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"My home is on the Songhua River in the northeast, where there are forest coal mines, and soybeans sorghum ..."
A song "On the Songhua River" sings the suffering of the people in the northeast.
September 18, 1931, became a day that Chinese people will never forget. With the raid of the Japanese Kwantung Army, the Northeast Army of withdrew from the Northeast under the order of "non-resistance". In just over four months, 1.28 million square kilometers were all lost in Northeast China, which is 3.5 times Japan's territory. More than 30 million elders lost their homes.
Japanese troops entered Shenyang. Source/China's modern image database
Along with the vast land and endless resources, a large number of weapons, equipment and arsenals left by the Northeast Army have made Japanese militarism more powerful and more brutal than before.
So, how many weapons have fallen into the enemy, and what catastrophic impact did the Chinese people Anti-Japanese War have had?
Northeast Army has extraordinary strength
1916, Zhang Zuolin officially controlled the Liaoning area and became the real ruler in the Northeast region. Due to the unique geographical location of the Northeast and the continued growth of the population since " broke into Guandong ", Zhang Zuolin carried out large-scale development and construction of the Northeast region, especially after Wang Yongjiang took office as the Minister of Finance of Fengtian Province in May 1917, the development of the Northeast region reached a climax.
Under the governance of Zhang Zuolin and others, in 1918, the Northeast had fiscal revenue of more than 15.62 million yuan, expenditure of 12.11 million yuan, and the surplus was more than 3.5 million yuan. By the end of 1920, Zhang Zuolin not only paid off his internal and external debts, but also had a surplus of more than 11 million yuan in inventory. With the development of land in Northeast China, countless crops have also been produced, and the export of cash crops represented by soybeans has brought Zhang Zuolin a huge profit. The annual output of four major crops such as soybean, sorghum, corn, and millet produced in Northeast China is as high as 15 million tons, of which 5 million tons are soybeans alone. The market share of these soybeans accounts for 80% of the world's market share. It can be said that Northeast soybeans are an extremely important export-to-exchange-energy product for China.
Under the influence of "Chuangguandong", a large number of people flowed into the Northeast. In 1930, the area of arable land in Northeast China had increased to 238 million mu, and the total annual crop yield had reached nearly 20 million tons. The abundant agricultural products directly led to explosive growth in the Northeast region. On the eve of the September 18th Incident, the population of the Northeast region had reached more than 35 million. With the support of abundant manpower and financial resources, Zhang Zuolin, a warlord, realized in a melee with Zhili warlords and other warlords that the Feng army must be equipped with advanced weapons and reliable supplies to win the battle. At the order of Zhang Zuolin, who was rich and powerful, the modernization of the Feng army began.
The arsenal founded by Zhang Zuolin. Source/China Modern Image Database
Speaking of the modernization of military equipment, the warlords of old China had a say. In China at that time, the weapons and equipment of warlords from all sides were extremely chaotic, and many troops could not use one shot, and the sources of weapons were complex. The reason is, on the one hand, that the warlords of various Chinese factions supported by imperialism often change their "financial owners"; on the other hand, that some of them cannot even be used for ammunition.
Fengjun started with the embezzlement of seven mixed brigades formed by the Japanese arms transported by the Japanese Taiping Company, and their weapons and equipment were relatively unified. In order to strengthen military construction, in 1921, Zhang Zuolin established a machinery repair and gun manufacturing factory in the former Fengtian Machinery Bureau, also known as Fengtian Ordnance Factory . Soon, Zhang Zuolin discovered that the place here was too small to accommodate large arsenals at all. He rebuilt land at the Deng Daren Temple and the Mint in Dadongbianmen, and built three factories, including guns, cannons, and shells. Zhang Zuolin also hired professionals from Denmark to come to build, and also built a railway on the west side of the arsenal to allow the train to go directly to the yard.
1922, The Arsenal of the Three East Provinces was officially put into use. With the completion of the construction of the arsenal, the Fengtian Army's modernization path has officially begun. By 1928, the Arsenal of the Three East Provinces had become a huge arsenal with the first and second ammunition factories, the first and second artillery shell factories, the first and second artillery shell factories, the first and second artillery shell factories, the artillery factory, the gunpowder factory, the foundry and other huge arsenals, and was called the "first Arsenal in the East" by the Japanese. Not only that, the factory also has its own power plant, which includes 1 3000 kilowatt generator, 2 1000 kilowatt generators, and 4 400 horsepower boilers. The power generation capacity reaches 10,000 kilowatts. There are also more than 8,000 machines and equipment of various types, more than 21,000 employees, including more than 3,000 Japanese technicians, which has become the largest arsenal in China at that time. In 1929, according to the information of the Northeast Arsenal, the three eastern provinces had 130 types of Liao 13 79 rifles, 300 Type 17 light machine guns, 50 Type 13 heavy machine guns, hundreds of various artillery , 5 million to 9 million rounds, 30,000 to 50,000 shells, 480,000 to 100,000 grenades, 800 to 1000 tons of various gunpowder and explosives, 20-40 various types of artillery trucks, 7-10 3-ton trucks...
anti-aircraft machine guns were manufactured by the three eastern provinces (Shenyang) Arsenal in 1924. Source/China's modern image database
With the reliable supply of the arsenal, the Fengtian army became one of the best-equipped warlord teams in China at that time. By 1928, when Zhang Xueliang took over , the Fengtian Army had been adapted by the Kuomintang government into , the Northeast Frontier Defense Forces of the National Revolutionary Army, referred to as the "Northeast Army". During this period, the Northeast Army had 24 infantry brigades, 5 cavalry brigades, 10 artillery regiments; 5 air force squadrons; 3 navy fleets and 3 marine brigades. The Provincial Defense Forces have 7 regiments in Liaoning, 7 regiments in Heilongjiang, and 42 regiments in Rehe; the Reclamation Army has 3 regiments. In addition, there are also engineers, baggage, communications, iron armor and other corpses, with a total strength of more than 300,000.
Northeast Army was organized. Taking the First Brigade as an example, it has the third regiment under its jurisdiction, each regiment under its jurisdiction of three battalions, each battalion under its jurisdiction of four companies, each infantry company is equipped with 120 rifles, 9-12 light machine guns, and twelve grenade launchers under its jurisdiction. Each regiment is equipped with heavy machine guns, 12 mortars, and 4 flat-fire cannons. The troops directly under the brigade include cavalry companies, heavy mortar companies, communication companies, and guard companies. The regiment's direct troops include machine gun companies, mortar companies, flat-fire gun companies and communication platoons. Each cavalry brigade has three regiments and each regiment has four companies. The troops directly under the brigade include a guard company, a cavalry and artillery company, and a communication company. The regiment's direct troops include machine gun companies, mortar companies and communication platoons. Each artillery regiment has three battalions, and each battalion has three companies. Each battalion of engineers has three companies in charge. Each infantry regiment of the Provincial Defense Forces has the third battalion, machine gun companies and mortar companies, and each cavalry regiment has the fourth company, machine gun companies and mortar companies. Among the 10 artillery regiments of the Northeast Army, 300 artillery pieces were equipped with various caliber artillery from 75-105 mm. More importantly, the Northeast Army was the only fully equipped army in China at that time with the land, navy and air force, and even had China's only armored tank unit - the Northeast Frontier Defense Force Combatto. This unit was equipped with 36 French Renault FT-17 tanks and 24 armored personnel carriers. In addition, the Northeast Army is equipped with 5 air fleets and has about 300 aircraft. In terms of ships, the Northeast Army had 21 ships of all sizes, including Haiqi, Haichen, Zhenhai, Weihai, Tong'an, Yongxiang, Chuyu, Jiangli, Dinghai, etc., becoming the most powerful naval fleet in China at that time.
7.92mm Liaozao thirteen-year-old rifle is an improvement of the first-year-old rifle from the Arsenal of the Three East Provinces. Source/China Modern Image Database
If we only look at paper equipment, the strength of the Northeast Army was once close to that of some European countries in the same period. Such a well-equipped force reached its peak in 1930. However, during the "September 18th Incident", the Northeast Army had to obey orders and withdraw the Northeast where they were born and raised. The Japanese invaders rushed forward and took the entire Northeast for their own possession.
How much equipment has Japan harvested?
On the day of the "September 18th Incident", the Japanese army raided the Arsenals of the Three East Provinces and the Liaoning Mortar Factory. The Japanese army knew very well that there were a large amount of weapons and equipment stored there and they must be seized immediately when war began.
According to the Japanese records, after they rushed into the arsenal, they first shot and killed Northeastern soldiers who were resisting in the factory, and then immediately controlled the two arsenals. After the Japanese army took inventory, they found 95,000 rifles of different caliber and more than 60,000 pistols of various types, including the Liao Type 13 rifle. These weapons can be equipped with 19 Northeast Army National Defense Brigades. There are also more than 2,600 light machine guns, including Czech light machine guns, which are also enough to arm the five Northeast Army National Defense Brigades. The artillery includes about 600 artillery of different calibers, including 189 Type 14 37 flat-fire cannons and a large number of unassembled artillery parts, as well as more than 2,300 mortars. These artillery can be equipped with 15 Northeast Army National Defense Brigades or 5 field artillery regiments. The Japanese army seized as many as 180 million bullets and more than 500,000 artillery shells. In addition to guns and artillery, the Japanese army also seized 13 Renault ft17 tanks in the Beida Camp in Shenyang and 11 other Renault ft17 tanks at the Dongta Airport in Shenyang.
At this point, the Northeast Army's combat convoy was wiped out, and most of the tanks were plundered by the Japanese army to make trophy.
Japanese Armored Vehicle Enter Shenyang. Source/China Modern Image Database
Shenyang area is the main place where the Northeast Army stores weapons, and most of the Northeast Army's weapons are lost here. Looking at the entire Northeast region, most of the weapons and equipment stored in other places also fell into the hands of the Japanese army, including 265 aircraft and some river defense gunboats. But compared with the ones lost in Shenyang, there are not many other areas. For example, there are about 60,000 rifles seized by the Japanese army in other areas of the Northeast, but most of them are old-fashioned rifles, and some are even old antiques left by in the Qing Dynasty. Only more than a hundred light machine guns were captured by the Japanese army, and even fewer heavy machine guns. On the one hand, many Northeast troops retreat with weapons, and those who cannot be taken away were destroyed; on the other hand, many Northeast troops directly surrendered to the enemy with weapons, and their weapons were kept privately by themselves.
The plundered weapons were "full" by the Japanese army, and the gun was pointed at the Chinese people. For example, the Japanese army used the Northeast Army's Renault tanks to attack the troops of the anti-Japanese general Ma Zhanshan. In addition to keeping some of the other Northeast Army weapons and equipment for their own use, they were also widely used by the Japanese army to bribe and support various traitors, such as the former Northeast Army's Yuzhishan , Jixing , Zhang Haipeng , and others. The Japanese army won over and bribed them by replenishing weapons. In October 1931, the Japanese army gave Zhang Haipeng more than 10,000 rifles, allowing Zhang's troops to expand their army to more than 10,000. After receiving the "reward", these traitor troops became hard-core supporters of the Japanese army and turned around to attack other anti-Japanese armed forces, which played a great destructive role in the war of resistance.
In addition to using the weapons of the Northeast Army to arm the Manchukuo army, the Japanese army also used these weapons to arm other puppet troops. For example, the Li Shouxin units operating in the Rehe area were bought by the arms provided by the Japanese army and became traitors. Later, the Japanese army gave Li Shouxin more than 12,000 Liao Type 13 rifles, more than 150 light machine guns, more than 30 Liao Type 13 heavy machine guns, and more than 60 various artillery pieces. After obtaining this batch of arms, Li Shouxin's puppet army expanded to tens of thousands, becoming a loyal thug of the Japanese army in North China. In addition to bribing the puppet army, the Japanese army also used Northeast Army weapons to smuggle some Chinese warlords and local bandits to disrupt China's social order and open the way for them to further invade China. For example, Shandong bandits Liu Heiqi , the kingly one, obtained some weapons from the Japanese army, which caused great damage to China's North China region and seriously interfered with the anti-Japanese operations.
What is worse than the lost weapons is the fall of the Northeast Arsenal. As the former "first Arsenal in the East", the Arsenal in the Three East Provinces itself was built with the assistance of a large number of Japanese personnel and was soon used by Japan. The Arsenal of the Three East Provinces was renamed "Kanto Army Field Arsenal Factory". In 1932, it was renamed Fengtian Military Institute Co., Ltd. by the Japanese side, and was jointly built by the puppet Manchukuo and the Japanese chaebol . The expanded production capacity of Fengtian Zaobu Sinica Co., Ltd. has also been improved, producing more than 50,000 bullets per day. By 1937, the record of 300,000 rounds per day was reached. During the same period, the 21 Arsenal in China produced only more than 70,000 bullets per day.
Japanese army occupied the arsenal of the three eastern provinces. Source/China Modern Image Database
Before 1944, the light weapons of Fengtian Military Making Institute produced 6,000 rifles, 80 light machine guns, and 60 heavy machine guns in April. The production capacity of artillery is 16-32 75 75 anti-aircraft guns, 4-8 94 37 combat anti-aircraft guns, 15-20 98 20 anti-aircraft guns (estimated), 10-20 81 mortars; the monthly output of bullets is 1.5-9 million, 30-50,000 to 50,000 to 70,000 grenades, 30-40,000 to 40,000 to 250 kg of aircraft; 30-40 tons of smokeless gunpowder, 250-500 tons of black gunpowder, 200-450 tons of ammonium nitrifying explosives; 430,000 to 40,000 tons of 250 catties of aviation bombs, 800-1,000 tons of various gunpowder and explosives, 20-40 tons of various gunpowder and explosives, 7-10 3-ton trucks, and 5-7 Type 91 military trucks.
The Japanese army fought in mainland China alone, 45% of which were produced by Fengtian troops; 70% of the ammunition was produced by Fengtian troops. Due to the advanced equipment of Fengtian Army Build, the mortars and grenade launchers of the Japanese invaders were basically produced by Fengtian Army Build. The weapons manufactured by Fengtian Army Builders every month can be equipped with about 1-2 brigades of the Japanese army. These weapons cause extremely serious losses to China and even the entire Allied camp.
From the painful lessons of the "September 18th Incident", we can see that the Northeast Army was forced to withdraw from the Northeast without a single shot, which is by no means a measure to "give time to the war of resistance in the future." After occupying the Northeast, the Japanese fascists immediately integrated the manpower, material resources, financial resources and even military forces in the Northeast, and invested all these precious resources into their own war machines, especially the lost weapons and arsenals of the Northeast Army, which caused great losses to the Chinese people's war of resistance.
Looking back at history, the children of the Chinese nation should remember one thing: in the face of a cruel enemy like a jackal, there should be no thought of compromise. Only by fighting to the end is the only way out.
Reference materials:
Chen Juezhu. The Republic of China Series, Episode 5 70 History·Geography, History of the National Migration after the 918th National People's Political Consultative Conference (One-Two) [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore, 1932.11.
Guo Chunfeng. The Zhang father and son and the modernization of the Northeast military [M]. Liaoning: Liaoning People's Publishing House, 2014.4.
Edited by the Research Committee of the Literary and Historical Materials of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Liaoning Literary and Historical Materials Volume 6 [M]. Shenyang: Liaoning People's Publishing House, 1981.08.
Zhang Kankan. Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Xueliang and Northeast Military Industry [J]. Journal of the National Museum of China, 2014(04):130-140.
Ma Yan. China's largest arsenal became an accomplice of the Japanese invading China [J]. Science Grand View Garden, 2010(19):39.
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Author | Guo Xin
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