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Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, there had been many small incidents along the rail line connecting Beijing with the port of Tianjin, but all had subsided. In this incident, a Japanese soldier was temporarily absent from his unit opposite Wanping, and his commander demanded the right to search the town for him. When this request was refused, units on both sides were alerted and the Chinese Army fired on the Japanese Army. However, the missing Japanese soldier had already returned to his lines. The Marco Polo Bridge incident is generally regarded as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.[4]
Introduction
In English, the battle is usually known as the "Marco Polo Bridge incident".[5] The Marco Polo Bridge is an eleven-arch granite bridge, an architecturally significant structure first erected under the Jin dynasty and later restored during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1698. It gained its Western name from its appearance in Il Milione, Marco Polo's record of his travels.[6]
It is also known as the "Lukouchiao",[7] "Lugouqiao",[8] or 'Lugou Bridge incident' from the local name of the bridge, derived from a former name of the Yongding River.[9] This is the common name for the event in Japanese (蘆溝橋事件, Rokōkyō Jiken) and is an alternate name for it in Chinese and Korean (노구교사건, Nogugyo Sageon). The same name is also expressed or translated as the "Battle of Lugou Bridge",[10] "Lugouqiao",[11] or "Lukouchiao".[12]
Background
Tensions between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China had been heightened since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and their subsequent creation of a client state, Manchukuo, with Puyi, the deposed Qing dynasty emperor, as its chief of state. After the invasion, Japanese forces extended their control further into northern China, seeking to obtain raw materials and industrial capacity. A commission of inquiry from the League of Nations published the Lytton Report which was critical of the Japanese, resulting in Japan quitting the League.[13]
The Kuomintang (KMT) government of China refused to recognize Manchukuo but did agree to the Tanggu Truce with Japan in 1933. Subsequently, there were various "incidents", or armed clashes of a limited nature, followed by a return to uneasy peace. The significance of the Marco Polo Bridge incident is that, following it, tensions did not subside again; instead, there was an escalation, with larger forces committed by both sides and fighting spreading to other parts of China. With hindsight, this small incident can, therefore, be regarded as the start of a major conflict.[14]
By the terms of the Boxer Protocol of 7 September 1901, China had granted nations with legations in Beijing the right to station guards at twelve specific points along railways connecting Beijing with Tianjin. This was to ensure open communications between the capital and the port. By a supplementary agreement on 15 July 1902, these forces were allowed to conduct maneuvers without informing the authorities of other nations in China.[15]
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Allied Commander-in-Chief in the China theater between 1942 and 1945
By July 1937, Japan had expanded its forces in China to an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 men, mostly along the railways. This number of men, and the amount of concomitant matériel, was several times the size of the detachments deployed by the European powers, and greatly in excess of the limits set by the Boxer Protocol.[15] By this time, the Imperial Japanese Army had already surrounded Beijing and Tianjin.
Incident
On the night of 7 July, the Japanese units stationed at Fengtai crossed the border to conduct military exercises. Japanese and Chinese forces outside the town of Wanping—a walled town 16.4km (10.2mi) southwest of Beijing—exchanged fire at approximately 23:00. The exact cause of this incident remains unknown. When a Japanese soldier, Private Shimura Kikujiro, failed to return to his post, Chinese regimental commander Ji Xingwen (219th Regiment, 37th Division, 29th Army) received a message from the Japanese demanding permission to enter Wanping to search for the missing soldier; the Chinese refused. Private Shimura later returned to his unit; he claimed to have sought immediate relief in the darkness from a stomach ache and become lost[16][citation needed]); according to Peter Harmsen, he had visited a brothel.[17] By that time both sides were mobilizing, with the Japanese deploying reinforcements to surround Wanping.
Later that night, a unit of Japanese infantry attempted to breach Wanping's walled defenses but were repulsed. An ultimatum by the Japanese was issued two hours later. As a precautionary measure, Qin Dechun, the acting commander of the Chinese 29th Route Army, contacted the commander of the Chinese 37th Division, General Feng Zhi'an, ordering him to place his troops on heightened alert. [citation needed]
At 02:00 on 8 July, Qin Dechun, executive officer and acting commander of the Chinese 29th Route Army, sent Wang Lengzhai, mayor of Wanping, alone to the Japanese camp to conduct negotiations. However, this proved to be fruitless, and the Japanese insisted that they be admitted into the town to investigate the cause of the incident.
At around 04:00, reinforcements of both sides began to arrive. The Chinese also rushed an extra division of troops to the area. At 04:45 Wang Lengzhai had returned to Wanping, and on his way back he witnessed Japanese troops massing around the town. Within five minutes of Wang's return, a shot was heard, and both sides began firing[citation needed], thus marking the commencement of the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin, and, by extension, the full scale commencement of the Second Sino-Japanese War at 04:50 on 8 July 1937.
Colonel Ji Xingwen led the Chinese defenses with about 100 men, with orders to hold the bridge at all costs. The Chinese were able to hold the bridge with the help of reinforcements, but suffered tremendous losses.[citation needed] At this point, the Japanese military and members of the Japanese Foreign Service began negotiations in Beijing with the Chinese Nationalist government.
A verbal agreement with Chinese General Qin was reached, whereby:[citation needed]
An apology would be given by the Chinese to the Japanese.
Punishment would be dealt to those responsible.
Control of Wanping would be turned over to the Hebei Chinese civilian constabulary and not to the Chinese 219th Regiment.
The Chinese would attempt to better control "communists" in the area.
This was agreed upon, though Japanese Garrison Infantry Brigade commander General Masakazu Kawabe initially rejected the truce and, against his superiors' orders, continued to shell Wanping for the next three hours, until prevailed upon to cease and to move his forces to the northeast.[citation needed]
Aftermath
Although a ceasefire had been declared, further efforts to de-escalate the conflict failed, largely due to actions by the Chinese Communists and the Japanese China Garrison Army commanders.[citation needed] Due to constant Chinese attacks, Japanese Garrison Infantry Brigade commander General Masakazu Kawabe ordered Wanping to be shelled on 9 July. The following day, Japanese armored units joined the attack. The Chinese 219th regiment staged an effective resistance, and full scale fighting commenced at Langfang on 25 July.[citation needed] After launching a bitter and bloody attack on the Japanese lines on the 27 July, General Song Zheyuan was defeated and forced to retreat behind the Yongding River by the next day.
On 11 July, in accordance with the Goso conference, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff authorized the deployment of an infantry division from the Chosen Army, two combined brigades from the Kwantung Army and an air regiment composed of 18 squadrons as reinforcements to Northern China. By 20 July, total Japanese military strength in the Beiping-Tianjin area exceeded 180,000 personnel.
The Japanese gave Song and his troops "free passage" before moving in to pacify resistance in areas surrounding Beijing and Tianjin. After 24 days of combat, the Chinese 29th Army was forced to withdraw. The Japanese captured Beiping and the Taku Forts at Tianjin on 29 and 30 July respectively, thus concluding the Battle of Beiping–Tianjin. However, the Japanese Army had been given orders not to advance further than the Yongding River. In a sudden volte-face, the Konoe government's foreign minister opened negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing and stated: "Japan wants Chinese cooperation, not Chinese land." Nevertheless, negotiations failed to move further. On 9 August 1937, a Japanese naval officer was shot in Shanghai, escalating the skirmishes and battles into full scale warfare.[18]
The 29th Army's resistance (and poor equipment) inspired the 1937 "Sword March", which with reworked lyrics became the NRA's standard marching cadence and popularized the racial epithet guizi to describe the Japanese invaders.[19]
Consequences
Damage from the Japanese shells on the wall of Wanping Fortress, now marked with a memorial plaque
The heightened tensions of the Marco Polo Bridge incident led directly to full-scale war between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China, with the Battle of Beiping–Tianjin at the end of July and the Battle of Shanghai in August.
In 1937, during the Battle of Beiping–Tianjin the government was notified by Muslim General Ma Bufang of the Ma clique that he was prepared to bring the fight to the Japanese in a telegram message.[20] Immediately after the Marco Polo Bridge incident, Ma Bufang arranged for a cavalry division under the Muslim General Ma Biao to be sent east to battle the Japanese. The Turkic Salar people made up the majority of the first cavalry division sent by Ma.
In 1987, the bridge was renovated and the People's Anti-Japanese War Museum was built near the bridge to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the Sino-Japanese War.[21]
Controversies
There is debate over whether the incident could have been planned like the earlier Mukden incident, which served as a pretext for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.[22] According to Jim Huffman this notion has been "widely rejected" by historians, as the Japanese would likely have been more concerned over the threat posed by the Soviets. Controversial conservative Japanese historian Ikuhiko Hata has suggested that the incident could have been caused by the Chinese Communist Party, hoping it would lead to a war of attrition between the Japanese army and the Kuomintang.[citation needed] However, he himself still considers this less likely than the "accidental shot" hypothesis, that the first shot was fired by a low-ranking Chinese soldier in "an unplanned moment of fear".
Order of battle
National Revolutionary Army
In comparison to their Japanese counterparts, the 29th Route Army, and generally all of the NRA for that matter, was poorly equipped and under-trained. Most soldiers were armed only with a rifle and a dao (a single-edged Chinese sword similar to a machete). Moreover, the Chinese garrison in the Lugouqiao area was completely outnumbered and outgunned; it consisted only of about 100 soldiers.[2]
The Japanese China Garrison Army was a combined force of infantry, tanks, mechanized forces, artillery and cavalry, which had been stationed in China since the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Its headquarters and bulk for its forces were in Tianjin, with a major detachment in Beijing to protect the Japanese embassy.
Sòng Zhéyuán was a Chinese general during the Chinese Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
This article is concerned with the events that preceded World War II in Asia.
The China Expeditionary Army was a general army of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1939 to 1945.
The Battle of Beiping–Tianjin, also known as the Battle of Beiping, Battle of Peiping, Battle of Beijing, Battle of Peiking, the Peiking–Tientsin Operation, and by the Japanese as the North China Incident was a series of battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War fought in the proximity of Beiping and Tianjin. It resulted in a Japanese victory.
The defense of the Great Wall was a campaign between the armies of Republic of China and Empire of Japan, which took place before the Second Sino-Japanese War officially commenced in 1937 and after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. It is known in Japanese as Operation Nekka and in many English sources as the First Battle of Hopei.
The Marco Polo Bridge or Lugou Bridge is a stone bridge located 15 km southwest of Beijing's city center in the Fengtai District. It bridges the Yongding River, a major tributary of Hai River. Situated at the eastern end of the bridge is the Wanping Fortress, a historic 17th-century fortress, with the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression inside.
Toshizō Nishio was a Japanese general, considered to be one of the Imperial Japanese Army's most successful and ablest strategists during the Second Sino-Japanese War, who commanded the Japanese Second Army during the first years after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
Kiyonao Ichiki was an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II. Ichiki commanded the 28th Infantry Regiment "Ichiki detachment" in the Battle of the Tenaru. The regiment was disastrously defeated by the 1st Marine Regiment and of the 917 soldiers of Ichiki's 1st echelon, only 128 survived. Ichiki was either killed during the final stages of the battle, or performed ritual suicide (seppuku) shortly thereafter.
The East Hebei Army was raised from the former soldiers of the Peace Preservation Corps that had been created by the Tangku Truce of 31 May 1933. The Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps had been the "neutral" force policing the demilitarized area south of the Great Wall when Yin Ju-keng, at the instigation of the Japanese, proclaimed an Autonomous Government of Eastern Hebei in November 1935, with its capital at Tongzhou.
The Tongzhou mutiny, sometimes referred to as the Tongzhou Massacre, was an assault on Japanese civilians and troops by the security forces of East Hebei Autonomous Government in Tongzhou, China, on 29 July 1937, shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which triggered the outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War. Approximately 260 Japanese and Korean residents were killed in the assault. This event escalated tensions between China and Japan, contributing to the further deterioration of relations following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
Wan Fulin was the military governor of Heilongjiang province from 1928 and part of the Fengtian clique. On December 29, 1928, he along with Zhang Xueliang, son of the late Zhang Zuolin, together with Zhang Zuoxiang fought against Japanese threats and coercion declared in a public wire that the four provinces of Fengtian (Liaoning), Jilin, Heilongjiang and Rehe would change the flag to that of the Republic of China and obey the National Government.
Zhao Dengyu or Chao Teng-yu was a Chinese general, distinguished for his service at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was born in a peasant family in Heze, Shandong Province in 1898. He first served as a soldier in the troops commanded by Feng Yuxiang in 1914. After 1922, he distinguished himself on the battlefield and rose through ranks and became successively platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, regiment commander, brigade commander and division commander. In 1930, he was transferred to be the commander of the 109th Brigade, 37th Division, 29th Army.
Tong Linge was a Chinese military officer who was the Deputy Commander of the Chinese 29th Army in 1937 during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and Battle of Beiping-Tianjin.
The Japanese 1st Army was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was raised and demobilized on three occasions.
The China Garrison Army was formed 1 June 1901 as the Chinese Empire Garrison Army, as part of Japan's contribution to the international coalition in China during the Boxer Rebellion. It took the name China Garrison Army from 14 April 1912 and onward, though was typically referred to as the Tianjin Garrison.
Wanping Fortress, also known as Wanping Castle, is a Ming Dynasty fortress or "walled city" in Fengtai District, Beijing. It was erected in 1638–1640, with the purpose of defending Beijing against Li Zicheng and the peasant uprising.
The Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression or Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall is a museum and memorial hall in Beijing. It is the most comprehensive museum in China about the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Guang'anmen Incident, or Kuanganmen Incident, was an attack on the Japanese army by the National Revolutionary Army’s 29th Army that occurred on 26 July 1937 in the opening stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War in Beiping, now Beijing, which was the under the control of the Hebei–Chahar Political Council. It occurred following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 7 July, and the Langfang Incident of 25 July.
Qin Dechun was a military officer and politician of the Republic of China. He was born in Shandong. He graduated from the Baoding Military Academy in Baoding, Hebei. He was a member of the Zhili clique before going over to the Nationalist Government. He fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War, and was the acting commander of the 29th Army during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. After the defeat of the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War he went to Taiwan. He died in Taipei at the age of 71.
Ji Xingwen, courtesy name Shaowu, was a Chinese lieutenant general in the National Revolutionary Army. He fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War and was killed in action during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
Dorn, Frank (1974). The Sino-Japanese War, 1937–41: From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. MacMillan. ISBN0-02-532200-1.
Dryburgh, Marjorie (2000). North China and Japanese Expansion 1933–1937: Regional Power and the National Interest. Routledge. ISBN0-700-71274-7.
Lu, David J (1961). From the Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor: A Study of Japan's Entry into World War II. Public Affairs Press. ASINB000UV6MFQ.
Furuya, Keiji (1981). The Riddle of the Marco Polo Bridge: To Verify the First Shot. Symposium on the History of the Republic of China. ASINB0007BJI7I.
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