Chapter 5 2. Shots fired at Peking Camp

Beidaying was first built in 1907. Since its completion, it has been an important garrison area, becoming the northern fence to defend Shenyang, and also the primary goal of the Japanese army in the battle to capture Shenyang.In our country's historical documents, the battle at the Beida Camp on the night of "September 18" is regarded as the first shot of the Anti-Japanese War.A batch of historical photos found in Japan can just reflect the real situation of this battle more clearly. It can be seen from these photos that the facilities of the Beidaying were severely damaged during the battle, which is also consistent with the Japanese record that the 240mm heavy artillery was specially transported from Japan to capture the Beidaying.

The Japanese army's capture of Beidaying, the Northeast Army's garrison in Shenyang, was the most critical step in the "September 18th" Incident.For the Chinese army, this was an extremely useless confrontation-under the attack of the Japanese army, the 7th Brigade of the Frontier Defense of the Northeast Army of the Beida Camp garrison, most of them withdrew from the camp without fighting because they were ordered not to resist.The Seventh Brigade had a total strength of 8,000 and was well-equipped, but the Japanese attacking army was only 600 to 700. The Northeast Army, which was ten times larger than the Japanese army, suffered heavy casualties from the Japanese artillery bombardment, but they did not even dare to fight back in self-defense.

However, under the continuous pressure of the Japanese army, after midnight, a group of patriotic officers and soldiers finally rose up to resist and fought fiercely with the Japanese army.After the war, the Kwantung Army built the "Loyal Soul Tower" at the original site of Beidaying to commemorate the Japanese soldiers killed in the battle, and created "Song of Beidaying" to commemorate the battle. Looking back at the scene at that time, on the night of September 18, 1931, the Japanese army bombarded the Beida Camp and blasted the wall and began to invade the Northeast Army camp.The direct commander of the Seventh Brigade, Brigadier Wang Yizhe, was not in the battalion at the time, because he had been strictly ordered to avoid conflicts with the Japanese. The chief of staff Zhao Zhenfan and the three regiment leaders who were in charge of the command sent an urgent telegram to the headquarters of the Northeast Frontier Defense Army in Shenyang City after being attacked by the Japanese army. After requesting instructions, the Frontier Army Headquarters ordered the Seventh Brigade not to resist and put the weapons into storage after asking for instructions from Zhang Xueliang in Beiping. League of Nations solution".

This seemingly absurd order actually exposed two major problems: First, until September 18th, the Northeast Army had no plan to deal with the Japanese attack on Shenyang.Its upper echelons ignored the determination and preparation of the Japanese army to annex the Northeast by deceiving their ears and stealing their bells. They just blindly avoided fighting with the Japanese army and made major mistakes in strategic guidance.Second, all decisions of the Northeast Army depend on Zhang Xueliang.This is a major feature of the warlord army.However, it was obviously difficult for Zhang Xueliang, who was far away in Beiping, to have a direct and accurate understanding of the situation in Shenyang, so he still judged the Japanese army's all-out attack as a small-scale conflict, which led to a big mistake.This single decision-making model determined the fate of the Northeast Army's disintegration soon after Zhang Xueliang was detained after the Xi'an Incident.

For the officers and soldiers of the North Camp, this order was fatal.Judging from the literature records at that time, the officers and soldiers of the Peking University Camp were usually educated in patriotism and determined to resist.But this order of non-resistance confuses the officers and soldiers who do not understand the overall situation—if they fight back against the Japanese army, their own sacrifices will be trivial, and they may miss the overall plan of the country. "the result of. But the Japanese army began to rush into the Beida Camp, and the officers and soldiers who did not resist were not safe, but were stabbed to death by the Japanese army with bayonets.

Of the three regiments under the jurisdiction of the Seventh Brigade, two regiments quickly withdrew from the Beidaying camp and let the Japanese occupy it—the Beidaying camp thus became a symbol of the policy of non-resistance. Only the 620th regiment, although under strict orders, did not dare to fight back at first, but the regiment leader Wang Tiehan, who was on the front line, felt that the situation was critical. This was by no means the small-scale conflict that Shangfeng expected to avoid.Therefore, Wang Tiehan refused the order to put the ammunition into storage.At midnight, the 620th Regiment, which suffered heavy casualties from the Japanese artillery shelling, received the order to retreat, but the way out of the camp had been blocked by the Japanese army. With no choice, Wang Tiehan discussed with Zhao Zhenfan, Chief of Staff of the Seventh Brigade, and ordered to fight back. After killing and wounding dozens of Japanese soldiers (the Japanese army claimed to have only 24 casualties), they rushed out of the Beida Camp.

According to records, only some officers and soldiers of the 620th Regiment of Wang Tiehan and the brigade commanded by Zhao Zhenfan actually resisted in the Peking Camp.In the humiliation of the "September 18th" night, it was not only Wang Tiehan's regiment who couldn't hold back, the Northeast Army's martial arts hall cadets also took the initiative to attack the Japanese army, and a company commander was killed in battle. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, General Wang Tiehan led his troops to participate in the Great Wall, Songhu, Xuzhou, and Shanggao battles, fought hard against the Japanese invaders, and became the commander of the 47th Army.In April 1948 after the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wang Tiehan accompanied Ma Zhanshan and others to visit the Peking University Camp. He said excitedly: "It's a pity, the situation of the Peking University Camp! When Japan attacked the Peking University Camp, we had nearly 8,000 troops, and the enemy was only a few hundred. But we actually wanted to give up! As a result, they drove us away step by step, all the way to the customs!" As he spoke, Wang Tiehan suddenly burst into tears, and asked, "Is it miserable? Is it miserable?" Ma Zhanshan The others also cried bitterly.

In the "Song of the North Camp" sung by the Japanese army, there is such a sentence to describe this battle - "waist を no する water ditch ni fall ち, 弾丸 ni death ruru 战友を step み 越えjin むつわもの は strong を boast る enemy city の ten heavyを囲む鉄墨に, bitter battle and miserable Shura no pole. Enemy げちち出す弾丸に痛手持う趚出す..." [meaning: fell in the waist-deep trench, the body of the comrade (referring to the Japanese army) who was killed by the bullet was Under your feet, step on them and continue to move forward. In front of you is the enemy's (referring to the Chinese army) famous for its solid walls. The bitter battle is as fierce as the Shura field.People are constantly being hit by bullets fired by the enemy...]

It's just that the last-minute battle of Wang Tiehan's regiment has already made the Japanese army feel like a "Sura Field". If there is no "non-resistance", would we easily lose the Peking University Camp?