Chapter 32 2. Massacre outside Hanzhong Gate

On December 14, Nanjing, the headquarters of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army. Nakajima, the commander of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army, who also served as the commander of the Nanjing garrison, set up his headquarters at the Nanjing Central Hotel after entering Nanjing. Before he settled down, he received frequent calls from various departments: "Report! Around the Nanjing refugee area, a large number of military uniforms, military blankets, leggings, and briefcases discarded by Chinese soldiers were found..." "Report! A warehouse of guns was found in the Supreme Court of China..."

"Report! A large number of weapons and ammunition were found outside Jinling University..." ... On the one hand, Nakajima Konzago quickly reported the situation to Matsui Iwane, the commander of the Central China Front Army, and on the other hand, he sternly ordered his subordinates on the phone: "We must resolutely search out all the Chinese soldiers who are hiding!" "We must mercilessly implement the order of the superior to 'kill all the prisoners', gather all the captured Chinese soldiers, and resolutely deal with them!" After giving the order with a murderous look, the excited Nakajima Jinzhao stood up from the rattan chair, tidied up the yellow wool general uniform, and came to the police headquarters, with his feet spread apart, his right hand on his hip, and his left hand resting on his saber. In front of his chest, he stood with his head held high and asked his adjutant to take a commemorative photo of the capture of Nanjing, the capital of China.

After taking the photos, Nakajima returned to the office, took out his diary, and solemnly wrote down the major events that happened on his first day in Nanjing.The diary specifically mentioned that a large number of Chinese officers and soldiers were captured, and wrote: "Since the policy is to keep no prisoners in general, I decided to rush to a corner to solve them all." After writing, he read it again, and then he was satisfied Go to the diary. The order of "kill all the prisoners" was fully implemented in the Japanese army who captured Nanjing, and the investigation of Chinese soldiers became the best excuse for the Japanese army to massacre Chinese wantonly.The Japanese army's method of checking Chinese soldiers is generally as follows: First, check from top to bottom, from the outside to the inside.First check if there is hair growth on the head, whether there are marks of steel helmet or military cap, and then whether there are any hard spots on the hands caused by holding a gun, and then ask you to unbutton your trousers to see if there are marks on the waist.Not to mention how inaccurate these standards are, in fact, many Japanese soldiers did not conduct inspections at all, and arrested young and middle-aged men when they saw them.For a time, the city of Nanjing was full of Japanese troops searching for Chinese soldiers; everywhere were Chinese civilians captured by the Japanese army; there were gunshots and knife shadows massacring Chinese people everywhere; there were rivers of blood and corpses of Chinese compatriots who died everywhere; Crying and shouting... The Qinhuai River whimpered, Zijin Mountain bowed its head, Yuhuatai shed tears and rain, and the Yangtze River screamed in pain. Nanjing City was shrouded in blood and terror, becoming a real living hell!

There is a tofu shop near Xinjiekou in Nanjing. The owner’s son is Wu Changde, 29 years old, and his ancestral home is Shandong.While helping his parents make tofu, Wu Changde was working as a policeman outside. In December 1937, when Japanese devils approached Nanjing, Wu Changde's parents, wife, and son were all evacuated to northern Jiangsu, leaving him alone to look after the house in Nanjing. On December 13, when the Japanese army broke through Nanjing, Wu Changde hid in the Judicial Yuan Refugee Center established by the Nanjing International Committee.I wanted to escape the disaster, but the disaster still came.

On December 15, after breakfast, the sound of cars suddenly sounded outside the gate of the Judicial Yuan, and then a truck suddenly stopped at the gate, and a dozen ferocious Japanese soldiers jumped out of the vehicle.The Japanese soldiers rushed into the compound as if facing a formidable enemy. A Japanese soldier who looked like a small captain shouted loudly in blunt Chinese: "All Chinese soldiers come out!" Seeing the Japanese soldiers rushing in, many refugees panicked. The young women squeezed inside desperately, and the children got into the arms of the old people one after another. Dare to say anything.

Seeing that the refugees did not respond, the Japanese soldier shouted again in blunt Chinese.Then more than a dozen Japanese soldiers rushed into the crowd, some inspected the heads, some inspected the hands, and some Japanese soldiers didn't look at anything, only looked at the young and middle-aged men and pulled them out.A Japanese soldier walked towards Wu Changde, pulled him away, and yelled, "Your Chinese soldiers come out!" Wu Changde and dozens of young and middle-aged men were driven to the road in front of the Judicial Yuan, where many people captured by the Japanese army had gathered, and they were all sitting on the cold road.Some people buried their heads in their knees, some smoked bitter cigarettes, and some looked around with panicked eyes... Wu Changde looked at the crowd and found that many of his colleagues who were policemen had been arrested, and many of them were arrested. Changed into civilian clothes, there are more than 100 people still wearing black police uniforms, but none of them escaped bad luck.I thought: Oops, this time it may be more ominous than good.Sitting on the cold road, Wu Changde silently missed Su Bei's parents, wife and son, wondering if he would see them again in the future.

More and more people were arrested on the road. Wu Changde was tall and tall. He straightened his body and looked around. There were dense crowds of people on both sides of the road. According to a rough estimate, there were more than 2,000 people, except for several hundred policemen. Most of them are young and middle-aged civilians. At around 11 o'clock, a Japanese military officer came to the front of the crowd and ordered everyone to stand up and line up to move forward, a row of four, with uniformed policemen walking in front, surrounded by Japanese soldiers.When the team reached the entrance of the Capital Cinema, Wu Changde suddenly heard the sound of rumbling cars again. Looking back, he saw several trucks driving behind the team, with machine guns mounted on them, full of Japanese soldiers.The car drove to the front of the team, and another Japanese officer with a camera came down from the cab, perhaps to show the might and results of the imperial army.The officer stood by the side of the road and took several photos of the team.

At around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the team arrived at Hanzhong Gate, and the Japanese military officer ordered everyone to stop advancing and sit down on the spot.A few trucks drove out of the city. Wu Changde saw from the door opening that the Japanese soldiers jumped out of the trucks one after another as if they were facing an enemy, and scattered towards the moat with rifles and machine guns in their hands. Yes, the Japanese devils are going to engage in a massacre!Sure enough, two Japanese soldiers came right after, each holding a long rope at each end, circled into the crowd, circled one or two hundred people, and walked to the gate of Hanzhong under the escort of many Japanese soldiers.After a while, there was a "da, da, da" machine gun fire on the river bank, followed by shrill screams and wailing.Wu Changde knew that the massacre had already begun, and a strong anger and hatred suddenly surged in his heart, and he couldn't help cursing secretly: "Grandma, bear! If I have a gun in my hand, I will fight with you, and I will die." Be human!" And yet, with nothing in his hand, he just sat there mournfully, waiting for death to come.

Two Japanese soldiers once again came to the crowd and circled one or two hundred people. One Chinese compatriot was so frightened that his hands and feet were weak and he couldn't walk.After a while, another Chinese compatriot wanted to get up and relieve himself. After reporting to the Japanese army, he had just taken two steps when the Japanese army fired a shot. The compatriot shook a few steps and fell to the ground.Seeing this, Wu Changde deeply felt the ferocity and cruelty of the Japanese devils, and felt the sadness of being ravaged and massacred by the enemy. The sky was gloomy, with gray clouds everywhere.The cold wind blows in bursts, making people shiver.The compatriots were chased to the slaughterhouse by the enemy in circles. Some scolded, some regretted, and some cried.Seeing these, Wu Changde was very uncomfortable.Thinking that I was doomed this time too, and that I would never see my parents, wife and son again, I couldn't help feeling a burst of pain and sorrow in my heart.

The cloudy day in winter gets dark early, after 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the sky is already dark, and there are still five or six hundred people left by the city gate.At this time, two Japanese soldiers came to circle people with ropes, and Wu Changde was trapped by the ropes, followed the Japanese soldiers out of the city gate and boarded the river embankment.He looked up and saw two machine guns erected on both sides of the embankment, and corpses were strewn all over the embankment and in the river.Wu Changde was in a hurry. When he was driven off the embankment, he couldn't help running a few steps forward, and threw himself into the pile of corpses.

Just then, the machine gun rang out. The machine guns of the Japanese devils fired violently at the crowd, and the compatriots fell down one after another, but Wu Changde was buried under the corpses of others.After a period of dizziness, Wu Changde woke up. He found that he was not dead, so he lay motionless on his stomach.At this time, the machine gun shooting stopped, and then the single shot of the rifle rang out. After the sound of the rifle stopped, Wu Changde felt that there were many people walking around the pile of corpses. He hugged his head and lay down under the pile of corpses, not daring to move.A Japanese soldier walked up to him, and suddenly stretched out his hand with a knife. The bayonet pierced through the corpse above and stabbed Wu Changde's back.Then two groups of compatriots were massacred. It was already completely dark, and the chaotic footsteps of the devil soldiers sounded on the embankment, followed by the sound of splashing water, and at the same time, there was a strong smell of gasoline.Wu Changde thought to himself, that's too bad!The ghost soldiers are going to set fire to the corpse!Sure enough, as expected, after a while, a raging fire rose into the sky, the burning corpses sizzled, and bursts of burnt smell came to the nostrils.Wu Changde couldn't stand being burned by the thick smoke and fire, so he took advantage of the darkness and risked himself to sneak out of the pile of corpses, into the Qinhuai River, and hid in the Qinhuai River without moving. During the coldest winter, the water of the Qinhuai River was icy cold, and Wu Changde squatted in the water, shivering from the cold.On the embankment, groups of Japanese soldiers gathered around to warm up the fire, and their ferocious laughter came from time to time in the cold wind.After a long time, the Japanese soldiers withdrew, Wu Changde fled along the river bank to Shuiximen, hid in the kitchen of a house at No. 9 Wachang Street, and escaped from the pile of corpses.