- Jiangqiao Campaign
Warbox
conflict=
partof=Second Sino-Japanese War
date=November 4 toNovember 18 1931
place=Heilongjiang province,Manchuria
result= Japanese victory
combatant1=flagicon|Republic of ChinaNational Revolutionary Army ,Republic of China
combatant2=flagicon|JapanImperial Japanese Army ,Empire of Japan
commander1= flagicon|Republic of ChinaMa Zhanshan
commander2=
strength1= 23,000
strength2= 3,500
casualties1= 3,000 (Japanese estimate)
casualties2= 300 |The Jiangqiao Campaign was a series of battles and skirmishes occurring after the
Mukden Incident , during theinvasion of Manchuria by theImperial Japanese Army in the early stages of theSecond Sino-Japanese War .Background
After the Mukden Incident, the Japanese
Kwantung Army quickly overran the provinces ofLiaoning and Kirin, occupying major cities and railways. At that time, the ChairmanWan Fulin ofHeilongjiang Province was inBeijing , leaving the provincial government leaderless.Zhang Xueliang telegraphed theKuomingtang government inNanjing for instructions, and then appointed GeneralMa Zhanshan as acting Chairman and Military Commander-in-chief of Heilongjiang Province onOctober 16 1931 . General Ma Zhanshan arrived in the capital Tsitsihar onOctober 19 and took office the next day. He held military meetings and personally inspected the defense positions while facing down parties who wished to surrender, saying “I am appointed as Chairman of the Province, and I have the responsibility to defend the Province and I will never be a surrendering general".Fact|date=April 2008Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge
In November 1931, General Ma Zhanshan chose to disobey the Kuomintang government's ban on further resistance to the Japanese invasion and attempted to prevent Japanese forces from crossing into Heilongjiang province by defending a strategic railway bridge across the
Nen River nearJiangqiao . This bridge had been dynamited earlier by Ma's forces during the fighting against pro-Japanese collaborationist forces of GeneralChang Hai-Peng .A repair crew, guarded by 800 Japanese soldiers, went to work on
4 November 1931 , but fighting soon erupted with the 2,500 Chinese troops nearby. Each side charged the other with opening fire without provocation. The skirmish continued for over three hours, until the Japanese drove General Ma's troops off toward Tsitsihar.Later General Ma Zhanshan returned to counterattack with a much larger force. Japanese Major General Shogo Hasebe, had the sluggish river on his left, the railway on his right. Wide swamplands made the Japanese left wing impregnable, forcing Ma to concentrate his cavalry against the exposed Japanese right wing. Although dislodging the Japanese from their advance positions, Ma was unable to recapture the bridge, which the Japanese continued to repair. Ma was eventually forced to withdraw his troops in the face of Japanese tanks and
artillery .Ma became a national hero for his resistance to the Japanese which was widely reported in the Chinese and international press. The publicity inspired more volunteers to enlist in the
Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies . [ Coogan, Northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front, pp.283-314]Battle of Tsitsihar
On
November 15 1931 , despite having lost more than 400 killed and 300 wounded since November 5, General Ma, declined a Japanese ultimatum to surrender Tsitsihar. On theNovember 17 , in subzero weather, 3,500 Japanese troops, under the command of GeneralJiro Tamon , mounted an attack on Tsitsihar's 8,000 defenders along a five mile front on the heights of San-chien-fang south ofTangchi .Japanese
cavalry charged down the Chinese front line cutting a swath into which Japaneseinfantry followed. General Ma's right flank held at first. The Chinese cavalry tried to encircle the Japanese right flank, but were stopped by Japaneseartillery andclose air support . The superior Japanese firepower turned the battle. Chinese units broke and fled across the frozen steppes.On
November 18 , General Ma Zhanshan evacuated Tsitsihar. ByNovember 19 , he led his troops to the east to defendBaiquan andHailun . His forces had suffered serious casualties and their strength was now much reduced. However once Ma was forced to retire up theNonni River valley, he managed to regroup his forces and maintain their morale. Japanese troops attempting to press General Ma's men further up the Nonni River towardsKoshen in the killing cold suffered large casualties on several occasions.At the same time the Japanese began their occupation of Tsitsihar, thus securing control of all three Manchurian provincial capitals. At Mukden and Kirin the Japanese had already established collaborationist Chinese governments. At Tsitsihar they established another government under pro-Japanese General
Chang Chin-hui . Japan also secured control of the central section of theChinese Eastern Railway , however, the eastern section was still under the control of GeneralTing Chao inHarbin . [Matsuzaka, The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932]See also
*
Second Sino-Japanese War
*Mukden Incident References
*cite book
last = Coogan
first = Anthony
coauthors =
year = 1994
title = Northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front
publisher = Sage Publications
location = Modern China, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jul., 1994), pp. 282-314
id =
*cite book
last = Matsusaka
first = Yoshihisa Tak
coauthors =
year = 2003
title = The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932
publisher = Harvard University Asia Center
location =
id = ISBN: 0674012062External links
* [http://www.qqhr.gov.cn/EN/mzs.htm Ma Zhanshan]
* [http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID30/Data/8387.txt Notes On A Guerrilla Campaign]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742607,00.html Two War Lords, Time Magazine Nov. 16, 1931]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742656-2,00.html Hero Ma, Time Magazine Nov. 23, 1931]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753149,00.html Rout of Ma, Time Magazine Nov. 30, 1931]Topographic maps of campaign area.
* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/manchuria/txu-oclc-6614368-nl51-2.jpgChi-chi-ha-erh nl51-2] San-chien-fang 三间房 area, Angangxi , Tsitsihar
* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/manchuria/txu-oclc-6614368-nl51-5-2nd-ed.jpgWang-yeh-miao nl51-5] Nenjiang Bridge areaNotes
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.