Chapter 9 The Japanese began fatigue bombing of Chongqing

In order to promote the collapse of the national government as soon as possible, the Japanese army also stepped up military operations.They are trying to psychologically destroy the fighting spirit of the Chinese people. The Chongqing bombing was not only the inevitable result of Japanese imperialism’s adjustment of its policy of aggression against China, but also the inevitable response of Japanese imperialism to the promotion of Chongqing’s strategic position. In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Japanese imperialists superstitiously believed in the strength of their own force, and implemented a strategic plan for a quick battle, trying to destroy China within three months, so as to free up their hands to implement their "northward" and "southward" policies of expanding aggression.From launching the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937 to occupying Wuhan and Guangzhou in October 1938, although the Japanese army had achieved some military victories, they occupied more than 1 million square kilometers in 13 provinces in North China, Central China, and South China. land and 340 cities, but these victories did not bring Japan the result of victoriously ending the war. On the contrary, the overall situation of the war completely deviated from Japan's original strategic intention of a quick victory. .By the end of 1938, Japan had invested nearly 1 million troops in the Chinese battlefield, paying a price of 450,000 casualties, and its military strength was severely weakened; with the expansion of the war situation and the extension of the front, the contradiction of Japan's insufficient military strength became more prominent , the occupied areas can only be limited to major towns and areas along major transportation lines; the war has sharply increased Japan's military expenditures, seriously hindered the normal operation of the Japanese economy, greatly increased the burden on the Japanese people, and caused the people's lives to deteriorate day by day. War sentiment continued to rise; the protracted nature of the war also undermined Japan's strategy in the world, making it impossible to implement its "Northward" and "Southern" expansion strategies; internationally, the Soviet Union continued to aid China in the war of resistance, and the United States, Britain and other countries Dissatisfied with the threat of Japanese aggression to its interests in China, it expressed a certain degree of support for China's War of Resistance and imposed sanctions on Japan through the Council of the League of Nations. Japan was in a diplomatically isolated position.At the same time, although China suffered heavy losses in the early stages of the war, the anti-Japanese forces continued to grow.

Soon after the start of the all-out war of resistance, China's war of resistance against Japan formed two battlefields, the front and the enemy's rear.After the Japanese army occupied Wuhan, they were still facing more than 200 divisions of the Chinese army on the frontal battlefield of Suiyuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. The Northwest region as a base area is still continuing the war of resistance.In the rear of the Japanese-occupied areas, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party of China carried out extensive guerrilla warfare and opened up anti-Japanese base areas, which seriously threatened Japan's rule over the occupied areas and echoed the frontal battlefield.The Sino-Japanese War is bound to be protracted.Constraints on military power and national power, diplomatic isolation, and protracted wars made the Japanese authorities feel that "with the Chinese nation, whose anti-Japanese sentiment is increasingly vigorous, as an opponent, on the vast and boundless continent, with the limited strength of dispatched troops, they want to quickly end the incident." , It is almost considered impossible", "If you expand the theater or increase the number of troops, it will undoubtedly consume a lot of national power."Therefore, after occupying Wuhan and Guangzhou, Japan changed its previous arrogance of “not taking the Nationalist government as its opponent” and stated that “If the Nationalist government abandons the previous consistent policy, replaces the personnel organization, achieves new results, and participates in the construction of the new order , we will not reject it”, and was forced to abandon the strategic policy of quick battle and established a new policy of aggression against China, which is based on political offensive and supplemented by military strikes.With the establishment of the new policy of Japan's invasion of China, its military strategy has also been adjusted accordingly.Emphasize limiting the scale and intensity of wars in order to reduce consumption, carry out political and tactical work against the background of a strong military state, and shift the focus of military strikes to deal with the anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare in the rear.From Japan's point of view, "If the Chinese government that is being compressed is left alone, it will still be a major disaster and will cause future troubles, so it must still be appropriate to promote its collapse."Therefore, while shifting the focus of military strikes to the battlefield behind enemy lines, it attempted to shake the national government's will to persist in the war of resistance through non-military political and strategic work supplemented by military strikes, forcing it to abandon its stand and compromise with Japan.The bombing of Chongqing was a specific forced landing operation that adapted to this military strategy.

Chongqing is a famous cultural city with a long history. It is located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Jialing River.In the 11th century B.C., the capital of the Ba Kingdom was established here. In the Qin Dynasty, Bajun was established. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was called Yuzhou, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was called Chongqing.After modern times, it was opened as a port in 1891, and was approved by the Nanjing National Government as a city in 1929. After the September 18th Incident in 1931, the National Government used to manage the Northwest Region as a rear base for future foreign wars. In 1935, with the gradual resolution of the unification of the southwestern provinces, the national government gradually shifted its national defense center to the southwest.Since Chongqing is the largest industrial and commercial city and economic center in Southwest China, it is closely connected with all provinces in Southwest China and has abundant human and material resources; the terrain is dangerous, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and it has an excellent natural barrier, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack in a war; and Relying on the two major international traffic lines in the south, west, and northwest, once the eastern coastal area is blocked by the enemy, it can still communicate with the outside world.Therefore, on October 29, 1937, when the Chinese army was in an unfavorable situation on the Songhu battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech at the Supreme National Defense Conference, "The National Government Moved to Chongqing and the Future of the War of Resistance", confirming that Sichuan was the rear of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and that Chongqing is the seat of the national government. On November 16, the Supreme National Defense Council approved the decision to move the capital. That night, Lin Sen, chairman of the Nationalist Government, sailed westward by ship. On November 20, the Nationalist Government issued a declaration of moving the capital. On December 1, the national government officially opened in Chongqing. On December 7, the Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang also officially opened its office in Chongqing. Beginning in June 1938, due to the precariousness of Wuhan, the Kuomintang party and government agencies stationed in Wuhan were ordered to retreat and move to Chongqing. In December, Chiang Kai-shek led the main organs of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government to Chongqing, and the westward migration of the Nationalist Government was completed.Chongqing became the political center and military center of wartime China, and became a veritable wartime capital. In May 1939, Chongqing was upgraded to a municipality directly under the Executive Yuan. In September 1940, the national government designated Chongqing as the permanent capital, and Chongqing's political status was unprecedentedly improved.

As the national government moved its capital to Chongqing, a large number of industrial and mining enterprises moved to Chongqing one after another.According to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Nationalist Government in 1940, a total of 448 private factories moved inland, of which 243 moved to Chongqing, accounting for 54% of the number of factories that moved inward.The moved-in factories are not only large in number and relatively homogeneous in categories, but also large in scale, advanced in equipment and high in technical level.At the same time, the 1st, 2nd, 10th, 21st, 25th, 30th, 40th, and 50th factories of the Ordnance Industry Administration also moved to Chongqing one after another. Among the enterprises, 11 are stationed in Chongqing, which has become the center of China's weapons industry during the war.With the successive resumption of work of factories moved to Chongqing, Chongqing soon established an industrial system with ordnance, machinery, steel, coal, textile, chemical, electric power and other industries as the main body.Coupled with the establishment of new factories, Chongqing became the only comprehensive industrial base with the most complete industrial sectors, the most types of industries, and the largest industry in China during the war.In addition, Chongqing's finance, commerce, transportation, cultural education and foreign exchanges have all achieved unprecedented development, and it quickly became the economic center, cultural center and foreign exchange center of China during the war.The improvement of strategic position made Chongqing the main target of Japanese bombing.

On February 18, 1938, Japanese planes bombed the suburbs of Chongqing for the first time. On October 4, Japanese planes bombed the urban area of ​​Chongqing for the first time. In early December, the Emperor of Japan issued an order to carry out strategic bombing of the Chinese mainland, emphasizing the need to "attack the enemy's strategic and political center", "capture and eliminate the supreme commander and the highest political organ", "resolutely implement strategic and political aviation warfare, and defeat the enemy's The will to keep fighting."It is very obvious that the evil purpose of the Japanese bombing of Chongqing was to shake the Chinese government's determination to resist the war, destroy the rear base of the Chinese war of resistance, and finally force the Chongqing Nationalist government to surrender.

From February 1938 to August 1943, in order to destroy the will of the Chinese nation to resist the war, Japanese fascists followed the instructions of the emperor and the Supreme Headquarters to jointly carry out an "aviation offensive operation" against Chongqing, the capital of China at that time. The tragic bombing in five and a half years was called "Chongqing Bombing" in history.In more than five years, the Japanese army conducted a total of 218 bombings, dispatched more than 9,500 aircraft sorties, and dropped 21,593 bombs of various types including bacterial bombs, killing and injuring more than 240,000 citizens.This is the first purposeful, planned, and step-by-step strategic bombing of a country’s warlike nature in the history of world wars. "Indiscriminate bombing".The Chongqing bombing has a long history, great damage, and deep disasters, which are rare in the world.

On December 26, 1938, the 60th and 98th bomber fleets of the Japanese Army set off from Hankou to bomb Chongqing. This was the beginning of the continuous bombing of Chongqing.By January 10, 1939, after three exploratory bombings, the Japanese army clearly saw that "Chongqing's air defense situation was not yet complete", so it began large-scale bombing. On the afternoon of May 3, 1939, more than 20 Japanese planes flew into the urban area from the northeast and dropped a large number of heavy bombs and incendiary bombs. Among the 21 streets in Chongqing's most prosperous Shanxi Road and Xiaoshizi, 19 streets It was almost blown into ruins, houses and shops were burning, and mutilated corpses of citizens were everywhere.A traffic policeman at the Xiaoshizi sentry box was directing the vehicles when a bomb fell, blowing him to pieces.The corpses of women and children were piled under the Taiping Bridge.In Zhongshan Park, there were severed limbs and flesh hanging from the electric poles and tree branches, and the remnant walls of the pavilions were splattered with blood.The two-mile-long wooden houses in the slums along the Yangtze River were blown up and caught fire, and the fire spread southward with the help of the wind.Countless incendiary bombs were dropped along Fansheng Road in the Southern District, and the flames engulfed shops and houses one after another. Citizens whose hands and heads were blown up were struggling and screaming in the sea of ​​blood and flames, which was unbearable to watch.

At around 5 pm on May 4, 1939, Japanese planes came to bomb again, and it was even more tragic than the bombing of the previous day.From Tongyuanmen to Duyou Street, many high-rise buildings were turned into piles of rubble, 24 of the 37 private banks were destroyed, countless shops and private houses were in flames, and the sun was covered by smoke and dust.The citizens suffered heavy casualties. Some of the dead compatriots excavated from the pile of bricks and stones had their heads crushed and some of their limbs were blown off.In the evening, water and electricity were cut off in the whole city of Chongqing. Under the dark night, besides the flames in the disaster-stricken areas, incense candles and candles were flickering beside the rubble in many streets and alleys to mourn the dead.

In these two days of heavy bombing, a total of 1/3 of the houses in Chongqing were destroyed, and the fire burned for three full days. Only one bombing on May 4 caused thousands of casualties. On May 20, 1940, 70 planes of the Japanese army invaded the sky over Chongqing City and began an unprecedentedly brutal and large-scale bombing, with bombs and incendiary bombs raining down.In an instant, the entire urban area was shrouded in black smoke and flames, turning into a sea of ​​flames.The city's tap water facilities were severely damaged, making it impossible to carry out firefighting work.The fire spread and burned continuously for seven or eight days.After this bombing, half of the mountain city was destroyed.On the eighth day after the bombing, Japanese planes concentrated on bombing cultural and educational institutions in Chongqing. Fudan University in Xiaba, Beibei was bombed, and nine teachers and students, including Dean Sun Hanbing, were killed; Chongqing University in Shapingba was hit by more than 50 bombs. , Most of the school buildings were bombed; the Zhiyuantang Notre Dame Cathedral and its attached refugee shelter run by the French were also bombed, and more than 100 refugees were killed and burned to death.

On August 19, 1940, the Japanese army began to carry out continuous fatigue bombing of Chongqing, trying to psychologically destroy the fighting spirit of the Chinese people.By the end of the month, there had been as many as 37 bombings on the urban area of ​​Chongqing, 2,023 aircraft sorties were dispatched, and 10,021 bombs totaling 1,405 tons were dropped.