With the arrival of December 13 this year (National Memorial Day) alarm bells ringing, it can be said that all the Chinese once again fell into the sad environment of the War of Resistance Against Japan, yes, in the early of the last century, due to the corruption at the end of the Qing Dynasty, China fell into an unprecedented darkness, and under the covetousness of many Western powers at that time, China fell into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial "strange" society, and the subsequent outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan caused China to suffer great suffering and pain.
And many years after the victory of the war, we still did not choose to forget the sad history but remembered it in our hearts, so we will become the National Public Memorial Day every Year on December 13, in order to pay tribute to those compatriots who were unfortunately killed in the Nanjing Massacre, but on the day when the state held the Public Memorial Day, it also caused many netizens to wonder, why did the Nationalist army say to withdraw during the Nanjing Defense War? And did it withdraw at the time of the war? So today I will talk to you about the sudden retreat of the Kuomintang troops in Nanjing.
In fact, we all know one thing, that is, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China's military strength was a lot backward compared to Japan, the largest military power in Asia at that time, basically a backward agricultural country confronted a modern industrial country, so the results of the frontal confrontation between the national army and the Japanese army at that time were often fiasco, even if it was a victory, the casualties were a very huge number, which we can see from the Battle of Songhu before japan's invasion of Nanjing.
At the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek's army decided to open a second battlefield in order to reduce the pressure on the North China Battlefield, and this was also the beginning of the Battle of Songhu (the first congress battle between China and Japan at that time), although the National Government of the Battle of Songhu at that time was almost using the strength of the whole country to resist Japan, but the final result must be clear to you and me, the National Government can be said to have suffered a crushing defeat and returned to Shanghai, but although the Battle of Songhu was ultimately defeated, it also shattered the wild words that Japan had occupied China for three months. And this result can be said to have laid the groundwork for Japan's revenge for the Nanjing Massacre.
Therefore, after the Battle of Songhu, Japan also launched an attack on Nanjing in anger, and for the Kuomintang troops who had just experienced the Songhu Campaign, at this time it could be said that it was a tired division or even a warless one, after all, hundreds of thousands of people were killed on the Songhu battlefield.
However, the most serious thing was that after the Battle of Songhu, the Kuomintang army at that time not only failed to replenish the personnel, equipment, and strength in time, especially in terms of soldiers, but also seriously insufficient, and most of them were some new recruits, and the former veterans were basically consumed in the Songhu Campaign, so the defenders of Nanjing could be said to have low morale at this time.
On the other hand, the Japanese army won the Battle of Songhu, but it was a strategic defeat (the false rumors of the three-month occupation of China were broken), but the morale and army personnel were far higher than the Nationalist army in Nanjing at that time, so the Kuomintang top brass at that time already knew that the battle facing Nanjing was an unequal battle, and the victory rate was very low.
Moreover, for Japan, after experiencing the Songhu Battle, the Japanese also knew the tenacious spirit of the Chinese army, so they had made all the preparations when they planned to attack Nanjing, and after the Japanese combat command center issued the order to attack Nanjing, the Japanese army divided into three routes to the army and sea troops from the Yangtze River to encircle Nanjing, and Nanjing under the encirclement of the Japanese army was like an isolated city, and the atmosphere could be said to be quite tense.
And the Japanese army in order to take the city of Nanjing, it can be said that it brought a large number of heavy weapons, only 240mm howitzers, 150mm cannons more than 700, grenadiers, mortars are more than 2000, and more than 300 armored vehicles are concentrated to fight together, and in terms of guns, heavy machine guns, light machine guns are countless, it can be said that there is a world of difference from the tired divisions withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield at that time. Therefore, at that time, the Nationalist defenders were basically unable to resist in the face of such a powerful firepower.
Therefore, the kuomintang top brass at that time had the idea of retreating at the very beginning, and in the earliest times, the Kuomintang had always had a combat strategy, that is, to drag Japan in a dragging way, dragging Japan with the depth of the country, and trying to avoid a major showdown with Japan.
But at this time, Chiang Kai-shek has also been thinking, after all, Nanjing at that time was the capital of the Nationalist government, if you do not resist and let the Japanese occupy it, then yu public and private are sorry for the people at home, and even more can not account with the elders of the Kuomintang at that time, let alone with the deceased Mr. Sun Yat-sen, so Chiang Kai-shek at this time is also extremely embarrassed, after all, at this time to confront the Japanese side is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, just at this time the Kuomintang general Tang Shengzhi stood up and took the initiative to guard Nanjing. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek, who was hesitating, also complied with Tang Shengzhi's request for war.
But at this time, Chiang Kai-shek was still not at ease, so he sought help from Germany at that time, and Germany was also unexpected to send people to talk with Chiang Kai-shek after learning the news, and even more on behalf of Germany, he took the initiative to negotiate with the Japanese side with the intention of reconciling the contradictions between China and Japan, and the reason for Germany to attend the maneuver at this time was also very simple, not really wanted to help China, but because the German army launched a tug-of-war with the Soviet Union in the north, so it wanted to take this opportunity to win japan and China to jointly resist the Soviet Union. However, the Kuomintang at that time was also aware of Japan's wolf ambitions, so it prepared to fight Japan while seeking peace.
And this was also an important reason why the Kuomintang troops had been in Nanjing at that time, but at that time Chiang Kai-shek still underestimated Japan's wolf ambitions, just when the Kuomintang troops were waiting for news from Japan, the Japanese army had begun to fight with the local defenders in Nanjing, and Tang Shengzhi, the defender of the Kuomintang who took the initiative to resist at that time, could only carry out passive defense due to the reasons of army personnel and so on, but the result was that you and I both knew that basically it was impossible to resist. Moreover, coupled with the fact that the internal contradictions of the Kuomintang at that time could not be like an iron plate, so under the encirclement of the Japanese army regiments, the guards in Nanjing were basically broken by the Japanese army one by one, so Tang Shengzhi chose to break through and withdraw from the city of Nanjing after resisting for eight days, but even if he chose to retreat, the Kuomintang army on the Nanjing battlefield still suffered heavy losses, especially in the formulation of the breakthrough plan From today's point of view, there is no plan to speak of, so in the breakthrough process, a large number of Nationalist soldiers died under the guns of the Japanese army.
So on December 13, 1937, the Japanese army invaded the city of Nanjing, and after the invasion of the city of Nanjing, the Japanese army could launch a crazy retaliation against Nanjing, creating a massacre of Nanjing massacre that shocked China and foreign countries, but in fact, the retreat of the Nanjing nationalist army at that time was not only related to the gap in strength of the Japanese army at that time, but also related to the special geographical location and fortifications of Nanjing.
We all know that in the midst of war, favorable geographical location can often guide the direction of war, but for Nanjing at that time, its geographical location can be said to be very poor, although we all know that Nanjing is a beautiful city, is a historical city is said to be a spiritual city is not exaggerated, but in the military geography of Nanjing city is not suitable for defense of the city, because Nanjing on three sides of the danger, and facing the Yangtze River natural danger, this can be said to provide opportunities for the Japanese warships, to know that at that time in the Songhu Campaign Due to strategic mistakes, China's maritime power was basically completely destroyed, so when Japan attacked Nanjing, the Yangtze River was basically unimpeded.
Therefore, the Nanjing garrison at that time was basically under the range of artillery fire of enemy warships, and the power of the guns of warships did not need me to say anything more, so the Kuomintang high-level people at that time had taken these factors into account long ago, so under the circumstances at that time, Nanjing was basically a Jedi, there was no danger to defend, and Nanjing did not have the strategic significance of the Songhu battlefield, because of the early withdrawal was in line with the situation of the Kuomintang at that time.
And for the city of Nanjing, the most headache is its backward fortifications, because the fortifications in Nanjing were built relatively early, and they were built by the Nanjing Garrison Command, so the whole is indeed very backward, serious lack of experience in modern large-scale wars, and the fortifications have been exposed to everyone after years of wind and rain, and some artillery positions lack an upward firing angle, and because most of these fortifications are set up on the top of the mountain and other exposed positions, so in the case of engagement with the Japanese army It was very easy to be destroyed by the Japanese army, so under such circumstances, it was also a matter of course that the Kuomintang chose to abandon the Nanjing retreat, but no one thought that the Japanese army at that time would do such a cruel thing as the Nanjing Massacre.
Therefore, in general, Nanjing had almost no chance of winning at that time, and from the very beginning of the fight, the Nanjing battlefield was not a defensive war like the Songhu battlefield, but a retreat war, or a campaign to cover the retreat of the people, and this also led to the inevitable failure of the Nanjing Campaign, but it was only a matter of time and time, but those anti-Japanese martyrs who died on the battlefield are always worthy of our remembrance, and the crimes committed by Japan in Nanjing are worthy of our eternal memory.