Chapter 24 18. Struggle at Xiongguan Pass——Battle of Shanhaiguan Pass

Today, when traveling to Shanhaiguan, which is known as the first pass in the world, it is difficult to feel the traces of war, but just after New Year's Day in 1933, a big battle broke out between the Chinese and Japanese armies here.The photos of the destroyed Shanhaiguan City Tower kept in the album of Japanese soldiers show the fierceness of the battle.The Battle of Shanhaiguan was the first tough battle that the Northeast Army fought face-to-face with the Japanese army. "September 18th" did not resist, and Jinzhou was anticlimactic. The strategy proposed by the National Government was to wait for the League of Nations to solve the problem, and a large force of the Northeast Army entered the pass.However, such a humiliating retreat did not bring peace. On January 2, 1933, the Japanese army attacked Shanhaiguan. The 626th Regiment of He Zhuguo, the defender of the Northeast Army, rose up to resist. Because the Japanese army had planned for a long time, the main force of the Northeast Army did not send out support. After a day of fighting, Shanhaiguan, known as the first pass in the world, fell. into the hands of the Japanese army.But in this battle, the Northeast Army's participating troops fought bravely and tenaciously, and finally won a voice of sympathy for themselves amidst the scolding of public opinion across the country.

According to the records of our country, the course of this battle is as follows—— At around 21:20 on the night of January 1, explosions and gunshots were heard from the barracks of the Shanhaiguan Gendarmerie Detachment and the Shanhaiguan Railway Station Police Station.At the same time, someone fired guns at the Chinese army post outside the south gate of Yuguan. In order to avoid conflicts, the sentry retreated into the gate and closed the city gate tightly.Subsequently, the sound of the whole team gathering came from the Japanese barracks. The Chinese troops stationed in Yuguan City are the headquarters of the Ninth Brigade of the Independent Infantry Brigade and the 626th Regiment of the Northeast Army system.He Zhuguo is the brigade commander of the Independent Ninth Brigade and the Linyong garrison commander.

At the time of the incident, He Zhuguo was in Beiping to report to his immediate superior, Zhang Xueliang, the acting chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government’s Beiping Branch (Chiang Kai-shek himself served as chairman) on the recent continuous provocations by the Japanese army. , from Huangpi, Hubei, graduated from the infantry department of the sixth batch of Baoding Army Military Academy), Chief of Staff He Jinghua (born in 1908, from Faku, Liaoning, graduated from the 20th infantry department of the Chinese Student Corps of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy) in charge.After the gunshots rang out, the garrison sent Chen Ruiming, chief secretary of the foreign affairs department, to the Japanese side to negotiate. The news he brought back was that the captain of the Japanese gendarmerie said that Chinese soldiers had shot at the Japanese army and asked the residents in the city to take refuge. He would give a reply within 50 minutes.Yu Jianzhang and others understood that the Japanese army was deliberately provoking, so they notified the various ministries by phone and deployed defenses to ensure the external communication of Yuguan City.

The old photos left by the Japanese army reproduce the scene of the Battle of Shanhaiguan At 1 a.m. on January 2, 76 members of the Japanese Shanhaiguan garrison in full armor flocked to the south gate of Yuguan City and lined up in front of Wangyanglou (the south gate building of Yuguan City).The officer leading the team claimed to have been attacked by the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army, suspected that the attackers had already entered Yuguan City, and demanded to enter and search the pass in accordance with the security rights stipulated in the Xin Chou Treaty, and put forward four requirements to the Chinese defenders, including returning to the South Pass to be alert to the Japanese army:

At 10:50 a.m. on January 2 (one said 9 a.m.), the Japanese lieutenant Kodama Toshio saw that the negotiations still had no results, and was impatient.The Chinese soldiers on the castle were ordered not to fire first, so they had to smash down with stones. At this time, some Japanese soldiers threw grenades on the castle, and the defenders threw the grenades back, killing Lieutenant Kodama and wounding the soldiers. two people.The machine guns and mortars erected by the Japanese army on the houses opened fire immediately, and the defenders on the city also fired back. Armed conflict broke out between the two sides.

On the day of the incident, the Japanese embassy in Peiping delivered a traffic ultimatum to Zhang Xueliang, asking the Chinese troops stationed in Shanhaiguan to retreat.Zhang Xueliang replied that China had "absolutely no intention to expand the situation," but refused to withdraw the troops.The Chinese side immediately replied that the Japanese side decided to stop the negotiations.After He Zhuguo received the news of the firing in Beiping, he sent his secretary Chen Hongyi to the headquarters of the Japanese Chinese Garrison Army in Tianjin to question him. The answer he got was "I don't know for sure."On the way, He Zhuguo issued an order to resist to the 626th Regiment, and issued a "Letter to the Soldiers" to the entire army:

I would like to shed the last drop of blood with my loyal and brave soldiers on the head of the Bohai Bay, in the caves of the Great Wall, to uphold justice for mankind, to fight for the survival of the nation, to show shame for the country, and to build personality for the soldiers. In order to save the people in the Northeast from their misery. At 10 a.m. on the 3rd, Suzuki Meitong, with the fifth wing as the front, the Shanhaiguan garrison as the left wing, the 17th wing as the right wing, and the Puppet Manchukuo Border Guard as the reserve team, supported by armored trains and artillery, headed towards Shanhaiguan. Launch a general offensive from the South Gate to the Liujiao Hall.

The main force of the Chinese defenders is the 626th Regiment, with a total of 2,257 officers and soldiers, 12 machine guns, 4 flat-firing guns, and 6 mortars.Restricted by the Xin Chou Treaty, Shanhaiguan did not build permanent fortifications, and could only rely on a 13-foot-high city wall for defense. At 10 a.m. on January 3, Japanese aircraft, warships, and artillery fired at the south wall of Yuguan at the same time, causing a fire.The Japanese infantry then charged towards the gap in the collapsed city wall near the south gate and the southeast corner. The defenders responded calmly and fought the Japanese army with hand grenades to repel them.At noon, the Japanese army made artillery preparations and charged again. Most of the second company of the defenders, from commander Liu Yuchen down, were killed. More than 50 Japanese troops climbed up the slope of the ruins and occupied the commanding height of Kuixing Tower.At 1:00 p.m., Sun Liangyu, attached to the regiment, commanded the first company of the first battalion to counterattack the south gate from the west gate, and the tenth company of the third battalion to counterattack the southeast corner from the east gate to recover the south gate and Kuixing Tower.At the same time, the south gate was destroyed by incendiary bombs, and Guan Jingquan, the commander of the third company guarding here, was shot and killed.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army increased its troops and assaulted the South Gate under the cover of tanks.The commander of the fourth company, Wang Hongyuan, died in Nanguan, and the position was occupied by the Japanese army. Facing the intruding Japanese army, An Dexin, the battalion commander of the first battalion, shouted, "I will be in Shanhaiguan one day, and the Japanese will never pass by. If the Japanese want to pass, they can only pass on our corpses." Some reserve teams of two classes counterattacked.During the fierce battle, Battalion Commander An Dexin was shot twice in the head and abdomen and died on the spot.An Dexin was a Muslim. The Hui people in the nearby mosque thought of their friendship and took the risk of collecting his remains. After the war, they escorted them out of the city and handed them over to the Independent Ninth Brigade.

The Japanese military history records the tenacious resistance of the Shanhaiguan defenders, and even records that in the final counterattack launched by the battalion commander, the Japanese army killed a squadron leader. The highest-ranking officer killed in battle. Commander Shi Shi'an saw that the entire front line was shaken, the communication lines were all interrupted by the bombing, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, making it impossible to fight any more, so he ordered the whole regiment to retreat from Xishuimen.The Japanese army chased from the south, and Xie Zhenfan, the commander of the 5th company who covered the retreat, died in battle on the position south of Ximen. At 3:15 pm on January 3, 1933, the first pass in the world fell into the hands of the Japanese.

The Battle of Shanhaiguan made the Northeast Army fully understand that there is no way out without resistance.Even if they retreat into the pass, they will inevitably be chased and killed by the enemy.The enemy's greed is insatiable. In order to avoid subjugation, the only way to go is resistance.