"Jiangnan Jialidi, Jinling Imperial Prefecture", Nanjing has more than 6,000 years of civilization history, nearly 2,600 years of city history and nearly 500 years of capital history, is one of the four ancient capitals of China, has "six dynasties ancient capital", "ten dynasties capital", is an important birthplace of Chinese civilization, in 472 BC, yue built the first city here. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan made Nanjing (then known as Jianye) the capital of Eastern Wu in 229. Since then, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen, Southern Tang, Ming Dynasty, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and so on have all built capitals here.
In 1368 AD, after the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the capital in Nanjing, he mobilized skilled craftsmen from all over the country, which lasted 21 years and built a 33.67-kilometer-long inner city wall, which is the remaining Nanjing city wall, ranking first in the world. Since then, the population of Nanjing Has continued to expand and become more and more prosperous. In 1927, the Nationalist government established the capital of Nanjing, and Nanjing's political, economic, and cultural status became more important, becoming a prosperous metropolis with a population of one million.
But what no one expected was that in 1937, the capital of the Republic of China was invaded and slaughtered by Japanese imperialism, and hundreds of thousands of people were brutally killed. Many people think that the Chinese soldiers did not resist at that time, but in fact, it was not, the Nanjing garrison in 1937 did not fall without a fight, and they paid the price of their lives to defend Nanjing.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese invaders provoked an all-out war of aggression against China at the Lugou Bridge in an attempt to invade China from north to south. On August 13, 1937, the Japanese invaders provoked another incident in Shanghai, and Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 800,000 troops from all over the country to fight the Japanese army in the Songhu area, in an attempt to rely on the dense water network in the south to offset the mechanized superiority of the Japanese army and drive the Japanese army into the sea, but under the powerful naval and air force of the Japanese army, the Battle of Songhu was still lost.
On August 15, 1937, 20 Type 96 road attack aircraft of the Japanese Navy took off from Omura Aviation Base near Nagasaki, Japan, crossed the sea, invaded china from Hangzhou Bay, and attacked Nanjing. Entering the skies over Nanjing, the Japanese army strafed and bombed the Ming Palace Airport, Daxue Airport, Bafutang, First Park, Xinjiekou and other military facilities and densely populated areas, causing great casualties. After that, the Japanese army began to bomb Nanjing more frequently, and the ancient capital of the Ten Dynasties became a war zone.
On November 12, 1937, after three months of fierce fighting, the Chinese army withdrew from Shanghai after paying a terrible price of 300,000 casualties, and Shanghai fell. After the fall of Shanghai, the Japanese army directed the attack on Moutai directly at Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. The commander of the Japanese Central China Front and the commander of the Shanghai Dispatch Army issued an order at the Shanghai command post: In order to solve the incident, the capture of the capital Nanjing is of the greatest value. We must use the existing troops and do not hesitate to make the greatest sacrifices.
On December 1, 1937, the Japanese base camp issued an order, under the command of the Commander of the Central China Front, Matsui Ishigen, who commanded the Shanghai Dispatch Army and the Tenth Army, a total of more than 100,000 Japanese troops, with the cooperation of the Japanese aviation and navy, the troops were divided into three roads and marched to Nanjing. In order to cooperate with the Japanese ground attack, Japanese aircraft carried out a month of indiscriminate bombardment of Nanjing from November 13 to December 13.
After the fall of Shanghai, the Nationalist government began to prepare for the defense of Nanjing, and at that time there was a great debate about whether to defend Nanjing, and many generals believed that Nanjing was not dangerous to defend and should be abandoned. However, Tang Shengzhi believes that Nanjing is the capital of our country, is related to the observation of the country, and is also the mausoleum of Premier Sun, if Nanjing is abandoned, how will it be the spirit of the premier in heaven? Therefore, it is necessary to stick to it!
Chiang Kai-shek was also touched by Tang Shengzhi's views, but when asked who was responsible for staying in Nanjing, no one said a word, because everyone knew that staying in Nanjing at this time would not only be impossible to keep, but might also leave behind an ancient infamy. In the end, it was Tang Shengzhi who broke the silence and resolutely said: "Chairman of the COMMITTEE, if no one else is responsible, I am willing to reluctantly make it difficult, and I will resolutely stick to it and coexist and die with The City of Nanjing!" Subsequently, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, and the deputy commanders were Luo Zhuoying and Liu Xing.
At that time, most of the Nationalist troops guarding Nanjing had just been withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield, with poor equipment, few personnel, low morale, and had not yet undergone a break. Although Tang Shengzhi had 14 divisions plus four gendarmerie regiments, as well as police units, Jiangning Fortress units, artillery units, and special service units totaling 150,000 people, most of them were newly added recruits, and there was not much combat effectiveness at all. What is even more serious is that there are many factions in the Kuomintang army, and Tang Shengzhi is a general of the Xiang Army, and he cannot command some central and local troops at all.
However, in order to show his determination to break the boat, Tang Shengzhi did not make a retreat plan, and also ordered Yu Pengfei, the minister of transportation, to close the ferry from Xiaguan to Pukou and withdraw the ship from Nanjing.
On December 5, 1937, the vanguard of the Japanese army and the 66th Army guarding Jurong fought fiercely at jurong Tianwang Temple, and the defense of Nanjing officially began. Under the blow of the superior Japanese artillery fire, Jurong fell first. On December 8, the Japanese captured the outer positions of Nanjing, forming a siege of Nanjing.
On December 9, 1937, after the Japanese army invading China completed the siege of Nanjing, Matsui Ishigen sent aircraft to the city of Nanjing to distribute a letter of persuasion to persuade the Chinese army to surrender. Matsui Ishigen's letter of persuasion was quickly sent to Tang Shengzhi's headquarters, and Tang Shengzhi was furious and tore the letter of persuasion to pieces and threw it on the ground. However, Tang Shengzhi quickly calmed down, he understood that this was an ultimatum for the Japanese army, and the Japanese army's general attack on the city of Nanjing was about to be launched. Tang Shengzhi immediately adjusted the deployment, increased the strength of the Japanese army in the key offensive areas, and sent the supervision team to the front line position.
At 12:00 noon on December 10, Akira Muto, deputy chief of staff of the Japanese central China front, came to the forward position and looked inside the city, expecting the surrender of the Chinese troops, but they did not wait. At 1 p.m., Matsui Ishigen ordered a general attack on the city of Nanjing. The Chinese army, under the command of Tang Shengzhi, responded to the Japanese army's "order to surrender" with fierce artillery fire.
Purple Mountain, Guanghua Gate, Yuhuatai, Zhonghua Gate, Yangfang Mountain and other places of the defenders and the Japanese army engaged in a fierce battle, guarding the left wing of the Yuhuatai 72nd Army 88 Division 264 Brigade under the leadership of the brigade commander Gao Zhisong and the two Japanese companies repeatedly fought, after running out of food, the brigade commander Gao Zhisong first jumped out of the trench, and launched a final fight with the Japanese army, and finally the brigade was all killed. The 262nd Brigade, which guarded the right wing position of Yuhuatai, under the leadership of the brigade commander Zhu Chi, also fought fiercely with the Japanese army, and all died in the forward position.
The 51st Division of the 74th Army was responsible for blocking the attack of the Japanese 9th Division on Chunhua Town and Niushou Mountain, and Ji Hongru, acting commander of the 301st Regiment of the 51st Division, led his troops to fight the Japanese aircraft and artillery with rudimentary rifles, machine guns, grenades and other light weapons. In the end, the fortifications of Chunhua Town were almost all destroyed by Japanese artillery fire, the 301st Regiment was also killed and wounded, three-quarters of the 12 company commanders of the regiment were either killed or wounded, more than 1400 officers and men below the platoon were killed, almost the entire army was destroyed, and Ji Hongru was also carried down the line of fire after being seriously wounded.
Due to heavy casualties, the 51st Division was forced to abandon the town of Chunhua and retreat. In order to cover the retreat of the whole division, Wang Yaowu ordered the 305th Regiment to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army. During the battle, the regimental commander Zhang Lingfu was shot in the left arm, and his subordinates advised him to withdraw across the Yangtze River for treatment, but Zhang was furious, "In the past, Xiang Yu's army was defeated, and he was still unwilling to cross the Wu River, how could I cross the Yangtze River because of my injuries?" Fight the enemy for life and death to fulfill your oath! After that, he engaged in a fierce fight with the Japanese army.
At noon on December 11, Tang Shengzhi received a call from Chiang Kai-shek, asking him to retreat across the river, and ordered a general to leave a general to organize the troops to cross the river, and Xiao Shanling, the mayor of Nanjing and deputy commander of the national gendarmerie, was left behind as the commander-in-chief of the river crossing. However, at this time, the Japanese army had already captured many city walls, and it was not easy to evacuate 100,000 troops safely in one day. In order to cover the retreat of the main force, Xu Jingming, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 302nd Regiment of the 51st Division of the 74th Army, resolutely led his troops to break up when the regimental commander and several battalion commanders were killed, and the whole battalion staged the most tragic scene in the defense of Nanjing of the 74th Army with their flesh and blood under the condition that they were running out of ammunition and food.
Due to the lack of river crossing vessels, the docks throughout Nanjing were very congested, and the wounded soldiers who retreated from the front line, the rear miscellaneous troops, the wounded, the heavy loads, the vehicles, the old and weak women and children were all blocked at the Xiaguan wharf. Xiao Shanling, the mayor of Nanjing, is a veteran who graduated from Baoding Phase III and graduated from the same period as Zhang Zhizhong.
Before the Nanjing Defense War, Xiao Shanling served as the mayor of Nanjing, the deputy commander of the capital garrison (commander Tang Shengzhi) and the commander of the Nanjing municipal police, the lieutenant general of the gendarmerie command and the commander of the capital air defense command, and the director of the capital police department.
He became the number one figure in the Kuomintang Nanjing Constitution and police, too
One of the actual heads of the capital of the Gongwei National Government. Before the battle to defend Nanjing began, Xiao Shan ordered tens of thousands of civilian workers to organize tens of thousands of civilian workers based on the second regiment, the teaching regiment, and the practice regiment of the gendarmerie to rush to build field fortifications around Yuhuatai; he also ordered the Tenth Regiment of the Gendarmerie and the heavy machine gun battalion to step up patrol city defense services to prevent Japanese espionage activities.
After the defense of Nanjing began, he assisted General Tang Shengzhi in commanding the troops. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the troops to retreat when Xiao Shan ling's friend
Chen Jichuan found him and advised him to leave this place of right and wrong quickly, but Xiao ShanLing replied:
He was ordered to defend the capital, defended without a way, could not defend against the party-state, could not kill the enemy effectively, could not do anything to Jinling old and young, greedy for life and afraid of death, bowed down to the slave, he face to see The father and elder of Jiangdong, I go, what should the people of Nanjing do.
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Before retreating, Chen Jichuan again found Xiao Shan Ling and asked him to quickly withdraw, but Xiao Shan Ling replied: "Now that the situation is chaotic, each of them is only concerned with fleeing for their lives, they are full of brave troops, they do not listen to commands, the hearts and minds of the army and the people cannot be stabilized, and it is the duty of the soldiers to defend the territory for the country, and I should be loyal to the country, lie on the battlefield, and stick to Nanjing, I intend to make an early decision." ”
On December 12, after Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Shengzhi ordered the troops to retreat, Xiao Shanling, the mayor of Nanjing, was again appointed commander-in-chief of the river crossing. After Xiao Shanling arrived at the Shimonoseki ferry, he immediately commanded the gendarmerie troops and the police to dismantle houses and tie wooden boats to cover the retreat of the military and the people. On the evening of the 12th, Xiao Shanling's men pushed him onto the ship several times, but Xiao Shanling climbed back. On the morning of the 13th, the Japanese army attacked from land and water, Xiao Shan Ling led the gendarmerie and police forces to engage in a fierce battle with the Japanese army, after running out of ammunition, the two sides launched a fierce white-knife battle, blocking the Japanese army for five hours, and finally the whole army was destroyed, Xiao Shan Ling, after being seriously wounded, raised his gun to martyr the country, blood stained Jinling, with his own righteous deeds, realized the promise of "swearing to coexist and die with Nanjing".