On December 13, 1937, after the defeat of the Republic of China in the defense of Nanjing and the fall of the capital Nanjing, under the command of Matsui Ishigen, commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, and Gu Shoufu, commander of the Sixth Division, the Japanese army invading China carried out an organized, planned, and premeditated massacre and bloody atrocities such as rape, arson, and robbery in Nanjing and the surrounding areas for six weeks. In the Nanjing Massacre, 300,000 civilians and prisoners of war were killed by the Japanese army.
The Nanjing Massacre was a great humiliation that no one in the Chinese wanted to mention, and in just six weeks, the bustling ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, became a purgatory on earth. 300,000 compatriots were slaughtered in this incident, and wherever the Japanese army went, corpses were strewn across the field and wailing. However, in the Great Defense of Nanjing, not all the generals fled without a fight, and some generals put up desperate resistance, such as General Xiao Shanling, the then mayor of Nanjing.
Xiao ShanLing was born in Yiyang, Hunan in 1892, in the late Qing Dynasty, the young Xiao Shan Ling saw that the people of China were not happy under the invasion of the great powers, and resolutely threw himself into the pen, successively graduated from the Hunan Army Primary School, the Second Preparatory School of the Wuchang Army, and the third phase of the Baoding Military Academy, and he and the later General Zhang Zhizhong of the Kuomintang Army were still classmates. In 1926, Xiao Shanling participated in the Northern Expedition and served as a battalion commander and regimental commander under Tang Shengzhi of the Xiang Army. In 1929, Xiao Shanling served as a lieutenant colonel staff officer in the gendarmerie command.
In 1932, Xiao Shanling served as the chief of the General Affairs Colonel of the Gendarmerie Command, responsible for the establishment and training of the national gendarmerie. In 1936, Xiao Shanling served as chief of staff of the Major General of the Kuomintang Gendarmerie Command. In September 1937, the commander of the gendarmerie, Gu Zhenglun, said that he was ill in Wuhan, and Xiao Shanling was successively promoted to the mayor of Nanjing, the deputy commander of the national gendarmerie lieutenant general, the commander of the Nanjing Municipal Garrison District, the director of the Capital Police Department, the commander of the Capital Air Defense, and the deputy commander of the Capital Garrison District. Under the circumstances at that time, it was only a matter of time before Nanjing fell, but Xiao Shanling was ordered to stand up and die with Nanjing. Xiao Shanling commanded the 2nd Regiment, the 5th Regiment, the 10th Regiment, the Instruction Regiment and other units of the Gendarmerie to assist the garrison in defending the city, dealing with the internal traitors in the city, and maintaining law and order in the city.
On December 4, 1937, in Jurong, the outer position of Nanjing, the Chinese and Japanese armies engaged each other, and the battle officially began, and Tang Shengzhi, commander of the Nanjing Garrison District, commanded all the troops to resist with all their might. However, after only three days of resistance, on December 8, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Tang Shengzhi to go to Chongqing for a meeting, and the post of commander of the national gendarmerie was handed over to Xiao Shanling, who also became the actual person in charge of the defense of Nanjing. On the evening of the 8th, Xiao shanling's compatriot Chen Jichuan found Xiao Shan Ling, saying that the defenders were poorly equipped, the reinforcements were hopeless, and the troops were all temporarily patchwork, difficult to command, and no matter how heroic the generals were, they could not stop the enemy army, so Xiao Shan Ling immediately left this place of right and wrong. Xiao Shanling replied: "Ordered to defend the capital, there is no way to defend, there is no way to defend against the party-state, there is no way to kill the enemy, there is no way to kill the old and young in Jinling, greedy and afraid of death, bowing down to the slave, how can I see the father and elder of Jiangdong, I leave, what will the people of Nanjing do?" ”
On the 9th, Chen Jichuan came to the temporary headquarters at Xinjiekou and once again advised him to hurry to Nanjing immediately, Xiao Shanling replied: "Now that the situation is chaotic, each of them is only concerned with fleeing for their lives, they are wandering all over the city and scattering their troops, they do not listen to commands, the hearts and minds of the army and the people cannot be stable, it is the duty of soldiers to defend the territory for the country, I should be loyal to the country, lie on the battlefield with a smile, and stick to Nanjing, I intend to make an early decision!" Chen Jichuan looked at his old friend and knew that he was ready to sacrifice.
On December 12, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Nanjing defenders to retreat in all directions, Tang Shengzhi left Nanjing escorted by guards, and Xiao Shanling was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the river crossing, commanding the troops to break through. However, before the defense of Nanjing, Tang Shengzhi issued an order to defend Nanjing, did not formulate a retreat plan, and also destroyed most of the boats crossing the river, so when tens of thousands of officers and soldiers such as the 71st Army, the 72nd Army, the 74th Army, the 87th Division, and the 88th Division poured into the custom ferry, more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians were in chaos, and Xiao Shan ling immediately ordered some gendarmes to demolish houses and rafts to rush the ferry. On the evening of the 12th, Xiao Shanling's men repeatedly pushed him onto the raft and asked him to leave Nanjing, but Xiao Shanling climbed back.
On the 13th, Xiao Shan Ling led the gendarmerie troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese army at the Shimonoseki Ferry, and his subordinates once again wanted to carry the wounded Xiao Shan Ling away, but he refused, and General Xiao Shan Ling shouted with his arms: "Kill Chengren, today is also!" Xiao Shan Ling also engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, which lasted for five hours, and finally thousands of soldiers died heroically. Desperate, Xiao Shanling took a look at the fiery city of Nanjing, drank bullets and committed suicide, staining Jinling with blood, and fulfilled his vow to coexist and die with Nanjing. After Xiao Shanling's wife received this bad news, she martyred her.