Before the defense of Nanjing, only Tang Shengzhi advocated: stick to Nanjing. Naturally, he became the commander-in-chief of the garrison of Nanjing.
Tang Shengzhi is a very interesting person, a native of Hunan, from a famous and prestigious family, and his grandfather was the Viceroy of Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty. He entered the Hunan Army Primary School at the age of 16, graduated from the Baoding Army Officer School at the age of 22, and also participated in the Xinhai Revolution and the Dharma Protection Movement.
Tang Shengzhi believed in Buddhism and was known as a "Buddhist general", but there is no doubt that he was an anti-Japanese general with a distinct personality, and he was also one of the generals who advocated a long-term war of resistance. Tang Shengzhi garrisoned Nanjing, and there were many rumors, but there was no historical evidence that he was defending the city alone for personal gain, and he died nine times, knowing that he could not do it.
At this time, both Bai Chongxi and He Yingqin pinched a handful of sweat for Tang Shengzhi: Most of the soldiers who participated in the defense of Nanjing came down from the Songhu battlefield, and some troops even suffered more than one-third casualty, and their morale plummeted.
Anyway, it's settled.
The Central Military Commission formulated a defensive plan for Nanjing to ensure that it would not be lost for two months, and specially set up the Seventh Theater, with Liu Xiang as the commander of the theater and Chen Cheng as the deputy commander of the theater, and its headquarters were in Wuhan. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek asked Liu Xiangchai, the 21st Army, and the 23rd Army to quickly go to Nanjing to support the operation.
Chiang Kai-shek also assigned combat tasks to various theaters:
The Seventh Theater of Operations held its existing positions, with the left flank remaining in the Anji and Xiaofeng mountains, attacking the Flanks of the Japanese army and slowing down its advance. In the third theater of operations, the troops were gathered south of Longtan and north of Guangde, delaying the Japanese army, destroying transportation, and covering the movement of the main force. The Nanjing Garrison, which had established positions in Nanjing, worked closely with the Third Theater to break through the Japanese army.
Old Chiang Kai-shek's operational deployment can be described as extremely crude.
At that time, the only troops left in Nanjing were Sun Yuanliang's 88th Division, Song Xilian's 36th Division, Gui Yongqing's Teaching Corps, and the gendarmerie of three regiments, and they were all just coming down from the Songhu battlefield, and there was a serious shortage of troops, which directly led to the first line of defense on the outskirts of Nanjing, and there was no one to defend at all.
Tang Shengzhi, based on the limited strength of the troops, made the following arrangements:
The 88th Division, stationed in Yuhuatai and Chengnan, the Teaching Corps was stationed at Purple Mountain and the eastern part of the castle wall, the 36th Division was stationed in Jiangshan, ShogunAte Mountain, and north of the city, the gendarmerie troops were stationed at Xiliang Temple, and a Tuyan of the Teaching Corps was stationed at the Wulong Mountain Fortress to guard the Yangtze River blockade line.
Chiang Kai-shek also urgently mobilized nine divisions of the Third Theater and two divisions of the Seventh Theater to aid Nanjing.
The final sequence of guards for Nanjing is as follows:
Tang Shengzhi, commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Garrison, Luo Zhuoying, deputy commander-in-chief, Liu Xing, and Chief of Staff Zhou Huan.
The 10th Army, commander Xu Yuanquan, the 41st Division under the jurisdiction of Ding Zhipan, and the 48th Division of Xu Jiwu.
The 66th Army, commander Ye Zhao, had jurisdiction over the 159th Division and the 160th Division of Tan Tunnel.
The 71st Army, commander Wang Jingjiu, commanded Shen Fazao's 87th Division.
The 72nd Army, sun Yuanliang, commanded the 88th Division.
The 78th Army, commander Song Xilian, had jurisdiction over the 36th Division.
The 74th Army, commander Yu Jishi, commanded Wang Yaowu's 51st Division, Feng Shengfa's 58th Division.
The 83rd Army, commander Deng Longguang, commanded Wu Jianxiong's 154th Division and Li Jiang's 156th Division.
The teaching corps, captain Gui Yongqing, was in charge of He Zhizhong's 103rd Division and Huo Shouyi's 112th Division.
The gendarmes against three regiments, commander Xiao Shan Ling.
Judging from the above strength, about 15 divisions and 100,000 troops were assembled.
After receiving the replenishment of troops, Tang Shengzhi restored the defensive positions on the outskirts of Nanjing, and sent the 72nd Army to garrison the town of Jiangning in Nanjing, the 74th Army to defend the east of Jiangning Town, the 66th Army to serve as the garrison of Chunhua Town to Niufengshan, the 83rd Army to garrison Longtan Town, and the 71st Army to strengthen the Zhenjiang Fortress Defense Line.
Generally speaking, the Chinese garrison's positions in Nanjing were relatively perfect, and they waited quietly for the arrival of the war.