Defense of Harbin
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The Defense of Harbin () occurred during the early
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, as part of the campaign of the Invasion of Manchuria by forces of the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
from 25 January to 4 February 1932.


Background

After General
Ma Zhanshan Ma Zhanshan (Ma Chan-shan; ; November 30, 1885 – November 29, 1950) was a Chinese general who initially opposed the Imperial Japanese Army in the invasion of Manchuria, briefly defected to Manchukuo, and then rebelled and fought against the ...
had been driven from
Tsitsihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total popula ...
by the Japanese in the Jiangqiao Campaign, he retreated northeast with his depleted forces and set up his headquarters at
Hailun Hailun () is a city in west-central Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. Administratively, it is a county-level city under Suihua City. History Before the Qing Dynasty Hailun was one of the earliest centrally governed counties in He ...
, from which he attempted to continue to govern
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
province. Colonel
Kenji Doihara was a Japanese army officer. As a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, he was instrumental in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. As a leading intelligence officer, he played a key role to the Japanese machinations that ...
began negotiations with General Ma Zhanshan from his Special Service Office at
Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...
, hoping to get him to defect to the new state of
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
. Ma remained in an ambiguous position, continuing negotiations with the Japanese, while he continued to support General
Ting Chao Ding Chao (; 1883–1950s) was a military general of the Republic of China, known for his defense of Harbin during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and 1932. Biography Ding Chao's forces commenced mobilization in November 1931 at the r ...
. General Ting Chao had never approved of the puppet government set up in Kirin Province by the
Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...
under the nominal leadership of General
Xi Qia Aisin-Gioro Xiqia (Aisin-Gioro Hsi-hsia; ; 1883–1950), commonly known as Xi Qia or Xi Xia (Hsi Hsia; ; Hepburn: ''Ki Kō''), was a general in command of the Kirin Provincial Army of the Republic of China, who defected to the Japanese during t ...
of the Kirin Army. In November 1932, with Colonel
Feng Zhanhai Feng Zhanhai (, 6 November 1899 – 14 September 1963), or Feng Chan-hai, was one of the leaders of the volunteer armies resisting the Japanese and the puppet state of Manchukuo in northeast China. Feng was born on November 6, 1899. At eightee ...
, he organized the “Jilin Provincial Anti-Japanese Government” to coordinate military resistance. Military and civil authorities in the province fractured into "New Kirin" adherents of the Xi Qia regime and loyalist "Old Kirin" elements in opposition to it; the former predominated near the capital and the latter predominating in Harbin and the rugged hinterland to the north and east. Over the next months General Ma Zhanshan continued to support General Ting Chao, and these two Generals maintained contact with Marshal
Zhang Xueliang Chang Hsüeh-liang (, June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also romanized as Zhang Xueliang, nicknamed the "Young Marshal" (少帥), known in his later life as Peter H. L. Chang, was the effective ruler of Northeast China and much of northern ...
and
Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, who gave them some limited assistance. In early January 1932, in an effort to force General Ma Zhanshan to terms, Doihara requested that General Xi Qia to advance with his "New Kirin Army" to take Harbin, and to then advance in the direction of Ma's headquarters at Hailun. However, the forces of the Jilin Self-Defence Army organized by General Ting Chao and General Li Du, at Harbin were in between General Xi Qia and Harbin. General Ting Chao appealed to Harbin's Chinese residents to join his railway garrison regulars. When General Xi Qia's New Kirin Army had advanced to
Shuangcheng Shuangcheng District () is one of nine districts of the prefecture-level city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China, covering part of the southwestern suburbs. The district was approved to establish from the former ''Shu ...
on 25 January, Marshal Zhang Xueliang instructed Generals Ma Zhanshan and Ting Chao not to negotiate further, and fighting began on the morning of the 26th. Doihara had failed in his attempt to intimidate the Chinese and worse still his ally, General Xi Qia had suffered a serious reverse at the hands of General Ting Chao's forces.


The Harbin Incident

In order to justify the direct intervention of the
Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...
to assist General Xi Qia, Colonel Doihara engineered a riot in Harbin. During the uprising, one Japanese and three Korean subjects of Japan were killed. Although most Japanese forces had been withdrawn from northern Manchuria for use in the
Chinchow Operation The Jinzhou Operation or Chinchow Operation was an operation in 1931 during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which was a preliminary, contributing factor to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Background In late November 193 ...
; but the 2nd Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General
Jirō Tamon was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army in the early Second Sino-Japanese War. He was noted as the commander in many of the operations of the invasion of Manchuria. Biography The second son of a doctor in Shizuoka prefecture, Tam ...
, had returned to Mukden for a rest. On receiving orders to go to the rescue of General Xi Qia, the 2nd Division entrained on the same day that the January 28 Incident began. Some delays were experienced because of transportation difficulties in the cold winter weather. This gave General Ting Chao time to seize the Municipal Administration in Harbin and arrest pro-Japanese Governor of Heilungkiang General
Zhang Jinghui Zhang Jinghui (Chang Ching-hui; ; Hepburn: ''Chō Keikei''); (1871 – 1 November 1959) was a Chinese general, warlord and politician during the Warlord era. He is noted for his role in the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo in which he serve ...
. From Tsitsihar the newly arrived Japanese 4th Mixed Brigade moved in from the east. For seven days Japanese columns struggled over the frozen countryside in temperatures of 30° below zero. Finally they closed in on the city from the west and south on February 4.


Battle of Harbin

General Ting Chao fought a 17-hour battle, which Harbin's inhabitants watched from their rooftops. Possibly in an effort to embroil
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, Ting Chao's
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
was posted in front of the offices of the Soviet-dominated
Chinese Eastern Railroad The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (als ...
, but to no effect. Ting Chao's men, many of whom were poorly equipped and untrained civilian volunteers, finally broke under the fire from Japanese guns and the bombing and
strafing Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...
by Japanese aircraft. General Ting was forced to retreat from Harbin to the northeast, down the
Sungari River The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, russian: Сунгари ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about from the Changbai Mountains on the China–North Korea bo ...
, pursued by Japanese aircraft. Within a few hours the Japanese occupation of Harbin was complete.


Aftermath

Doihara offered Ma Zhanshan one million dollars in gold to defect to the new
Manchukuo Imperial Army The Manchukuo Imperial Army ( zh, s=滿洲國軍, p=Mǎnzhōuguó jūn) was the ground force of the military of the Empire of Manchukuo, a puppet state established by Imperial Japan in Manchuria, a region of northeastern China. The force was prim ...
. With General Ting Chao's defeated, Ma Zhanshan agreed on 14 February 1932 and retained his post as Governor of Heilungkiang Province in exchange for cooperating with the Japanese. On February 27, 1932, General Ting Chao, offered to cease hostilities, ending official Chinese resistance in
Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
. Within days Henry
Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...
, Manchurian former
emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...
, deposed in 1911, was made emperor of the puppet state of
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
by the resolution of an All-Manchuria convention at Mukden, whose members included General Ma Zhanshan flown in from the north. The next day on March 1 the Manchukuo Government established with Ma Zhanshan as its Minister of War, in addition to his post as provincial governor.


Bibliography

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External links


International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Japanese Aggression Against China

''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''. 15 February 1932.
Topographic Map nl52-7 Ha-erh-pin
Shuangcheng, Harbin area {{coord missing, Russia Military history of Manchuria History of Harbin
Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...
1932 in China Conflicts in 1932 1932 in Japan January 1932 events February 1932 events