Why did Japan carry out the "Nanjing Massacre":

In the Battle of Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek had two unexpected realizations:

1. His hidden three elite German-equipped divisions, along with armored vehicles and heavy artillery, totaling over 40,000 men, could not capture the temporary forces defending the Japanese concession, which consisted of only 2,500 Japanese marines and retired soldiers, within 10 days;

2. He did not expect Japanese reinforcements to arrive so quickly. The surprise attack initiated by Chiang Kai-shek on August 13 saw the arrival of the Japanese 3rd and 11th Divisions by August 22 (in fact, these two divisions were dispatched very hastily, bringing not even heavy weapons, and only enough rations for half a month).

After the Japanese army occupied Shanghai, they advanced towards Nanjing. Although the Nationalist Army fought desperately along the way, the units that came from various places could not coordinate, resulting in a strategy that only added fuel to the fire. The Japanese army encountered little serious resistance, and at that time, to showcase their goodwill and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, they committed no offenses along the way, even paying for a chicken from the common people (as shown in propaganda photos taken by soldiers accompanying the Japanese troops).

After Chairman Chiang retreated to Nanjing, realizing that the mixed troops arriving from various places could not defend the already indefensible city, he advocated for a withdrawal. Unbeknownst to him, the Nanjing garrison commander "Buddhist-like Tang Shengzhi," who had never shown any backbone in his life, surprisingly burst out with a stern reprimand, passionately stating: “Now the enemy is approaching the capital, and the capital is the site of the founding father's mausoleum. At this critical moment, if we do not sacrifice one or two generals in Nanjing, we will not only fail to honor the spirit of our Premier in heaven, but we will also betray our supreme commander. I am willing to defend Nanjing to the last and fight to the death with the enemy!”

This bombastic speech left the Chairman in a difficult position. Reluctantly, he said: “Very good! Very good! The pillar of Meng Xiaoguo, indeed!” He immediately appointed Tang as the Commander of the Nanjing Garrison, commanding him to hold Nanjing at all costs.

On December 8, the aggressive Japanese army arrived in Nanjing and began peripheral combat. The Nationalist army, equipped poorly and low in morale, only managed to put up a decent resistance at Yuhuatai, while other positions were scattered in flight. On December 10, the Japanese army launched a general assault on Nanjing. Tang Shengzhi issued Order No. 36: All troops must be determined to share the fate of their positions and defend as best as they can, never surrendering an inch of ground, or shaking the army's resolve. Anyone who disobeys orders or retreats on their own will be strictly dealt with according to the principle of collective responsibility; all boats of the army are to be turned over to the transport commander for safekeeping, and private detention is not allowed!

Then, Tang Shengzhi abandoned over 80,000 Nationalist troops inside the city and escaped by boat. The Nationalist troops inside lost their command and quickly fell into chaos, all rushing to the Water West Gate and Han West Gate to flee, while the 36th Division under Song Xilian, responsible for overseeing the battle, set up dozens of heavy machine guns outside the gates to block the city, killing over 4,000 on the spot. Seeing that escape was hopeless, the troops inside disbanded on the spot, putting on civilians' clothes and mingling with the citizens. Only the 66th Army and the 83rd Army from Guangdong did not collapse, successfully breaking through under the command of generals Ye Zhao and Deng Longguang, becoming the only organized troops to break through from the front in the defense of Nanjing;

Song Jiashan thought Nanjing would be easy to break, but he did not expect to take it so easily. Even more unexpected was the large number of prisoners inside the city. If the Nationalist troops had surrendered unconditionally in uniform, it would have been easier to handle; according to international law, they could have just built a POW camp. The problem was that the organization was now in chaos, and it was impossible to distinguish between soldiers and civilians. The most critical issue was that the Japanese had set off in a hurry and had run out of rations. With over a hundred thousand prisoners, it was not feasible to release them, but it was also unworkable to keep them with insufficient food. In the end, Matsui Iwane ordered the execution of the prisoners at the banks of the Yangtze River using machine guns, an event referred to in Japanese history as the Nanjing Massacre Incident.

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