In 1929, in order to recover the Soviet Union's railway privileges in northeast China, Zhang Xueliang led the Northeast Army and the Soviet Army to fight a bloody battle in the northern border area of China for three months, but it ended in failure, and the Northeast Army suffered heavy casualties, known as the Middle East Road Incident. The defeat of this battle had a great impact on Zhang Xueliang, the Northeast Army and the Japanese army, and directly affected the later 918 Incident.
For various reasons, many Chinese people do not know what happened in the Middle East Road incident, today we will review the history and analyze its significance and impact.
In 1928, Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese army in Huanggutun, and in danger, Zhang Xueliang, who was only 27 years old, took over Mukden and ruled northeast China. At this time, the Northeast Army was worried about internal and external troubles, and many veterans of the warlords were all with their own hearts and minds, and the Japanese army was even more eager to fight, and the battle could start at any time.
In order to counter the encroachment of the Japanese army, Zhang Xueliang announced at the end of December that the northeast would change its banner and submit to the leadership of the Nationalist government. This marked the fall of the Beiyang warlord government and the reunification of China, although this unification was mainly formal, but it had a great impact on the domestic situation at that time.
Mukden Yizhi was Zhang Xueliang's major support for Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek also gave Zhang Xueliang a great return. After receiving various promises from the Nationalist government, Zhang Xueliang's confidence greatly increased, so he decided to fully and completely recover sovereignty and step up the expulsion of foreign forces in the northeast region, mainly Soviet and Japanese forces. The privileges of the Soviet Union and Japan in the northeast are a historical legacy, which was formed as early as the late Qing dynasty, and Zhang Zuolin wanted to expel the forces of the two countries in the northeast during the period, but his strength was not good and he never achieved his wishes.
After some research and judgment, Zhang Xueliang decided to start with the Middle East Road first. As early as 1896, Tsarist Russia and the Qing government signed the Sino-Russian Secret Pact, and Tsarist Russia built a railway from Manzhouli to Suifenhe in northeast China, passing through Harbin. The line served as an extension of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which aimed to expand its invasion of the northeast. Later, after the October Revolution broke out in Tsarist Russia and the establishment of the Soviet Union, it negotiated with the Beiyang government on inheriting the rights of the Middle East Railway, but the Beiyang government flatly refused and did not recognize its legal rights, but the Beiyang government, which was worried about internal and external troubles, did not have the ability to expel the operators of the Middle East Road, so that the matter was temporarily shelved, and the Middle East Road was still actually operated by the Soviet Union.
Since the Middle East Road legally belongs to China and is completely in China, and the Soviet Union was not long established, after the consumption of World War I and civil war, the national strength declined, so Zhang Xueliang and the generals of the Northeast Army believed that it was very feasible to recover the Middle East Road.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek greatly appreciated Zhang Xueliang's idea of recovering the Middle East Road and expressed the full support of the Nationalist government. In this way, Zhang Xueliang began to put into action.
On May 27, 1929, Zhang Xueliang sent military police to search the Soviet Embassy in Harbin, arrest the Soviet Consul General, and then order the closure of Soviet consulates in Qiqihar and Hailar. The Soviet Union responded quickly, protesting to the Nationalist government and the authorities in the northeast, while putting pressure on additional troops in the border areas.
Faced with the threat of force from the Soviet Union, Zhang Xueliang confronted the Chinese Eastern Railway by force, expelled all the senior officials of the Soviet railway agency from the country, and arrested more than 200 people from the Soviet side. On July 13, 1929, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to the Nationalist Government. After failing to obtain satisfactory answers from Nanjing and Northeast China, the Soviet Union began to take a series of pre-war measures, on the one hand, to repatriate envoys in China and northeastern nationals. On the other hand, it cut off the telegraph lines along the Ussuri River and the Heilongjiang River, shelled Suifenhe and Manzhouli in China, and intimidated Zhang Xueliang by force. According to the previous experience of Tsarist Russia against the Qing Dynasty, China must have yielded, but this time the Soviet side greatly underestimated Zhang Xueliang's determination, and without waiting for the Soviet Union to take further moves, the Nationalist government officially declared war on the Soviet Union on August 17, and the battle began in full swing.
On August 17, the day China declared war on the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union sent more than 30,000 troops to attack Heilongjiang on the eastern and western fronts. In the Northeast Army, Zhang Xueliang mobilized nearly 100,000 troops capable of participating in the battle, except for the garrison units stationed in various places.
In terms of strength, the Northeast Army had a threefold advantage, but there was a big gap in equipment compared with the Soviet army, and it was at an absolute disadvantage. The Soviet Union participated in the war with 35 aircraft and more than 10 warships, while the Northeast Army had only 5 aircraft and 8 warships. The Soviet army had 294 heavy machine guns, and the Northeast Army had only 99 heavy machine guns. At the same time, the Soviet army was also equipped with tanks, armored vehicles and other heavy assault weapons, which the Northeast Army did not have.
On the western front, the Soviet army launched an attack in the direction of Manzhouli, Zhalainuoer and Lannuoer at the western end of the Middle East Road, and on August 17, the Soviet army invaded Manzhouli, fighting fiercely for 4 hours, and the Northeast Army suffered heavy losses. In the following month or so, Soviet aircraft and artillery bombarded the positions of the Northeast Army stationed in Manchuria and Lannuoer with unusually heavy fire. At the same time, the 30,000 troops of the Soviet army, under the cover of heavy firepower superiority, crossed the northeast border to launch round after round of attacks against the northeast army, and the northeast army relied on the fortifications to fight hard with the Soviet army. But over time, due to the lack of support, the defense gradually became urgent.
On the Eastern Front, on October 12, the Soviet Army used 8 warships and 18 aircraft to bombard the Northeast Army Navy and Tongjiang County, sinking all Northeast warships and breaching Tongjiang County. After that, the Northeast Army tried to gather the destroyed warships and merchant ships to prevent the Soviet Navy from attacking along the river, but it was still unable to stop its fierce offensive. By October 31, the Soviet Union used aircraft to cover the main army force of 3,000 men to attack Fujin, the Northeast Army was defeated and retreated, the war on the Eastern Front was over, and the Soviet Army began to transfer all the main forces to the Western Front.
On November 16, the Soviet army launched more than 40,000 people, more than 400 artillery pieces, more than 40 tanks, and more than 30 aircraft to launch a large-scale ground attack on Manzhouli and Zhalainuoer. In the face of the concentrated firepower of the Soviet army, the Northeast Army was helpless, and the Soviet army occupied Zhalainuoer in less than two days, and the brigade commander Han Guangdi resisted desperately and died heroically, and more than half of the officers and men of the brigade suffered casualties.
On the 18th, the Soviet army concentrated its forces and stormed Manchuria. After two days and two nights of fierce fighting, Manchuria was almost blown into ruins by Soviet fire. At this time, Manchuria had become a border fortress city, and all the soldiers and foreign aid in the city were interrupted, while the Soviet army continued to bombard fiercely with aircraft, and the officers and men of the Northeast Army did not retreat. After that, the Soviet army broke into the city, and the two sides launched a fierce street battle, and the Northeast Army basically ran out of ammunition, and then engaged in a fierce white-bladed battle with the enemy, shouting and killing, which was heard for miles.
Seeing that the defeat could not be reversed, people from all walks of life in Manchuria proposed peace. In the midst of an appeal, the defender general Liang Zhongjia led the rest of his troops to surrender after receiving a promise from the Soviet army to strictly observe discipline and treat Chinese civilians well.
The fall of Manzhouli marked the collapse of the entire line of the Northeast Army, and after the fall of the westernmost section of the Eastern Railway, the Soviet army used the advantage of armored mobility to modernize long-distance rapid force projection, and the northeast gateway was opened.
On November 24, the Soviets captured Hailar. In just three months, the Northeast Army lost more than 10,000 killed, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were wounded, and the Northeast Army and Navy were almost completely destroyed, and the two major ace brigades were severely damaged.
Seeing this, many people will have a question, the war on the northern frontier is urgent, why didn't Zhang Xueliang send reinforcements?
What many people don't know is that when the war on the northern frontier was urgent, Zhang Xueliang and the Northeast Army were also in deep trouble. After the war between the Northeast Army and the Soviet Army, the support promised by Chiang Kai-shek was completely not fulfilled, and the American-style equipment and German-style equipment mentioned earlier were not in place. The Nationalist Government did not send a single soldier, did not send a single shot, and all its support was only verbal. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek's purpose was already obvious, that is, to weaken or even eliminate the Northeast Army with the help of the Soviet Union.
At the same time, the warlords in the Guan were also about to move, and Feng Moumou, Sun Dianying, Shi Yousan and others mobilized troops and horses, preparing to take advantage of the battle between the Northeast Army and the Soviet Army to take advantage of the void to seize all parts of North China under the control of the Northeast Army.
Problems also arose in the northeast, and the Japanese troops stationed in the northeast tightly sealed the South Manchuria Railway under their control, cutting off the logistics transportation routes of the Northeast Army, making it impossible for the Northeast Army to send large-scale reinforcements to the north.
Here, by the way, why does Japan have a garrison in the northeastern interior? Japan's garrison in the northeast is also a historical problem left over from the Qing Dynasty, during the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army entered the northeast, and then according to the treaty signed between the Qing Dynasty and Japan, the Japanese army has been stationed in the northeast without withdrawing. After the Xinhai Revolution, the Beiyang government was also unable to expel the Japanese army, coupled with the continuous civil war, the Japanese army gradually expanded in the northeast and became a major problem for the northeast army. Before 918, Japan's regular army in northeast China did not slash 20,000 people, but at that time, Japan had occupied Korea for decades, and there were a large number of garrisons in Korea, and once the war started, the Japanese army could be quickly reinforced, so although Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Xueliang wanted to expel the Japanese army many times, they did not dare to make a move easily.
At this time, Zhang Xueliang and the Northeast Army were under enemy attack on all sides, and were no longer able to mobilize troops and horses to support the northern front. Moreover, the situation is very unfavorable, and it is not only impossible to recover the Eastern Railway, but also the possibility of a full-scale war. In desperation, Zhang Xueliang had to negotiate peace with the Soviet Union.
Although the Soviet Union achieved a partial victory in stages, it did not want to expand the war, so as not to be taken advantage of by Britain and the United States, so it agreed to negotiate peace. By early 1930, the Northeast Army and the Soviet Army had released officers and soldiers captured in the conflict and arrested diplomats, and the Eastern Railway was still operated and managed by the Soviet Union, thus ending the Middle East Road Incident. However, the Soviet army did not completely withdraw after the war and occupied Black Blind Island, which was originally controlled by the Northeast Army.
In Zhang Xueliang's view, Japan had defeated Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, and after decades of development, Japan's national strength should be far above that of the Soviet Union. The firepower of the Northeast Army is incomparable with that of the Soviet Army, so once a full-scale war with the Japanese Army begins, the Northeast Army will be defeated, and may even be completely destroyed.
At the same time, Zhang Xueliang also saw clearly the faces of Chiang Kai-shek and various warlords, and deeply understood the importance of preserving his own strength.
After the Middle East Road incident, Zhang Xueliang was no longer as spirited as he was and became conservative. Less than two years later, the 918 Incident broke out, and in the face of the fierce offensive of the Japanese army, Zhang Xueliang chose a passive policy of avoiding war and discussing peace in the early stage. After that, although he was determined to resist the war, the war was very difficult, and there were many defeats and few victories. Finally, after more than four months of fighting, the remnants of the Northeast Army all withdrew to North China to defend, and Northeast China fell.
From this series of events, we can see the sorrow of modern China, one failure after another, one tragedy after another.