Battle of Beijing Tianjin

date	25. - 31 July 1937
place	Beijing - Tianjin and the surrounding area
output	Japanese victory

Parties to the conflict
China Republic 1928 China	Japanese Empire Japan
Commander
Song Zheyuan	Kanichiro Tashiro Kiyoshi Katsuki
Troop strength
?	?
losses
?	?

The battle for Peking-Tianjin ( Chinese 平津作戰 / 平津作战 , Pinyin Píng-Jīn zuòzhàn - "[Bei] ping- [Tian] jin operation", Japanese 平津作戦 , Heishin sakusen ) took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War between July 25 and 31, 1937 in the vicinity of the cities of Beiping, now Beijing , and Tianjin (Tientsin). It ended in a Japanese victory.

course

At the time of the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge , the Japanese garrison army China with 5,600 men and the Chinese 29th Army with 75,000 soldiers under General Song Zheyuan were facing each other in northern China . The Japanese side reinforced its forces by July 18, 1937 by a division from Korea and two brigades from the Kwantung Army . The General Staff also mobilized three divisions on the home islands based on intelligence reports on Chinese reinforcements. On July 9th, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 26th March Army, under the command of General Sun Lien-chung, with two divisions to go to Baoding and Shijiazhuang under the command of General Song Zheyuan.

However, on the afternoon of July 10th, the Japanese continued their attack after receiving reinforcements. Once again, they were repulsed. After the defeat, the Japanese commander Lieutenant General Kanichiro Tashiro fell seriously ill and died on July 12th. He was succeeded by Lieutenant General Kiyoshi Katsuki . At the same time, the Japanese requested further reinforcements, a division, two brigades and an air regiment. A little later in July, three more divisions were deployed to the Beijing-Tianjin area. By the time it arrived, the Japanese did not want to provoke any further incidents and agreed to a mutual investigation into the events in the hope that it would turn out to be only a localized incident.

The divisions finally arrived on July 25th. The first attacks were made the next day at Langfang on the 38th Division. Japanese fighter planes bombed Lanfang and the Japanese army tried to enter Beijing through the Guang'an Gate . But she could be stopped. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese issued an ultimatum to the Chinese calling on all troops in the suburbs of Beijing to retreat to the western side of the Yongding River. General Song rejected the ultimatum and ordered his troops to prepare for battle. In addition, he requested further reinforcements from the central government.

As the fighting continued, the Japanese government ordered three divisions to be relocated from their home islands to northern China. Together with the Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria, the total Japanese forces in northern China reached 210,000 men.

On July 27, the Japanese surrounded Chinese units near Tongzhou . However, a Chinese battalion was able to break out and withdraw to Nanyuan . The Tongzhou incident occurred two days later .

The Japanese bombed Chinese positions near Beijing from the air and explored troop concentrations at Kaifeng , Zhengzhou and Luoyang . The main Japanese attack began on July 28th with a large-scale attack by the 20th Division and three brigades on Chinese forces near Beijing. The main thrust was against Nanyuan and another against Peiyuan . Fighter planes flew multiple waves against their targets and heavy ground fighting erupted, in which the two Chinese generals Tong Linge and Zhao Dengyu were killed. A brigade of the 38th Division under General Liu Chen-san was able to repel the Japanese in the area around Langfeng and a brigade of the 53rd Corps together with another unit recaptured the railway station at Fengtai .

That night the Chinese realized the pointlessness of their resistance to the Japanese. So General Song ordered the 29th Corps to retreat to the south side of the Yungting. Major General Zhang Zizhong from Tianjin was left in Beijing to continue political affairs for Hebei and Chahar . A brigade also stayed in town.

In the early morning of July 29th, the Japanese army and navy attacked the ports of Tianjin and Tanggu . Although the Chinese doggedly defended both ports and even attacked the nearby Japanese airfield at Tungchutzu and destroyed many planes, General Zhang Zizhong ordered a retreat south.

Tianjin and Taku were captured by the Japanese on July 30th, resulting in much looting and arson, which left widespread destruction. Shortly afterwards the Japanese invaded Beijing and General Zhang Zizhong left the city, as did Liu Ruzhen withdrawing his troops to Chahar.

literature

Hsu Long-hsuen, Chang Ming-kai: History of The Sino-Japanese War. (1937-1945). 2nd Edition. Chung Wu Publishing, Taipei 1972.
Frank Dorn: The Sino-Japanese War, 1937–41. From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor. MacMillan, New York NY 1974, ISBN 0-02-532200-1 .
Marjorie Dryburgh: North China and Japanese Expansion 1933–1937. Regional Power and the National Interest. Curzon, Richmond 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1274-7 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Hattori Satoshi, Edward J. Drea : Japanese Operations from July to December 1937. In: Mark Peattie, Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven (eds.): The Battle for China. Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 2011, ISBN 978-0-8047-6206-9 , pp. 159-180, here pp. 161 f.

[Peattie2011161-1] Hattori Satoshi, Edward J. Drea : Japanese Operations from July to December 1937. In: Mark Peattie, Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven (eds.): The Battle for China. Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 2011, ISBN 978-0-8047-6206-9 , pp. 159-180, here pp. 161 f.