Today is the eighth National Day of Commemoration for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. 84 years ago today, Nanjing fell, and then it was slaughtered, and 300,000 compatriots died under the swords and guns of the Japanese army invading China. Every Chinese should remember this history!
So, which Japanese troops invaded China participated in the attack on Nanjing and the Nanjing Massacre? There have always been many statements, basically the same. This article is based on the PLA Publishing House's "105 Divisions and Regiments in the History of the Japanese Army Invading China", "The Japanese Army Invading China During the War of Resistance Against Japan", "The Case of the Japanese Army's Invasion of China", "The Deployment of the Japanese Army's Forces in Attacking Nanjing" and other materials to pick up these demonic troops.
After the Battle of Songhu in mid-November 1937, General Ishigen Matsui, commander of the Japanese Central China Front and commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, commanded 8 divisions and 2 brigades of about 200,000 people to attack Nanjing in two ways. The Japanese army on the north road was the Shanghai dispatch army, organized by the 3rd, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 16th divisions and the Shigeto detachment (the 101st Division of the Shanghai Dispatch Army remained in Shanghai) and was personally commanded by Matsui Ishigen; the Japanese army on the south road was led by Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa, commander of the 10th Army, and under the command of the 6th, 18th, 114th Divisions and Kunisaki Detachment. On December 1, the Japanese base camp issued an order to attack Nanjing; at 13:00 on December 10, the Japanese Central China Front issued an order for a general attack on Nanjing. On December 13, the Japanese army captured Nanjing, and began a terrible massacre!
On December 12, 1937, the Japanese light armored convoy broke through the Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing
On December 7, before the Japanese launched a general offensive on Nanjing, the 11th Division (underpaid to the 10th Infantry Brigade Regiment) and the Shigeto Detachment of the Shanghai Dispatch Army were incorporated into the newly formed Fifth Army to participate in the landing operations along the South China coast. On December 11, after the main force of the Japanese army launched an attack on the city wall of Nanjing, the Eighteenth Division of the Tenth Army was ordered to move east and attack Hangzhou. In addition, the Third Division sent only one unit to attack Nanjing, and the main force remained in the Suzhou area. Therefore, the Japanese army that invaded China and committed the heinous crimes of the Nanjing Massacre were mainly the Sixth, Ninth, Sixteenth, and 114th Divisions, as well as the Kunisaki Detachment and the 3rd and 13th Divisions.
Sixth Division
The Sixth Division was founded in 1888 as one of the first field divisions in Japan, and its soldiers were mainly from Kumamoto, Japan, also known as the "Kumamoto Division".
The division is the basic tactical corps of the Japanese Army and is a fixed formation unit at the highest level. Originally adapted from the town platform, it was modeled after the German Army. The Japanese 1st to 20th Divisions and guards divisions were permanent divisions, also known as the Bang/Pack Horse Division, which had 2 brigades (2 infantry companies per brigade), 1 each of cavalry, artillery, engineers, and heavy troops, a total of 8 companies. Since its basic combat unit is 4 infantry companies, it is also known as the "four-unit system" division. Generally, the fully loaded permanent divisions of the Japanese army can reach 24,000-28,000 people. After the Battle of Wuhan in 1938, in order to meet the needs of different combat scales, the Japanese army successively divided divisions into four types: A, B, C and D.
On December 13, 1937, the 6th Division of the Japanese Invasion of China built a wooden bridge over the Qinhuai River and broke into the Zhonghua West Gate in Nanjing
The Sixth Division was one of the 17 permanent divisions of the Japanese Army before the outbreak of World War II, belonging to the First Division Regiment, the unit was under the title (code name) "Ming", when attacking Nanjing, it belonged to the Tenth Army, the division commander Lieutenant General Gu Shoufu, under the jurisdiction of the 11th Infantry Brigade, the 36th Infantry Brigade, a total of 4 infantry companies, cavalry, field artillery, engineers, and heavy troops each 1 company. On December 10, 1937, the Central China Front of the Japanese invasion of China launched a general attack on Nanjing, and the 6th Division attacked from the direction of Niushou Mountain, Banqiao, Yuhuatai, Zhonghua Gate, Jiangdong Gate and Sanhan River. On the 13th, the Sixth Division took the lead in attacking Nanjing from the Zhonghua Gate, and the Sixth Division broke through the Zhongshan Gate. The division was one of the main perpetrators of the "Nanjing Massacre." Subsequently, the Sixth Division participated in the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Xianggan, and the Battle of Changsha. In November 1940, the division was changed to a "three-unit system" B division (the brigade-level structure was abolished, and the division directly administered 3 infantry companies). After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Sixth Division was transferred to the Pacific Theater in 1942. On 6 September 1945, the 6th Division surrendered to the Australian First Army on Bougainville Island, north of the Solomon Islands. After Japan's unconditional surrender, the retired Tani Shoufu was extradited to China as a Class B war criminal to be tried by the Nanjing Military Tribunal and executed on April 26, 1947 at Yuhuatai in Nanjing.
One of the main perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre, Gu Shoufu Fufa
Another notorious murderous demon of the Sixth Division, Tanaka Junji, who was then the commander of the 45th Regiment of the Sixth Division of the Japanese Army, wielded a knife in Nanjing to kill unarmed Chinese soldiers and civilians, from zhonghua gate to shuixi gate, allegedly killing all over Nanjing, beheading more than 300 people. Captured by international gendarmes after the war, he was extradited to China by the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo for trial and executed by firing squad on January 28, 1948.
Ninth Division
The Ninth Division was formed in 1898 and its soldiers were mainly from Kanazawa, Japan, so it was called the "Kanazawa Division". The Ninth Division was one of the 17 standing divisions of the Japanese army before the outbreak of World War II, and was also a division of the First Division, with the unit commonly known as "Wu". As early as 1932, during the "128 Incident", the Ninth Division was sent to Shanghai as the main force attacking Songhu. In December 1937, when the Ninth Division attacked Nanjing, the Ninth Division was subordinate to the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and the division commander, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke, under the command of the 6th Infantry Brigade and the 18th Infantry Brigade, a total of 4 infantry companies, and 1 each of cavalry, mountain artillery, engineers, and heavy troops. At 13:00 on December 10, the Japanese Central China Front issued an order for a general attack on Nanjing, and the Ninth Division attacked from the south of Xiaolingwei to the direction of Guanghuamen. On the 13th, the Ninth Division broke through the Guanghua Gate and began a frenzied massacre.
The Chinese defenders stubbornly resisted
The Japanese Ninth Division after the capture of Nanjing
After February 1938, the Ninth Division was transferred to the Central China Dispatch Army and participated in the Battle of Xuzhou and the Battle of Wuhan. In 1940, the division was ordered to be transferred to northeast China and stationed under the Kwantung Army. In December 1940, the division was changed to a "three-unit system" B division. In December 1944, the Ninth Division was ordered to be transferred to Taiwan under the 10th Front. After Japan's defeat and surrender, the Ninth Division surrendered its weapons to the Chinese army in Taiwan. Yoshizumi Ryosuke was classified as a war criminal in 1946 but escaped trial.
Sixteenth Division
The 16th Division was formed in 1905 with soldiers mainly from Kyoto, Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture, hence the name "Kyoto Division". The 16th Division is one of the standing divisions of the Japanese Army, which belongs to the First Division, and the unit is generally titled "Yuan". When nanjing was attacked in December 1937, the 16th Division was subordinate to the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and the division commander was Lieutenant General Nakajima Imagago, with jurisdiction over the 19th Infantry Brigade and the 30th Infantry Brigade, with a total of 4 infantry companies, and 1 each of cavalry, field artillery, engineers, and heavy troops. After the Japanese launched a general attack on Nanjing, the 16th Division attacked from Tangshan and Qilin Gate to Zhongshan Gate and Xiaguan. After the Japanese army captured Nanjing, the 16th Division created the inhumane Nanjing Massacre, killing more than 160,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war, which is considered to be the most murderous Japanese unit, and the two protagonists of the notorious "100-man beheading" killing competition, Takeshi Noda and Toshiaki Xiangjing, came from this unit.
The commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Imasago, personally beheaded two Chinese prisoners of war
The Japanese newspaper "Hundred People Cut" reported
After the Battle of Nanjing, the 16th Division participated in the Xuzhou Operation and the Wuhan Operation. In April 1941, the division was changed to a "three-unit system" B division. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Sixteenth Division was incorporated into the Fourteenth Army of the Japanese Confederate Army and participated in the attack on the Philippines. In 1944, the Sixteenth Division moved to Leyte. In October of the same year, the 16th Division was severely damaged by the American Army, the division commander Makino Shiro committed suicide, the 3 subordinate wing commanders were killed, the remnants of 600 soldiers collapsed, and the 16th Division was completely destroyed.
In December 1945, after the war, the Chinese government asked the Allies to extradite Nakajima imago to China for trial, but he had already escaped justice on October 28 after dying of uremia and cirrhosis. The Division's Sasaki Brigade was one of the most criminal and murderous units in the Nanjing Massacre, and the brigade commander, Major General Sasaki, was also one of the main perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre, and died of illness on May 30, 1955 at the Fushun Japanese War Criminals Management Center in China. Takeshi Noda and Toshiaki Xiangjing, who made the "Hundred Man Chop", were captured after the war and were ambushed in Nanjing on January 28, 1948.
114th Division
On October 12, 1937, the Japanese headquarters battalion, based on the reserve personnel of the 14th Division, was expanded into the 114th Division in Utsu, Japan, and then went to China and was incorporated into the combat sequence of the 10th Army, with the general title of "General", and the division commander was Lieutenant General Shigeharu Suematsu, which was a division of the First Division, under the jurisdiction of the 127th Infantry Brigade, the 128th Infantry Brigade, a total of 4 infantry companies, 1 each of cavalry, field artillery, engineers, and heavy troops.
On December 10, 1937, the Central China Front of the Japanese invasion of China launched a general attack on Nanjing, and the 114th Division attacked from the direction of Moling Pass, Fangshan, Yuhuatai and Zhonghuamen. On the 13th, the 114th Division broke through the Zhonghua Gate. After the Japanese army captured Nanjing, it began to eliminate the officers and men of the Chinese army who had laid down their weapons in the form of mass massacres, and the division assassinated 1354 prisoners of war on the same day alone. At the same time, the inhuman mass murder of unarmed civilians began, committing an unforgivable and heinous crime! On February 10, 1938, the division was transferred to the Direct Command of the North China Front and participated in the Battle of Xuzhou. On July 22, 1939, the 114th Division was ordered to return to China for recuperation, and in August, its organization was abolished.
The commander of the 114th Division, Shigeharu Suematsu (right), discussed with the commander of the 6th Division, Gu Shoufu, to attack the Zhonghua Gate
On July 10, 1944, the Japanese invading China expanded the independent infantry 3rd Brigade regiment in Fenyang, Shanxi into a C-type division (abolishing the first-level formation of the company), and the name was the 114th Division. But this 114th Division is no longer the same unit as the 114th Division that participated in the Nanjing Massacre.
After the war, one of the main perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre, Shigeharu Suematsu, was not included in the list of war criminals and escaped his trial by a military court.
Kunisaki Detachment (9th Infantry Brigade)
The "detachment" is a special temporary organization of the Japanese Army during World War II, formed for the implementation of specific combat tasks, mainly drawn from the main field division regiment within its formation of a brigade or wing level unit, as a backbone force and assigned to other special forces, forming an independent campaign group. Usually only in temporary formation during combat, the detachment's troops are reassigned after the mission is completed. Detachments are usually named after commanders and change as commanders change. For example, the "Shigeto Detachment" was initially headed by Chiaki Shigeto, and later the detachment was succeeded by Shigeichi Hakata and Shojiro Iida, and the detachment was correspondingly renamed "Hakata Detachment" and "Iida Detachment". The size of the detachment is more than one brigade, and the few are only one or two infantry brigades; the rank of detachment leader, the highest is lieutenant general, the lower one is a lieutenant general, and the lower one is a junior or even a junior.
The Kunisaki detachment was temporarily drawn from the Ninth Brigade of the Fifth Division. At the end of September 1937, the Fifth Division received orders from the base camp, and in order to support the Japanese attack on Shanghai, the Ninth Brigade Regiment (the Eleventh Infantry Brigade) was transferred to Form the Kunisaki Detachment to support Shanghai, and the detachment leader, Major General Kunisaki Noboru (Brigade Commander of the Ninth Brigade Regiment), had jurisdiction over the 11th and 41st Infantry Regiments. After the Kunisaki detachment assisted the Japanese Shanghai Dispatch Army in capturing Shanghai, it was not transferred back to the Fifth Division of the North China Dispatch Army, but continued to attack Nanjing with seven divisions of the Central China Dispatch Army. The Kunisaki detachment, along with several other divisions and regiments, created the Nanjing Massacre.
On the afternoon of December 5, 1937, the third brigade of the 41st Wing under the command of the Kunisaki Detachment of the Japanese Army invaded China captured the position outside the Jinshan Acropolis in Nanjing
Six weeks after the Nanjing Massacre, the Kunisaki detachment returned to the regimental structure of the Fifth Division and participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang. After that, the Fifth Division was successively transferred to the Kwantung Army, the South China Front, and the Twenty-fifth Army of the Southern Army. After Japan's defeat, the division surrendered on the Indonesian island of Celan.
Yamada Detachment (103rd Infantry Brigade)
The Yamada Detachment of the Japanese Army invaded China, the 103rd Infantry Brigade Regiment. Brigades are tactical regiments of the Japanese army, and their formation level is below the division and above the company. The number of brigades varies, ranging from about 3,000 to 8,000 people. Brigade commanders usually have the rank of major general and, in a few, lieutenant generals. There are two most common brigades of the Japanese invasion of China, namely infantry brigades and mixed brigades. Infantry brigades are combat units subordinate to divisions and regiments, and are the highest level of formation units in infantry. The Infantry Brigade (5000-7700 men) consists of two infantry companies, each with 2500-3800 men. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army organized a new type of division, abolished the first-level formation of the company, and the infantry brigade had 4 infantry brigades, with a brigade quota of 5096 people. Mixed brigades, or independent mixed brigades, consist of multi-service units, with 6,000-8,000 men, are actually a small division. Independent mixed brigades are not subordinate to a certain division, and carry out independent combat campaign tasks, mostly garrison units, equipped with light infantry weapons, and tactical units. In addition, there are chariot brigades, cavalry brigades, field artillery brigades, etc.
The Yamada Detachment (103rd Infantry Brigade Regiment) was subordinate to the 13th Division, and on September 11, 1937, it was incorporated into the Shanghai Dispatch Army, and the brigade commander was Major General Yamada Kushiji, under the command of the 65th Infantry Regiment and the 104th Infantry Regiment. During the attack on Nanjing, the Yamada detachment of the 13th Division attacked Wulong Mountain and ShogunAte Mountain north of Nanjing. After the fall of Nanjing, the Japanese army began a frenzied massacre, and the Yamada detachment was "not far behind", and the 65th Wing of the Yamada detachment alone captured Chinese officers and soldiers (including wounded and sick officers and soldiers) and more than 57,400 refugees, cut off food and drink for several days, and then slaughtered en masse.
The Yamada detachment of the 13th Division of the Japanese invasion of China captured nearly 15,000 Chinese soldiers on the south bank of the Yangtze River (Grass Shoe Gorge) north of the Shogunate Mountain in Nanjing, most of whom were massacred by the Japanese army en masse
After January 1938, the 13th Division participated in the Battle of Xuzhou, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Suizao, the First Battle of Changsha, the Second Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Western Hubei, the Battle of Changde, the Battle of Changheng, and the Battle of Guiliu with the main force of the Japanese army, and committed numerous crimes. In mid-August 1945, the division surrendered to Chinese troops at the mouth of Jiangxi Lake.
Advance Team of the 3rd Division (68th Infantry Regiment)
The 68th Infantry Regiment was subordinate to the 5th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Division, and was led by Wing Commander Takashi Takashi Takasa. The wing is the largest combat unit in a single branch of the Japanese army, usually with a strength of 3000-3500 people. Japanese wing units are generally regarded as regimental units. The number of wings varies according to the type of troops. The main branches of the army were infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and heavy troops, as well as independent mixed companies (composed of a certain proportion of infantry and artillery), and special wings (seen in the late Pacific War). Wing captains are usually Ōsa, and sometimes Nakasa is also appointed. The infantry squadrons in each service company have a relatively fixed formation, with jurisdiction over 3 infantry brigades of 1,000-1,200 people, as well as artillery squadrons, communication squadrons, transport teams, ammunition teams, etc., with nearly 4,000 personnel, which is obviously larger than that of China's infantry regiments in the same period; however, the personnel of artillery, engineers, and other companies fluctuate greatly, and the cavalry wing has the least number of personnel, which is similar to the cavalry regiments of the same period in China.
The invading Japanese troops advancing in the direction of Nanjing
After the Battle of Songhu, the main force of the Third Division remained in the Suzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, and Wuxi areas, and only Ying Senxiao led the 68th Wing to Nanjing, participated in the attack on Nanjing east of Yuhuatai and around Guanghuamen, captured Tongji Gate and Wuding Gate, and led his troops to participate in the Nanjing Massacre.
Takashi Takashi Takashi later became commander of the Eleventh Division and commander of the Twelfth Army. On September 20, 1945, Takashi Takashi, commander of the 12th Army of the Japanese invasion of China, led 31,560 officers and men to surrender to China at Luohe. According to historical records: "Takashi is 58 years old, with gray hair, glasses, a forehead hanging low, completely devoid of the madness of the past, and his face is depressed and dull." ”
The memorial statue of the surrender of Luohe River in Henan recreates the scene of The surrender of Ying Sen Xiao in that year
(Author: Xu Ping, an expert in military history)
Produced by WeChat (zgjw_81) of China Military Network
Author: Xu Ping
Editor: Chai Xiao