishermen with an appropriately powered boat. However, they were discovered by a Yamataian Tokkeitai patrol, which alerted the town's Tokkeitai detachment, commanded by Second Lieutenant Kikuno Takeaki. Kikuno activated his 6-man anti-riot special duties section and immediately moved to arrest the Chiseians. In the ensuing altercation, shots were fired and the situation escalated into a gunfight by 3 AM. The accidental killing of one of the civilian fishermen led to the rest of the fishermen fleeing the scene. Lieutenant Kanayachi's team, with three wounded including Kanayachi herself, retreated to their launch and returned to the submarine.

By the next morning, Captain Nupuri decided to break radio silence and call for help from the Royal Navy. Another submarine was scheduled to arrive that night to pick up the crew of the Porohumbe-12. Nupuri decided to evacuate his submarine and seize control of the town to protect the sensitive information his submarine carried. Despite being advised to destroy the sensitive information several times, Nupuri refused to do so for unknown reasons, speculated to be his desire to attain a promotion after being stuck at his rank for 9 years. At this time, the Tokkeitai had activated all of their local auxiliaries and mustered their entire force of around 39 auxiliaries and 16 combat-capable Kenpei on the shoreline. The heaviest weapon they had at the time was a single.

At around 8 AM, both sides began exchanging machine gun fire, and the submarine crew also fired on the Tokkeitai positions with the 100mm deck gun. After the Tokkeitai retreated from the shore, several teams of sailors armed with small arms and grenades were sent ashore. Once ashore, local Chiseian Resistance members appeared and offered their assistance. Several gun battles broke out between the Chiseian sailors and resistance fighters and the Tokkeitai throughout the day, and by 4 PM the Yamataian Second Lieutenant Kikuno ordered his outnumbered forces to retreat into the woods to the north of the town. By 6 PM, the Chiseians occupied the Tokkeitai headquarters and raised the Chiseian flag.

That night, however, the second Royal Navy submarine Porohumbe-8 failed to arrive after having been chased off by Yamatai Imperial Navy spotter aircraft deployed after the discovery of the Porohumbe-12. The Chiseians raised a force of 56 civilian volunteers and made preparations to fortify the town, while a detachment of sailors was sent into the woods to hunt down the remaining Tokkeitai. At the same time, the Yamataian forces had also contacted the 2nd Imperial Guards Division headquarters stationed in the nearby city of Oarai, which believed the entire situation was a Chiseian attempt to supply and reinforce partisan forces. Kikuno severely over-estimated the enemy strength in his report and the entire 27th Imperial Guards Infantry Battalion was deployed by higher HQ, along with aerial reconnaissance.

The 27th Imperial Guards Infantry Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Sayashi Shinzō arrived at around 4 AM on 3rd June and made preparations for an assault into the town. Civilians were interrogated about the Chiseian forces and several informants also submitted reports. At daybreak, attempts to conduct aerial reconnaissance were thwarted by heavy cloud cover. At 10 AM, preparations were completed and the Yamataian forces conducted a general assault into the town via the two main roads. Faced with overwhelming force and heavy casualties, by 2 PM Captain Nupuri and the resistance leader Kaga Isao surrendered to the Yamataian forces. One hour prior to the surrender, Nupuri finally gave the order to destroy the submarine by detonating the torpedoes, but a faulty detonator foiled this plan, and he only managed to burn 30% of his secret documents before he was arrested by Yamataian troops.