The campaign process of Niuzhuang campaign

Niuzhuang, located 25 kilometers west of Haicheng, connects Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan in the west and Yingkou and Tianzhuangtai in the south. It is the back road between Yingkou and Tianzhuangtai, and the main road for the Qing army to transport grain and military equipment, which coincides with "all shops are in Niuzhuang". First, the 3rd Battalion of Wuwei Army in Wei Guangtao was stationed in Santaizi, and the army of Xu Bangdao 1 1 was stationed in Liugongtun. The 5th Battalion of Li Guangjiu's old Xiang Army was stationed in Zhongyang Fort in Santaizi, and the 6th Battalion of Liu Shuyuan was stationed in Sitaizi, Yushu Fort and Dabao Fort. "All take Niuzhuang as the back road, and Wuwei has only one camp". On March 2, the generals agreed to attack Haicheng tomorrow. While planning, it was suddenly reported that "Seventy thieves Ma Qianli marched, bypassing Geng Zhuangzi and Guchengzi, and feared to attack Niuzhuang." At first glance, everyone didn't believe it, and they suspected that it was a spy's temptation. They agreed that the Japanese army was pointing to Liaoyang, "without worrying about copying me." Yu Shouwu Battalion stationed in Niuzhuang didn't know the enemy's situation until the day before the war, and didn't dare to confirm it after reconnaissance. Wei Guangtao learned that the Japanese army was attacked by big cavalry at Anshan Station, and led his troops to turn back at 8 am on the 3rd, while other troops were still far away in the front line of Haicheng. The town has no walls to defend, the surrounding terrain is flat, and the Qing army gathers in Tunzhuang. Wei Guangtao knew that the fierce fighting had fallen, so he chose to build a foot-thick earth wall at the entrance of the city street as a first-line fortification, and used the tall government offices and houses in the city as defensive bunkers to dig holes in the walls around the courtyard, so as to keep the enemy away from the city and prepare for street fighting. Wei Guangtao arranged the only troops as follows: the left, right and middle battalions defended the northwest; The first and second battalions defend the northeast; Self-guided battalion artillery, cavalry and guards defend the middle road.

At 7: 00 on March 3, the 5th Division set out from Tanggangzi, and Aobaogong ordered Shimaji to be the avant-garde commander first, and then the main division was led by himself. Avant-garde infiltrated the 9th Brigade, 2 1 United, 1 and 3rd Brigade, cavalry 1 Brigade and 4th Squadron of 2nd Brigade in Shanbao. The main divisions are: 10 Brigade, 22nd Wing, 1 Brigade and 2nd Brigade, 9th Brigade, 22nd Wing, 2nd Brigade, 1/Brigade, 5th Wing of Artillery, 1 Brigade, and field operations. And make the 5 th cavalry brigade independently perform long-distance search tasks. The fifth division camped near Cuijiazhuang, 45 miles east of Niuzhuang that night.

At the same time, the 3rd Division also set out for Niuzhuang. Gao Shi Shangmin led the 5th Brigade as an avant-garde, starting from Jinjiatai and passing through Pulaitun to the ancient city more than 20 miles east of Niuzhuang. Initially, the Sixth Brigade, led by Oshima Ono, was transferred to the main force of the division and moved from General Tun to Zhuangzi, Geng Jia, about 30 miles east of Niuzhuang. The 3rd Brigade of the 6th Brigade, 19 United Wing, is a right-wing detachment, marching on the right side of the main division. In addition, the second brigade of the seventh wing is the Anshan Station detachment, and the second brigade of the 19 wing is the Hamayama detachment, and * * * is on guard in the direction of Liaoyang.

On March 3rd, in order to boost morale, the commander of 1 Army, Nojin Daoguan, authorized all ministries to "freely collect materials" and "reward soldiers as much as possible" before the war. In fact, it secretly allows arbitrary rape and plunder. And admonished all departments to "avoid frontal attacks as much as possible and try to advance to the enemy's side." According to its arrangement, the fifth division advanced along the road from Zifangtun and pushed to the northeast of Niuzhuang. The 3rd Division left the main road, went around to the north of Niuzhuang, advanced to the northwest of Niuzhuang, and cut off the defenders' retreat to Yingkou. Among them, Aobaogong ordered the 22nd Wing of 10/0 Brigade to attack the north of Niuzhuang; Shimaji Zhenglv focuses on the northeast of Niuzhuang; Keitaro ordered the 5th Brigade 18 United vanguard to attack the north of Niuzhuang; Nine brigades of Oshima mainly attacked the northwest of Niuzhuang. At 7 o'clock on the 4th, Sato United, under the command of Nobuyuki Shangmin, set out from Guchengzi and joined the main force of the 3rd Division from Gengzhuangzi in Xingjiawofang, about 3 miles north of Niuzhuang. At nine o'clock, Keitaro ordered Da Shou to attack Niuzhuang from the north and Dajiu Island from the west.

At 8 o'clock on 15, soldiers of the third brigade of 18 infantry wing seized the important place of Xingjiawofang, and immediately the third wing of the wild artillery (belonging to four squadrons) covered the positions on both sides of Xingjiawofang to Niuzhuang Beikou concave road, and arranged the wild artillery 12 and Matuo Mountain Artillery 12 led by six horses. Under the cover of artillery fire, Commander Masahisa Sato, the joint captain of 18, led the skirmisher line, and the 3rd Brigade led by Shaozuo Erdao launched a charge from the middle of the concave road. 10: 30, 18 United main force goes hand in hand. At 10: 40, when the defenders "attracted the 9th and 12 squadrons of the 3rd Brigade to the best shooting distance of 100 meters", "the Russian army's earth wall was littered with tiny hairs, which was extremely violent". At this moment, the Japanese army is in a passive position of "flat and open terrain, no hidden terrain" and "casualties are not new". "Approaching the house at the north end of the city", the Qing army continued its heavy artillery attack, and the allied flag guards were killed and injured three times. Sato's wrist was injured by a bullet and wrapped himself in a towel. "The soldiers entered the stadium singing military songs, which was very heroic. The soldiers were the first to come forward. The Qing soldiers were unyielding, and frequently fired large and small shells, injuring the left knee joint of colonel Sato. Kazutaro led his brigade with Shaozuo. " Co-captain Sato was injured twice and was carried off the battlefield. Squadron leader Xin died of serious injuries. Infantry Lieutenant General Iwamoto, Kawaguchi Chikanosuke and Kojiro were injured 100, which made the invincible pioneer 18 Wing suffer unprecedented losses since the Sino-Japanese War.

Shang Min saw that the striker was not good at fighting, so he made the second brigade help him and the war became more intense. 1 10, 10, the 8th squadron captured the first-line independent house stronghold under the cover of artillery fire, and the 9th and 12 squadrons in Nakajima led the right wing. 1 1: 20, the 6th squadron strengthened the right wing of the 3rd brigade, launched an attack, captured 2 mountain guns, and the 7th and 8th squadrons captured the Church of Jesus respectively. Seven minutes later, the squadrons of the third brigade broke into our position and the two sides started hand-to-hand combat. According to "Wei Guangtao Daily", "The left and right camps fought, followed by the middle camp, and the thieves and soldiers resisted with live ammunition, like rain; Our army fought with mountain guns and foreign guns. The soil bomber fell like a wall. The former is empty and the latter is backward, especially taking advantage of me. So although there are many casualties, the morale is still strong and the strength is not tired. The general commander of the left was stabbed to the ground, but he still supervised the war with a knife and was hit by heavy artillery and died. Shen, the prefect of the Right Camp, was shot off in both arms, and the leader of Chen Shen was killed. The general sentry of Zhongying was also injured. There are still many casualties in the soil. " "Suddenly the thief surrounded the place where I was stationed and attacked from front to back. Our former division (Wei Guangtao claimed to be) refused, and the thieves piled up and fell into the hole, and the guns rained down. General Xiao of Daying was seriously injured by gunfire, and the left whistle, the right whistle, the main whistle and the auxiliary whistle were killed. The guard whistle was seriously injured, and more than half of the soldiers were killed and wounded, so they broke through and fought back. " Under the command of Wei Guangtao, Wuwei army "stubbornly resisted and fought" and eventually suffered casualties due to the disparity in numbers. 1 1: 30, the 9 th Squadron and 10 Squadron of the Third Brigade broke into the Chengbei Shrine, and then the main force of the brigade branched out, and the Qing army in Chengbei lost its counterattack and was forced to retreat into the block lane to continue its resistance. 13, led by Shi Tian Yu Zhen 18 United 1 2nd and 4th squadrons of the brigade, as reserves, pushed to the left, expanding the results.

10: 20, west of Niuzhuang, 3rd Division and 6th Brigade took 1 9th Wing1Brigade as the reserve, and three infantry brigades took the assault. 10: 40, the 7th United Front 1 brigade is the right wing, and the 3rd brigade is the left wing. They set out from Erxuan's home, 3 miles west of Xingjiawofang, and headed for Niuzhuang. While the North and South sides were fighting fiercely and had no time to take care of the West, they took aim at the Catholic Church. 19 The 3rd Brigade of the United Wing follows the right wing, and the 3rd Brigade of the Cavalry is responsible for the rear. 12: 20, 1 brigade broke in from the northwest, and the third brigade broke in the west gate. Lin Taiyi, Lang Shaozuo and the third brigade of 19 United rushed from northwest to southwest, shot and killed the defenders who broke through here, and guarded the avenue leading to Yingkou and Tianzhuangtai. 12: 30, Colonel Aybara led the 1 brigade and the 19 engineering brigade to the northwest end of Niuzhuang, ready for rescue.

On March 4th, the 5th Division continued to approach Niuzhuang as scheduled. The order of attack is as follows: the avant-garde team led by Shima Yizheng remains unchanged, and the left-wing team is composed of Shaozuo Yamaguchi Second Brigade, the original infantry main force 2 1 (owed to the Sixth Squadron), the artillery squadron of the General Captain and the cavalry detachment of Pingcheng Captain, and detours westward to Niuzhuang to Yingkou Avenue to cover the flank and search for vigilance, thus cutting off the retreat of the Qing army in Niuzhuang. 1 10, the mountain artillery squadron of Qianwei captured the northwest end of Zifangtun and shelled the prominent position of the Qing army. Immediately, the division headquarters was stationed in Zifangtun, east of Niuzhuang 1 km, and commanded nearby. 11:20,21Infantry Regiment launched an attack on the northeast phalanx of Niuzhuang under the cover of artillery fire, with the 3rd Battalion of Shaozuo, Yizhang, Aoshan as the first line. Soldiers of the two battalions before and after the Wuwei Army used hundreds of meters of open space to set up earthen castles in the urban area or dig holes in the walls of houses. "Between the rivers and ditches, relying on the earth wall as a barrier to lure thieves close", they have no strength to fight back for the time being. When the enemy approached, hundreds of shots were fired, and six gatling rapid-fire guns fired violently. In an instant, there were 563 people in the Aoshan Brigade in the first-line development zone. No hiding place, 19 people died and 68 people were injured. Morale is low. Shimayoshi ordered Morii Shaozuo to lead the 1 brigade (belonging to the 4th and 2nd squadrons of 1 squadron) and the 10 squadron to attack the western end of Zifangtun. Captain Takeda Xiushan of Oshima and 2 1 Infantry Wing personally "galloped in the combat troops to inspire local soldiers". The Qing army "crouched in the river ditch, using the earth wall as a barrier to lure thieves near" and then fought back. 1 1: 40, the 3rd brigade broke through the front position. At this moment, the Japanese mountain artillery squadron and the wild artillery squadron occupied the position at the southwest end of Zifangtun. 1 1: 55, the division reserve Watanabe brigade (less than 5 and 8 squadrons), the general reserve Zhutian engineering squadron and the Xiandu brigade also joined the line. A Japanese journalist who witnessed the fierce battle wrote: "At this time, the guns were thundering and the lions roared together, which was deafening. There are hundreds of clouds floating over Niuzhuang, shrapnel fired by our army explodes in the air, and mist is floating in the depths of willows, which is the afterglow of enemy gunfire. " Gunfire rained down, and the smoke was dark and empty. "The fighting is fierce. According to statistics, only the 5th Field Artillery Wing fired 17 grenades and 2 13 shrapnel. However, the Qing army was unmoved, "killing many thieves around" and vowed to block the offensive.

Seeing that the attack was blocked, Ao urged Tian, the only young sergeant, to lead the 22nd Infantry Regiment 1 Brigade to the right wing of the Qing army. 12: 08, 15, captain Tomoka led the main force forward three hours ago, intending to break through the Dongguan wooden bridge. The east side of the bridge is flat and uncovered. "Under the bullets, the sound of guns is like thunder, the smoke is like concealed, so close at hand. Suddenly, a bullet flew from the throat of Shaozuo Motor, and Shaozuo died. " Imada, the only one who took part in the battle of Pyongyang and attacked Motianling, was famous for his "bravery". He was about to be promoted to Zhongzuo and eventually died. The brigade is under the command of Captain Sasaki. Youtian made a "great anger, wanted revenge, and encouraged the soldiers to rush forward." There were only two battalions of the Qing army. As soon as they resisted the attack of the left wing, they were swooped down by the right wing, making it hard to resist. At this time, the Japanese army was in full swing, gathering snails and the Qing army was in hand-to-hand combat. "The former battalion commander Ensi was seriously injured in the head and foot, and helped the nearby houses to lie down. His men still refused to play. In the back camp, Luo's lieutenant injured his chin and feet, and helped the Wei guerrillas get great enrichment and killing. Captain Luo constantly supervised the war, was surrounded by thieves, and still rushed out of the battlefield in the rain of bullets. " 12: 30, the 22nd United Front of the Japanese army finally crossed the wooden bridge at the cost of 9 deaths and 39 injuries. 1 The 3rd and 4th squadrons of the brigade finally broke into the blockade from the northeast of the bridge. After the two battalions of Wuwei army retreated from the city street, they continued to stick to the houses. At this point, with the joint efforts of the two divisions, the periphery of Niuzhuang of the Qing army was completely breached, the position was lost, and the battle turned to the block. Later, under the protection of staff officers and adjutants, Ao, the commander of the fifth division, came to an independent house outside Niuzhuang, where the division headquarters was temporarily stationed.

In the battle in the eastern suburb of Niuzhuang City, the 2nd1Wing of the 5th Division won 6 gatling cannons of the Qing Army and 2 mountain cannons of the 22nd Wing, but only a few cannons of the defenders have been lost so far. In the afternoon, the 3rd Division and 5th Brigade merged into the 6th Brigade from the northwest from the northeast and north of Niuzhuang City. The 5th Division merged into the 9th Brigade, and the 22nd Infantry Wing invaded Niuzhuang Market from the northeast and the 4th Road from the east. The two sides launched a fierce street fighting. In the melee, the retreat of the Qing army was cut off and the unified command was lost. Divided and surrounded by superior enemy forces into dozens of battle groups, ranging from a few hundred to dozens, each fighting in its own way and carrying out decentralized resistance. The Japanese army was also divided into dozens of squadrons and squadrons, fighting the Qing army and breaking through the city walls door to door with engineers. There are fierce street battles everywhere in this city ... the teams are intertwined and the situation is complicated.

1: 30,22 joint 3 squadron and 1/squadron first rushed into the town from the north. According to a private house, more than 50 people of the Qing army "stubbornly resisted" and finally died. The Japanese army detoured to continue the search. There were more than 100 Qing troops in a compound, and they used the outer stone wall to resist to the death. Many Japanese attacks were repelled, causing "heavy casualties". The Japanese army could do nothing. At 15, the engineers used 100 kilograms of mine explosives and buried them under the fence three times. The mine was detonated by explosives and the fence collapsed. Captain Okubo led the third squadron to the hospital. Before the Qing army ran out of bullets, it was not morale to hit the enemy with bricks and stones on the wall. At the same time, the 6th Brigade split up and launched an attack in the southwest of Niuzhuang City. Camp official Huang led some Qing troops to defend and resist in the pawnshop. Pawnshops are the powder magazines of the Qing army, surrounded by thick brick walls. It is "magnificent and solid, like a castle, and all the doors are blocked with bricks except the northwest gate". Oshima has been besieging two battalions of the 7th Infantry Wing for a long time. "To break the door, the Qing soldiers attacked it with spears, and the door wall was unbreakable. If it is suitable to set fire to the west, Naito (Shinichiro) Brigade will also burn down nearby houses, and fierce flames will start from both sides, and the Qing soldiers will not lose color. The Japanese army tried to penetrate the outer wall to enter, but the Qing soldiers fired at the troops and could not enter. Because the outer wall of the house has been pierced with a big hole, the Qing soldiers have retreated to the inner wall, which is solid and unbreakable. " 16:00 10/The battalion chief sent two locals in to persuade him to surrender, but failed. After 30 minutes, he threw the surrender book, but got a "slam". 17:08 15, seeing that the final surrender failed, they set fire to the houses on the east and west sides. The Qing army persisted in resisting in the raging fire and billowing smoke, "to the letter." 18, 10, Miho, commander of the joint team, entered the company. When the head of the team saw that he had been fighting for a long time, he bombarded the ammunition depot with two mountain guns, causing it to catch fire and explode, and the bullets flew everywhere, killing most of the Qing troops who were guarding the depot. Subsequently, the Japanese army broke into the intersection of the block and exchanged fire with the Qing army guarding the buildings in the southwest corner and southeast corner of the intersection. The battle was in a stalemate, and the enemy and I were mixed and extremely fierce.

After the 5th Division invaded the periphery of Niuzhuang Town, it continued to invade nearby. Huncheng 9 Brigade 2 1 Co-captain Colonel Takeda led 1 Brigade 3, and after more than two hours of repeated attacks, they seized the first-line position in the east of the city. However, the Qing army "still defended by private houses", and the Japanese army repeatedly failed to attack. After many times of charge, several strongholds were captured. 15: 40, under the unfavorable situation of being outnumbered, the defenders retreated to Yongxinglong Shaoguo and Niuzhuang Yamen, east of Taiping Bridge, and fought to the death. The Japanese suffered heavy casualties and had to stop attacking halfway.

On March 4th, around 0/6 o'clock in Kloc, when the Wuwei Army under the command of Wei Guangtao was exhausted from the fierce battle with the Japanese army, Li Guangjiu, the first expert of Xiang Army, led 2,400 people from the 5th battalion of the old Xiang Army to rescue Niuzhuang from Haicheng front. In the morning, Li Guangjiu led his troops to the west from Santaizi. Yan Anlan rushed to meet him halfway. Li Guangjiu asked Yan An Lan to save Niuzhuang and advised him, "Haicheng has no recovery period. Why did Hu Wei stay here for so long? " Yan An Lan replied: "I went, and the camps dispersed. It is difficult to ask about the overall situation. If you can protect Niuzhuang, I still want to go to Haicheng. " Because the generals did not agree, Li Guangjiu had to lead the army to Niuzhuang alone. "The foot soldiers rushed more than 20 miles to Niuzhuang and were surrounded before cooking." Therefore, Li Guangjiu knew that Niuzhuang's peripheral defense line had been breached by the enemy, and Wuwei Army was retreating to guarding city street. Immediately, he was divided into three ways. "In the past, the left camp was the right road, attacking Guandi Temple and other places, taking the right back camp as the left road, attacking Haishu Temple and other places, taking Zhongying and the" Horse stance just look "team as the middle road and attacking Niuzhuang Tucheng area." As soon as the old Xiang army entered the street corner, he got into a fight with the thieves in the street. The thief's killing doesn't count, but he has been defeated outside the street. The thieves in front retreated, and the thieves behind them flocked, and bullets rained down. Thieves swarmed out from both sides and attacked them one after another. Courage is no different from a thief. In a bloody battle, thieves set fire to every street corner and cut me off. "After the camp duct tape prefect Tan Guilin, rushed to the front of the sea temple. Suddenly, a large number of Japanese soldiers jumped out of the church and were "hit in the head and died on the spot". What, Zuo Ying duct tape prefect, seriously injured in the abdomen. The former camp gang led the prefect Deng to "supervise the team and be shot in the chest and die". Wang Dezhi, a guerrilla in Zhongying, "seriously injured his right hand, fell back and forth and was immediately killed. "Zhong Ying sentry Deng Hannan was shot, and Zhou and Hou Ying sentries Hu Xiji, Dus Deng Xianglin, Gang, prefect Yang Houde and Du Chengyu were seriously injured and their whereabouts were unknown." A battalion officer was injured and could not fight. He sat on the ground and walked straight ahead, but actually he beheaded a Japanese officer. "A large number of local civil servants fought side by side with Xiang. Magistrate Huang, Yun Qiwei, Xie, Wen, Liu Bijiao and others "fought in coordination", while camp supervisor Li and magistrate Li were seriously injured.

After sunset, the Japanese army mainly attacked Xinglong Dumping Pot in the northeast of Niuzhuang and Niuzhuang Yamen in the west of the city. More than 200 Qing soldiers who stuck to the stove fought to the death and fired guns, showing "the most tenacious and unyielding." The Japanese army besieged it with the 5th Brigade 18 Wing of the 3rd Division, 22nd Wing of the 5th Brigade 10 Wing, 2nd Brigade1Wing of the 9th Hybrid Division, and the engineering squadron. The fifth division commander ao personally commanded. In view of the repeated setbacks in the charge, "the ministries were ordered to stop shooting and the engineering squadron destroyed its walls." 17, the squadron leader Takeda of the construction team led the third team to carry out blasting, and a wall with a thickness of 0.6 meters and a height of 3.5 meters was blasted with explosives. However, in the face of the menacing offensive, the Qing army still vowed to stick to it, so that the enemy could not move forward. The Japanese army had to organize another explosion, and the 3rd and 4th squadrons of the 22nd United Front first rushed into Xinglong Pan and then occupied it. Although Shaozuo Watanabe, the second brigade of the 22nd United, led two squadrons to break through the Taiping Bridge at 14: 20, he was caught in a bitter battle near Liangjiayuan for two hours, and his life was in danger. They asked two squadrons for help. The United Front Half Brigade and the defenders of Niuzhuang yamen fought across the wooden bridge, and the friendly side Zhongzang asked the engineering team for reinforcements. In this way, every time the Japanese army occupies a building, it will pay a heavy price.

The two sides fought until sunset, and 1 army announced the occupation of Niuzhuang in advance, and the Japanese army stopped attacking. The military command arrived at the village south of Zifangtun to camp. 18, Keitaro, head of the 3rd division, ordered a field hospital of the 5th brigade to guard the north of Niuzhuang. Brigade 6 guards the southwest of Niuzhuang and controls the avenue leading to Yingkou and Tianzhuangtai; 19 United 1 Brigade is responsible for guarding the northwest of Niuzhuang. The above-mentioned ministries should guard against the defenders' breakthrough and strictly eliminate the remaining enemies who are still holed up. 18: 30, division commander ao demarcated the night warning area: the outpost line is on the left bank of Liaohe River; 2 1 The United Front takes Taiping Bridge as the right wing and Wooden Bridge as the left wing; The United Front took Wooden Bridge as the right wing and Liutun Bridge as the left wing to alert these two areas. And strictly ordered: "No shooting at night unless absolutely necessary." At night, the fighting was mainly concentrated in the area occupied by the 3rd Division. Although Keitaro, the division commander, ordered that bayonets should only be used during night attacks, the gunfire continued. The desperate Qing army was outnumbered, and the main streets in the northeast and southwest of the city fell one after another. The 6th Brigade of Hunchengdao has been trying to wipe out the defenders for a long time, commanding the 7th United Front Division to March in the west of Niuzhuang, attacking the urban area along Dayang River, returning north along the main road, crossing the bridge to the south and connecting with the 5th Division Yamaguchi Brigade guarding the retreat of the Qing army on the way to Yingkou, thus completing the encirclement.

At 2200 hours, Wei Guangtao and Li Guangjiu led a bloody battle to "run out of bullets". Only then did he give up sticking to Niuzhuang yamen and break through from Niuzhuang West to Tiantai Zhuang, where he was stopped by Huncheng Sixth Brigade. The two sides fought fiercely, and the Qing army suffered more than 40 casualties. Li Guangjiu led 300 remnants to organize an ambush at a distance of 0/5 km from Niuzhuang/Kloc. At that time, the Japanese army was in hot pursuit, and Li Guangjiu ordered the sergeant to say, "Stay here and fight again!" The sergeant said, "There were many deaths, only a few hundred people. Can we still fight? " Li said, "Yes! There were many collapsed walls. As soon as I issued the flag, I hid an old gun behind a low wall, and there were few soldiers. The short wall is built in front of the bucket, and then two people hold it. Spicy drugs are acceptable in verbal attacks. He doesn't know that I'm outnumbered and the terrain is convenient. We can't lose it. If you win, don't chase! Otherwise, do your best! " Everyone thinks so. The Japanese soldiers chased Zhongfu, but they retreated.

For the sake of prudence, the Japanese army set fire to the main road at every street corner, cutting off the retreat of the Qing army. "Our army bled like a river and died miserably." At night, the street fighting continued, and the excellent Qing army continued to fight, with gunshots everywhere. At dawn on March 5, dozens of Qing troops once broke into the wooden bridge head in street fighting, shot at the Japanese sentry, and attacked the enemy from behind several walls, forcing the 5 th division commander Ao to urgently order the ministries to return to the division headquarters. Subsequently, the commander of the 1 army, Nojin Taoist Temple, also led the military department to meet the headquarters of the 5 th Division. By the early hours of the war, the remaining defenders were exhausted and Niuzhuang fell.

After the Japanese army occupied Niuzhuang, they "searched door to door with swords, and killing people was nothing." A Japanese journalist described the scene at that time, saying that "the body was lying on the side of the road". In front of many houses, "corpses are everywhere, and several muddy rivers of blood flow in it". As soon as I entered the door, the yard was full of corpses. Niuzhuang has become a pool of blood for Japanese aggressors to kill. According to Japanese investigation, one third of the more than 265,438+000 dead people in Niuzhuang Street were innocent civilians. The Japanese army's indiscriminate killing of innocent people was despised by some upright westerners, accusing them of being "so cruel".