Battle of Nanjing

background

In November 1937, the National Revolutionary Army lost the Battle of Songhu, and Shanghai was occupied by Japan. On December 1, 1937, the Japanese base camp issued the "Mainland Order No. 8" "Order: The commander of the Central China Front Army must cooperate with the navy to conquer Nanjing, the capital of the enemy country", and the detailed deployment was ordered to be handled according to the "instructions of the chief of staff". As a result, the Chinese side began to prepare for the defense of Nanjing, the capital city, which was only 300 kilometers west of Shanghai. On November 8, the Japanese army divided into routes and approached Nanjing, and on November 30, Guangde was lost, and the Japanese army reversed the right side of Nanjing and made a detour, forming an encirclement from the southeast to the southwest of Nanjing.

The battle begins

On December 1, 1937, the Jiangyin Fortress was lost. On the 4th, the Japanese army completed the encirclement of the east of Nanjing. In this way, the lines of Nanjing's first line of defense, Jiangning, Niushoushan, Chunhua, Tangshan, and Longtan, were exposed to the enemy.

On December 9, 1937, the cannon fire on the banks of the Qinhuai River in the southern suburbs of Nanjing continued. The Japanese army used tanks as the lead to conquer Gaoqiao Gate and advanced towards Guanghua Gate. On the Guanghua Gate in the night, Colonel Xie Chengrui, commander of the Second Regiment of the First Brigade of the Teaching Corps of the Central Army Military Academy, looked into the distance and said nothing. At this time, it is needless to say, every soldier knows that a great war is coming.

On the morning of the 10th, the Japanese army occupied the Tongguang barracks in Daxiaochang and shelled Guanghuamen. Under the command of Regiment Commander Xie Chengrui, he relied on the city wall to resolutely fight back, and reported the battle situation to the headquarters of the teaching corps. Lieutenant General Gui Yongqing, the commander of the army, ordered the artillery regiment to enter the city immediately and set up a position in the Ming Imperial Palace to support the Xie regiment. The Japanese under artillery fire continued to charge, and by 3 p.m. they had advanced to the line of the moat. At 8 o'clock in the evening, a Japanese death squad of more than 10 people rushed into the city gate cave outside Guanghua Gate. Commander Xie Chengrui suggested to Captain Gui Yongqing, who was supervising the battle at the Wuchao Gate, that the Japanese invaders be burned. After receiving approval, Regiment Commander Xie personally led the soldiers to transport gasoline to the Arrow Tower in the outer city. In the middle of the night, gasoline was poured into the gate hole and a fire was thrown. Smoke billowed and gunfire rang out. Before the fire was extinguished, Commander Xie ordered the city gate to be opened and led a platoon of soldiers to counterattack. The Japanese soldiers in the cave of the city gate were either burned to death or killed. The Guanghuamen position was unharmed, while Regiment Commander Xie Chengrui charged forward and was burned by the flames. After the wounded regiment commander Xie withdrew to his position, he once again looked at the majestic Guanghua Gate. He kept Guanghua Gate, but he didn't know that at Tongji Gate not far away, Major General Yi Anhua, commander of the 259th Brigade of the 87th Division of the 71st Army, had been martyred.

The battle at Tongjimen broke out on the afternoon of the 10th. The city wall collapsed under artillery fire, and the officers and men of the 259th Brigade fought to the death with the Japanese army, and finally lost their positions because the gap was too large. The 259th Brigade was still breathing, and the phone call of Wang Jingjiu, commander of the 71st Army, reached the front-line command post. The 259 and 261 brigades were ordered to quickly return to their original positions. Brigadier Yi Anhua held the military order in his hand, and without the slightest hesitation, he called through the commander of the 261st Brigade, Major General Chen Yiding, and met at dusk to counterattack. Although he knew that his troops had been badly damaged in the Battle of Songhu a few months earlier.

Dusk came, and the billowing smoke of gunpowder in the twilight darkened the sky. The signal for the attack was raised, and Brigade Commander 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. In the melee, only gunshots and shouts of killing could be heard. The battle lasted until late at night, and all the enemies who broke through were destroyed. However, Brigade Commander Yi Anhua was injured in the head, waist, and arms in many places, and lost a lot of blood and died heroically. He was 37 years old.

On the 11th, the focus of the Japanese attack shifted to Yuhuatai outside the Zhonghua Gate. Responsible for the defense of Yuhuatai were the 262 Brigade of the 88th Division of the right flank position and the 264 Brigade of the 88th Division of the left flank position. From the 9th to the 11th, the Yuhuatai position was constantly attacked by the Japanese army. The 262nd Brigade and the 264th Brigade resisted to the death by virtue of the terrain and did not lose an inch of land. The Japanese attack reached its peak on the 11th. The Japanese offensive continued unabated by a steady stream of reinforcements, and the casualties of the defenders of Yuhuatai were increasing. Major General Zhu Chi, commander of the 262nd Brigade, and Major General Gao Zhisong, commander of the 264th Brigade, no longer had a single soldier to fight at their disposal, and they did not have any reinforcements. The battle continued until the early morning of the 12th, and the defenders, who had suffered heavy casualties, still firmly controlled Yuhuatai. The Japanese suspended the offensive and mobilized heavy artillery and aircraft to bombard the positions of the 262nd Brigade. The artillery fire became more and more intensive, the fortifications on the mountain were in ruins in the bombardment, and the officers and men of the 262nd Brigade who held the hill were killed one after another. After the artillery stopped, the swarming Japanese infantry met no more resistance. The 262nd Brigade of the defending army was completely annihilated, and the brigade commander, Major General Zhu Chi, was martyred at the age of 37. At this time, the 264th Brigade's hold was even more difficult. The Japanese, supported by artillery fire, had rushed to their positions and engaged the defenders in close quarters. The scuffle continued into the afternoon, with gunfire and shouts of killing gradually subduing. The position of the 264th Brigade was lost, and the brigade commander, Major General Gao Zhisong, was killed at the age of 39.

Yuhuatai was lost, and the Japanese army achieved the commanding heights and continued to attack the Zhonghua Gate. By the 12th, Cheng Zhi, the commander of the 302nd Regiment of the 51st Division of the 74th Army of the defending army, was martyred. But the defenders of Zhonghua Gate still fought to the death. At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the headquarters of the commander of the Nanjing garrison convened a meeting of the commanders of all armies and divisions, and the commander Tang Shengzhi ordered a retreat. After the retreat order was issued, most of the division commanders did not return to the troops, but only called and ran away after the order was issued. A retreat without command turned into a rout in an instant. The various units of the defenders retreated to Rujiangmen, and the situation was in chaos.

Major General Xiao Shanling, deputy commander of the military police and director of the Capital Police Department, ordered the military police and police forces scattered in various places to assemble and retreat, leaving only two battalions of the military police training regiment to maintain the retreat order. By the time Xiao Shanling had completed the aftermath of the retreat and arrived at the riverside, it was already late at night. At this time, there were still thousands of soldiers looking at the river and sighing. Xiao Shanling decisively ordered everyone to find everything available and quickly cross the river. Under his command, the stragglers set up rafts and began to cross the river. Suddenly, a dense burst of gunfire rang out on Zhongshan Avenue, and the Japanese army had caught up. Xiao Shanling saw that the enemy army was fierce, so he ordered the stragglers who had not crossed the river to retreat to both sides, and he personally led the gendarmes to cover it. Eventual martyrdom. He was 45 years old.

The battle is over

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. By the time the retreat order was given to the 2nd Regiment, it was already the early morning of the 13th. The teaching corps was immediately ordered to move. Regiment Commander Xie Chengrui, who was suffering from injuries and illnesses, died on the battlefield at this time. He was 33 years old.

In this battle, the Chinese army fought bloodily with 100,000 people and heroically counterattacked the Japanese invading army. However, the Japanese army advanced with 8 divisions, leaving the defenders surrounded on three sides. The unfavorable position of the last battle, coupled with the military authorities' passive defense in organization and command, caused the defenders to be passively beaten everywhere, and finally decided to break through without a thorough plan, resulting in a large number of troops trapped in the city and brutally killed by the Japanese army.

During the battle, the Chinese army suffered about 50,000 casualties.

effect

After the Japanese captured Nanjing on December 13, 1937, they carried out large-scale massacres, looting, rape and other war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war in the urban area and suburbs of Nanjing for six weeks. The death toll of the Nanjing Massacre has been found at least 200,000 by the International Court of Justice and 300,000 by Chinese scholars. Analyzing the data of the Battle of Nanjing, it can be found that not many Kuomintang troops were actually killed in the battle. Most died in the chaotic retreat and in the massacre of the Japanese army.