On July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, the Japanese army launched a full-scale invasion of China, and the 29th Army rose up to resist. The Japanese army has always wanted to fight a decisive battle with the Chinese army in north China to give play to its mechanized advantages, and Chiang Kai-shek also realized this, and immediately launched a large-scale attack in Shanghai to attract the main force of the Japanese army to attack, hoping to use the dense water network in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions to block the pace of Japanese aggression.
Tang Shengzhi asked for help
At the Battle of Songhu, the Chinese army paid a tragic price of 300,000 casualties, which bought time for the major party, government, military systems, scientific research academies, factories and other units in the capital Nanjing to relocate to the rear. However, the Japanese army moved very quickly, and in November 1937, after the defeat of the Kuomintang army in the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese army immediately launched an attack on Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China.
On December 1, 1937, the Japanese base camp officially issued the "Mainland No. 8" order, ordering "the commander of the Central China Front, in coordination with the Navy, to capture Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China." On the same day, General Matsui Ishigen, commander of the Japanese "Central China Front," ordered the mobilization of 200,000 men from nine divisions and nine regiments to attack Nanjing.
Nanjing and Shanghai are only 300 kilometers away, and as early as late November, Liu Fei, director of the Operations Department of the Military Command, pointed out:
The Japanese army can blockade and shell Nanjing with its navy from the river surface, and then attack with a coordinated sea, land and air, and Nanjing will be in a three-dimensional encirclement situation and cannot be held.
In order to implement the policy of protracted resistance, it is necessary to avoid fighting the Japanese army in the early stage, and it is recommended to make a symbolic resistance in Nanjing, and then take the initiative to retreat.
Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of the general staff of the Military Commission of the National Government, He Yingqin, minister of the Military and Political Affairs Department, Xu Yongchang, director of the Military Command Department, and other generals also advocated abandoning Nanjing, because the more than 300 kilometers from Shanghai to Nanjing are all plains, and there is no danger to defend at all. Moreover, the main force of the Chinese army suffered many casualties in the Battle of Songhu, and it was difficult to restore combat effectiveness without a period of rest. Chiang Kai-shek's German advisers also suggested abandoning Nanking and not making fearless sacrifices.
In fact, the military and political leaders of the Nationalist government at that time knew that Nanjing could not be defended, but Nanjing was the capital of the Republic of China, and it was the political, economic, and cultural center of China at that time.
At the last Nanjing Defense Conference convened by the Nationalist Government, Tang Shengzhi, director of training, stood up passionately and said:
"Nanjing is not only the capital of our country, it is related to international observation, and it is also the mausoleum of Premier Sun, if there is no war, if you abandon Nanjing, how will you give up the spirit of the premier in heaven?" Therefore, it is necessary to keep it. ”
Chiang Kai-shek turned to asking, so who can stick to it? At this time, the venue was silent, and Tang Shengzhi stood up again after hesitating for a while and said: "Chairman of the Committee, if no one else is responsible, I am willing to make it difficult." I will resolutely stick to it and coexist with Nanjing. After that, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, Luo Zhuoying, and Liu Xing as deputy commanders, and mobilized more than 100,000 Kuomintang troops who had just withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield and had not yet had time to rest to guard Nanjing.
Xiao Shan ordered Lin's death
Among the Kuomintang generals guarding Nanjing at that time, there was a very important position, and this position was the mayor of Nanjing, and the mayor of Nanjing at that time was Xiao Shanling. Xiao Shanling was born in 1892 in a small mountain village in Yiyang County, Hunan Province.
Xiao Shanling's family is also regarded as the Shuxiang Mendi, and the three generations of the first door are all talents in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, and they are famous far and wide. Influenced by the family environment, Xiao Shanling entered a private school at the age of six, familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, and was deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the great powers invaded and divided China one after another, and the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, unable to safeguard the interests of the country, resulting in the destruction of the entire Chinese land and the misery of the people. The young Xiao Shan Ling was extremely indignant and decided to throw himself into the pen, and when he was young, he was also influenced by Zeng Guofan and once made an oath:"
The soldiers are in their hands, sweeping away the demons
。 After that, Xiao Shanling entered the Hunan Army Primary School to study.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Xiao Shanling was admitted to the third phase of the Baoding Military Academy. The Baoding Military Academy is the earliest, largest, most completely equipped, and most formal military academy in the history of modern military education in China, and Chiang Kai-shek, Bai Chongxi, Ye Ting, Zhang Zhizhong, Fu Zuoyi, and so on have emerged
A well-known figure in modern Chinese history. Baoding Phase III is also full of talents, Zhang Zhizhong, Huang Shaohu, Bai Chongxi and others are classmates with Xiao Shanling.
After graduating from the Baoding Military Academy, Xiao Shanling returned to Hunan and successively served as a platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, and regiment commander in the Xiang Army, and also followed Tang Shengzhi to participate in the Northern Expedition. After the establishment of the Nationalist government in 1927, Xiao Shan Ling was incorporated into the Nanjing Garrison Command.
In 1936, Xiao Shan Ling was appointed deputy commander of the Kuomintang gendarmerie, and was promoted to the rank of major general
In charge of the establishment and training of the national gendarmerie.
Before the defense of Nanjing, the gendarme commander Gu Zhenglun said that he was ill and retired to Chongqing, while Xiao Shanling was left behind to manage the Kuomintang gendarmes and command the 2nd, 5th, and 10th regiments of the gendarmerie
。 At that time, Xiao Shanling not only served as the deputy commander of the national gendarmerie, but also served as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, the commander of the air defense, the deputy commander of the capital garrison, the director of the capital police department, and the mayor of Nanjing, Ma Junchao, after he fled to the rear, he also concurrently served as the mayor of Nanjing.
In peacetime, these positions were high positions that many high-ranking officials were willing to spend a lot of money to dredge up relations, but in 1937, they became hot potatoes, and many high-ranking Kuomintang military officials found various reasons to flee to the rear, and Xiao Shanling was ordered to take over these important posts and assist Tang Shengzhi in commanding the battle.
Heroic martyrdom
At a time when the country was in trouble and the nation was living and dying, General Xiao Shanling showed the integrity of a Chinese soldier. Although there were nominally 150,000 troops in the Nanjing Defense War, most of the troops had just retired from the Battle of Songhu, and the weapons losses of the various units were serious, and the attrition of soldiers was also very large; in fact, there were only more than 80,000 troops, and more than 30,000 of them were still newly replenished recruits, and they had not undergone any military training.
On December 5, 1937, the Defense of Nanjing officially began, and under the three-dimensional offensive of the Japanese army, Nanjing was soon surrounded by the Japanese army on three sides. On December 6, Chiang Kai-shek called a meeting of officials above major general level and asked them to fight bravely and obey the orders of Commander Tang Shengzhi.
In order to show his determination to coexist and die with Nanjing, Tang Shengzhi withdrew all the ships on the river, and did not formulate any retreat plan, requiring all troops to fight a battle against the water.
Late on the night of December 11, Chiang Kai-shek called Tang Shengzhi and asked him to prepare for a retreat and preserve his strength. In the early morning of December 12, Tang Shengzhi and his staff members worked out a retreat plan overnight, but it was too late.
In the process of retreat, General Xiao Shanling was again appointed as the commander-in-chief of the river crossing, commanding the troops to retreat from the Xiaguan ferry crossing, which was another very difficult task.
During the Defense of Nanjing, his friend
Chen Jichuan came to him twice, analyzed the current situation for him, and wanted him to withdraw from Nanjing, not to make fearless sacrifices. But Xiao ShanLing replied:
Ordered to defend the capital, defense is no way, there is no way to kill the party-state, there is no way to kill the enemy, there is no way to attack the old and young in Jinling, greedy and afraid of death, bow down to the slave, He face to see the father and elder of Jiangdong,
I go, what will the people of Nanjing do? At present, the situation is chaotic, each of them only cares about fleeing for their lives, wandering all over the city and scattering soldiers, not listening to commands, the hearts and minds of the army and the people cannot be stable, defending the territory and defending the country is the duty of soldiers, I should be loyal to the country, smile on the battlefield, and stick to Nanjing, I intend to make an early decision!
”
Xiao Shan Ling was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the river crossing, and immediately led the gendarmerie troops to the riverside, at this time there were not many boats on the river, Xiao Shan Ling immediately ordered the gendarmerie troops to demolish the houses and set up rafts to transport the troops across the river, at this time tens of thousands of Kuomintang troops and a large number of people poured into the river, the troops in the city also gave up their positions and began to break through, the Japanese forward troops had already fought, Xiao Shan Ling commanded the gendarmerie troops to counterattack, while commanding the troops to cross the river.
The night of the 12th was the most crucial night, at this time, Xiao Shan Ling had many opportunities to flee Nanjing, and his men pushed him onto a raft three times, but he swam back and continued to command his troops to cross the river. In the early morning of the 13th, the Japanese army attacked from both land and water, and countless compatriots were tragically killed, corpses were strewn across the field, and the rivers were stained red.
Xiao Shan Ling continued to command the gendarmerie troops to engage in fierce battles with the Japanese army, and after five hours of fierce fighting, the gendarmerie troops ran out of bullets, and Xiao Shan Ling was wounded in many places, but Xiao Shan Ling still shouted:
Success in becoming a benevolent person, today is also
。 The few remaining gendarmes rushed toward the Japanese army with bayonets, engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, and finally the whole army was destroyed. Xiao Shanling had the intention of killing thieves, unable to return to heaven, and after the total annihilation of the army, he shot himself and became the first mayor to be martyred after the outbreak of the War of Resistance.