On July 7, 1937, the Japanese troops stationed at Lugou Bridge, without informing the local government, conducted military exercises in the vicinity of our army's garrison positions, and soon after told the local government that one of their soldiers had disappeared in the middle of the military exercise, so they had to enter the county seat of Wanping to search and find the missing soldiers.
If our army had no objection and had easily let the Japanese army enter the city to search, the Japanese army would have realized the soft attitude of the local government towards them. The Japanese army could easily surround the entire Peiping, and what they would do in the future was up to them.
Suppose our army resists and does not allow the Japanese army to enter the city to search, then the Japanese army can use their plan B to attack directly, and they are already ready to fight with our army. In their eyes, defeating our army can be effortless.
In the face of the fierce attack of the Japanese army, our army did not have the slightest fear, they took up the weapons in their hands, and methodically carried out defensive resistance, and this Lugou Bridge incident marked the official beginning of Japan's all-out war of aggression against China and at the same time the official beginning of the war of japanese aggression in which the entire army and people of our country united in their efforts to resist Japanese aggression.
Unity is the best approach
This war between the Chinese nation and the Japanese invaders lasted for fourteen years. In the history of ancient China, there have been many dynasties, some dynasties have ruled and passed down for hundreds of years, and some dynasties have only been short-lived in history. But we understand a truth from the change of these dynasties: long-term division must be united, and long-term unity must be divided. This is a truth that they have never changed.
But for so long, they did not seem to be united until the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. "Outside the country must first be safe inside" has become the basic national policy of the National Government after the "918 Incident".
At this time, the Chinese nation is facing the threat of a powerful foreign enemy, and if the internal enemies are not eliminated first, then the National Government will face the trend of two bread sandwiches at any time. Therefore, "encircling the Communists" has become their primary task. On the side of the Communist Party, "anti-Chiang Kai-shek and Japan" became their primary target.
Have you found that the ultimate goal between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is to resist the foreign aggressor Japan? However, the nationalist army believes that our side is the enemy, and there is no problem in "taking the outside first and staying inside", but when there is a foreign enemy who is coveting at any time, this becomes internal friction.
Since we all have the same ultimate goal, why not work together to try it? The Communist Party realized this, and the Kuomintang also realized it, but not all the Kuomintang people agreed to cooperate, and the Kuomintang, which was dominated by local warlords, also had its own small calculations and careful thoughts, so there was later negotiation and cooperation.
Contributions of literary and artistic workers
After the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, whether it was the military or the civilians, there were only Japanese devils in everyone's angry eyes. Everyone is doing everything in their power to contribute to this life-and-death war, even if it is only a little, even if it is insignificant.
Soldiers going to the battlefield, the people providing food, literati writing books and articles, composers writing songs, these are all ways for them to express their patriotism.
Literary and art workers created many songs to save the lives during this period, among which "March of the Volunteer Army", "Yellow River Chorus", "March of the Great Knife" and so on are all excellent representatives. The "March of the Volunteer Army" was born at the most dangerous moment of our Chinese nation and played a huge role in inspiring the patriotic spirit of our people. Later, it was chosen as the national anthem of our country.
"Yellow River Chorus" is set against the background of our mother river, the Yellow River, showing us the magnificence of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and composing the indomitable historical song of the Chinese nation and the invaders with enthusiastic praise.
In the first lyrics of the "Big Knife March", "The big knife cuts off the heads of the devils", it is not difficult to see the background of the brutal battle between our army and the Japanese army at that time.
In a modern war, the use of cold weapons is nothing more than two situations, no bullets or no weapons. In the initial stages of the battle against the Japanese invaders, our army had very few guns and ammunition, and large knives were basically the standard for everyone.
Japanese bayonets and our army's large knives
As one of the founding marshals of our country, Nie Rongzhen recorded a white-knife battle with the Japanese army in his later memoirs.
According to records, the elimination of one Japanese soldier in the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan required about six soldiers of our army. At the beginning, the gap between us and the Japanese army was not only in terms of equipment, but also in the quality of the army.
Many Japanese soldiers were once professionally trained, while most of our army was made up of ordinary peasants. The initial casualties were large because our army was equivalent to a group of small whites with initial equipment to fight a well-trained army, and the results were self-evident.
The commander of our army is also very clear about this point, so the use of guerrilla tactics to harass the enemy is also silently accumulating strength, which not only achieves the effect of training troops, but also minimizes losses.
In the event of a white-knife battle with the Japanese army, if our army fights one more battle, then this enemy can be eliminated very quickly. But if three or more Japanese soldiers formed a defensive formation back-to-back, even ten or more of us would not be able to take much advantage.
This is because when the Japanese army formed this defensive formation, it reduced the space for combat. Because it was a white-knife battle, the number of soldiers in our army forming an encirclement was basically fixed, and the closer they were to the Japanese soldiers, the smaller the space would be compressed.
Then the Japanese Type 38 rifle was hailed at the time as the most suitable rifle in the world for white-knife warfare. Its body is very long, and it can exceed 1.6 meters in length after the front end is equipped with a bayonet. There is a saying that is very suitable to describe this situation: one inch long and one inch strong. This little bit of length on the battlefield may be the distance between life and death.
brief summary:
Although the strength of our army and the Japanese army at that time was very different, and the frontal battle would definitely be completely defeated, who said that in the war, we could only confront the enemy army hard? War is about using everything we can use, uniting everything we can unite, and then winning the final victory.
The same is true of the difficulties we face in our lives. What do you do when a huge difficulty, one so great that it suffocates you, is in front of you? Most people's first reaction is to be afraid, thinking that if you don't give up, withdraw, I can't overcome it. Only a very small number of people's first reaction is to think about how to face the difficulties.
There is nothing to be ashamed of and blame for the fact that we are afraid of difficulties, and what is wrong with choosing to give up in the face of strong difficulties? Sometimes this is a rational choice after a clear understanding of one's own strength.
I admire those who have the courage to challenge difficulties, and I also admire those who have the courage to choose to give up. There is no shame in giving up this one thing, and it is shameful for those who have always chosen to give up.