During the Nanjing Massacre from 1931 to 1945, during the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, after the defeat of the Republic of China in the Defense of Nanjing and the fall of the capital Nanjing on December 13, 1937, under the command of Matsui Ishigen, commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, and Gu Shoufu, commander of the 6th Division, the Japanese invading China army carried out organized, planned, and premeditated massacres and bloody atrocities such as adultery, arson, and robbery in Nanjing and nearby areas for 6 weeks. In the Nanjing Massacre, a large number of civilians and prisoners of war were killed by the Japanese army, countless families were torn apart, and the number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre exceeded 300,000.
At the end of the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese landed from Hangzhou Bay and surrounded Shanghai on the flank. In order to avoid the enemy on both sides of the Shanghai combat troops and to consolidate the capital, the Chinese Third Theater ordered the Chinese troops there to move to the existing positions on the outskirts of Nanjing. The Japanese occupied Shanghai on November 12, 1937, and took advantage of the victory to advance westward in an attempt to capture Nanjing in one fell swoop in order to force the Chinese government to submit.
After the Japanese army captured Shanghai, because the 10th Army was not strongly resisted by the Chinese army, the troops suffered very few casualties, so they took advantage of the victory to move westward, unwilling to abide by the operational geographical restriction line stipulated by the General Staff Headquarters, and decided on the night of November 15 to "pursue Nanjing independently and decisively with the main force of the Israeli army." When the General Staff Headquarters sent a telegram ordering it to stop advancing, the "Central China Front" submitted its opinion to the base camp and strongly demanded "the capture of Nanjing."
The Battle of Nanjing, also known as the Battle of Nanjing, was fought by the Chinese army against the Japanese invading army in order to defend the capital Nanjing after its defeat at the Battle of Songhu. On December 1, the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), the Japanese army headquarters issued the "Mainland Order No. 8", ordering the Central China Front to coordinate with the Navy and divide the troops into three routes to capture Nanjing. Chiang Kai-shek appointed Tang Shengzhi as commander of the capital garrison and deployed for the defense of Nanjing. Due to the huge disparity between the enemy and our forces, the gates of Nanjing were successively attacked by the Japanese army, and the defenders resisted step by step, sacrificing countless sacrifices. On the 12th, Tang Shengzhi was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw the defenders. Due to the disorderly retreat, most of the defenders stayed in the city and were massacred by the Japanese army in large numbers, suffering heavy losses. On December 13, Nanjing fell, and the Japanese army began the devastating Nanjing Massacre.
Japan had planned to wipe out the main force of the Chinese army near Shanghai, thus forcing the Chinese Nationalist government to submit. However, the Japanese Shanghai dispatch army fought hard for three months in the Songhu battlefield and suffered heavy losses, and the Japanese decision-making level was divided on whether to directly attack Nanjing. Concerned about the Soviet military threat in the north, Tada Jun, deputy chief of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters, and others advocated "not expanding" the war. Therefore, on November 7, when Tokyo temporarily organized the Shanghai Dispatch Army and the 10th Army into the Central China Front, it limited the area of operation of the Front to the east of the Suzhou and Jiaxing fronts (that is, the "Lingling Line"). However, the Japanese field commanders strongly demanded an attack on Nanjing: on the 15th, Yanagawa Heisuke's 10th Army ignored the orders of the General Staff Headquarters and decided to take advantage of the collapse of the Chinese army to "pursue Nanjing with all its might"; on the 22nd, the commander of the Front Army, Matsui Ishigen, encouraged the General Staff Headquarters to abandon the policy of "no expansion", saying that "in order to make the incident quickly resolved, taking advantage of the current enemy's inferiority, it is necessary to capture Nanjing."
In late November, the Japanese Shanghai Dispatch Army and the 10th Army crossed the "Command Line" in an all-round way and began to attack Changzhou and Huzhou along the south and north sides of Taihu Lake, respectively. In view of the fait accompli of rapid progress on the front, on the 24th the Tokyo base camp abolished the "system order line" and issued a formal order to capture Nanjing on December 1.
Soon after the attack on Nanjing began, the frenzied advancing combat units left such units behind, and since the Japanese army did not have the logistical preparations to fight deep inland, the troops immediately faced the serious problem of food supply interruption, and the Japanese army command issued an order that actually wanted the troops to rob on the spot. The Japanese army was usually accompanied by the atrocity of raping women in robbery, and in order to cover up its crimes of robbery and rape, the Japanese army often set fire to the entire village in addition to killing the victim.
As contemporary Chinese, we will not forget the massacres of today in history. We will not forget that it pierced the heart of the people. We will not forget the barbaric acts of the Japanese Kou, not forget the national shame, make unremitting efforts to improve ourselves, and revitalize the Chinese nation. Whoever offends me in China will be punished from afar!
Image source: (from the internet)
Editor: Sunny