The Purple Mountain, which defends the commanding heights to the east of Nanjing, is the elite of the elite of the Chinese army, the original Iron Guard of President Chiang, and the current teaching corps.

The teaching corps had three brigades and six regiments, German-style equipment and training, three battalions per regiment, three infantry companies per battalion, one heavy machine gun company, and one eighty-two mortar platoon.

The regiment directly under the regiment has a howitzer company, a combat defense artillery company, a communications company, a transportation company, and so on, and such equipment is not available in the units of some military units, and in order to defend Nanjing, the Chinese army has also put the most elite seed troops into it.

Why is it said to be a seed unit, because the teaching corps is a cadet soldier, and every soldier who goes out to another unit is an officer, and the least platoon commander is a seed unit that brings German-style training and command to various units.

The teaching corps took up positions in the vicinity of the Engineer School, Xishan, Purple Mountain, Xiaolingwei, Fork Road, Zhongshan Gate, and Taipingmen to strengthen the fortifications.

As early as December 8, the 16th Division of the Japanese Army, which was advancing west from Tangshan, arrived close to Purple Mountain and engaged in fierce battles with the defenders in the Hongmao Mountain and Tiger Cave areas.

On the 9th, the Japanese army raised reconnaissance balloons and directed artillery to violently bombard the defensive positions of the teaching corps, and planes also came to drop bombs, and the positions were full of the sound of high-explosive bombs, incendiary bombs, and smoke bombs.

After the artillery fire was extended, the Japanese armored units began to attack, but they were suddenly attacked by the defenders' 37 anti-aircraft guns, causing heavy damage, and then another artillery bombardment hit the defenders' anti-aircraft artillery positions.

The defenders' anti-aircraft guns were all killed in the enemy's fire, but the teaching corps was stationed in Xiaolingwei for four years, and they were familiar with the terrain here, and they also built a large number of strong fortifications.

When the Japanese launched an infantry attack, the fire points in these fortifications included light and heavy machine guns, which used superior firepower to kill the enemy in the charge in large numbers.

The captain of the 3rd Brigade of the 35th Infantry Wing of the 9th Division, who came to help, was also killed by the defenders, and more than 40,000 people from several divisions of the Japanese army attacked in turn, and the teaching corps was forced to withdraw to the main position, Purple Mountain.

By December 11, the entire Purple Mountain was shrouded in Japanese artillery fire, and even if it was incendiary, the incendiary bombs burned a large area of trees and grass on the mountain.

The battle was very fierce, and the soldiers on both sides were halfway up the mountainside, constantly charging and counter-charging, using guns, stones, etc. to fight hand-to-hand.

A large number of members of the teaching corps were strapped to grenades, constantly rushing into the middle of the enemy group, shouting long live China, detonating themselves, and dying with the enemy; Below the mountainside, all the remains of the war dead are covered with the mountain.

This position was fought until the early morning of December 13, that is, after the fall of Nanjing, there were sporadic gunfire and resistance, and in the early morning of the 13th, a large number of soldiers rushed down from the top of the hill to fight and break through with the enemy, except for a few protrusions, most of them were killed.

The entire Purple Mountain was burned by artillery fire, sprinkled with the blood of soldiers, the mountains and rivers were discolored, and the sea and rivers choked up.

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The western front of Nanjing was defended by the Shuixi Gate line, which guarded the Xiaguan Wharf and was the last retreat from the border with the Yangtze River in the north, and the Japanese left flank troops, the 45th Wing of the 6th Division and the 6th Cavalry Wing, attacked the position.

The defending forces of Shuiximen were the 58th Division of the 74th Army and the military police of Nanjing City, and in the fierce battle on the line from Xinhe to Xiaguan, the two sides fought a large-scale white-knuckle battle after fighting shells and bullets.

Inspired by the Charge, the Chinese army continued to launch counter-charges regardless of place or time, and in the suffocating hand-to-hand combat, everyone became bloody, and the corpses of both sides were piled up all over the field, and the blood stained the grass and trees and fields.

This position was fought until half past ten on the morning of December 13, and the truce ended with heavy losses on both sides, and finally the few remaining defenders had to withdraw after the arrival of a large number of Japanese reinforcements.

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In the southwest corner, that is, between the Shuixi Gate in the west and the Zhonghua Gate in the south, it belonged to the position of Saigong Bridge (now known as Saihongqiao), and a shocking bloody battle was also fought.

The defense of Saihongqiao was the 305th Regiment of Zhang Lingwu of the 51st Division of the 74th Army, which was mentioned earlier, and on December 10, the Japanese army increased from more than 800 to more than 2,000 people.

The 51st Division sent the 302nd Regiment to reinforce the Saihongqiao position, and in the face of the enemy's tanks, planes, and artillery, the soldiers of the 51st Division fought back, constantly organizing death squads to repeatedly attack the enemy.

Cheng Zhi, the commander of the 302nd Regiment, came to the front line to command the battle and said: This is the time for a man to serve the country, and Yu is determined to promise the country with a seven-foot body.

At the end of the battle, Regiment Commander Cheng personally went to the battlefield, was wounded and did not retreat, took the lead, and shouted loudly: Nanjing is the capital of our country, take a step back, it is home, there are our fathers and fellow villagers, go forward, take a step forward, and it is worth dying.

In the forward charge, Regiment Commander Cheng was unfortunately swept by the Japanese machine gun and died heroically; The heroic dedication of the regiment commander further stimulated the fighting spirit of the soldiers of the whole regiment, and they all took the lead bravely and fought to the death.

Although the Saihongqiao position was constantly occupied by the Japanese army, it was also constantly recaptured by the defenders, and this tragic tug-of-war was like a big saw, constantly sawing back and forth, sawing flesh and blood, and human life.

Until December 13, when the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters issued a general retreat order, the Saihongqiao position was still in the hands of the Chinese defenders, and the Chinese military chess was still standing proudly in the smoke of gunpowder.

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On the southeast front was the Guanghuamen position, which was also one of the most fierce defensive positions; At the junction of the positions on the eastern and southern fronts, there is Guanghuamen, and because it is the junction of the two positions, this place has been defended by many units such as the Teaching Corps, the 87th Division, the 156th Division, and the Military Police Unit at the same time or alternately.

The 36th and 19th Wings of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army from Chunhua were the main forces attacking Guanghuamen, and from December 9, Guanghuamen was subjected to heavy artillery bombardment by the Japanese army, and was penetrated several times, but was quickly repaired.

Japanese planes, wild mountain guns, and tanks continued to bombard Gwanghwa Gate, and the castle tower was blown away, and the battlements of the 80-meter section were blown flat. By 3 p.m. on the 10th, the Japanese had advanced to the line of the moat.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the 10th, the 9th Brigade of Japanese Engineers blasted the remnant wall at the southeast corner of Guanghua Gate, and more than 100 Japanese soldiers rushed into Guanghua Gate from the sandbag bunker fortifications that had been penetrated and collapsed.

The Battle of Guanghuamen on the 10th was regarded by the Japanese army as the day when the Japanese army broke through the defense line of Nanjing, and the Japanese news media hyped up: "The long-awaited day when the sun flag fluttered at the head of Nanjing City has finally arrived", so the whole country of Japan was crazy.

The Chinese defenders, who were responsible for the defense of Guanghua Gate, engaged in fierce battles with the Japanese with a large number of cluster grenades, machine guns and rifles, and in just a few hours, the entire company and battalion of Chinese officers and soldiers suffered a large number of casualties, and finally recaptured the city gate and blocked the gap in the city wall. Only a few Japanese death squads remained in the cave of the outer city gate.

Late at night on the 10th, Xie Chengrui, the head of the teaching corps, personally led the soldiers to transport gasoline to the arrow tower in the outer city, poured gasoline into the city gate hole and threw fire.

Before the fire was extinguished, Commander Xie ordered the city gate to be opened and led the soldiers to counterattack, completely annihilating the Japanese in the city gate. And the head of the regiment Xie Chengrui charged forward and was seriously burned by the flames. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Xie Chengrui was injured and was reluctant to get out of the line of fire.

Tongji Gate. On the afternoon of the 10th, the city wall collapsed under artillery fire, and the officers and men of the 259th Brigade of the 87th Division fought to the death with the Japanese army.

At dusk, the 259th Brigade and the 261st Brigade of the 87th Division counterattacked at the same time, and the commander of the 259th Brigade, Yi Anhua, personally led a reinforced regiment to the northeast to intersperse the enemy formation. Brigade Commander Chen Yiding led two reinforced battalions of the 261st Brigade to storm from north to south.

The Japanese advance was sandwiched between the city wall and the 259th and 261st brigade attack units, and the Yi and Chen divisions were sandwiched between the Japanese advance and the Japanese support. The battle lasted until late at night, and all the enemies who broke through were destroyed. But Brigadier Yi Anhua was killed.

On the 12th, Guanghuamen was broken through by the Japanese army again, and the soldiers led by the commander of the defending army Xie Chengrui personally used the fire of more than ten machine guns to annihilate all the Japanese troops who entered the city for the second time, and re-plugged the gap with sandbags.

While most of the troops were retreating, the position of the Purple Mountain Teaching Corps was still fierce, and the 2nd Regiment on the Guanghua Gate was still trying its best to counterattack.

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