Entering ChinaYang Jingyu’s letter file was released to reproduce the historical details of the strategic deployment of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation
On February 21, the Jilin Provincial Archives released for the first time a letter file from Yang Jingyu, commander-in-chief of the First Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army. This precious archive, which was formed after the July 7 Incident in 1937, provides new evidence for the study of the strategic decision of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation to cooperate with the national anti-Japanese war.
The file released this time is a letter from Yang Jingyu, then commander-in-chief of the First Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army, to the Third Division of the First Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army after the July 7 Incident. This letter was looted by the Japanese puppets during a battle in October 1937 and translated into Japanese for archiving, and is now preserved in the Jilin Provincial Archives of the Japanese Kwantung Military Police Headquarters.
Japanese archives of Yang Jingyu’s letters. (Photo courtesy of Jilin Provincial Archives)
According to experts from the Jilin Provincial Archives, although the letter did not indicate a specific date, the content of “responding to the Sino-Japanese War” was highly consistent with the historical node of Yang Jingyu leading his troops to carry out the “expeditionary operation” in July 1937. The archives show that Yang Jingyu quickly adjusted his strategy after the July 7 Incident, clearly put forward mobilization orders such as “quickly rearming the troops” and “joint anti-Japanese forces”, and deployed the operational policy of “pinning down the Kwantung Army and echoing the battlefield in the Guannai”.
Although the Japanese version of the letter has gone through the war, its content is complete and continuous, clearly recording the battle plan of Yang Jingyu’s troops to advance from Huanren in Liaoning Province to Qingyuan, and confirming his strategic intention of “expanding the prestige of the Anti-Japanese Federation and realizing coordination inside and outside the Guan”.
Japanese archives of Yang Jingyu’s letters. (Photo courtesy of Jilin Provincial Archives)
Liu Xinjun, dean of the Institute of Party History and Party Building of Jilin University, said that 2025 is the 120th anniversary of General Yang Jingyu’s birth and the 85th anniversary of his martyrdom.
Yang Jingyu (1905-1940) was one of the main founders and leaders of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army, and was martyred in February 1940 in Mengjiang (now Jingyu County), Jilin.
