Shashi Anti-Japanese War

The Shashi Anti-Japanese War mainly refers to the arduous struggle carried out by the soldiers and civilians of Shashi, Hubei under the occupation and blockade by the Japanese invaders from 1938 to 1945. After the fall of Wuhan in October 1938, Japanese fighter planes began bombing Shashi, and residential buildings along the river collapsed in flames. On June 8, 1940, the Fujisaki Division of the Japanese Sixth Division divided its forces from Jingmen and Qianjiang to encircle the city, and the urban area of ​​Shashi fell. Subsequently, the Japanese army designated the Zhongshan Road area as a "military zone", set up bunkers, implemented "good citizen certificates", and frequently carried out "mopping up" and massacres. From June 1940 to August 1945 alone, more than 2,000 local compatriots were killed. From February to December 1943, the Japanese Eleventh Army launched three major battles (including the Battle of Western Hubei) with Shashi as the axis. The battlefield spread across both sides of the Jingjiang River. The Chinese army and the Japanese army repeatedly went back and forth, and finally curbed the Japanese army's attempt to advance westward to Sichuan. It was regarded as "a turning year when the invaders turned from rampant to decadent." The Shashi Anti-Japanese War included not only the multiple major battles on the frontal battlefield in which the Chinese army blocked the Japanese army from advancing westward, but also the continuous underground struggle in the occupied areas and the people's spontaneous salvation. It was the epitome of "from suffering to rebirth" in the history of the Anti-Japanese War in Hubei and even the whole country.