At the time of the September 18 Incident, the Independent Seventh Brigade of the Northeast Army stationed at the North Camp became the first military unit of the Japanese army to attack.
This article is mainly
Memories of Chen Guangzhong, a veteran of the Independent Seventh Brigade of the Northeast Army who personally experienced the incident
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In fact, the Japanese have long wanted to beat us. Before the Japanese Kou really started to move, it was basically lawless in the northeast territory. At that time, there were garrisons at large and small stations along the Manchurian Railway, and there were ironclad cars patrolling the railway day and night, and the concession was maintained by Japanese gendarmes and police. Almost no one dared to provoke the Japanese easily. At the same time, our commanders often stressed to us that we must not clash with the Japanese.
【Shenyang 918 History Museum, Monument to the Calendar】
Even the elite unit of the Northeast Army, the Independent Seventh Brigade, the Japanese dared to harass our garrison. In the summer of 1931, first Japanese officers used the name of "visiting" to wander around the camp of the Seventh Brigade. Later, there were often heavily armed Japanese soldiers, in groups of three or five, who came to the North Camp to take advantage of the opportunity to make trouble, and even more directly provoked us. However, up and down the Northeast Army, they all maintained a consistent state of forbearance, hated it so much that they itched their teeth, and wanted to find an opportunity to teach these little devils a lesson, but the commander strictly ordered that they not be allowed to do anything.
After the weather got colder, the Japanese practiced more. In the evenings leading up to the 9/18 Incident, the Japanese exercised more frequently and for longer periods of time every day. At the same time, the Japanese Kwantung Army was also greatly transferred to the vicinity of the Mantetsu dependency.
The brother who can go to the street comes back and says,
There are some Japanese ronin in the city who have been very arrogant lately, shouting directly in the tavern: if you can't wait a few days, you will
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Give Chinese a look at the color
”
。
【Wicker Lake Incident Deliberately Provoked by the Japanese Army】
The change of the Japanese army attracted the attention and precautions of the Northeast Army. Wang Yizhe, commander of the Independent Seventh Brigade of the Northeast Army, in view of the Japanese army's eagerness to move, ordered the troops to take precautions and conducted a transfer exercise in the playground of dongshanzuizi east camp for three consecutive nights from September 13 to 15. Veteran Memories -
The commanders said that the purpose of this was that once the Japanese invaded, the troops could withdraw in an orderly manner, so as not to be caught off guard, and at the same time to avoid their fronts for a while, waiting for a diplomatic solution. On September 18, the Japanese army posted a notice on the wall of the South Manchuria Railway Station, saying that the Fengtian garrison had recently held an autumn exercise, and the residents near mantetsu should not panic. However, a brother who returned from that place reported to his superiors that the Japanese soldiers and the soldiers in the township at the South Station were crowded, and at the same time, they also brought out a lot of cannons, and the situation was very critical!
Before the superiors of the Northeast Army could react, the Japanese took action on this day, and even when the incident occurred, the brigade commander of the Independent Seventh Brigade and the same
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None of the regimental commanders were in the North Camp.
The day of September 18, which happens to be the seventh day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, is the day we pay our salaries.
In the morning, I heard that another Japanese had come to the North Camp to visit the brigade commander. The brigade commander was not there, and the chief of staff received him. Later we understood that this guy had come to visit the camp. At about 10 o'clock in the evening, we all slept and heard an explosion - the Wicker Lake where the Japanese blew up the railroad tracks was very close to the North Camp, only a mile or so, we all heard it, and the comrades thought it was a Japanese exercise, but no one expected that the Japanese would call later.
At this time, Zhang Xueliang was far away in Beiping. Zhang Zuoxiang, acting commander of the Northeast Border Defense Army, handled the funeral for his father in his hometown of Jinzhou. Brigade Commander Wang Yizhe went to Shenyang to participate in the event,
All the regimental commanders went home, and only Zhao Zhenfan, the chief of staff of the brigade, lived in the camp.
Not long after the explosion, the sound of machine guns and rifles rang out, and the sound became closer and closer. Soon, shells fell on our camp. It wasn't until the company commander came to call us that we didn't know that the Japanese had come in.
Our company commander happened to be on duty that night. When the enemy came and the regimental commander was not there, he gathered together the company commanders of the four companies of the whole battalion, and then ordered the troops to be brought into combat positions. We all got our rifles in hand and were getting ready to fight the Japanese. I didn't think that at this time, the superiors came again with an order, strictly ordering us to sprinkle back. Everybody doesn't understand.
Some people began to cry, some people scolded, and some even questioned the chief loudly in front of their faces:
The Japanese want our lives, so why can't we fight back?
Even so, no one dares to shoot back, and some people will ask why?
I
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When he was old enough to enlist, he knew very well that the military discipline of the Northeast Army was very strict, and no one dared to disobey military orders. At the same time, most of the brothers knew that the Japanese soldiers were not easy to deal with, and the morale was not high, so that no one shot back.
The Japanese, who had no resistance, quickly crossed the western wall and first entered the barracks of the 621st Regiment. We were in a hurry to wait for the order, and who knows if it was coming
No rash moves, no retaliation, standing still, preferably lying still on the bed, and not opening the gun magazine
equal concessional commands.
The company commander gathered us together and left us to stand by in hiding. We watched as the shadows in front of the west barracks fluttered under the light of the fire, the gunshots continued, and people screamed and fell to the ground. Chen Guangzhong looked at these brothers who usually practiced together, and now they were chased and beaten by the Japanese, but they did not dare to fight back, until now that I think of this scene, my heart is still very sad.
【The Japanese army burned the North Camp on a large scale】
My comrades-in-arms and I were still anxiously waiting, when we met the brothers who had withdrawn, they said: The Japanese soldiers broke into the barracks and killed people when they saw them.
Some people followed the order and lay motionless in bed, and were actually stabbed alive on the bed by the Japanese troops who rushed in. Although some people were armed with guns, they still did not dare to return fire without authorization, and they were chased and killed by Japanese soldiers.
Hear this,
We couldn't bear it any longer, and asked the company commander with anger: When the Japanese called, should we also lie in bed and let them stab? Do you still have to listen to orders at such times? But listen to what command? The telephone lines were cut by the Japanese, where did the order come from? The Japanese soldiers, dressed in yellow military uniforms and wearing Wang Ba's hats, shouted across from us to kill and kill, just like ghosts. The company commander looked helpless and finally gritted his teeth and said to us:
Let's fight, don't wait for the order! That's how we fought.
As I played, I suddenly felt a heat on my face
Touch it with your hand, it's wet, and then it hurts, and I find myself with the gun of the little devil!
At that time, he did not care about the upper management, and he wanted to take revenge, and he still shot there until he received an order to transfer us to the large playground of the East Camp according to the exercise plan. When I arrived at the Dongda playground, I realized that my mouth had been pierced, and my gums and teeth were gone.
I was lucky enough to get to The East Camp
The last count, just one of our classes, died
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Oh, the company commander is dead.
It is a shame to say that a brigade in our north camp, with rifles and machine guns and cannons, was beaten by five or six hundred little devils to abandon the camp and run...