At 5 o'clock on July 8, 1937, Wanping City was quiet, but the dust raised showed that a fierce battle had just taken place here, and the two sides were the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Chinese Garrison Army, and the Chinese army was the 3rd Battalion of the 219th Regiment of the 110th Brigade of the 29th Army. The commander of the 29th Army was Song Zheyuan, and the brigade commander of the 110th Brigade, He Jifeng.
The infantry brigade of the Japanese army numbered about 1,000 people, the 1st Wing was the elite unit of the Japanese army, and the 3rd Brigade was the fist of the First Wing. The 1st Wing was stationed in Fengtai. In response to the provocation of the Japanese army, Song Zheyuan stationed the 37th Division of the 29th Army in Beiping, which made the Japanese very jealous.
The 37th Division, most of which consisted of Hebei soldiers, and the 37th Division, from division commander Feng Ye'an to every officer and soldier, was a warm-blooded man who resolutely resisted Japan and never compromised, and had a good fighting spirit.
The Japanese 1st Wing stationed the most elite 3rd Brigade in Fengtai, the 37th Division stationed the most elite 220th Regiment in Fengtai, and sent the 3rd Battalion of the 219th Regiment of the 110th Brigade to the most sensitive area of Wanping City and Lugou Bridge. The 3rd Battalion was a reinforced battalion with 4 infantry companies, one company each of light and heavy mortars and heavy machine guns, with a total of more than 1,400 people, and the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Kim Jin-jung.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese army went to the area around the Dragon King Temple on the north side of the Lugou Bridge, and at about 10 p.m., the Japanese army suddenly claimed that a Japanese soldier was missing and asked to enter the county seat of Wanping to search, but the battalion commander Jin Zhenzhong immediately refused. Feng Zhi'an, commander of the 37th Division, instructed: In order to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, no amount of land should be retreated, and it can be defended by force and dealt with decisively. The survival of the country, in this case, if there is a conflict, let the Lugou Bridge become the grave of the Japanese army.
The commander of the 3rd Battalion, Jin Zhenzhong, was a bloody boy himself, born in 1904 in Gushi County, Henan Province, to a poor family and had worked as an apprentice in a shop. In 1924, he joined the army in Feng Yuxiang's department. Soon after enlisting in the army, he studied at the Northwest Frontier Army Cadre School. After graduating in 1926, he successively served as a platoon, company and battalion commander.
In 1933, he participated in the Battle of Xifengkou and was rewarded by the division commander Feng Zhi'an for his bravery in combat. In the spring of 1936, he was ordered to take over the defense of Wanping City and Lugou Bridge. In order to encourage the officers and men to defend the territory and resist the enemy, the officers and men of the whole battalion were required to shout the slogan of the 29th Army, "It is better to be a ghost who dies in battle than to be a slave to the country" before eating and going to bed.
On the one hand, he was very hateful to the Japanese army, and on the other hand, he had The instructions of Shangfeng, and after he categorically refused the unreasonable demands of the Japanese army, Jin Zhenzhong strengthened his defenses, and soon the Japanese troops stationed in Fengtai were transferred to surround Wanping City, and first bombarded the city with artillery, and then attacked our positions with infantry.
Although the Japanese army equipment is superior, but the 3rd battalion battle morale is high, and the terrain is familiar, the number of personnel is large, and there are defenses, the Japanese army several attacks were repelled by Dujin Zhenzhong, the battle lasted until the early morning of the 8th, the Japanese army saw that it could not be attacked for a long time, and proposed a ceasefire between the two sides.
There were two reasons why the Japanese army asked for negotiations, one was to delay time to mobilize troops, and the other was to feel the bottom of the Chinese army. In the face of the Japanese army's demands, Jin Zhenzhong immediately saw the doorway, so he did not have any hope for the negotiations, but since he wanted to talk, let's talk.
The Japanese side sent a group with Aize as the chief representative, and we also sent representatives, but the guards around the negotiation site were all soldiers of the 3rd Battalion Jin Zhenzhong, and the representatives of both sides fought a fierce battle of words. Although the Japanese representative acknowledged that the missing soldiers had returned, they put forward three unreasonable demands: First, the Chinese army withdrew from Wanping City so that the Japanese army could enter the city to "investigate the cause of the disappearance." The second is to demand that the Chinese side compensate them for their losses. The third is to punish Jin Zhenzhong, the battalion commander who guards the city, otherwise Wanping will be reduced to ashes. As for the unreasonable demands of the Japanese side, our representative immediately refused.
At this time, a shell suddenly fell near the negotiating table, and the venue was suddenly in chaos, and the Japanese representative Aize asked Kim Jin-jung to send them out of the city first, and then plant a flag in the northeast corner of the city to accept the Japanese demand, so that the attack could be stopped. The guards were all Jin Zhenzhong's soldiers, and when they heard the Japanese army's demands, Jin Zhenzhong ordered that Aize be shot immediately, and Aize was shot and killed indiscriminately.
To say that this AiZe is also damned, the territory of our army is still so rampant, and in front of Jin Zhenzhong, he asked to punish Jin Zhenzhong, Jin Zhenzhong was very loved by the officers and soldiers, Aize really did this into the water, and finally killed himself. Seeing that Aizawa had been killed, several other Japanese representatives were frightened and no longer had the arrogance of the negotiations just now, and loudly begged for their lives.
It should be said that the trained soldiers of the Japanese army are OK, but they are also afraid in the face of death, and when they see the Chinese soldiers so strong, they can't help but be shocked, their legs are trembling, especially when they see Aize being shot on the spot, the defense line in their hearts collapses instantly. Kim Jin-jung ordered them to be tied up and taken to the position for Riko to see.
In fact, Jin Zhenzhong knew that only unconditional surrender would meet the requirements of the Japanese army, otherwise the final result of the negotiations would be to fight, and sure enough, the Japanese army saw that the negotiators were tied up, and launched an attack, Jin Zhenzhong resolutely did not back down, before our army withdrew from Beiping, the Japanese army never failed to capture the Lugou Bridge and Wanping.
Because of his resolute anti-Japanese resistance and heroic performance, Jin Zhenzhong was praised by General He Jifeng as a "true national hero of the anti-Japanese resistance". Many people call it the first battalion commander in China, and I think it is deserved. However, due to the non-resistance policy of the Nationalist government at that time, there was little publicity about the heroic deeds of Kim Jin-jung.
In November 1980, Jin Zhenzhong was placed as an administrative cadre at the Gushi County Cultural Center. On March 1, 1985, he died of illness at the age of 83. The will required the ashes to be scattered on the banks of the Lugou Bridge, and with the approval of the Beijing Municipal Leaders, the burial ceremony of Mr. Jin Zhenzhong's ashes was held at the Lugou Bridge on August 14, 1985, the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.