SDHF Newsletter No.450 The Road to the Greater East Asian War No. 50 Ch.13-1
THE ROAD TO THE GREATER EAST ASIAN WAR
Nakamura Akira, Dokkyo University Professor Emeritus
(English Translation: Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact)
Part 50, Chapter 13: What Transpired at Lugou Bridge – 1
January 13, 2026
The incident took place on the evening of July 7, 1937. The 8th Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, China Garrison Army (Japanese), was conducting maneuvers on vacant land located 12 kilometers west of Beiping, on the west bank of the Yongding River, north of Lugou Bridge. The soldiers had just completed their exercises when, at about 10:40 p.m., shots suddenly rang out from a spot close to the Dragon King Temple on the riverbank.
Just then, 8th Company Commander Shimizu Setsurō, 1st Platoon Commander Noji Ishichi, Sgt. Iwatani Heiji, and Squad Leader Anbo Kiyoji noticed the exchange of flashlight signals between Chinese troops on the embankment and others on the walls of the Lugou Bridge fortress. Then more shots were fired, a dozen or so, this time raining down on the Japanese soldiers, who ducked to avoid them.
Company commander Shimizu dispatched Sgt. Iwatani and two buglers on horseback to Fengtai to inform Battalion Commander Ichiki Kiyonao of the incident. Once Col. Mutaguchi Ren’ya, commander of the 1st Regiment in Beiping, received telephone reports from battalion commanders, he issued orders that negotiations with the commander of the Chinese Garrison be held at Lugou Bridge at daybreak. Mutaguchi also contacted the Special Service Agency in Beiping, which made the decision, informed by a non-escalation policy, to dispatch both Japanese and Chinese envoys to the site of the incident. Chinese envoys were Wang Lengzhai, mayor of Wanping, and Lin Gengyu, a member of the Hebei-Chahar Political Council. On the Japanese side, Sakurai Tokutarō and Teradaira Tadasuke, advisors to the 29th Army, representing the Special Service Agency, were joined by Maj. Shakudō Shōji, commander of the Beiping Military Police Detachment.
Meanwhile, without returning even a single shot against the Chinese, the 8th Company at Lugou Bridge proceeded two kilometers eastward to Xiwulidian, where it joined the 3rd Battalion, which had arrived from Fengtai. Together, those units occupied Yiwenzi Hill. No sooner had they done that when, at 3:25, three shots were fired from the direction of the Dragon King Temple. On the basis of a telephone report received from Battalion Commander Ichiki about those shots, Regiment Commander Mutaguchi stated that “at 3:35 a.m., the definition between friend and foe was already clear.” He added how insulting it was for the Chinese to fire unlawfully twice, fully aware that they were aiming at Japanese soldiers. He then gave permission to commence hostilities.
However, because of the non-escalation policy, there was no immediate counterattack from the Japanese. Not until Chinese troops unleashed a fusillade of bullets from Dragon King Temple, having mistakenly attributed the failure of a Japanese response to cowardice, did the Japanese retaliate, at 5:30 a.m. on July 8. For a full seven hours after experiencing the initial, unlawful shots, they had demonstrated restraint and prudence. They had not fired a single retaliatory shot, but once they did attack, the Japanese quickly annihilated the enemy at Dragon King Temple and advanced to the right bank of Yongding River.
While checking the bodies of the enemy troops after the battle, the Japanese discovered a notebook. It contained the names of its owner’s immediate superiors from Song Zheyuan, commander of the 29th Army, to Geng Xixun, commander of the 11th Company. This evidence demonstrated beyond a doubt that the men who fired on the Japanese were regular soldiers attached to the 29th Army.
URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/book-article/2417
PDF: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Road50E.pdf
Moteki Hiromichi, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact