Chapter 3 September 37 diary

In peacetime, it only takes 40 hours to travel by train, but this time it took me 10 and a half days to return to Nanjing. On my desk, there are letters from the German embassy during this period.From these letters I learned that a committee had been set up (Krummacher, Pinkneller, and Hort) whose task it was to advise German citizens in Nanking on matters of security.The council of the German School Association founded by me has announced the rescission of the work contracts with all the teachers, as well as with my school building.These letters also include: a notice issued by the Air Defense Committee on air defense warning signals and matters needing attention in air raids; the rules formulated by the Chinese government on traffic control and martial law in a state of emergency (translation); a dated August 1937 On the 27th, the German embassy issued a notice to all German citizens who stayed for reasons other than occupation or other urgent reasons, again advising them to leave Nanjing.

All the wealthy and economically well-off Chinese have already traveled up the Yangtze River and fled to Hankou.In all the yards and gardens, in the public spaces and in the streets, people are nervously building bomb shelters.Other than that, all was still, until-- During these two days, I was baptized in combat in 4 air strikes.From this day on-- my war diary During those days of indiscriminate bombing, my Chinese and I sat in a bomb shelter of our own design and construction, which was not perfectly safe, but protected from shrapnel fire and shell splinters.In the yard, a canvas with a length of 6 meters and a width of 3 meters was propped up, and we painted a flag of the National Socialist Party of Germany with a swastika on the canvas.The Chinese government has established a very good alert center.About 20 to 30 minutes before the air strike, the clear siren sounded, and when some kind of shorter signal was issued, all pedestrians should leave the street and all traffic should stop.Pedestrians all hid in the air-raid shelters built on the various streets already mentioned, although some air-raid shelters were quite simple.Squatting in a bomb shelter for hours is also quite uncomfortable!

Yesterday (September 20) the news came from the commander of the Japanese army in Shanghai through the German embassy that starting from noon today (September 21), the bombing of Nanjing will be intensified again, and all foreigners are warned to leave Nanjing as soon as possible.The Japanese even asked the embassies of Britain, France, and the United States, as well as several smaller countries with warships sailing in the Xiaguan section of the Yangtze River, to inform their warships to leave their current berths and move to the upper or lower reaches of the Yangtze River, otherwise they would be killed. Japan is not responsible for any damage that may have occurred due to bombing hazards.

The result was that England and France stated in their replies that they saw no reason to change the berths of their warships, and that if British and French property were damaged or British and French citizens were harmed, Japan would of course be responsible; Instead, the American ambassador took his entire embassy aboard the USS Luzon, intending to act on the Japanese advice.But in fact, the "Luzon" was still parked at the original berth in Xiaguan.It may be that the example of the English and the French aroused their thinking. (Heroism is contagious!) The German ambassador and all his embassy staff were ready to leave for Shanghai at 9:00 this morning.Many Americans and Germans (such as Dr. Schroeder, the ladies of Dr. Hirschberg's family, and some employees of the Hapro Company) are said to have also remembered the Japanese warning and fled.

Last night I myself considered the situation thoroughly in all its aspects.I came back here from the safer Beidaihe not out of the interest of adventure, but above all to protect my property and to represent the interests of Siemens Matheson.Of course, the foreign company will not expect (and will never do) that I will be beaten to death here for the foreign company.I definitely don't want to risk my life lightly for anything (Mater's or some of my own crap).However, there is also a moral issue here, which I, as a "decent burger businessman", have not yet been able to jump over.We have about 30 Chinese servants and staff along with their families, and they are all watching the "master".If he stays, they will faithfully stand at their post until the last moment (I have seen this situation before in the war in northern China); , and may be robbed.Leaving aside the last point (although it hurts), I have so far been unable to make a decision to live up to the trust that people have placed in me (how can people trust such a useless person like me? not impressive).

I gave my assistant Mr. Han (Xiang Lin) an advance to enable him to send his wife and two children to the safety of Jinan.He said very frankly: "Where you are, I will be. If you leave, I will go with you!" The other poor handymen are mostly from North China, and they don't know where to go .How I wish I could at least send the women and the children away.I gave the men money for the trip, but they didn't know what to do.Of course they really want to go back to North China, to their hometown, but there is also war there.So they are more willing to follow me.Can and should I run away in this situation?I don't think I can do this!Whoever crouched for hours in a bomb shelter during an air raid, holding a trembling Chinese child in each hand, felt the same way I do.After all, there is a last, not unimportant, but natural reason for me in my subconscious, which makes me insist on staying here.I am a member of the German National Socialist Workers Party, and I have a position, and even served as the deputy head of the regional group for a short time.During my business visits to the Chinese authorities and various ministries as my clients, they repeatedly asked me questions about Germany, about our party and government, and I always answered them like this:

yes-- We are soldiers of the laborers, We are the workers' government, We are friends of the workers, We will not abandon workers in distress (the poor). It is true that as a National Socialist I am speaking only of German workers, not of Chinese workers.But how will the Chinese evaluate this?Today in my host country that has treated me well for 30 years there is serious difficulty, the rich have fled, the poor have had to stay, they don't know where to go, they have no money to flee, they are not Are you in danger of being massacred?Shouldn't we try to help them?At least save some people, right?What if these were our own countrymen? ?

When I was away in Nanking, our Chinese dug an air-raid shelter, which is now nearly collapsed.So we tidied up this dirty air-raid shelter and re-arranged it nicely: we added strong beams, laid a floor, built sandbags (an empty bag is worth one yuan today), and of course there are entrance and exit.When we found that one of the inner beams was in danger of snapping, we were not discouraged, and with great difficulty we replaced it with another.At this point, two-thirds of the night has passed.In order to deal with the air waves generated by the bomb explosion, we also built sandbags at the entrance of the two holes.I moved all household medicines and medicines from schools that were closed during this period into the air-raid shelter, and prepared vinegar-soaked bandages for use in case of poison gas attacks.Food and drinks have been prepared in baskets and thermoses since 11am, but it's 3:30pm and the Japs haven't appeared in the sky, it's unbelievable!They have issued a stern warning, why not come?I don't think they stopped coming because they saw me dig a solid air-raid shelter.I turned on the radio and heard this message: "It's raining in Shanghai!" Is this why the Japanese don't come?Isn't that good?Why should I be in a hurry!I'd rather lose face than have the Japanese come.What happened in the end, I am still not sure.

I've pretty much won my face back, although this time I don't care about it!The Japanese started their announced bombing spree today—that is, delayed by a day.From 10:30 am to 12:15 noon, and from 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm we were again bombed quite heavily.In addition to Klein Schroeter who came to my place as a guest, there were about 28 Chinese squatting in my air-raid shelter, of which I knew less than 14 people.Among the people I know is a neighbor shoemaker with whom I can never agree on the price of shoes in peacetime because he always takes into account the discount he gives back to the servants, but I just look around. Close one eye.My shelter was not much better than the others, but it was built in a German's name and must have been particularly strong.I also experienced the fifth and sixth airstrikes today.My Chinese, they are all silent.Without Kleinschroeter talking to me, there would be no voice in the dugout.Some people will say that this is how people gradually get used to war.But this is not entirely correct at this time.We listened with extreme nervousness to the sudden roar of the air raiders, and waited for the sound of falling bombs every second.The situation today is serious and many bombs must have been dropped.Then we stopped counting.The ground trembled, and the explosions followed one after the other with such short intervals that we felt that all the bombs being thrown were aimed at us.But as far as I found out later, these bombs fell far from our house.

When the signal (long signal) announced that the second air raid was over, I went out in the car and looked around the city.The Japanese targeted specifically the Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang, where there were also the administrative organs and studios of the Central Broadcasting Station.The radio station asked us to collect an arrears this morning. Fortunately, Mr. Han (Xianglin) and I were unable to do so due to an accidental situation.Otherwise, we would have gotten there just in time for the bombing.I carefully checked the direction of the bombing.The first batch of bomb craters was about 200 meters away from Dr. Schroeder's house (he had gone to Hankou the day before), with a diameter of about 6 meters and a depth of 2 to 4 meters.No further damage was done on the site and around the trenches.The windows on the west side of Schroeder's house were all shattered by the blast.Other than that, I don't see any other losses.Of the second batch of bombs dropped, one fell on Zhongshan Road, a busy cobbled street, just off the intersection we call Bavaria Square, not too far from the German embassy.The crater was immediately filled, and it appears that no one was killed by the bomb.A little further south, there is also a bomb crater in the open space next to the busy street near the Lihe foreign company office.There are about 4 to 6 houses behind it, all of which are full of holes, and the roofs were particularly severely damaged.I haven't heard of any casualties, presumably everyone left the house after the siren was sounded.The situation on the west side, next to the gate of the Central Party Headquarters, looks much more serious.The corner of the street leading to the Traffic School (former Artillery School) is gone, and a house on the corner is gone.Behind it, next to the city railway embankment (Vulcan Elias), two bombs destroyed 6 houses.A large group of people stood around the huge crater and were extracting the body parts from the ruins of these Chinese houses and placing them in prepared coffins.The crowd was silent except for the weeping of the women standing behind.In front of the bombed house, two very simple air-raid shelters were not damaged, and the people inside were not harmed.

I was not allowed in the Central Party Headquarters.Five bombs are said to have been dropped there, killing a number of people instantly (the exact number was not released).Behind the government building, the last bomb aimed at the Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang hit an air-raid shelter against the wall, killing eight people.The head of a woman peering out of a bomb shelter is gone.Only a little girl of about 10 years old miraculously survived, and she herself did not know how.I only saw her walking from one group of people to another, telling her experiences.The scene has been cordoned off by the military, and people are burning paper money in front of the coffin on the far side. Today is a very muggy day with light rain, so there are no air strikes.I heard that the American ambassador who took all the staff of the embassy aboard the American warship "Luzon" cruising at the Xiaguan pier has now decided not to leave its current berth (didn't I say that? - Heroes will infect!).The British and French ambassadors resolutely rejected the Japanese demands to leave Nanking from the very beginning.It is said that our German ambassador also stayed in Nanjing, and it is also said that he traveled to a neighboring city (Wuhu?) and then returned.The baker (Mr Scheer) of Kisling-Badell's pastry shop has moved into a house of a former Hapro employee in a new housing estate which is considered particularly safe.But after yesterday's air strike, people no longer trust it.He then moved again today.Where did you move to?I haven't found it yet.Too bad Shell doesn't bake anymore, so we don't have bread anymore.I just brought back a £1500 order from NRB.It's not bad to get such an order when the war is raging, although it is only an ordinary achievement.A very kind letter came from the Shanghai headquarters of Siemens Matheson, expressing the concern of the board of directors for my safety.According to the meaning of the letter, I can take all steps that I think are beneficial to my personal safety, including leaving Nanjing.Thank you very much!The post makes me happy, but if I stay here, how can I get war insurance at this moment?There may be an answer to this. Whereas we used to be happy about a sunny day, now we worry about clear skies with no clouds.Sunny weather meant to us Japanese air raids, so we wanted to have as few sunny days as possible.Yesterday was cloudy and rainy, so we were not bombed; today the radio reported that a convoy of 40 Japanese planes had flown to Nanking yesterday, but turned back halfway.It's raining today with low clouds.So we all walked out happily!Protests by all European countries, as well as the United States, against the air strikes against civilians in Nanking, which violated international law, were published in all newspapers.The Japanese responded calmly, saying that they just bombed buildings or military targets as usual, and had absolutely no intention of harming civilians in Nanjing or foreign nationals from friendly European countries.In fact, this is not the case at all!The vast majority of bombs to date have not hit military targets, but civilians, and surveys show that the poorest of all civilians suffer the most.Trains and warehouses packed with refugees received the heaviest bombing.The citizens of Shanghai expressed great sympathy for this in an ingenious way.Recently, after a heavy bombing and a few hours of squatting in a bomb shelter, I turned on the radio (wavelength 600 - Shanghai) to listen to some music to refresh my mind, and I heard Beethoven's "Funeral March" playing At the end, the announcer also said emotionally: "This piece of music is an affectionate dedication from the Shanghai Funeral Agency Council!" Is there a better offering at this time! The German embassy sent an invitation: A symposium is scheduled for today (Friday) at 3:30 pm, and all German citizens are invited to attend. The sun is shining and the weather is fine!That way we might have air visits.If the Purple Mountain was covered by dark clouds, there would be no danger, because friends and foes alike feared that their planes would crash into the mountain.This is what Lieutenant Adholt told me.He must have known about it, because here he was an expert in searchlights and flak. According to a newsletter from the German "Far East News" today, the German ambassador Dr. Trautmann has made preparations to ensure the safety of the Germans staying in Nanjing.We were all anxious to know what he was going to do when we heard it.At a symposium held at the embassy yesterday, he revealed a very good plan.He chartered a British ship "Kutwo" from Jardine Matheson. It is said that the daily rent is 1,000 Mexican pesos. This ship will carry all the Germans who can leave up the river, that is to say, leave the danger zone , but not too far, so as to be able to return soon.I say it's a good idea.Unfortunately, we don't yet know how we're supposed to get on board the ship, since the requisite motorboats to take us aboard are missing.Although several embassy officials (Shuerter and Huot) have a motorboat, it is not currently in use, the engine is said to be faulty, and even if it does, it can only travel about two nautical miles an hour.In this way, it is very difficult to board the ship.It was necessary to find another motorboat for this purpose.In addition, the "Kutwo" must sail as far as possible into Shimonoseki and stop near a foreign warship so that people can board the ship quickly and safely. Hey, our visitors should have left long ago. They behaved inappropriately and stayed too long, namely: 9:30-10:30; 12:00-14:30; 15:00-16:00 20 points. Later, there was another false alarm at 16:45.In this way, I only had half an hour (14:30-15:00) for lunch with Dr. Strassl.Dr. Strasser dodged to me on the way to the bank and had to stay with me all day.I was at the Ministry of Railways between 11:00 am and 12:00 am. Fortunately, I was able to quickly discuss the contract matters with Li Fatang and Feng. At 16:20, I tried to rush to Xiaguan with Mr. Han (Xianglin) to see the situation of the power plant, but both times we were stopped by soldiers and police, because the north side of the city had not yet received the signal of "alert clearance" .All of a sudden, the electric sirens didn't work and people started calling the police bells at intersections instead, and it looked like there had been some damage to the power plant.On our third trip to the power plant, we stopped at Captain Erme (Siliu Bay), and a new round of alarms (later proved to be wrong) scared us away again.We took the risk and got home by car.At around 5:00 p.m., all dangers passed, and we went to Xiaguan to check again. Eight bombs fell on the power plant.A Japanese bomber was shot down at that time, and the wreckage of the plane and the body of the Japanese pilot who lost his head fell behind the main engine room.No one was killed in the plant, only a few coolies were slightly injured by glass shards.But a woman and a child were killed at the gate of the power plant.They must have been trying to escape into a bomb shelter somewhere.The buildings there looked the most damaged.Several bombs (it is said that there were only two) penetrated the roof and the concrete slab above the electrical distribution equipment and exploded in the electrical distribution room, thereby destroying the electrical distribution equipment in its entirety.Nearly all the offices had been bombed, two-thirds of them no longer existed, and the remaining third had been huddled.Everything in the office was blown to pieces, and the walls of the upstairs office were blown away, leaving only steel and concrete pillars, some of which were cracked or bent.The very thick T-shaped steel beams withstood the test well, with only a slight bend in one place.The boiler plant as well as the turbines miraculously remain undamaged, only one turbine (I assume turbine number one) on the south wall appears to have suffered a little damage, at least a few hoops have come off the steel casing.Glass shards (approximately 1 cm in size) were several centimeters thick across the floor of the computer room.It must have been caused by the suction created by the blast of the bomb, which pulled all the windows of the switchboard room inward.After a brief inspection of the building with Director Chen and several engineers, I decided to ask our headquarters in Shanghai to send an engineer to check the damage and provide advice and help, because the Supreme Commander-in-Chief We are very concerned about this and request the power plant to return to normal as soon as possible.We sat for a while in the dark.At 7 o'clock in the evening, the street lights on the street were turned on again.I still don't know where the electricity is coming from.Mr. Han (Xiang Lin) said that it came from the Pukou Railway Lighting Power Station. A large number of bombs fell in the city.Another Japanese plane was shot down in the south of the city. Melchior of Reiwa Co., Ltd. called me just now and told me that he saw from the roof of Watzel's house that the plane was shot down at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Bah, His Majesty the Emperor!They also woke us up out of bed at 2:30 midnight!The electric siren is working again.According to the confirmation I have received at this moment, the power plant of the Pukou-Jinpu Railway has been connected to the power grid in Nanjing.This is a very good thing.The lights in my house were also on (it was still dark at 2:30am today).So, no tie, just pajamas and pants, I walked into the bomb shelter.As usual, the place was full of Chinese friends, both male and female.When I felt too uncomfortable down here, I sat at the gate of the school house, with a thermos filled with tea beside me.It started to rain lightly.I waited until 4 o'clock when the "alarm cleared" chime sounded.The fleet turned in the other direction and flew away.Mr. Adholt is right: we have "peace" when it rains.I catch up on sleep for a while.Today is Sunday.Ulla!It's still raining!How happy I am! ! We should not be "happy" at this time - it goes without saying!Mr. Han (Xianglin) called just now, saying that the Central Broadcasting Station was seriously damaged yesterday, and the broadcasting cable of the city station was also broken.In this way, the Japanese achieved their goal: the Central Radio Station in Nanjing was temporarily bombed into silence.But it is said that no one was killed at that time, which is thankful.Gotta go out and see what's going on, if you're allowed. I just came back from a car ride across town to check it out.The Central Radio Station was hit by 10 bombs yesterday, but the station itself did not suffer much damage.I can't say that this news is 100% accurate, it is possible that someone told me a lie.It's a pity that Engineer Liu didn't let me into the building, because they were doing some kind of secret design there (a 10-kilowatt radio station made by themselves).But they told me that they told the outside world that the radio station was blown up, but the damage was actually not that great.Just in front of the radio station, in the direction of the bombing, many houses (possibly military barracks) and part of the wall of the prison for political prisoners were blown up (some people were killed on the spot).Nothing else was seen. Not far from the German Hempel Hotel on Zhongshan Road, opposite to Tiansheng Pharmacy and Yuanyang Office, about 12 Chinese houses were completely blown up by several bombs.In a bomb shelter in front of the house, all but one person sitting in the middle were killed by the air blast from the bomb explosion.A pedestrian lying on the ground behind a bomb shelter survived being thrown 10 feet.A total of 30 people were killed.Some ordinary wooden coffins with red swastika marks on them are still empty, and people have been searching for the rest of the bodies in the rubble since yesterday afternoon.The windows and doors of the houses (about eight) across the street were all broken by the blast from the bomb.Ocean News Agency had to move the office.Fifteen bombs were dropped on the Central Hospital.It is difficult to say whether the hospital is being bombed or not.But it looks like this, because many craters follow one another, just in the direction of Zhongshan Road.Behind it is the National Resources Council and some of its laboratories, which have already been bombed once.The hospital must have been moved after yesterday's air raid because it was badly damaged.Although only two people were killed, the physical damage was huge.Two bomb craters can be seen in the yard, with a diameter of about 20 meters and a depth of 5 to 6 meters (500 kg bomb).There is an air-raid shelter about 10 to 15 meters behind it, and more than 200 people hid in it, all of which survived.All damage was photographed by foreign correspondents and journalists to give the outside world an idea of ​​the extent of the damage. Last night, Engineer Zhou from the Shanghai headquarters of Siemens Matheson arrived here after a 26-hour train journey.He came here on a business trip to repair the multiple telephone equipment at the suggestion of Mr. Tao, an official from the Ministry of Communications.Mr. Zhou is our best engineer.During the conversation, I asked him whether his family was at ease with him coming here alone, and whether he was worried about accidents on the way. His answer to me was very touching.He replied: "I told my wife, in case I encounter misfortune, you should not count on Siemens and never make any demands on Siemens. You have to go back to your hometown in the north and rely on it with your children." Our own Susukada makes a living. My business trip this time is not only for the benefit of the foreign company, but first of all for the benefit of my motherland." Normally, every Chinese cannot be expected to have this spirit, but Zhou These words of the husband prove the existence of this spirit, and it has gained more and more influence, especially among the middle and lower classes. What bad weather--that is, the sky was bright and sunny!We are ready for another air raid.The world must have heard of the devastation here last Saturday (September 25) and will protest again.But no one here believes that the Japanese would heed such protests, and Saturday's bombing of the Central Hospital was the clearest answer to all previous protests in the United States and Europe. Today we were attacked three times in one day: from 10:00 to 11:00; from 12:00 to 13:10; from 13:30 to 14:00.Cloudy skies in the morning made it difficult to see the air raiders, who were later found to be in the distance. The water conservancy plant that uses our machinery and equipment has been heavily bombed, and it is said that part of the plant has been destroyed.I think that the Yongli Li factory produces gas!What a dangerous thing! It was later said that Pukou Railway Station was also hit by several bombs, destroying two carriages.Other than that, I have heard nothing else.It seemed to me that the waterworks had also been bombed, but the taps were still running and the lights were on in our house.Ulla!Captain Erme went back to China this evening, and left me canned food, a radio, these things cost 60 yuan in total (I can keep the radio until I find a buyer), and bank guarantees for two water meters and electricity meters (these are two securities that cannot be listed on any exchange because for some reason the factory no longer pays margin).He also entrusted me to keep the securities safe and wait for the cash to be paid for him after the war is over.Who else is an optimist besides Rabe!Well, I wish you safe travels, my dear Irme! !It's good if people go away—I ate Bismarck pickled herring in a can this evening. What a beautiful aviation weather - the sun was out and the sky was lightly clouded.It was quiet until noon.There is an alert between 12:00 noon and 2:15 pm.The Japanese came to visit.I counted, and there were 6 planes. They were fired by the antiaircraft artillery squadron, and they were divided into two echelons of 3 planes and turned to the east and west.Some bombs were heard being dropped.Then, more and more clouds gathered in the sky.I saw 4 Chinese planes constantly circling over the city, but there were no more Japanese planes.I just heard from Major Arnad that he was on duty on a mountain when he saw a Japanese plane fly away from a height of about 100 meters above his head. Today, Ocean News Agency (Mr. Aigner) moved into my school building.The Chinese staff of the Yuanyang News Agency did not want to continue working in their original office because it had been damaged by bombs falling nearby (window panes, doors and interior ceilings were damaged by the blast). At 7 o'clock in the morning, Dr. Probst and Ribe, the installer, just arrived here from Shanghai.Their task was to inspect the bombed Xiaguan Power Plant and discuss with the relevant leaders of the plant about resuming power generation. Today is a rainy day, so don't worry about air raids by planes.Dr. Probst and I visited Ambassador Dr. Trautman, Embassy Counselor Fischer, Shimonoseki Power Plant, Lieutenant Colonel Adholt and C. Yun from Nacoco. In the evening, Adholt brought news that Mrs. Stretius had died of a heart attack in Qingdao. It's raining heavily today, the sky is so blurry that you can't see anything clearly.The two gentlemen from Shanghai were lucky to have this kind of weather, and they didn't have to worry about an air raid.The arrangement to visit Yongli's factory was cancelled, because we were waiting for Dr. He in Xiaguan, and it turned out to be an empty wait.Our car broke down in front of the Ministry of Railways.We went to the Military and Political Department to visit General Huang in the Liaison Office.Later, I visited Hapro Company (Aster).