The No. 29 Nationalist Corps resisted Japan’s attack at Lugou Bridge.
The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was fought for national independence and liberation. China was one of the major battlefields of Second World War where the Chinese people won the fight against evil force, and had made a great contribution to world peace and the protection of human civilization.
Leading The War Against Fascism
From the 1920s to 1930s, fascism dominated the ideological landscapes of Germany, Japan and Italy. These countries staged a series of aggressions that finally led to a world war.
Japan was an aggressive militaristic country then. Invading China and Asia and conquering the world was Japan’s fundamental state policy. On Sept. 18, 1931, Japan intentionally staged the “September 18th Incident” which marked the invasion of northeast China. It was also the beginning of fascist aggression in the East.
Alexander Kerensky, a lawyer and politician of the Soviet Union, said in 1948 at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East that if one must determine a date for the beginning of the Second World War, then Sept. 18, 1931 might be the one.
The September 18th Incident was considered the start of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Soldiers and civilians alike in northeast China resisted Japanese invasion courageously, and joint forces led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) became the major force on the battlefield shortly after. This was the prelude of global war against fascism.
Japan went on to attack Shanghai after conquering northeast China and establishing the “Manchukuo” puppet regime. Later, Japan invaded Rehe, plotted the north China autonomy campaign, attempted to conquer Suiyuan, and greatly expanded its invasion. Chinese people spared no effort in resisting, fighting Japanese troops in battles such as Songhu, Changcheng, Chaha’er, and Suiyuan. China was one of the first countries to face fascist aggression head-on.
At the time, China was the major battlefield in the war against fascism. By October 1938, China and Japan had deployed more than 4 million troops and more than 10 Chinese provinces were affected. The war zone covered about 1.6 million square kilometers. Some 400 million Chinese people were drawn into the war in one way or another. Chinese troops killed more than 440,000 Japanese soldiers in a series of battles including Songhu, Xinkou, Xuzhou and Wuhan. The CPC-led Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army won the Pingxingguan Battle and launched guerrilla attacks behind enemy lines. Facing frenzied Japanese attacks, Chinese fought courageously and shattered Japan’s plan to destroy China quickly.
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and entered into war with Britain and France. The war in Europe had begun. In 1941, war broke out between the Soviet Union and Germany, so did the Pacific war. Fascist aggression reached much of the world. At the time, the Chinese people had been fighting the Japanese invaders for 10 years. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt said in a telegraph to the Chinese government that the Chinese military had won the highest respect of the U.S. and all other nations by resisting the savage Japanese invasion courageously. The Chinese people, armed and unarmed alike, had been tenacious in the previous five years when fighting against the better-equipped enemy in unfavorable situations, said Roosevelt, who added the Chinese people had inspired soldiers and citizens of all other countries.
