The Battle of Nanjing was a very famous battle in the War of Resistance Against Japan. In terms of scale, the number of people is not as large as the Battle of Songhu; In terms of duration, there was not as much as the Battle of Hengyang. However, in terms of bloodiness, it can be said that it was famous throughout the Second World War.

In the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, Japan began to occupy Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek ordered Tang Zhisheng to be the commander and began to deploy the defense of Nanjing. The total strength of the Nationalist Army in the Battle of Nanjing was about 150,000, including the 36th Division and the 88th Division, which had just experienced the Battle of Songhu, plus the teaching corps composed of students from the Military Academy.

Most of them were the remnants of the defeated soldiers who failed in the Battle of Songhu, and in fact they were not full. The Japanese troops participating in the war were mainly the Shanghai Dispatch Army and the Tenth Army, with a strength of about 200,000 troops.

The total strength of the Chinese army participating in the defense of Nanjing was about 150,000, and the 36th, 87th, and 88th divisions that had just retreated from the Shanghai front, plus 10 divisions drawn from other places, a total of 13 divisions, plus the teaching corps composed of students from the military academy (a total of more than 12,000 people), the military police troops, and the Jiangning fortress troops, the full strength would be about 180,000 people, but except for the 41st and 48th divisions of the 10th Army, which were reinforcements from Hankou, the rest were all withdrawn from the Shanghai battlefield. The remnants of the wounded repair. Therefore, in fact, there is no full number, according to Tang Shengzhi's statistics, there are about 80,000 people, of which 30,000 are recruits.

Commander of the Nanjing Garrison: Tang Shengzhi; Deputy Commanders: Luo Zhuoying, Liu Xing

Commander of the 2nd Army Corps (41st and 48th Divisions): Xu Yuanquan

Commander of the 66th Army (159th and 160th Divisions): Ye Zhao

Commander of the 71st Army (87th Division): Wang Jingjiu

Commander of the 72nd Army (88th Division): Sun Yuanliang

Commander of the 74th Army (51st and 58th Divisions): Yu Jishi

Commander of the 78th Army (36th Division): Song Xilian

Teaching Corps Captain (3 brigades): Gui Yongqing

Commander of the 103rd Division: He Zhizhong

Commander of the 112th Division: Huo Shouyi

Commander of the gendarmerie of the gendarmerie (4 regiments): Xiao Shan Order

In addition, there are Jiangning fortress troops, artillery units, special service teams, etc.

On December 1, the Japanese base camp issued a new battle sequence. Japanese Army

Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Invasion of China: Matsui Ishone

The team was mainly composed of the Central China Front Army, mainly composed of the Shanghai Dispatch Army and the Tenth Army. In addition, there are communications troops, railway troops, aviation troops, engineer troops, military station troops, etc.

Commander of the Central China Front: Army General Matsui Ishine

Commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army: Lieutenant General Hatohiko Asakanomiya

Wing Commander of the Advance Team of the 3rd Division: Army Commander Takashi Mori

Commander of the 9th Division: Lieutenant General Ryosuke Yoshizumi

Commander of the 16th Division: Lieutenant General Nakajima Imasago

Commander of the 103rd Brigade of the Yamada Detachment (1st Division of the 13th Division): Army Major General Yamada Tsuji

Commander of the 10th Army: Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa

Commander of the 6th Division: Lu

Table of command for the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, November-December 1937

Lieutenant General Toshio Tani

Commander of the 18th Division: Lieutenant General Sadao Ushijima

Commander of the 114th Division: Lieutenant General Shigeharu Suematsu

Commander of the Kunisaki Detachment (the 9th Brigade of the 5th Division): Major General Kunisaki Noboru

On December 1, the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), the Japanese army captured Jiangyin Fortress; On the same day, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters issued Mainland Order No. 8 at the request of Matsui Ishone: "The commander of the Central China Front must coordinate with the navy to capture Nanjing, the capital of the enemy country."

In accordance with the orders of the Front Army, the Japanese 10th Army deployed the 114th Division to attack and advance along the Liyang and Lishui highways to the south of Nanjing; The 6th Division also attacked and advanced in the direction of Nanjing along the Guangde and Honglanbu roads, and after the 114th Division; The Guozaki detachment entered and occupied Taiping (Dangtu) along the Guangde and Langxi roads, and then crossed the river to the vicinity of Pukou in a roundabout way to cut off the northward retreat of the Nanjing defenders; The 18th Division attacked Wuhu through Xuancheng and cut off the westward retreat of the Nanjing defenders.

From December 3 to 6, after four days of fighting, the 18th Division and the 9th Division of the Japanese army broke through the alert and advance positions of the defending 83rd Army and the 66th Army, occupied Jurong, and advanced to the area of Huangmei, Tuqiao and Hushu Town west of Jurong, and a part of the army penetrated deep into the vicinity of Mengtang and Dahu Mountain from the right flank; The 114th Division broke through the defending 72nd Army and the 7th

The Battle of Nanjing

The alert and advance positions of the 4th Army occupied Lishui and advanced to the areas of Moling Pass, Lulang Town and Jiangning Town north of Lishui. At this time, the Tiangu Detachment and the 13th Division on the right flank of the Japanese army were attacking Zhenjiang and Jingjiang, the 6th Division on the left flank was advancing towards Moling Pass, and the Kunisaki Detachment and the 18th Division were attacking Dangtu and Xuancheng.

On the afternoon of December 6, the Nanjing Garrison Commander's Headquarters discovered that the Japanese army was approaching the first line of positions, and the 16th Division had infiltrated into the vicinity of Hutang and Dahushan on the left side of Tangshan Town, and urgently ordered the 36th Division to quickly send an infantry regiment to occupy the position near Qilinmen to cover the flank of the 66th Army and prevent the enemy from continuing to infiltrate; ordered the 71st Army in Zhenjiang and the 83rd Army in the vicinity of Zhenjiang and Dongchang Street to move quickly to Nanjing, so as to strengthen Nanjing's defensive forces; It was stipulated that after the transfer of the 71st Army, the Zhenjiang Fortress was commanded by Dai Zhiqi, the acting commander of the 103rd Division; At the same time, the 2nd Army Corps (10th Army) was ordered to advance to the Longtan and Crow Mountain areas of the 41st Division, which had just arrived near Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, to cover the transfer of the 71st Army and the 83rd Army, and to maintain contact with Zhenjiang. Since Nanjing had become a besieged city and was about to become a battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek convened a meeting of officers at and above the rank of major general that night, and left Nanjing by plane at 5:45 a.m. on the 7th, flew to Jiangxi, and transferred to the Wuhan Command

On December 7, the Japanese "Central China Front" ordered to begin an attack on the first line of defensive positions outside Nanjing on the same day; After breaking through the position, it continued to attack the Fukou position in Nanjing; Concentrating all the artillery fire that had reached the battlefield to destroy and capture the city walls, Commander Matsui Ishine sent a letter from the air to persuade Tang Shengzhi to surrender. Tang Shengzhi ignored it and continued to order all troops to "do their best to hold on with the determination to live and die with the position, and never allow an inch of land to be abandoned." ”。 It was stipulated that the "Shanghai Dispatch Army" was responsible for attacking Zhongshanmen, Taipingmen, and Hepingmen in the northeast, and the 10th Army was responsible for attacking Gonghemen, Zhonghuamen, and Shuiximen in the southwest. The dividing line between the two armies in the city is Gonghemen - Park Road - Zhongzheng Street - Hanzhong Road.

On December 7, the Japanese army, with the strong fire support of artillery and aviation, began to launch an all-out onslaught on the main position of the first line. At the same time, the 66th Army was ordered to use a force from Tangshan Town from south to north, the 41st Division to shoot from north to south at Wulong Mountain, and the 36th Division Reserve 2nd Regiment with a tank company (less 1 platoon) from west to east from Qilin Gate to carry out a combined attack on the enemy who broke through to Hutang and Dahu Mountain. However, due to the fact that the follow-up troops of the Japanese army had already entered the battle from the breach, the Tangshan Town position of the 66th Army and the Qixiashan position of the 41st Division were both fiercely attacked by the Japanese army, so the attempt to attack on three sides could not be realized, and the reserve 2nd Regiment of the 36th Division was transferred to resist the attack of the Japanese army that had occupied Fuxing Bridge in the area west and south of Dongliu.

On December 8, the Japanese 6th Division, which was originally in the Huzhou area, also rushed to the area west of Moling Town by forced march, and deployed on the left flank of the 114th Division to participate in the attack on the outer positions of Nanjing. After two days and one night of fierce fighting on the front-line positions outside Nanjing, most of the fortifications in the main defensive areas had been destroyed by Japanese artillery and aviation firepower, and the defenders suffered heavy casualties, such as Ji Hongru, the acting commander of the 301st Regiment of the 51st Division defending Chunhua Town, was seriously wounded, the company commander suffered 9 casualties, and more than 1,400 casualties below the platoon level, completely losing its combat effectiveness. In the afternoon of the same day, under the guidance of tanks, the Japanese army successively captured Tangshan Town, Chunhua Town and other important strongholds. At the same time, the Numata Detachment of the 26th Brigade of the 13th Division of the Japanese right flank had repelled the 111th Division of the 57th Army and occupied Jingjiang, the Tiangu Detachment had entered Zhenjiang, the Kunisaki Detachment of the Japanese left flank had advanced to the vicinity of Dangtu, and the 18th Division was advancing towards Wuhu after capturing Xuancheng.

In view of the above situation, in order to concentrate its forces to hold Nanjing, the Nanjing Garrison Commander's Headquarters ordered the defenders of the first-line position to retreat to the Fukuo position; On the one hand, the 103rd and 112th Divisions of Zhenjiang and the nearby 82nd Army were ordered to quickly withdraw to Nanjing. On the afternoon of the 8th, the 2nd Division of the 48th Army Corps had arrived in Nanjing, and the 83rd Division of the 156th Army had also withdrawn to Nanjing, and its 154th Division was still on the way to retreat. At 16 o'clock, the headquarters of the Nanjing garrison commander issued an order of "Wei Shen Zuo Zi No. 28" to make arrangements for the defense of the compound position. At the same time, the gendarmerie also instructed the 2nd Regiment to defend the city wall position from Shuixi Gate to Hanzhong Gate and the Shangxinhe embankment position outside the city, the 2nd Regiment of the Military Police to defend Qingliang Mountain in the city, and the 10th Regiment of the Military Police to defend the Ming Palace Airport in the city.

After the first line of positions on the periphery of Nanjing was broken through, the defenders retreated hastily, lacking effective cover measures, and the Japanese army took advantage of the situation to follow and pursue, so that some of the reconstructed positions had not yet been firmly occupied, that is, the Japanese army broke through. By dawn on the 9th, the 16th Division of the Japanese "Shanghai Dispatch Army" entered the area of Qilinmen and Cangbomen; The 9th Division advanced to the outside of Guanghua Gate and occupied the Daxiao Field and Tongguang Barracks; The 114th Division of the 10th Army advanced to Yuhua Tainan; The 6th Division advanced to the west of Yuhuatai, and its left flank occupied Dasheng Pass. The 60th Army of the Chinese Army retreated to the area of Dashuiguan and Yanziji for rectification; The 74th Army retreated to the inside and outside of the Shuixi Gate and was reassigned to the garrison of the city wall.

On the one hand, the Japanese army made preparations for the siege, such as deploying artillery into positions, concentrating tanks in standby areas, and selecting routes to enter the city. On the one hand, planes were used to throw an ultimatum from the Japanese commander of the "Central China Front" Matsui Ishine to the Chinese defenders to persuade them to surrender. Tang Shengzhi ignored Matsui's ultimatum and issued an order on the same day as "Wei Shen Zuo Zi No. 36" as an answer. Trying to fight to the death in the spirit of "breaking the kettle and sinking the boat".

On the 9th, the troops of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army, which had broken into the vicinity of Guanghua Gate, stormed the defensive position of the 260th Brigade of the 87th Division of the Guanghua Gate Engineer School and the defensive position of the Teaching Corps with the direct support of artillery fire from the Gaoqiaomen position, and captured the Engineer School at about 10 o'clock. In the afternoon, tank and artillery fire attacked the city gate three times, and a small number of Japanese troops broke into the city. The garrison headquarters urgently ordered the military police at Qingliangshan to teach the reserve of the 2nd Regiment to reinforce Gwanghwamen, and at the same time ordered the 87th Division to counterattack. Chen Yiding, deputy commander of the 87th Division, commanded the 1st Brigade of the 261st Brigade and part of the 259th Brigade to carry out a combined attack on the enemy's flank and back from Tongjimen and Tiantian Village. However, the few Japanese troops who had broken into the city were still lurking in the gate of Gwanghwamun Gate. The Kunisaki detachment of the 10th Army occupied Dangtu that night.

On December 10, seeing that the Chinese army refused to surrender, the Japanese army launched an all-out attack on Yuhuatai, Tongjimen, Guanghuamen, and the third peak of the Purple Mountain, and the battle was more fierce than on the 9th. In particular, in the southeast of the city, the situation was particularly grim because the re-established positions had been basically lost, and the Japanese army directly attacked the city walls. The garrison headquarters urgently ordered the 156th Division of the 83rd Army to reinforce the garrisons of Guanghuamen and Tongjimen city walls, and hurriedly built preparatory fortifications for street battles at various points in the city, and at the same time transferred the 66th Army from Dashuiguan and Yanziji into the city, and deployed them to build fortifications in Zhongshan Gate and Xuanwu Gate to prepare for street battles; In addition, the 103rd Division and the 112th Division, which had just been withdrawn from Zhenjiang into Nanjing, were commanded by Gui Yongqing, the commander of the Teaching Corps, and were responsible for the garrison of the city wall and the Purple Mountain position near Zhongshan Gate. That night, the 156th Division sent a small detachment to fall down the city and annihilated all the few Japanese troops lurking in the city gate. On the Yuhuatai side, the main forces of the two divisions of the Japanese army coordinated with the infantry, artillery, tanks and aviation to attack, destroying all the positions on the first line of the right flank of the 88th Division. The remnants retreated to the second line of positions. That night, the Japanese 18th Division occupied Wuhu.