Chapter 188: Panic In The City After The 29th Army Evacuates
With the fall of Yuanping City, the entire Beiping City was increasingly shrouded in an atmosphere of fear and panic, especially under the influence of some fleeing citizens, which further led to demoralization and panic.
But for these citizens, they still hoped and believed that the 29th Army could protect their city, so many citizens still stayed behind, persisting in resisting the Japanese Invaders’ assault.
On the morning of July 27, 1937, the common people in Beiping City had spent the most panicked and unbearable night. Of course, excluding traitors from various classes and Japanese intelligence officers. Then, from the morning of the 28th, intermittent gunfire kept ringing outside Beiping City without interruption for a full day and night. The night before, the patrol police went door to door notifying people to seal the window cracks and door cracks to guard against the Japanese Army’s airplanes releasing poison gas at night…
However, the Japanese Troops’ combat deployment to ambush the remnants of the 29th Army withdrawing from the Yuanping side, as well as over 7,000 student soldiers from the student soldier group, ended up catching nothing.
Because they did not know that Zhou Wenhua had changed his mind, instructing the German-equipped troops he had dispatched to take all these student soldiers to another safe place for temporary rectification and re-equipment.
As for Deputy Army Commander Tong of the 29th Army and Division Commander Zhao Dengyu of the 132nd Division, they abandoned the black Dodge sedan they were riding in and instead rode horses, leading the remnants to fully evacuate to unfallen places like Baoding.
“Damn Chinese 29th Army? Why didn’t they withdraw back to Beiping City?”
“Hasn’t Yuanping City already fallen under the iron hooves of our Imperial Army?”
“What exactly is going on here?”
Faced with the prolonged absence of the 29th Army remnants from Yuanping City and the situation of the Student Army withdrawing,
Ota Hide, the Japanese officer responsible for the ambush here, angrily cursed out loud,
“Regiment Commander, should we immediately report this matter to Your Excellency Division Commander and seek new instructions?”
“Should we continue to hold fast here for ambush operations, or immediately withdraw back to Yuanping City to rendezvous with our Imperial Army’s main force? And make other plans?”
Japanese Staff Officer Tada Ei also hurriedly inquired.
Because the weather here was increasingly cold, he no longer wanted to stay outdoors and endure the freezing.
“Baka! Ask!”
Japanese Officer Ota Hide also responded irritably.
Because he too felt freezing cold, so his temper flared up.
Upon hearing the instruction, Japanese Staff Officer Tada Ei immediately perked up and had his subordinate Japanese communications soldier send a telegram seeking instructions to the Japanese Army’s command post in Yuanping City, making an inquiry.
In the evening, inside Beiping City,
Zhongnanhai Huairen Hall was packed with 29th Army officers.
Chief of Staff Zhang Kexia publicly announced Army Commander Song’s verbal message: “Tonight, Commander Song has already gone to Baoding. He believes that fighting alone, the war can no longer continue, so he asked me to announce his order: we must fully evacuate from here tonight and continue our operations resisting the Japanese Invaders from the rear area.”
“Army Commander Song has accepted the conditions proposed by the Japanese Army: fully withdraw the troops from Beiping City before 1 a.m. tomorrow morning, without leaving a single soldier, and the security of Beiping City now will be maintained by Acting Mayor Zhang Zizhong.”
“So all the brothers leaving, please immediately evacuate via Langfang to Baoding; those unwilling to leave will be given travel expenses and disbanded on the spot.”
After the words fell,
The whole city fell into dead silence,
Because all the 29th Army soldiers had never imagined they would sneak away like this in the middle of the night, leaving all the city’s residents inside the city to be ravaged by the subsequent Japanese Army advancing in.
So most of the soldiers were momentarily unable to accept such a cruel order,
But staying behind, they also knew they could not produce any effective impact on the incoming Japanese Army, let alone hold fast Beiping City, and might even face total annihilation here.
So soon, many soldiers began to waver in resolve and became willing to follow the troops in evacuating,
Of course, there were also many staunch soldiers who stayed behind,
Or were disbanded on the spot.
Defeat is like a landslide.
Suddenly, some very bad scenes appeared.
But that very night, all the 29th Army remnants still began their secret evacuation,
They did not dare to alarm the city’s citizens and could only sneak away quietly at midnight through the opened city gate.
During the evacuation,
Many 29th Army soldiers recalled the time when the battle at Lugou Bridge had just erupted,
Beiping’s citizens, many braving the scorching heat to bring them large watermelons, tea, and donations of large quantities of supplies including clothes, medicine, food, and weapons initiated jointly by over 20 groups such as the Beiping Relief Society and others—the lively and touching scenes,
Even patriotic Beiping students and students who fled from the Northeast, all holding “Comfort Mission” banners marching around, hoping the 29th Army soldiers would defend the country to prevent Beiping City from falling under the Japanese Army’s edge of the army and becoming a fallen area like the long-fallen three eastern provinces.
Thinking of these enthusiastic rear support scenes for resisting the Japanese Invaders,
Many of the 29th Army soldiers and officers who were evacuating became restless and saddened,
But still, many of them continued to evacuate out of this city, leaving the unarmed citizens inside the city to face the menacing Japanese Army alone.
On July 29, at dawn, the Japanese independent 11th Mixed Brigade attacked the independent 39th Brigade and Hebei North Security Forces at Beiyuan and Huangsi. By 6 p.m., Huangsi was captured by the Japanese Army. Subsequently, Brigade Commander Ruan Xuanwu of the independent 39th Brigade at Beiyuan surrendered to the enemy, and the independent 27th Brigade inside Beiping City was also disarmed by the Japanese Army.
In the original spacetime history,
This day was when Beiping fell. Then, one day later, Tianjin also successively fell.
The Eight-Year War of Resistance also officially began.
But due to Zhou Wenhua’s German-equipped troops having already entered Beiping City and carried out combat deployment,
As well as the over 7,000 student soldiers outside the city perimeter who could still be mobilized for ambushing the Japanese reinforcements’ logistics supply teams and such in the outer areas,
It had not yet fully fallen.
But the next morning, when some bold citizens mustered their courage to go toward the Beiping city wall to check the situation, they discovered that high-level 29th Army generals like Song Zheyuan and Qin Dechun had quietly led the main force in a full evacuation and flight from Beiping City during the night.
The entire Beiping City, with its city gates that had always been tightly closed in the past, were now opened at this moment.
Overnight, it made the common people in Beiping City feel as if the sky had fallen, leaving them helpless and without support.
At the same time, these bold citizens who learned the truth,
Also went crazy, rushing around to publicize and notify the citizens inside the city who still did not know that the 29th Army troops had all secretly evacuated during the night,
Suddenly, the whole city boiled over.
