After the fall of Shanghai, the Japanese army attacked Nanjing in three ways. Old Chiang Kai-shek urgently convened a military conference to discuss the issue of staying behind in Nanjing. Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, He Yingqin, and others all advocated abandoning the defense of Nanjing, because the elite of the Nationalist army suffered heavy losses and low morale in the Battle of Songhu, and it was uncertain to defend Nanjing at this time. But Tang Shengzhi advocated sticking to it, saying: "Now the enemy has approached the capital, and the capital is the location of the tomb of the Father of the Nation." At the moment of this great enemy, if we do not sacrifice one or two generals in Nanjing, we will not only be sorry for the spirit of the prime minister in heaven, but also sorry for our supreme commander. I advocate sticking to Nanjing and fighting the enemy to the end! ”
In the end, Tang Shengzhi was appointed by the old Chiang Kai-shek as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, and led his troops to guard Nanjing. In order to strengthen the defense force of Nanjing, Tang Shengzhi asked Du Yuming's armored first regiment to stay and assist in the battle, but Du Yuming believed that the Nationalist army did not have air superiority and that if the armored regiment remained, it would become a target for enemy bombing. Finally, at the repeated request of Tang Shengzhi, Du Yuming left behind a German-made tank company. After the battle for the defense of Nanjing began, this tank company was ordered to cooperate with infantry in the areas of Tangshan, The Beijing-Tang highway, and Fangshan, and achieved certain results.
Soon the Japanese planes found the tanks of the Nationalist army and began to concentrate on bombing, and three tanks that were participating in the battle in Fangshan were hit by bombs dropped by the Japanese planes, two of which were seriously damaged and one was lightly damaged. The less damaged tank, numbered 312, was only damaged by its tracks and could not be moved. At this time, the devil's infantry had already rushed up, and the two Nationalist soldiers in the tank thought that instead of abandoning the car and fleeing and being killed by the enemy, it was better to ambush in the chariot and wait for the opportunity to fight the devil. Due to the large number of devils and heavy artillery, the two Nationalist soldiers did not move, and the devils did not pay attention to the tank, and went straight to Nanjing.
At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a large group of ghosts passed by here again, and the two fighters thought that this was a good opportunity, so they quietly extended their machine guns from the front and back ends of the tank turret, aimed at the ghosts and suddenly opened fire. The Japanese did not expect that there were still Nationalist soldiers in ambush in the abandoned tanks, and they were caught off guard. In order to capture this advanced tank, the Japanese did not use heavy artillery at first, but only surrounded the tank from a distance, trying to consume the bullets of the Nationalist soldiers. The two sides have been deadlocked for more than two hours, and the Japanese have suffered more than a hundred casualties. At this time, the sky was completely dark, and the two Nationalist soldiers decided to take the opportunity to break through, and one of them was unfortunately killed in the breakthrough, and the other escaped by chance.
When the soldier returned to the unit, he told his superiors about his battle and said that he had eliminated 50 ghosts, and the superiors thought he was bragging and reprimanded him fiercely. So why didn't the superiors believe his words at that time? Because at that time, there was a huge gap between the national army in terms of weapons and equipment and the quality of individual soldiers, and if it wanted to eliminate a ghost on the battlefield, the national army usually had to pay several times or even more than ten times the price. And this soldier actually said that he killed more than 50 devils alone, can you say that your superiors can believe it?
Later, this incident was circulated in the national army as a joke, and many people said that this soldier wanted to make a contribution and went crazy. Two years later, Du Yuming led his troops to participate in the Battle of Kunlun Pass, and this soldier also participated. After a bloody battle, our army killed and wounded more than 8,000 enemy troops, and also killed the commander of the enemy brigade, Masao Nakamura. While cleaning up the battlefield, a pamphlet entitled "The Imperial Wind" was captured, in which the Japanese army recorded the scene of the Battle of Fangshan and mentioned that the two soldiers of the Nationalist army had dealt them a heavy blow. Du Yuming believed that these two warriors were real warriors. However, when he ordered a reward for the surviving soldier, he learned that the soldier had died heroically in the just-concluded Battle of Kunlun Pass. Unfortunately, to this day, we do not know the name of the soldier. On the battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japan, there were many unknown martyrs like this soldier, who all contributed their strength to the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which is worthy of our eternal memory and remembrance.