The whole process of the fall of Tianjin filmed by the Japanese army

On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident fired the first shot of the Chinese nation’s war of resistance, and Japan also began its all-out war of aggression against China. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, in order to invade and occupy Tianjin and then control the entire North China, the Japanese army mobilized the 1st and 11th mixed brigade of the Kwantung Army. The 20th Division stationed in North Korea arrived around Tianjin and quickly formed Lieutenant General Yoshitoshi Tokugawa. The "Provisional Aviation Corps" under his command has hundreds of aircraft. The Japanese attack on Tianjin is imminent.

The Japanese 79th Regiment, under the command of Captain Morimoto Ichiro, launched a violent bombardment against the Chinese soldiers at the Japanese Concession and the Japanese Army Headquarters at the attack airfield. The photo shows the Japanese army using the Type 92 infantry artillery to bombard Chinese soldiers at the Tianjin Main Station.

At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek was still somewhat hesitant about whether to launch a war of resistance against Japan. His provocation policy against Japan was to "challenge war without asking for war", and he had a one-sided fantasy about Japan's so-called "non-expansion policy". Instead of actively seeking to annihilate the enemy, we pinned our hopes on negotiations with Japan.

Japanese garrison commander Kozuki Kiyoshi

In the early morning of July 28, the Japanese army took the lead in launching a fierce attack on the Chinese garrison in Peiping. At this time, Song Zheyuan gave me the order to the Tianjin defenders to "defend the territory in self-defense" and asked the Tianjin defenders not to act rashly. At that time, the person in charge of Tianjin's defense was Li Wentian, deputy commander of the 38th Division of the 29th Army and chief of the Tianjin Police. Under the strong anti-Japanese demands of the officers and soldiers, he established the "Tianjin City Troops Temporary General Headquarters" and took the lead in issuing a comprehensive offensive against the Japanese army. The order was sent to the whole country, saying: "I swear to fight for the survival of the Tianjin Communist Party, to fight against Japan with blood, and to never look back."

Aircraft of the Japanese Provisional Aviation Corps

The Japanese aircraft fleet carried out indiscriminate bombings in Tianjin

About 5,000 people from the 38th Division of the 29th Army and the Tianjin Security Team fought with the Japanese The battle of revenge started on multiple battlefields at the same time. The Chinese army fought bravely and took the initiative to catch the Japanese army off guard. Although the Japanese army tried to block it with fierce artillery fire, the Chinese soldiers continued to attack and captured the main strongholds one after another. The Japanese army in Tianjin could only retreat in the Japanese concession to fight hastily, and the situation was extremely disadvantageous.

On the 30th, after the Chinese army retreated, the Japanese army began a raid in Los Nei. The photo shows the horses left behind by the Chinese cavalry after their retreat.

The Japanese army quickly asked for help from Peking. While dispatching troops for reinforcements, the Japanese army also sent aircraft to conduct aerial bombings of Tianjin. Due to the lack of anti-aircraft firepower, the Chinese army was completely exposed to strafing and bombing by Japanese aircraft, resulting in heavy casualties.

The urban area of ??Tianjin in ruins

On the afternoon of the 29th, the Tianjin defenders, who were fighting alone, were forced to switch to guard defense. Compared with the rapid reinforcements of the Japanese army, neither the Peking local government nor the Nanjing central government provided any reinforcements to Tianjin, and all adopted a passive attitude of wait-and-see and avoidance. Isolated and helpless, the Tianjin defenders held on until the evening of the 29th. They were attacked from both sides and had to reluctantly retreat in order to avoid the entire army being annihilated.

The Japanese army fell into a bitter battle at Tianjin Main Station

On July 30, Tianjin fell, but even so, the Tianjin defenders who withdrew from the city were still engaged in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese army on the periphery. There were still remaining troops in the city engaged in street fighting with the Japanese army, forcing the Japanese army to devote all their energy to "mopping up" the urban area. It was not until August 1 that the Japanese army announced that the "mopping up" was generally over.

During the attack on Tianjin, the Japanese army killed 127 people and wounded 348 others. The photo shows a ceremony on August 17 when the Japanese army returned the ashes of fallen soldiers to the country.

Facing the fall of Tianjin, Chiang Kai-shek finally gave up the illusion of peacefully resolving the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. On July 31, Chiang Kai-shek publicly stated for the first time: "Now that peace is hopeless, we can only fight to the end, and the whole country will be united, regardless of sacrifice." , come and fight the Japanese pirates to the death, in order to expel the Japanese pirates and rejuvenate the nation!

The young students of the Japanese Residency School on Furong Street in the Japanese Concession of Tianjin joined the Japanese invasion of China with guns in hand.

At that time, more than 10,000 Japanese residents in Tianjin took active actions to deal with the Japanese occupation of Tianjin. This is an announcement at a public welfare meeting in Tianjin, requesting that wild vegetables be used to tide over the shortage of supplies.

The Chinese plainclothes team of the Tianjin Military Police detachment captured by the Japanese invaders still smiled calmly in the face of the Japanese troops.