Editing Battle of Nanking (section)

== Japanese advance on Nanjing (November 11 – December 4) ==
By the start of December, Japan's Central China Area Army had swollen in strength to over 160,000 men,<ref>Akira Fujiwara, "The Nanking Atrocity: An Interpretive Overview," in ''The Nanking Atrocity, 1937–38: Complicating the Picture'', ed. Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi (New York: Berghahn Books, 2008), 31.</ref> though only about 70,000 of these would ultimately participate in the fighting.<ref>David Askew, "Defending Nanking: An Examination of the Capital Garrison Forces," ''Sino-Japanese Studies'', April 15, 2003, 158. Askew cites the diary of General Iwane Matsui and the research of historian Ikuhiko Hata.</ref> The plan of attack against Nanjing was a [[pincer movement]] which the Japanese called "encirclement and annihilation".<ref name="TK22" /><ref>Masahiro Yamamoto, ''The History and Historiography of the Rape of Nanking'' (Tuscaloosa: unpublished Ph.D. thesis, 1998), 505.</ref> The two prongs of the Central China Area Army's pincer were the Shanghai Expeditionary Army (SEA) advancing on Nanjing from its eastern side and the 10th Army advancing from its southern side. To the north and west of Nanjing lay the Yangtze River, but the Japanese planned to plug this possible escape route as well both by dispatching a squadron of ships up the river and by deploying two special detachments to circle around behind the city.<ref name="pincer22">Masahiro Yamamoto, ''Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity'' (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), 51–52.</ref> The Kunisaki Detachment was to cross the Yangtze in the south with the ultimate aim of occupying [[Pukou]] on the river bank west of Nanjing while the Yamada Detachment was to be sent on the far north route with the ultimate aim of taking Mufushan just north of Nanjing.<ref name="pincer22" />

=== Fighting retreat of the Chinese Army, breaching the Wufu line ===
As of 11 November, all elements of the [[National Revolutionary Army|Chinese army]] in the Lower Yangtze Theatre were falling back after the [[Battle of Shanghai]]. Unlike previous instances during the Shanghai campaign where Chinese retreats were conducted with discipline, the Chinese retreat from Shanghai was poorly coordinated and disorganized, in part due to the sheer size of the operation and lack of prior planning. The orders to retreat had been passed top-down in a haphazard manner, and the Chinese army frequently bogged down under its own weight or became congested at [[Choke point|bottlenecks]] like bridges. Making matters worse were [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Service|Japanese aircraft]] constantly harassing the Chinese columns, adding to the growing casualties and mayhem. Despite their losses, the Chinese army managed to escape destruction by the Japanese forces, who were attempting to encircle them in the last few days of the combat in Shanghai.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=42–43}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yiding |first=Chen |title=Yangshupu Yunzaobin zhandou |pages=42}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wakabayashi |first=Bob |title=The Nanking Atrocity, 1937-1938: Complicating the Picture |date=2007 |publisher=Berghahn Books |pages=31}}</ref>
[[File:Japanese_landing_at_Baimaokou,_November_1937.png|thumb|Japanese troops of the 16th Division landing on the South Yangtze near Baimaokou, November 13 or 14]]
On 12 November, the Japanese forces deployed in Shanghai were ordered to pursue the retreating Chinese forces. With most Chinese troops melting away into the retreat, many cities and towns were quickly captured by the Japanese, including [[Jiading, Shanghai|Jiading]] and [[Taicang]]. In [[Jiashan County|Jiashan]] however, the main force of the Japanese 18th division encountered fierce resistance from the Right Wing Force. The defenders, consisting of 2 complete divisions and one regiment each from 2 divisions and 1 brigade, fought against the 18th division along the Zhapu-Pinghu-Jiaxing line (乍平嘉線). The 18th division took [[Fengjing| Fengjing Town]] in two days, during which brigade commander Shozo Tezuka (手塚省三) was wounded. On November 10, the 18th division began its attack on Jiashan County. In the next four days, both sides suffered heavy casualties. By the 14th, the defenders had been exhausted and began preparation for retreat when the 18th division launched a general offensive covered by dozens of aircraft, fully occupying the county on the 15th.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/21525355 |title=第四章 太湖以南作战 |access-date=2025-03-16}}</ref> During the six-day Fengjing and Jiashan battles, the 18th division suffered more than 1,000 casualties.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/21540005 |title=第五章 结论 |access-date=2025-03-16}}</ref> The Chinese defenders totalling 15,573 troops suffered as many as 7,317 killed, wounded, or missing.<ref>{{cite book |title=浙江档案 |date=2008 |page=54}}</ref> Japanese troops from the freshly deployed [[Tenth Army (Japan)|Tenth Army]], consisting of the 6th, 18th, 114th divisions and the Kunisaki Detachment, were eager for combat. However, many of the other Japanese units were exhausted from the fighting in Shanghai, and were slower to follow through with their orders.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=55–58}}</ref>

Despite the Chinese retreat, the Japanese encountered strong resistance at the Wufu defensive line between Fushan and Lake Tai, which had been nicknamed a "new [[Hindenburg Line|Hindenburg line]]" in Chinese propaganda. At [[Changshu]], Japanese forces had to fight slowly through an interlocking system of concrete [[Pillbox (military)|pillboxes]] manned by Chinese soldiers fighting to the death, all whilst Chinese artillery bombarded them with accurate fire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=84–85}}</ref> The Japanese [[9th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|9th Division]] was faced with a similar challenge in [[Suzhou, Jiangsu|Suzhou]]: contrary to propaganda accounts of the city falling without a fight, Japanese soldiers had to fight through a series of pillboxes in front of the city before painstakingly eliminating pockets of resistance in [[Urban warfare|street fighting]]. These operations were concluded by 19 November, with some 1,000 Chinese soldiers killed in Suzhou and another 100 artillery pieces captured, according to Japanese records.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=86}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Dijiu Shituan zhanshi |edition=56 |pages=108–110}}</ref>

By late November, the Japanese army was advancing rapidly around [[Lake Tai]] en route to Nanjing. The Chinese, in order to counter these advances, deployed some five divisions of the Sichuanese 23rd Group Army from warlord [[Liu Xiang (warlord)|Liu Xiang's]] forces to the southern end of the lake near [[Guangde]], and two more divisions (the 103rd and 112th) to the river fortress [[Jiangyin]] near the lake's northern end, which had been the site of a naval battle in August.

=== Battles of Lake Tai and Guangde ===
[[File:Rao Guohua.png|thumb|Sichuanese general Rao Guohua, whose forces would defend Guangde. He would commit suicide at the battle's end.]]
On November 25, the Japanese 18th Division attacked the town of Sian near [[Guangde]]. The Chinese defenders, underequipped and inexperienced troops from the 145th Division, were overwhelmed by Japanese airpower and tanks and hastily fell back. A counterattack on Sian from the 146th Division was repelled by Japanese armor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mingming |first=Gao |title=Riben qinhuashi yanjiu |date=2014 |edition=3rd |pages=92}}</ref>

On the southwestern edge of [[Lake Tai]], the [[Sichuan|Sichuanese]] 144th Division from the 23rd Group Army had dug into a position where the local terrain formed a [[Choke point|narrow funnel]] in the local road. When faced with the advance of the Japanese [[114th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|114th Division]], the Chinese ambushed the Japanese with hidden [[Mountain gun|mountain guns]], inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Huajun |first=Lin |title=Riben qinhuashi yanjiu |date=2014 |edition=2nd |pages=108–109}}</ref> However, fearing the loss of their artillery from retaliatory enemy attacks, the Chinese officers withdrew their artillery in the heat of battle. As a result, the Chinese infantry were slowly pushed back, and finally broke into a retreat towards [[Guangde]] when Japanese troops flanked their positions on the lake's shores via stolen civilian motor boats.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=113–115}}</ref>
[[File:Carrying_guns_and_wheels01.jpg|right|thumb|Japanese soldiers marching on Nanjing]]
The last days of November saw the five Sichuanese divisions fight fiercely in the vicinity of Guangde, but their defense was hindered by divided leadership and a lack of [[Military communications|radio]] communications. The Japanese overwhelmed the Chinese defenders with artillery, and finally forced the 23rd Group Army back on November 30. Sichuanese division commander [[Rao Guohua]], unable to bear the defeat, shot himself the day after the retreat.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |publisher=Casemate |pages=124–126}}</ref> The 23rd Group Army suffered heavy casualties in this battle, with at least 4,454 killed, wounded, or missing.<ref>國史館檔案史料文物查詢系統，陸軍十八師出征滬西攜帶械彈器材等項及大場戰役損失與現有數量比較表，陸軍十六師人馬械彈傷亡損耗俘獲簡報表，各部傷亡登記表等，典藏號：008-010701-00107-003 [https://ahonline.drnh.gov.tw/index.php?act=Display/image/5398278NcgH-i0#839d]</ref>{{efn|The losses of the 147th division and independent 13th and 14th brigades had not been reported.}}

=== Battle of Jiangyin ===
On November 29, the Japanese [[13th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|13th Division]] attacked the walled town of [[Jiangyin]] near the Yangtze River after a two-day artillery bombardment. They were confronted by some 10,000 troops from the Chinese 112th and 103rd Divisions, which were composed of a mix of [[Manchuria|Manchurian]] veteran exiles and recruits from [[Southwestern China]], respectively. Despite encountering ambushes and difficult terrain in the form of 33 hills around the city, the Japanese were able to advance under the cover of land and [[naval artillery]] from their ships on the Yangtze.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=119–120}}</ref> Chinese coastal [[Coastal artillery|batteries]] mounted on Jiangyin's walls retaliated against the Japanese ships, causing damage to several Japanese vessels. To even the odds, Chinese raiders organized suicide mission to infiltrate Japanese lines at night and destroy enemy tanks with [[Explosive belt|explosives]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shijiong |first=Wan |title=Nanjing baoweizhan |date=1987 |location=Beijing |pages=92}}</ref> The hills around Jiangyin were the site of vicious fighting, with Mount Ding changing hands several times, resulting in Chinese company commander Xia Min'an being killed in action.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Xu |first=Zhao |title=NBZ |year=1987 |pages=92}}</ref>

The Japanese eventually managed to overcome the Chinese defenses through a combination of artillery, aircraft and tanks. The Chinese began a withdrawal on December 1, but poor communication resulted in the 112th Division leaving too soon, resulting in a chaotic retreat for the 103rd Division.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=128–131}}</ref> Both divisions had suffered heavy losses in the fighting, and only a portion of their original strength (estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 men for the 103rd Division) made it back to Nanjing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Askew |first=David |date=2003 |title=Defending Nanking: An Examination of the Capital Garrison Forces |journal=Sino-Japanese Studies |pages=171}}</ref>

During the rest of their advance, the Japanese overcame resistance from the already battered Chinese forces who were being pursued by the Japanese from Shanghai in a "running battle".<ref name="dorn22" /><ref name="force22" /> Here the Japanese were aided by their complete air supremacy, abundance of tanks, the improvised and hastily constructed nature of the Chinese defenses, and also by the Chinese strategy of concentrating their defending forces on small patches of relatively high ground which made them easy to outflank and surround.<ref name="battle22" /><ref>Edward J. Drea and Hans van de Ven, "An Overview of Major Military Campaigns During the Sino-Japanese War, 1937–1945," in ''The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945'', eds. Mark Peattie et al. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2011), 31.</ref><ref name="durdin222">F. Tillman Durdin, "Japanese Atrocities Marked Fall of Nanking," ''The New York Times'', January 9, 1938, 38.</ref> Tillman Durdin reported in one case where Japanese troops surrounded some 300 Chinese soldiers from the 83rd Corps on a cone-shaped peak: "The Japanese set a ring of fire around the peak. The fire, feeding on trees and grass, gradually crept nearer and nearer to the top, forcing the Chinese upward until, huddled together, they were mercilessly machine-gunned to death."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Durdin |first=Tillman |date=December 9, 1937 |title=The New York Times}}</ref>

=== Japanese atrocities on the way to Nanjing ===
[[File:Danyangbattledec3.jpg|thumb|Japanese soldiers enter Danyang, 50 km (30 miles) east of Nanjing]]
General Matsui, along with the Army General Staff, had originally envisaged making a slow and steady march on Nanjing, but his subordinates had disobeyed and instead raced each other to the city.<ref name="fujiwara22">Akira Fujiwara, "The Nanking Atrocity: An Interpretive Overview," in ''The Nanking Atrocity, 1937–38: Complicating the Picture'', ed. Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi (New York: Berghahn Books, 2008), 33, 36.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tokushi Kasahara |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |year=1997 |location=Tokyo |page=69 |language=ja |script-title=ja:南京事件}}</ref><ref>Masahiro Yamamoto, ''Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity'' (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), 57–58. For this information Yamamoto cites a wide variety of primary sources including the diaries of Japanese officers Iwane Matsui and [[Tōichi Sasaki]], and documents drawn up by the 10th Army.</ref> The capture of [[Guangde County|Guangde]] had occurred three days before it was even supposed to start its planned advance, and the SEA had captured [[Danyang, Jiangsu|Danyang]] on December 2 more than five days ahead of schedule.<ref name="fujiwara22" /> 
On average, the Japanese units were advancing on Nanjing at the breakneck pace of up to {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us|spell=in}} per day.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Satoshi Hattori |year=2008 |script-title=ja:日中戦争における短期決戦方針の挫折 |location=Tokyo |publisher=Kinseisha |page=92 |script-journal=ja:日中戦争再論 |editor=Gunjishi Gakkai}}. Hattori cites official documents compiled by Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies.</ref> In order to achieve such speeds, the Japanese soldiers carried little with them except weaponry and ammunition.<ref name="supplies22">Masahiro Yamamoto, ''Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity'' (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000), 52–54.</ref> Because they were marching well ahead of most of their supply lines, Japanese troops usually looted from Chinese civilians along the way, which was almost always accompanied by [[Japanese war crimes|extreme violence]].<ref name="supplies22" /> As a Japanese journalist in the 10th Army recorded, "The reason that the [10th Army] is advancing to Nanjing quite rapidly is due to the tacit consent among the officers and men that they could loot and rape as they wish."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cummins |first=Joseph |title=The World's Bloodiest History |date=2009 |pages=149}}</ref>
[[File:日本人拿人頭.jpg|thumb|Japanese soldier posing with a severed head]]
The Japanese advance on Nanjing was marked by a trail of arson, rape and murder. The 170 miles between Shanghai and Nanjing were left "a nightmarish zone of death and destruction."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing, 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |publisher=Casemate |year=2015 |isbn=978-1612002842 |pages=145}}</ref> Japanese planes strafed unarmed farmers and refugees "for fun".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Timberley |first=Harold |title=Japanese Terror in China |publisher=Books for Libraries Press |year=1969 |location=Freeport |pages=91}}</ref> Civilians were subjected to extreme violence and brutality in a foreshadowing of the [[Nanjing Massacre]]. For example, the Nanqiantou hamlet was set on fire, with many of its inhabitants locked within the burning houses. Two women, one of them pregnant, were raped repeatedly. Afterwards, the soldiers "cut open the belly of the pregnant woman and gouged out the fetus." A crying two-year-old boy was wrestled from his mother's arms and thrown into the flames, while the hysterically sobbing mother and remaining villagers were bayoneted, disemboweled, and thrown into a nearby creek.<ref>{{Cite book |first= |title=Honda |pages=63–65}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |publisher=Casemate |year=2015 |isbn=978-1612002842 |pages=145}}</ref> Many Chinese civilians committed suicide, such as two girls who deliberately drowned themselves near [[Pinghu]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Nishizawa |pages=670}}</ref>
[[File:Contest_To_Cut_Down_100_People.jpg|thumb|A Japanese newspaper reporting on the [[hundred man killing contest]]]]
Many cities and towns were subject to destruction and looting by the advancing Japanese, including but not limited to [[Suzhou, Jiangsu|Suzhou]], [[Taicang]] and [[Jiading, Shanghai|Jiading]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=58}}</ref> When massacring villages, Japanese forces usually executed the men immediately, while the women and children were raped and tortured first before being murdered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Shanghai 1937, Stalingrad on the Yangtze |date=2013 |publisher=Casemate |pages=252}}</ref> One atrocity of note was the [[Hundred man killing contest|killing contest]] between two Japanese officers, where both men held a competition to see who could behead 100 Chinese captives the first. The atrocity was conducted twice with the second round raising the goal to 150 captives, and was reported on by Japanese newspapers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yoshida |first=Takashi |title=The making of the "Rape of Nanking |date=2006 |pages=64}}</ref>

In a continuation of [[No quarter|their practices]] from Shanghai, the Japanese troops executed all Chinese soldiers they captured on their way to Nanjing. Prisoners of war were shot, beheaded, bayonetted and burned to death. In addition, since thousands of Chinese soldiers had dispersed into the countryside, the Japanese implemented "mopping-up operations" in the countryside to deny the Chinese shelter, where all buildings without any immediate value to the Japanese army were burned down, and their inhabitants slaughtered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harmsen |first=Peter |title=Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City |date=2015 |publisher=Casemate |pages=197–199}}</ref>