Walking on the street, casually ask a person which event the Chinese military and civilians began with the all-round anti-Japanese resistance, and on what day it occurred. I think every Chinese person can tell you clearly and clearly that the "Lugou Bridge Incident" began on July 7, 1937. But if you want to ask, what really happened on the Lugou Bridge that day, and who fired the first shot. I don't think many people can tell you clearly and clearly.
On July 7, 1937, Peiping was defended by the Japanese army on three sides. With Japan's support, Puyi's puppet state of Manchukuo had demarcated the so-called national border to Wuling Mountain, less than fifty kilometers from Beijing. In Tongzhou, on the eastern border of Beijing, Yin Rugeng, a traitor, with the support of Kenji Toihara, established the so-called pseudo-Jidong Defense Communist Autonomous Government and openly defected to treason. In Inner Mongolia, west of Beijing, Japan also supported a Manchu Qing prince and established a puppet government. Beiping has become the first line of anti-Japanese resistance, and it is in danger.
Since the spring of 1937, the Japanese army has frequently increased its troops to the Pingjin area, and as many as 30,000 to 40,000 Japanese troops have been stationed around Peiping. During this period, the Japanese army and the Twenty-ninth Army of the National Revolutionary Army stationed in Pingjin, that is, Song Zheyuan's department, broke out on several small scales. In the end, however, they were resolved through political means and did not erupt into larger conflicts.
In May of that year, Song Zheyuan, who was really reluctant to entangle with the Japanese army, returned to his hometown in Shandong under the pretext of recuperating from illness. As soon as Song Zheyuan left Peiping, the Japanese army began to frequently carry out military exercises in Fengtai to seize the Lugou Bridge and control Beiping. At this time, the soldiers of the 100,000 and 29th Army stationed in Pingjin were also waiting in strict formation, watching the every move of the Japanese army.
On the day of July 7, a brigade of nearly 5,000 Japanese troops conducted a provocative exercise around the Lugou Bridge, and although the Japanese army flaunted its might at the doorstep of its home, in order not to cause trouble, the soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Army endured again and again. However, at about 10 o'clock in the night, a strange gunshot suddenly came from the northeast direction of Wanping County, which completely changed the situation.
More than an hour later, The squadron leader of the eighth squadron of the three major teams of the Japanese First Wing, Shimizu Jielang, suddenly led people to Wanping Castle. He told the soldiers guarding the castle that during the Japanese exercise, because they were attacked by the Chinese army, a Japanese soldier named Kikujiro Shimura disappeared, and asked the soldiers who guarded the city to open the city gate and let the Japanese army enter the city to search.
This unreasonable request of Shimizu Jielang was categorically rejected by Ji Xingwen, commander of the 219th Regiment of the 29th Army. Seeing that the Chinese side had never agreed to open the city gates, Shimizu had him report the situation to Captain Kiyono Ichiki and Wing Commander Ryoya Mutaguchi, and a large number of Japanese troops immediately assembled in the direction of Wanping.
At about 12 o'clock in the evening, the Nationalist government's Jicha authorities received a call from Matsui Tataro, the head of the Japanese secret service in Peiping. Matsui explained this situation to the Jicha authorities and asked the Jicha authorities to order the defenders of Wanping County to open the city gates and let Shimizu Andro and others enter the city to search.
Naturally, this unreasonable request was also opposed by the Jicha authorities, who rejected Matsui on the pretext that the Japanese army had entered the city late at night, fearing that it would cause local unrest. At this point, the situation is getting worse. The Japanese army went from using the disappearance of the soldiers as an excuse to threaten to be killed by our side, insisting that the city gates be opened and let the Japanese army enter the city to arrest the murderer, which further aroused the dissatisfaction of the defenders, and a fierce quarrel broke out between the two sides.
This is nothing more than a long-planned strategy of the Japanese army, the purpose of which is to trick us into opening the city gates so that the Japanese army can take advantage of the situation. The Japanese army saw that the trick had been recognized, and it was impossible to deceive us in this way. Seeing that the soft ones are not working, they have adopted a hard plan. Matsui once again called the Jicha authorities and directly threatened that if the Chinese defenders did not let the Japanese army enter the city to investigate, the Japanese army would take military measures to open the gate of Wanping Castle.
In order to calm the anger of the Japanese side, the Jicha authorities will not provoke disputes. Although he did not agree to let the Japanese army enter the city directly, he agreed that the Japanese side would send a commissioner and the Chinese side to investigate the causes and consequences of the matter near the Lugou Bridge. It was already more than 4 o'clock in the morning, but it had not yet been negotiated between the two sides. Ichiki Kiyoshi, who had been unable to hold back, fired gunfire, and then the Japanese Third Brigade fired at Wanping Castle. The soldiers of the 29th Army stationed in Wanping saw the Japanese guns firing in unison, and immediately launched a counterattack.
The first shot fired was Kiyono Ichiki, who ordered him to shoot was Rinya Mutaguchi, and the pawns of the whole time were Shimizu Yoshiro and Shimura Kikujiro.
In fact, as early as matsui communicated with the Jicha authorities, Kikujiro Shimura had already returned to the army. His disappearance was nothing more than an excuse for the Japanese army to invade China in an all-round way. Years later, Japan acknowledged that it was a plan. As early as March of that year, the Japanese army made a plan to attack Peiping.
Where did Kikujiro Shimura go? This character, who was the trigger of the July 7 Incident, was left the team because he had a stomach upset during the exercise. After the full-scale invasion of China began, the Japanese sent Kikujiro Shimura back to Japan, and five years later he was sent to the Burmese battlefield, and finally killed by the expeditionary force of General Sun Liren.
The eighth squadron of The horse pawn Shimizu Jielang was completely annihilated by the soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Army two days later, and the whereabouts of Shimizu Jielang are unknown, as to where he went, I guess he died under the knife of the soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Army. Kiyono Ichiki, who was most impatient for the invasion of China, was defeated by the US army in the Battle of Guadalcanal. He felt that he had no face to see the emperor again, and finally committed suicide by cutting his abdomen, and he deserved to have such an end.