Defense of Harbin

Part of Japanese invasion of Manchuria

Date	January 25 – February 4, 1932
Location	Harbin, Manchuria, Republic of China
Result	Japanese victory

Belligerents

National Revolutionary Army

Imperial Japanese Army

Commanders and leaders

Ting Chao

Jirō Tamon

Strength

30,000

unknown

Casualties and losses

1,800

unknown

The Defense of Harbin occurred during the early Second Sino-Japanese War, as part of the campaign of the Invasion of Manchuria by forces of the Empire of Japan from 25 January to 4 February 1932.

After General Ma Zhanshan had been driven from Tsitsihar by the Japanese in the Jiangqiao Campaign, he retreated northeast with his depleted forces and set up his headquarters at Hailun, from which he attempted to continue to govern Heilongjiang province. Colonel Kenji Doihara began negotiations with General Ma Zhanshan from his Special Service Office at Harbin, hoping to get him to defect to the new state of Manchukuo. Ma remained in an ambiguous position, continuing negotiations with the Japanese, while he continued to support General Ting Chao.

General Ting Chao had never approved of the puppet government set up in Kirin Province by the Kwantung Army under the nominal leadership of General Xi Qia of the Kirin Army . In November 1932, with Colonel Feng Zhanhai, 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 and Chiang Kai-shek, 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.

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Wikipedia