Chapter 43 The Fall of Nanking

In the late autumn of 1937, in two quiet bungalows on the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, a Chinese was writing at his desk with the title "Japanese?A Study of a Foreigner".Reminiscing about the Shakespeare play "The Prince's Revenge" that he just finished, somehow, the tragic protagonist Hamlet reminded him of the neighboring Japanese.He wrote the following passage: "A group of great actors are there performing a tragedy more tragic than Hamlet. The ancient tragedy was doomed by an unknown fate, but the modern tragedy is a reflection of the protagonist's character and is self-made, and the present This great tragedy is a combination of both."

When Jiang Baili wrote this passage, the armies of China and Japan were fighting fiercely with North China in Songhu. Since July 1937, a life-and-death struggle has been going on for several months. From a military point of view, China's future does not look good.While Western observers were amazed by the strong fighting will shown by the Chinese, they also predicted that the prospects for the Chinese in this disparity in strength would be bleak.As if to prove their argument, on December 13 of this year, the figure of the Japanese army appeared in Nanjing, the capital of China. This beautiful ancient city was drowned in blood, groans and desperate cries. The soldiers who put down their weapons were massacred In the massacre, innocent citizens were killed, and the Japanese army violently raped the women in Nanjing like wild beasts out of restraint.The atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing have since become an unhealed wound between the Chinese and Japanese peoples, and a permanent nightmare in the hearts of the victims and their descendants.The Imperial Japanese Army showed off its martial prowess with a frenzied and brutal carnage.At that time, the Japanese people flocked to the streets of Tokyo in ecstasy, parading with lanterns, cheering that the war of aggression against China was coming to an end.All those concerned about China's destiny in the world, whether individuals, groups or countries, felt the severe winter of 1937.

In the late autumn of this year, China was alone and helpless under the crazy attack of Japan's modernized war machine.This is a war where the strengths and weaknesses are too distinct. If China is not fighting for survival, it will definitely not be able to bear the huge disaster brought about by the war.