In 1937, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, and the long-planned Japanese army launched an all-out attack on the land of China. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang army and our army established an anti-Japanese national united front, and the two parties fought against the enemy together, jointly resisted Japan, and fought back against the Japanese army. In August, the Nationalists organized the Battle of Songhu and fought a major battle against the Japanese in the Shanghai area. Although the defenders of Shanghai were not able to defeat Japan and were occupied by Japan, they inflicted tens of thousands of casualties on the Japanese army, and smashed the Japanese army's claim to occupy China in three months, and on the side of our army, it also won the Battle of Pingxingguan and promoted our country's prestige. Although the Japanese army occupied a large territory in North China and other regions in a few months, the resistance of the Chinese military and people has never stopped.
In November, the Japanese began planning an attack on Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. The Nationalist army had planned to gather the retreating defenders in the Battle of Songhu to Nanjing, and set up temporary defensive lines in Suzhou, Wuxi and other areas to slow down the pace of the Japanese attack. However, the Japanese army was taking advantage of the advantages of the powerful navy and air force to bombard and strafe the troops in the area in turn, so that the Nationalist army had no way to form an effective resistance and could only retreat all the way to Nanjing. Therefore, there was no particularly effective defensive line outside nanjing to rely on. Soon, the defensive positions on the outskirts of Nanjing were constantly lost, and the Japanese army was about to enter the city of Nanjing.
Faced with such a critical situation, Chiang Kai-shek also urgently convened several major military conferences to discuss many matters concerning the defense of Nanjing. However, at the meeting, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi and others were not in favor of sticking to Nanjing. Because Nanjing's defense was relatively difficult at this time, the enemy could surround Nanjing through several aspects, and the Yangtze River to the north was not easy to retreat. In addition, many of the defenders in Nanjing had retreated from Shanghai, and the troops were seriously depleted, morale was low, and their combat effectiveness was relatively poor, so it was still unknown whether they could withstand the advance of the Japanese army. It is better to preserve the living forces and use them better in future wars.
But Tang Shengzhi expressed his own different point of view. He believed that the defense of Nanjing was necessary. Because Nanjing is an ancient historical and cultural city and is the seat of the Founding Father, if such a city is casually thrown to Japan, it is irresponsible and cannot be accounted for to the Founding Father. His views also coincided with those of Chiang Kai-shek. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek appointed him as the supreme commander of the nanjing garrison, commanding more than 100,000 defenders in Nanjing.
At this time, Nanjing was close to becoming an isolated city Your outer positions in Nanjing were captured one after another, and the Japanese army was almost approaching the urban area of Nanjing. In order to occupy Nanjing more easily, Matsui Ishigen, the supreme commander of the Japanese Central China Front, also airdropped a letter of surrender to the Nanjing defenders by air. However, Tang Shengzhi did not pay attention to it, and also ordered the troops to strictly guard the fishing boats to prevent some troops from escaping from the battle. The Japanese army began to fiercely attack several strongholds outside Nanjing, and carried out large-scale artillery bombardment on Yuhuatai, Purple Mountain and other positions. Guarding Yuhuatai was the absolute main force of the Nationalist army, the Eighty-eighth Division of the German Mechanized Division, but the Eighty-eighth Division suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Songhu. After retreating to Nanjing, it was not effectively replenished and repaired, and it was hurriedly thrown into the battle to defend Nanjing. The main force of the Eighty-eighth Division was still difficult to resist the Japanese in Shanghai, let alone the current remnants. Therefore, the Eighty-eighth Division fought very hard, but everyone fought with the Japanese army with the determination to see death as a homecoming. According to the staff officer of the Eighty-eighth Division, in the positions of the Eighty-eighth Division, the Japanese army had to pay a great price for every step forward.
The Eighty-eighth Division resisted bravely but could not stop the enemy's advance, which was also a microcosm of the entire Nanjing garrison, and the other units were not optimistic. As the war situation continued to deteriorate, the loss of Nanjing was inevitable, and the top level of the Nationalist army also issued orders to the Nanjing defenders to retreat. However, at this time, many front-line combat units and the Japanese army were very anxious, even in a state of disparity between the enemy and me, and the order to retreat could not be well conveyed among each unit. In addition, in the process of retreat, it was also very chaotic, only a small number of troops could break through by boat, while most of the troops were treated in this way, and many people were either shot dead by the Japanese troops who came to the scene, or captured by the Japanese army, and later became the ghosts of the Nanjing Massacre.
But justice will be late but never absent. The brutal Japanese invaders, though temporarily gaining the upper hand, could not win forever. Eight years later, with the joint efforts of the world's anti-fascist forces, they finally suffered a complete defeat, raised their hands and surrendered unconditionally, and some war criminals were also tried justly by the Far Eastern Military Tribunal, ending their criminal lives.
(This picture shows Japanese war criminal Matsui Ishigen)