How did the Lugouqiao Incident happen?

On July 6th, 1937, with the cooperation of artillery, Captain Masataka Shimizu, a Japanese soldier stationed in Fengtai, led the squadron through Wanping County, then turned to Dawayao, north of the railway, and began an offensive exercise with Lugouqiao as the imaginary enemy.

In order to spy on the enemy, battalion commander Jin, the central defender, changed his casual clothes after lunch and took a shovel to the Japanese exercise field near Dawayao. As soon as he passed the Lugouqiao Railway Station, he saw the Japanese army in the distance. Despite the rain and muddy roads, these Japanese troops took Lugou Bridge as the target and conducted offensive exercises. The artillery were behind, nervously building fortifications, and then the rumble of chariots came. Gold battalion commander with soldiers' intuition, feel unusual, play it by ear slipped back.

Go back to the camp immediately and hold a military meeting. The gold battalion commander spread out the military map and asked about the combat preparation one by one. When asked about the platoon leader of Lugou Railway Bridge, battalion commander Jin specifically told the railway bridge to be as important as a stone bridge. There is no vault city on the railway bridge, but the bridge is an open space, so the troops cannot be mobilized and can only be defended. As mentioned earlier, Lugou Bridge and Wanping Ancient City were built to defend the capital, and Wanping Ancient City is on the east side of the bridge and the capital. The situation now is different from that in the past. The Japanese army has occupied Fengtai, and soldiers have stayed behind. Defending Lugou Bridge is not to defend the capital, but to defend the passage between Beiping and the Central Plains. The troops should be deployed in the opposite direction. The outstanding part of the deployment of troops on the east bank of Yongding River (Beiping side) is Wanping Ancient City. Company 9, heavy machine gun company and light mortar company entered Wanping ancient city. 1 1 is connected to the east end of the railway bridge in the north of the city, 12 is stationed along the river in the south of the city. Heavy mortars and reserves are in Hexi. If the ancestors who built bridges and cities suddenly come back to life, they will never understand that these guns are aimed at the Beijing team and they are defending Beijing (Peiping)! The forefathers who built the Pinghan Railway probably didn't expect that it would become the focus of the Sino-Japanese War when they built the Lugou Railway Bridge. What is even more unimaginable is that the enemy soldiers' attack direction is on Beiping's side, and the railway bridge makes it more difficult for China's army to hold it.

On the morning of July 7th, the 8th Squadron of the 3rd Brigade 1 Wing of the Japanese Army stationed in Fengtai, led by the squadron leader Masataka Shimizu, went to Huilongguan and Dawayao for exercises. Huilongguan is in the northwest of Wanping ancient city, and Dawa kiln is in the northeast of Wanping ancient city. The distance between Wanping ancient city, Huilongguan and Dawa kiln is about 1500m, forming a triangle.

At this time, He Jifeng, brigade commander of the 37th Division 1 10, has received a report from Battalion Commander Jin of 3rd Battalion of 2 19 on the abnormal situation of the Japanese army (at this time, the head of the regiment, Ji Xingwen, attended an officer training regiment in Lushan and returned to Wanping on 10), and has ordered Ji Xingwen to pay close attention to it.

He Qifeng also felt abnormal about the trend of Japanese military exercises, so he telegraphed Feng Zhian, the commander in Baoding, urging him to return to Peiping immediately. At this time, no one would have thought that five hours later, under the influence of the ancient city of Wanping, the decisive battle between China and Japan broke out.

On July 7, at dusk, the Japanese troops who were practicing in Dawayao delayed their retreat and stepped up their fortifications. As a precaution, Wanping police station closed the east gate before dark and was not allowed to enter or leave.

At 7: 30 in the evening, Captain Masataka Shimizu ordered the troops to start night exercises. Some officers and imaginary enemies immediately moved to the east. After it was completely dark, Shimizu led 600 officers and men to move to the east where the imaginary enemy was located.

At 22: 40, Wanping defenders suddenly heard a burst of gunfire at the Japanese military exercise position in the northeast of the city, *** 18 (according to Japanese statistics).

Judging from the situation in North China at that time, frequent exercises by the Chinese and Japanese armed forces, whether blank ammunition or live ammunition, were very common. However, these dozens of gunshots opened the prelude to the all-round war between China and Japan.

Under the circumstances at that time, the two armies often exercised and the gunshots were not serious. But this time, the gun went off. According to the Japanese, there are 1 recruits missing. This man is Shimura Kijiro, an emissary of distributing false enemies.

According to the memoir of Yuji Matsumoto, president of Yonhap News Agency Branch in Shanghai, the section of "Gunfire at the Lugou Bridge" in Shanghai Times records that "Shimizu Squadron Leader immediately reported the illegal shooting of China troops to Fengtai Brigade Headquarters by radio. At the same time, the squadron named one person missing, so it also reported to the battalion chief that' the soldier's whereabouts are unknown'. In fact, about three hours later (another 20 minutes passed-editor's note), the soldiers whose whereabouts were unknown returned to the team, not kidnapped by China. As a messenger, the new soldier went in the opposite direction in the dark when he left the team and returned to the team, which delayed his return.

Captain Mu Yi listened to Masataka Shimizu's report and attached great importance to the disappearance of a soldier. He immediately reported the matter to the joint commander of Peiping. Captain Mu Yi was ordered to lead a squadron of soldiers from Fengtai to the scene to negotiate with China.

Takaji Tanaka, former staff officer of the Japanese Kwantung Army, has a description:

On July 8, I arrived in Tianjin by plane from Huade, Inner Mongolia. In the evening, I had a talk with Chuan Xiuji and Shao Zuo, director of Tianjin Secret Service in Furong Pavilion (Japanese cuisine). He said, "The shooter was a student of the * * * Party ..." I worked with Shikawa in the Chiefs. I knew that he had been in close contact with students of the Peiping Party, so I asked him, "So, instigate him. He blushed and nodded to admit ... Maochuan also admitted that after China and Japan reached an armistice agreement in July 1 1, he repeatedly instigated his men to set off firecrackers between the Chinese and Japanese armed forces at night in an attempt to intensify contradictions and expand the war.

Garrison headquarters Military Justice Bureau in Beiping and the Military Court of Baoding appeasement Office in June 1946: Who started the war in the transcript of the trial of war criminal Mao Chuan He Xiu;

The judge asked: Who started the July 7th Incident?

Maochuan: It's Japanese militarism.

The judge asked: What is the proximate cause of the July 7th Incident?

Maochuan answered: (Japanese troops) were attacked when they went out for exercises. There is this thing.

The judge asked: Who should bear the responsibility?

Mao Chuan: In the Japanese army.