Chifeng Yang Zhenguo

The Jinshengtai Massacre in Weichang County

On March 4, 1933, a fierce battle broke out between the Japanese army in Chifeng and Sun Dianying’s unit of the 41st Army of the Chinese Army at Jinshengtai Camp. Hit hard. After Sun's troops retreated, the Japanese army invaded Jinshengtai and shot at everyone on sight, killing six people on the spot. Zhang Xigeng, the shopkeeper of Jinsheng Taier, led a dozen people to line up to greet him, but he was also shot and killed by Japanese soldiers with submachine guns. After that, the Japanese army drove all the more than 30 people they captured into the large furnace pit of the Zengfang, fired more than a dozen guns into the furnace pit, and then threw a few grenades into the furnace pit. Shootings and bombs exploded, and innocent people were blown to pieces. After the Japanese killed the people, they lit a fire and burned Jin Shengtai. In this tragedy, the Japanese army killed 33 innocent people, burned dozens of houses, and caused property losses of about 5,000 silver dollars. (Yang Zhenguo)

Wanquan County Massacre

On July 11, 1937, the Tojo mechanized troops of the Japanese Kwantung Army left Gubeikou from the North Road and invaded Zhangjiakou via Duolun and Zhangbei. On August 24, the Japanese army defeated Liu Ruming's troops of the 29th Chinese garrison and invaded Wanquan County. On August 27, more than 100 people from the Japanese Qingxiang Team (Second Guard Team) invaded the county town. That day, an old man named Luo was carrying water on the street when his head was chopped off by a Japanese soldier from behind. A monk from Amitabha Temple was killed after the Japanese army pulled out his beard. A woman was gang-raped to death by more than 30 Japanese soldiers. Jutong, an elderly resident, was hiding in a sweet potato cellar. When he heard a woman calling for help, he crawled out to prepare for rescue, but was hacked to death by Japanese soldiers. The woman was gang-raped and killed by Japanese soldiers. The Japanese army also stripped the nine captured women naked and forced them to writhe around in the street, humiliating them wantonly. Some women were so humiliated that they committed suicide. The Japanese army stripped and searched all the more than 500 captured residents, then took them to the "Tongxinhao" hotel alley for interrogation, and beat and tortured them in every possible way. On the 29th, the Japanese army released some of the old and weak, and the remaining young and middle-aged people were divided into two groups: 37 people were taken to the Japanese army headquarters, and more than 100 people were taken outside the city to lay mines for the Japanese army. On the afternoon of the 30th, the Japanese army took all 37 people detained in the headquarters to the urn circle on the east city wall and stabbed them to death one by one with bayonets. One of them managed to survive because he missed his vital part. On September 1, after the Japanese army killed some residents outside the North Gate, they took the remaining 73 people into the Japanese army headquarters. In the afternoon, the Japanese army pretended to let these people build roads. Each of them carried a tool and took them to Langshan Valley in the north of the city. After arriving, the Japanese army asked everyone to dig a hole. After digging, the Japanese leader swung his knife and fired bullets at these innocent residents, killing all 73 people. In early September, the Japanese army shot and killed more than 30 residents in Shibangou and Xihe in the west of the city. During the Japanese occupation of Wanquan County, the Japanese killed more than 300 local residents. A county town of only 5,000 residents was littered with corpses. Nine of the 11 members of resident Wang Youfu's family were killed. After that, the Japanese army did not allow the residents to bury the corpses, leaving them to be exposed to the wind and sun, and eaten by wolves and dogs. The condition was horrific. (Sun Xuehui)

The tragedy of the bombing of Zhuolu County

After the "July 7" Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, the Japanese army marched westward along Pingsui Road and invaded Chahar Province. At noon on August 25, three Japanese military aircraft dropped eight bombs on Zhuolu City. The drugstore "Dehetang Yaoji" on Qiaodong Street was bombed. The owner of the drugstore, Dong Yaonan (also known as Shaotang), his wife, his uncle (a Chinese medicine practitioner in his sixties), and a kitchen worker named Liu were killed. The Shihemei Dyeing Factory was bombed, and one worker died after being seriously injured. The ancient building "Fengbo Pavilion" in the east playground of the city was also blown down. City street shops were closed and residents fled. (Wang Weiben)

The Wangjiayao Massacre in Huai'an County

At noon on September 1, 1937, two Japanese soldiers from the 11th Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army in Renjiatian Village rushed into the area two miles away. Wang He from Wangjiatian Village broke into Wang He's home. When he saw that Wang He had two daughters, he became animalistic and shouted "Flower Girl!" while rushing towards the girls. Wang He was furious when he saw this and slashed at the two Japanese soldiers with his sickle. The two Japanese soldiers were so timid that they fled back to Renjiatian. Wang He and his daughters hurriedly told the villagers what had happened, and everyone quickly left the village and hid. At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, more than 10 heavily armed Japanese troops came to Wangjiatian again. They went straight to Wang He's home, killed the sheep, and burned the clothes and furniture. Finding no one in the village, he rushed outside the village and caught Wang Shouren and Wang Xiang of Renjiatian Village in the crop field. He shot Wang Shouren to death and wounded Wang Xiang. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army found 34 women and children hiding at the bottom of a ditch in Wangjiatian's 80-acre field. They forced the women into the sorghum fields with bayonets and raped them. Afterwards, they were asked to take off their clothes and dance naked, even the elderly ladies were not spared.

The Japanese soldiers laughed wildly around them. Later, the Japanese army forced the captured people back to the village and locked them up in Wangchang's courtyard. They forced the women to go to Renjiatian, fired threats, and stabbed Liu Sansi's wife to death with a bayonet. But the women refused to go, and the Japanese army went crazy and resorted to brutal massacres. They forced these women and children into two yam cellars in the yard. Wang Fa's wife bit the finger of one Japanese soldier and refused to let go. Another Japanese soldier stabbed her to death with a bayonet and pushed her into the cellar. The Japanese soldiers then stuffed hay into the cellar entrance and set it on fire. They then covered it with millstones and left about half an hour later. After the Japanese troops left, the villagers rushed back for rescue, but only five people were saved, and 29 of them died. Wangjiatian Village is a small village with only 32 households. In Wang Zhihe's family alone, his mother, siblings, and seven others were killed. The survivors of two families committed suicide by hanging from a beam because they could no longer live. (Guo Yuankui)

The Massacre in Xiziya Hebei Village, Dacheng County

On the afternoon of September 2, 1937, the Tajima Department, the leading force of the 10th Division of the Japanese North China Front, invaded along the Ziya River Embankment In Xiziya Hebei Village, a fierce battle broke out with the 3rd Battalion of the 284th Regiment of the 114th Brigade of the 29th Army of the Chinese garrison near Yaowang Temple in the north of the village. The Japanese troops suffered heavy casualties. In the early morning of September 4, the Japanese army mobilized heavy troops to invade and occupy Xiziya Hebei Village. After the Japanese army entered the village, they first set a fire in the north of the village, and then began to conduct door-to-door searches. They tied up their hands and drove the young and middle-aged people into the street. The Japanese army killed the captured villagers at will, and their methods were so cruel that it was outrageous. Villager Lu Qingbo was pulled out of the crowd, stripped naked, and died by caesarean section. Young Liu Zhongqing was beheaded by two Japanese soldiers with a hacksaw. Villager Chen Peirong was tied to a tree. The Japanese soldiers first cut his flesh with knives and finally broke his stomach. There were more than 10 pieces of minced meat on the ground around him, and his intestines, liver, and lungs were hanging from his lower body and fell to the ground. After a large-scale search, the Japanese army strung 115 villagers into two teams with wires and escorted them outside the village. One group of 63 people were shot collectively in an open space southeast of the village. Another group of villagers were picked to death on the threshing floor of Lu Hanhua and Lu Binglu's homes in the west of the village. The Japanese army massacred 147 innocent villagers in Xiziya Hebei Village and burned more than 230 houses, bringing serious disaster to this village with only more than 200 households at the time. (Li Yingang)

The massacre in the southern moat of Shangyi County

On September 6, 1937, the mechanized troops of the third mixed brigade of the Japanese Kwantung Army invaded Zhangbei from Gubeikou via Duolun After the county, on the 7th, they invaded Nanhaoqian Town and caused a horrific tragedy. After the Japanese troops entered the town, they opened fire on residential areas with broadswords and steel guns. They entered the courtyards and killed everyone on sight. No one, no matter the age or the child, was spared. The Japanese army entered the Cao family compound and saw slogans such as "Down with Japanese Imperialism" written on the wall. They immediately rushed the men to the mill and shot them collectively. They then cut a 5-year-old boy alive into five parts. Killed 14 people from the Cao family. Then the Japanese troops rushed to the vicinity of Haojiashun Tofu House and captured more than 10 residents, drove them to the West River Beach, and shot them with machine guns. Inside and outside the southern moat, gunfire broke out everywhere, screams continued in the streets and alleys and nearby villages, the smell of blood could be smelled from a distance, and the tragedy was unbearable to see. In addition to killing people and setting fires, the Japanese soldiers raped women in broad daylight whenever they saw them. A young couple named Yang from the west side of the town were searched from the air raid shelter. The Japanese soldiers showed their bestiality and pushed Yang's wife into the house and raped her. Yang fought with the Japanese soldiers to save his wife and was shot outside the house. The Japanese army carried out a massacre for more than five hours, and more than 230 innocent people died at the hands of the Japanese army (some of whom came to work as part-time workers during the autumn harvest). (Zuo Bao)

Qingxian Liuhe Massacre

On September 9, 1937, the 10th Division of the Japanese Army Fangu Lianjie invaded Liuhe Town, Qingxian County. The villagers of Xiaowangzhuang, a village within a mile of the town, carried out a brutal massacre. After being captured, villager Deng Fuling failed to answer the Japanese soldiers' questions. Several Japanese soldiers pried open his mouth, cut out his tongue with bayonets, and then stabbed to death. Yu Fengxiang was stripped naked by several Japanese soldiers and his genitals were cut off with a knife. Yu screamed and fainted. The Japanese soldiers laughed wildly and then killed him with a knife. Blind Yu Zongfu was dragged to the street. The Japanese soldiers tied a long rope around his neck and pulled hard, and Yu was strangled to death. Seven or eight people, including Liu Shukui and Liu Jingshan, were strung together by the Japanese army with a wire through their cheeks. They were dragged to the edge of the Weizi pit in the west of the village and stabbed to death with bayonets. In less than two hours, 30 people were killed in this small village of only 37 households, and more than 100 houses were burned down. In the early morning of the next day, several Japanese planes bombed the town of Liuhe, and then the Japanese troops rushed into the town, using machine guns to shoot at the hiding villagers and burning them house to house. Villager Fan Qingyun was shot by the Japanese army just after he went out. He struggled into the house and died under the edge of the kang.

His younger brother Fan Lanqing climbed into the room and was shot by Japanese soldiers and then stabbed to death. The Japanese army captured Li Yuming's father and drove a date stone into the old man's head. The old man screamed and died immediately. Jin Fengshan and more than 20 young adults were taken to the north of the village by the Japanese army and shot dead. Their blood stained the pit water red. Han Tinggui's wife was chased to the edge of the village by several Japanese soldiers, pushed down on a slope, gang-raped and shot to death. Zhang Wanqi's mother, who was nearly 70 years old, was also ravaged to death. The Japanese army burned, killed, and looted in Liuhe Town. 186 villagers (including 13 women and 18 children) died under their butcher knives. Six families were exterminated, and more than 700 houses were blown up or burned. (Sun Guanyi, Liu Maocai)

The Wangzhuang Massacre in Yongqing County

On September 14, 1937, more than 200 Japanese vanguard troops invaded Wangzhuang Village. The villagers heard the gunshots in advance and most of them moved to hide in the green gauze tent. After the Japanese troops broke into the village, they searched every house with bayonets in hand, arresting everyone they met and robbing everything they saw. In the early morning of the next day, the Japanese army began a bloody massacre of the captured villagers. They brought 12 villagers, including Yang Deshan, Wang Quanyou, and Wang Yu, to Yang Deshan's courtyard. They forced them to kneel on the ground and beheaded them with Japanese knives. Half of the courtyard was stained red with blood. Datu, the king of West Street, was holding a child under one year old. Because he refused to lead the way to the Japanese army, the Japanese soldiers came forward and snatched the child and threw it to the ground. Datu threw himself at the child and was stabbed to death with a bayonet by the Japanese army. Shi Zhen and Shi Yu, who were over sixty years old, were hacked to death in front of their homes. The next morning, the Japanese army conducted a comb-style search for the villagers hiding in the green gauze tent. The Japanese army found Yu San hiding in the valley west of the village, stepped forward and stabbed him in the stomach with a bayonet. Yu San grabbed the gun barrel in pain, and the Japanese army pulled the trigger and killed him. Liu Hua, Monk Lu, Wang Changqing and others were hiding in the cornfield in the west of the village. When they saw the Japanese troops coming towards them, they ran away. The Japanese troops fired machine guns and all of them were shot dead. Wang Zhongchun and Wang Zilu, father and son, escaped from the village and ran into the Japanese army. The son was picked to death and the father was beheaded. In this tragedy, 38 peaceful villagers were killed by the Japanese army, four of them were wiped out and three were seriously injured. (Yang Jianxun)

The Xianrenqiao Massacre in Yongqing County

On the evening of September 14, 1937, more than 100 Japanese troops invaded Xianrenqiao Village, searched every house, and killed everyone they saw. Zhang Yong's mother was sitting on the kang with her daughter under one year old in her arms. A group of Japanese soldiers broke in and treated the mother and daughter as live targets. Zhang Yong's mother fought hard to protect her child and suffered six gunshot wounds. The Japanese army still refused to give up and shot at her daughter. The bullet passed through the child's chest and entered Zhang's mother's heart. The girl died immediately and Zhang's mother also fainted. Villager Bao Yuchuan was captured by the Japanese army, his hands and feet were tied, and he was buried head down in an old vegetable cellar outside the courtyard. A woman from Qian Zhonghe's village was captured by the Japanese army in the east of the village, doused with gasoline and burned alive. Later, she was run over by a Japanese horse and a bicycle, causing her limbs to be torn apart. Seven people including villager Zhang Dianwen were picked to death by the Japanese army in the Mengjia puddle. The water was dyed red, and their intestines, lungs, etc. were floating on the water. After Bao Huaisan and his two sons were captured by the Japanese army, they stripped them naked, tied them to the necks of horses, took them to the north of Zhejuntang Village, and stabbed them to death with bayonets. In this tragedy, the Japanese army killed 32 innocent villagers. Among the victims were infants under one year old and elderly people in their seventies.