In the early morning of July 6, 1937, in the hazy mist and rain, a group of heavily armed Japanese troops appeared under the city of Wanping City, located in the southwest suburb of Beiping, 1937. They shouted loudly and asked to pass through Wanping City to Changxindian to conduct exercises, but they were sternly rejected by the officers and soldiers guarding the city. As a result, China and Japan faced off in the rain for more than ten hours. The Chinese defenders of Wanping City knew that this confrontation was not the first, and it would never be the last.
Picture: Marco Polo Bridge and Wanping City
After Japan occupied the Northeast and single-handedly conquered the puppet Manchukuo, it extended its claws to the hinterland of North China in a "gradual encroachment" method. As the Japanese front moved southward and its troop strength continued to increase, in 1937, Japan's "North China Garrison", which had been stationed in Peiping for 36 years, became increasingly arrogant. Using exercises as an excuse, they often went to Wanping City and Marco Polo Bridge to conduct reconnaissance of the terrain.
In 1937, Peiping was surrounded by Japanese troops on three sides. Only the southwest was still stationed by the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Therefore, Wanping City became the only gateway to Peiping. Once Wanping was lost and the Ping-Han Line was cut off, Peiping became an isolated city, and the Japanese army could easily control the Ping-Tianjin area.
A Peiping citizen took a photo with his camera. In the picture, a Japanese military plane passed over Peiping. In order to remember this moment, he wrote this text on the photo: Just think back, this is July 1937. In July in Peiping, the smell of gunpowder smoke is getting thicker and thicker in the sultry air.
Picture: Photos taken by Peiping citizens
On July 7, 1937, on this day, the Japanese army came again. But what was different from the past was that this time they bypassed the gates of Wanping City and rushed directly to the area between the Longwang Temple and Dawayao north of Marco Polo Bridge to station themselves in preparation for night military exercises.
That night, it was even quieter, and the Chinese defenders on the Wanping City Wall were always on high alert.
Picture: Japanese military exercise route map
23:40, the Japanese urgently called Peking Mayor Qin Dechun, using the disappearance of a Japanese soldier as an excuse to enter Wanping County for search. Qin Dechun flatly refused after hearing this. In order to prevent the situation from escalating, Wanping County Magistrate Wang Lengzhai and Japanese negotiators were arranged to enter the city first to conduct an investigation, and then discuss how to deal with it after the investigation situation was clear.
html At about 2 o'clock in the morning on July 8, representatives from China and Japan had just entered Wanping City. Almost at the same time, Captain Ichiki Kiyoshi of the Fengtai Garrison Brigade of the Japanese Army directly received the report of the missing Japanese soldiers, and quickly led a Japanese Army group of about 500 people, carrying artillery pieces. Gate 6, heading towards Wanping City. Picture: Ichiki Kiyonao led the Japanese army to invade Wanping City
However, before the Japanese army arrived at Shagang, they suddenly received news that the "missing soldier" had been found.
In fact, this soldier named Shimura Kikujiro was a private who had just joined the army for four months. That night, he left the team because he had diarrhea to relieve himself. When he returned, he walked in the opposite direction in the dark, thus delaying his return to the team, but he returned quietly after more than 20 minutes.
However, the Japanese army not only concealed the return of the soldiers, but also arbitrarily and unreasonably asked the Chinese defenders to withdraw 5 kilometers outside the city so that the Japanese army could search the city.
What are they planning?
At 4:20 in the morning, Ichiki Kiyoshi, who was ready for battle, called the captain of the regiment Mutaguchi Renya, slandering the Chinese army for shooting at the Japanese army, and asked what to do. Soon, he got a reply: "If you are attacked by the enemy, of course you will fight back!" At this time, Ichiki Kiyonao also realized that the matter was of great importance. After confirming the firing instructions to Mutaguchi Renya again, he glanced at the clock time.
4:23 AM. This time is fixed in history.
While the Chinese and Japanese negotiators in Wanping City were still negotiating, the Japanese troops outside the city launched an attack on the Chinese garrison in the Marco Polo Bridge area and shelled Wanping County.
At 4:50 in the morning, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Marco Polo Railway Bridge near Wanping City. Two platoons of soldiers from the 11th Company of the 3rd Battalion stationed here fought bloody battles with the Japanese army, and almost all of them died for their country.
Faced with such an unfavorable situation, the defenders in Wanping City decided to attack the Japanese army at night and recapture the railway bridge. A "death squad" was quickly formed by 150 elite generals, each equipped with a rifle, two grenades, and a broadsword.
Night falls and drizzle falls. The death squads quietly descended from Wanping City and took advantage of the familiar terrain to launch a sneak attack on the railway bridge in the dark. They unexpectedly wiped out a Japanese squadron on the railway bridge and recaptured the Dragon King Temple and the railway bridge.
Picture: Marco Polo Bridge
1-year-old Zheng Fulai is known as the "living history" of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident . On July 8, 1937, before dawn, Japanese artillery shells fell next to Zheng Fulai's house.Zheng Fulai July 7th Incident Witnesses
It was dark, which woke me up. It's daybreak, I think it's better to take my schoolbag to school. My father said: "Why go to school? The 29th Army is fighting with the Japanese."
I fled to the north end of Changxindian, holding on to the corner of my mother's back clothes, and saw a small pine forest at the north end of Chaoyang. The woods are covered with cloth. Later, someone told me that they were all sacrificed by the 29th Army of Dawangmiao to defend the city and the bridge.
Yue Siping Researcher at the Chinese People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences
July 7, 1937, is an important and historic day in the history of the Chinese revolution, especially in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War. For China, it is called the "Marco Bridge Anti-Japanese War" or the "July 7 Anti-Japanese War". This day marks the development of China's local anti-Japanese war into a national anti-Japanese war.
The sound of Japanese artillery attacking Marco Polo Bridge announced that the Chinese nation has reached its most dangerous moment. The ancient capital of Beiping is about to be filled with smoke and all life will be ruined. The anti-Japanese anger in China has been ignited, and an unprecedented national war of resistance is about to begin.
(Original title: The Japanese army invaded Wanping City and its soldiers disappeared? It was all a conspiracy!)
Source: CCTV National Memory
Process editor: TF099
