In the 1937 Battle of Nanking, the Chinese army collapsed, and we all know the things behind it, and we can't bear to mention it here. Responsible for the defense of Nanjing at that time was Tang Shengzhi, a first-class general of the Nationalist Army. What many people do not understand is that most of the opinions of the Nationalist army before the war were to abandon the defense of Nanjing, and only a few generals, including Tang Shengzhi, advocated that the capital must be defended, and even if they died in battle, they had to beat the morale of the Chinese army to deter the Japanese army. Logically speaking, such a general should not bear the name of infamy, but should be called a hero, so why has the criticism of Tang Shou Nanjing never stopped?
First, let's see why nanjing should not be guarded. In the winter of 1937, the Chinese army had just experienced the defeat in Shanghai, and at that time we were full of confidence and sent more than 800,000 troops to fight against the Japanese, but they were succeeded by the other side under the superiority of sea and air, and Shanghai was eventually lost, while our losses were as high as 200,000 people, and morale was extremely low. Since Nanjing is very close to Shanghai, there is no danger to defend, what we need is to think in the long run. If you gamble with the Japanese army because Nanjing was the capital at that time, it will undoubtedly be another fiasco like Shanghai. Therefore, as senior generals, most people can still see the situation clearly and believe that they should maintain their strength for a long time. This is the reason why most people insist on not defending Nanjing. This opinion should be correct.
Tang Shengzhi was an exception, he advocated stubbornness, and took the initiative to ask for battle, serving as the commander of the city defense. Why? This should be analyzed from Tang's past experience. Before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China experienced more than 20 years of scuffles in the early days of the Republic of China, and in the battles of various warlords, Tang Shengzhi was also a prince along the way, with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but because of arrogance and poor use of soldiers, the original sphere of influence and army were almost lost. (Originally, Tang was the largest warlord in Hunan, with influence throughout Hunan, Hubei, and Anhui) Although he still held a high position after the war, Tang Shengzhi had no real power in the government and the army, and his sense of existence was not strong. When the Japanese army approached Nanjing, Tang Shengzhi was on the one hand out of patriotism, on the other hand, he also wanted to restore his former reputation, and was the first to jump out and advocate a death attack with the Japanese army in Nanjing. At that time, most of the high-level people did not support his ideas, but Tang Shengzhi made a generous statement, claiming that he could not account to his ancestors if he lost the capital, and even if he could not hold on, he would have to die here to be honored. Because this argument was too decent to be refuted, Tang Shengzhi was indeed allowed to lead 100,000 troops to stay in Nanjing to defend.
If it was only because of his stubbornness that led to the defeat, it was not enough to make Tang Shengzhi bear a lot of infamy. The main reason why Tang was criticized was that in the Battle of Nanjing, especially in the process of defeat and retreat, the arrangement was improper, resulting in a large number of military and civilian casualties. It is not so much that the arrangement is not effective, but rather that there is no arrangement, and even that it is helping the Japanese army. Why? The fall of Nanjing was to be expected, and this was not a matter of military blood. The problem is that Tang emulated the ancients before the decisive battle and played a battle of backwaters. He ordered all the ships to be transported or destroyed, which led to the defeat of the troops and the people could not leave the city of Nanjing along the Upper Yangtze River, and only then did the tragedy that we all know later occur. What is even more infuriating is that if Tang Shengzhi is really full of enthusiasm, he can understand that he actually reserved a motorboat for himself alone, and as soon as he received the retreat order, he immediately slipped away, completely disregarding the lives of his subordinates, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers with no way to live waiting for death in The city of Nanjing, which is really disgusting.
This is the reason why tang shengzhi is still being scolded for the Battle of Nanjing decades later. After the retreat from Nanjing, Tang's military career basically ended and he became a rural teacher.