Outskirts of Nanking, China
December 14th, 1937The defense of Nanking was untenable. Once the news reached Tang's headquarters that several units had abandoned their positions and fled against orders, it became obvious that a general retreat was inevitable. The problem was that whoever gave the order to retreat would be blamed for losing the capital and face a very angry Chinese public. Tang, commander of the Nanking Defense Force, was very reluctant to share the responsibility and the consequent blame alone, so he called a meeting that included every divisional commander and higher ranks, and he showed them Chiang Kai-shek's permission to retreat when needed, a decision to be made by Tang's headquarters. As Tang asked everyone's opinion and got the answer he was waiting for, which was unanimously concurring to retreat, Tang had everyone sign their names on Chiang's order before giving out the general retreat order.
On December 12, after two days of defending against an enemy with an overwhelming numerical superiority, enduring heavy artillery fire and aerial bombardment, and with many of his troops in open flight, General Tang Sheng-chi ordered a general retreat. That evening, Tang Shengzhi himself escaped from the city through the Yijiang Gate on the northern side of the city walls — the only gate that was available as an escape route then — without officially announcing to the Japanese military authorities any intention of surrendering the city.
However, just as the defensive battle had not played out according to the plan, the general retreat was not conducted as planned. What ensued was nothing short of chaos; what supposed to be an organized retreat rapidly turned into a chaotic and panicked flight. By late evening, the unorganized retreat had become a complete rout. Many commanders simply abandoned their troops and fled on their own, without giving any orders to retreat. Of the 100,000 defenders of the capital, along with thousands more Chinese troops fleeing back through the capital from the battles in the areas around Nanking, only two regiments managed to successfully retreat according to the original plan, and both survived intact. The other units that did not retreat according to the original plan became the victim of the enemy.
Chinese generals would make a stand where they could with what they could organize. What occurred here is only a small glimpse of the chaos that ensued…
We have provided a Panzer Korps scenario that is really a challenge for the Chinese, as they attempt one of several rearguard actions after the fall of Nanking. Visit the Free Scenarios folder in our PANZERKORPHQ Yahoo! Group, or visit our site at panzerkorps.com.
Panzer Korps and its family of General Handbooks are designed for gaming the world at war at the divisional level from 1936 to 1945.
For those of you gaming in 20mm, Stonewall Miniatures offers an extensive range of Chinese and Japanese forces.