Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge
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| Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second Sino-Japanese War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Imperial Japanese Army, Empire of Japan | National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| ? | Ma Zhanshan | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 800 | 2,500 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 15 Japanese | 120 Chinese | ||||||
| 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 edit |
Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge was a small battle fought between small forces of the Chinese army and militias against the Japanese Imperial Army and collaborationist forces, after the Mukden Incident in which Manchuria was lost to Japan. It was the beginning of the Jiangqiao Campaign.
In November 1931, General Ma Zhanshan chose to disobey the government's ban on resistance and attempted to prevent the invasion of Heilongjiang province by defending a strategic railway bridge across the Nen River.
At the behest of Japanese investors in the Taonan-Angangki Railway the Japanese General Staff determined to repair the Nen River bridge near Jiangqiao. This bridge had been dynamited earlier by Ma's forces during the fighting with the forces of a Chinese puppet general, Chang Hai-Peng.
A Japanese repair crew, guarded by 800 Japanese soldiers, went to work. Near by were 2,500 Chinese troops under General Ma Zhanshan. Each side charged the other with opening fire without provocation. The Japanese claimed the Chinese opened fire using rifles and machine guns late in the day during a fog when the Japanese troops started across the span. The Japanese retaliated and for three hours there was a battle. Only 15 Japanese were reported killed and 120 Chinese, as the Japanese advanced and drove General Ma's remaining troops off toward Qiqihar. Later General Ma returned to the attack with a much larger force, dislodged Japanese from their advance positions but did not recapture the bridge, which the Japanese continued to repair.
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.
After the battle, Ma and his troops inspired the people of Northeast China, with some providing supplies and others enlisting in volunteer forces. These were often led by army officers and had numbers of former regular troops among their ranks, but many volunteers had no military experience. Most were peasants with workers, students, policemen, tradesman and the well-to-do also joining. With so many ordinary Chinese willing to take up arms the volunteer armies were the main anti-Japanese force in Northeast China during 1932 and posed a serious obstacle to Japanese attempts to pacify the country.
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