History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
The Battle of Songhu was the first large-scale battle between China and Japan. In this three-month-long battle, the Chinese army was full of elite troops, investing a total of 85 divisions and 10 brigades, totaling about 700,000 people. The Guangdong, Gui, Xiang, Sichuan, Qian, Northeast, Northwest, and Central Armies of the Huangpu Department, which had appeared on the stage of modern Chinese warfare, all participated in the campaign. Not to be outdone, the Japanese sent nine divisions and five brigades and a large number of special forces, numbering as many as 300,000. The idea of the Japanese army was to fight a decisive battle with the main Chinese forces and settle the war once and for all. The Chinese wanted to change the main direction of the Japanese army's offensive from the overall strategy, and attract the Japanese army from the easy-to-advance North China Plain to the east China region where the river network crisscrossed. But After all, Shanghai is in a narrow plain, and the Chinese army is concentrating so many troops here that it is impossible to carry out effective mobile operations. By November 5, the battle ended with the defeat of the Chinese as the Japanese army landed at Jinshanwei endangered the rear road of the Chinese army.
According to the records of the war, because the Chinese side did not organize the troops withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield, "the various armies withdrew, bombed day and night by enemy planes, trampled on people and horses, and order was chaotic," which made it easy for the Japanese army to reach the positions on the outskirts of Nanjing. At this time, the Chinese army defending Nanjing had 14 divisions. Together with the army under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing Gendarmerie Command, the total strength reached 150,000. But in fact, most of these troops were withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield, with a shortage of more than 40,000 soldiers and a majority of new recruits. Coupled with the excessive consumption of ammunition stored in China on the Songhu battlefield at that time and China's weak military industry could not supply ammunition in time, it was simply a pebble to resist more than 100,000 well-equipped elite Japanese troops with aircraft, tanks, long-range artillery and ships. Therefore, this defensive battle lasted only six days before the city was destroyed.
Based on a combination of information and memoirs of foreign friends, the Chinese army resisted to varying degrees after the destruction of Nanjing. Reuters reporter Smith once recorded that the 88th Division left a thousand people to resist the war after the city was destroyed, and finally all of them were martyred. The "History of Nanjing", reprinted in a special issue in 1987, also recorded the deeds of General Xiao Shanling, deputy commander of the gendarmerie, who commanded the remnants of the army to fight with the enemy on December 13 at the Xiaguan River. However, as the Japanese follow-up troops continued to enter the city, the resistance of the Remaining Chinese soldiers was soon brutally suppressed. In its place, various anti-Japanese armed forces were formed by the citizens of Nanjing, who were not willing to be slaves to the country, such as the Jinling Orphan Volunteer Army, which was formed in the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. It was called because most of the members of the team were homeless orphans who had been housed in Nanjing's Jiashan Temple in their early years. Among them, some of the older children also participated in the Battle of Songhu and the Defense of Nanjing. For example, the leader Zhong Hua was once taken to Shimonoseki for resisting the Japanese army. If it were not for the cover of his classmate Lei Yue, 18-year-old Zhong Hua would have fallen into the mass grave of Shimonoseki. Witnessing the brothers and sisters and hundreds of thousands of compatriots who lived together day and night being slaughtered by the Japanese Kou, Zhong Huasui, who escaped death, and more than 20 orphans who also survived by chance made up their minds to fight the Japanese to the death.
The picture shows the Northeast Volunteer Army
At that time, the 30th Brigade of the Japanese 16th Division was responsible for guarding the urban area of Nanjing. His brigade commander, Sasaki, was a well-known Chinese general in the Japanese Army, and he served as an adviser to Chiang Kai-shek for three years, that is, he was familiar with the specific situation in Nanjing, and he was also good at intelligence work. In view of this, Zhong Hua and the others did not move blindly at first, but secretly sent people out to scout the enemy. After a long time, the loopholes in the deployment of Japanese troops were controlled by them. So, instead of being satisfied with posting anti-Japanese slogans and leaflets, they began to make a big move. Or burn the enemy's cars and motorcycles, or burn the enemy's granaries. Once, they even planned to burn down the Japanese barracks, causing the Japanese army in Nanjing to make a scene.
At the beginning of 1938, in order to open the Jinpu Line and prepare for the campaign to take Wuhan in the west, the invading Japanese army built a large military warehouse under the Beigu Mountain and hoarded a large amount of materials. In order to prevent vandalism, the Japanese army set up barbed wire fences within a dozen miles of the warehouse. Through the information provided by the inside line of the construction site, Zhong Hua and others found an ancient tomb road that could lead directly to the warehouse, and armed themselves with guns, ammunition, grenades, explosive packs, etc. Under the guidance of Zhong Hua and others who experienced the battle, many volunteer soldiers reached the level of proficiency in the use of weapons.
The only surviving photograph of the Jinling Orphan Volunteer Army
According to the "Qixia Wenshi" record, it was from then on that the orphan volunteer army really posed a threat to the Japanese army in Nanjing, and there were often incidents in and around the city where the Lone Japanese army and traitors were killed by the orphan volunteer army. Over time, the number of dead enemies soon exceeded two hundred. In order to eliminate the root causes of the chaos, the Japanese army and puppet army in Nanjing City, while casting wide nets, also implemented a curfew in the morning and evening, and closed the city gate early or late to find this anti-Japanese armed force. As a result, everything was in vain. Because the orphan volunteer army had already found a way out, that is, a bunker not far from the Jinchuan Gate, which had a tunnel from the city to the outside of the city. In addition, the citizens of Nanjing, who had been oppressed by the Japanese army, were reluctant to help these foreign invaders. However, the situation of the orphan volunteer army began to take a sharp turn in 1939, because the "Secret Agent 76 Headquarters" under the Wang puppet regime was established with the support of the Japanese army. Many of the members of this secret service organization are the backbone elements of the former Central And Military Command, and they are Chinese, and their understanding of Chinese society far exceeds that of the Japanese army. Soon, the volunteer army was indeed found by them to hide. Of course, there is also a factor in the volunteer army itself, which absorbs the young people of society who are not determined in the development of their members. According to records, the soldiers fought back hard under the encirclement of the Japanese regiments, and at the last moment when the ammunition ran out, the only 11 nominal brave soldiers who remained resolutely pulled the explosive packet. With an earth-shattering noise, this group of fighters with an average age of less than 16 years old all sacrificed their lives for the country and sacrificed the last drop of blood for the War of Resistance.
References: "History of Nanjing", "Honda Katsuichi", "The Road to Nanjing"