Editing Nanjing Massacre (section)

=== Strategy for the defense of Nanjing ===
In a press release to foreign reporters, [[Tang Shengzhi]] announced the city would not surrender and would fight to the death. Tang gathered a garrison force of some 81,500 soldiers,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Askew |first=David |date=2003 |title=Defending Nanking: An Examination of the Capital Garrison Forces |journal=Sino-Japanese Studies |page=173}}</ref> many of whom were untrained conscripts, or troops exhausted from the [[Battle of Shanghai]]. The Chinese government left for relocation on December 1, and the president left on December 7, leaving the administration of Nanjing to an International Committee led by [[John Rabe]], a German national and [[Nazi Party]] member.

In an attempt to secure permission for this ceasefire from [[Chiang Kai-shek]], Rabe, who was living in Nanjing and had been acting as the Chairman of the [[Nanking International Safety Zone]] Committee, boarded the {{USS|Panay|PR-5|}} on December 9.

On December 11, Rabe found that Chinese soldiers were still residing in areas of the Safety Zone, meaning that it became an intended target for Japanese attacks despite the majority being innocent civilians. Rabe commented on how efforts to remove these Chinese troops failed and Japanese soldiers began to lob grenades into the refugee zone.{{sfn|Rabe|Wickert|1998|pp=56, 59–60}}