Marco Polo Bridge Incident

1937-07-07 - 1937-07-09

The Marco Polo Bridge incident was a three-day battle beginning 7 July 1937 at the Lugou Bridge near Beijing between the Chinese 29th Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. Japanese troops claimed a soldier was missing and demanded to search the city of Wanping, and fighting broke out while the complaint was being negotiated. The incident is generally regarded as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.