Jiangqiao Campaign

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Part of Second Sino-Japanese War
Date November 4th 1931 to November 18th 1931
Location Heilongjiang province
Result Japanese Victory
Combatants
National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China Imperial Japanese Army, Empire of Japan
Commanders
Gen. Ma Zhanshan, governor of Heilongjiang Lt. Gen. Jiro Tamon, Major General Hasebe
Strength
23,000 Provincial forces 3,500 men
Casualties
3,000 (Japanese estimate) 300
Second Sino-Japanese War
Major engagements in bold
Mukden - Invasion of Manchuria -(Jiangqiao - Nenjiang Bridge - Chinchow - Harbin) - Shanghai (1932) - Operation Nekka - ( Rehe - Great Wall) - Suiyuan - Marco Polo Bridge - Beiping-Tianjin - Chahar - Shanghai (1937) (Sihang Warehouse) - Beiping-Hankou Railway - Tianjin-Pukou Railway - Taiyuan - (Pingxingguan) - Xinkou - Nanjing - Xuzhou- Taierzhuang - N.-E.Henan - (Lanfeng) - (Amoy) - Wuhan - Canton - (Hainan) - (Xiushui River) - Nanchang - Suixian-Zaoyang - (Swatow) - 1st Changsha - S.Guangxi- (Kunlun Pass) - Winter Offensive -(Wuyuan) - Zaoyang-Yichang - Hundred Regiments - Indochina Expedition - C. Hopei - S.Henan - W. Hopei - Shanggao - S.Shanxi - 2nd Changsha - 3rd Changsha - Yunnan-Burma Road-(Yenangyaung)- Zhejiang-Jiangxi - W.Hubei - N.Burma-W.Yunnan - Changde - C.Henan - 4th Changsha - Guilin-Liuzhou - W.Henan-N.Hubei - W.Hunan- 2nd Guangxi
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The Jiangqiao Campaign or Battle Of Jiangqiao occurred after the Mukden Incident, when the Japanese invaded the provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, occupying their major cities and railways. At that time, the Chairman Wan Fulin of Heilongjiang Province was in Peiping, nobody was there to lead the provincial government with the province in a very dangerous situation. Zhang Xueliang telegraphed Nanjing Government to ask for instructions, and then appointed Ma Zhanshan to act as Chairman of Heilongjiang Province and Military Commander-in-chief of Heilongjiang Province October 10th 1931. Ma Zhanshan arrived in the capital Tsitsihar on October 19th and took office the next day. He held military meetings and personally inspected the defence positions while facing down the party who wished to surrender and refused inducements to surrender from the Japanese army, saying “I am appointed as Chairman of the province, and I have the responsibility to defend the province and I will never be a surrendering general”.

The Japanese invaders repeatedly demanded to repair the Nenjiang River Bridge, that had been dynamited in earlier civil strife to prevent an advance by a rival Chinese general. These demands were all refused by Ma Zhanshan. The Japanese, determined to repair the bridge sent a Japanese repair crew, guarded by 800 Japanese soldiers. Nearby were 2,500 Chinese troops and a clash ensued. Each side charged the other with opening fire without provocation.

Although eventually forced to withdraw his troops in the face of Japanese tanks and artillery, Ma became a national hero for his resistance to the Japanese which was reported in the Chinese and international press. Other senior commanders followed Ma's example at the industrial city of Harbin in Jilin province.

Now reinforced, the Japanese field commander facing Ma, Major General Hasebe, had the sluggish river on his left, the railway on his right. Wide swamplands made the Japanese left wing impregnable against Chinese attack. But against the exposed Japanese right wing General Ma attacked repeatedly with his cavalry. In the centre of the battle front both armies were entrenched and fought each other with every modern weapon except poison gas.

General Ma, despite his resistance and spirited efforts to turn the Japanese right flank, was forced slowly back upon Tsitsihar. Meanhile miles behind the Japanese lines safe from Chinese attack Japanese engineers completed repairs to the dynamited Nenjiang River Bridge bridge, making possible the further advance of the Japanese and their armored trains.

On November 15th, despite having lost more than 400 killed and 300 wounded since November 5th, Ma Zhanshan, declined a Japanese emissary's ultimatum to surrender Tsitsihar. On the 17th, in subzero weather, 3,500 Japanese, under the command of General Jiro Tamon, mounted their attack on Tsitsihar's 23,000 defenders holding a five mile front. Japanese cavalry charged riding down the Chinese front line cutting a swath into which Japanese infantry poured. General Ma's right flank held at first. Chinese cavalry tried to encircle the Japanese right, but Japanese field guns and bombing planes stopped that. Despite the fire of Chinese field batteries, superior Japanese armament turned the battle's tide. Chinese units broke and fled for their lives across the frozen steppes.

On the 18th, Ma Zhanshan evacuated Tsitsihar. By November 19th, Ma Zhanshan led his troops to the east to defend Baiquan and Hailun. His forces had suffered serious casualties and their strength was now much less. At the same time the Japanese began their occupation of Tsitsihar, securing control of all three Manchurian provincial capitals. At Mukden and Kirin the Japanese had already established puppet Chinese governments. At Tsitsihar they established another under Chang Chin-hui. They also secured control of the central section of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The eastern section was still under the control of General Ting Chao in Harbin.

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