Death on the Marco Polo Bridge

By Peter Harmsen
16 July, 2019
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On July 7, 1937, Chinese and Japanese forces clashed at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing, unwittingly setting off an eight-year-long war that only ended with the formal Japanese surrender to the Allied Powers on board the Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945.

The battle unfolding in the summer of 1937 is one of the most important events of the entire 20th century, and Asia would never be the same. It is commemorated in various media, not only books, but also dioramas. An impressive example of the latter is featured at the Armed Forces Museum in Taipei.