Mei Ting's Diary Excerpt (8)

  November 12, Tuesday, 1937

  Yesterday, the Japanese army entered the city. I heard that as soon as they entered the city, they started burning, killing, and looting. If they saw a man, they would stab him with a knife, regardless of whether he was old or young. Women were dragged to one side and raped. These beasts didn't care about age; as long as you were female, they would rape you first and then kill you. I heard that a young girl was gang-raped by five beasts over 100 times and died from the rape. What can we do? It seems that the safety zone will eventually be broken through by the Japanese army. This is not Shanghai, where there are concession areas. If all else fails, one can run to the British or French concession area, and the Japanese won't be able to do anything to you. But in Nanjing, where can we go? This safety zone is just a temporary refugee camp after all. If the Japanese really want to attack, those few foreigners will not be able to stop them. No, I don't want to be raped by the Japanese!

  I arrived at the fence of the safety zone and saw a chaotic scene outside, with a large number of refugees desperately running towards the safety zone. Behind them were Japanese soldiers holding Type 38 rifles, who were laughing maniacally as they shot at the terrified civilians. Oh God, they are ordinary people, not soldiers! Why, why do they have to shoot them? Liu Zhenfeng was right, the Japanese army is made up of beasts, they are not human, they are devils!

  Lin Wanchang ran to my front, pulling me to run inside because the Japanese army was approaching the safety zone. At this time, behind the Japanese army, a troop appeared, yes, it was our troop, they opened fire on the Japanese army, and together with our garrison, they launched a fierce attack. Our garrison did not give up this city, they were still defending it, even though their officers had abandoned them, but to protect their families, they decided to defend it resolutely, and fight the devils to the death. However, this troop was unknown, their fighting method was extremely ferocious, giving me a feeling like a wolf, a wounded wolf, the battle was astonishing, a bayonet fight, I had always heard that bayonet fights were cruel, but I had never seen one before, it was a pity, but today this regret was made up for, I saw the bayonet fight, it was very cruel, one of the soldiers had lost an arm, blood was flowing from the wound, but he did not fall down, still holding his rifle with the other hand, fighting bravely, finally, with multiple injuries and exhausted, he detonated a grenade on himself and threw himself at several Japanese soldiers, dying together with the enemy.

  This is an iron-blooded army, their spirit of fighting against the enemy makes one feel solemn and respectful. I saw the crowd around us watching the battle, they couldn't help but be excited and cheer for these brave soldiers. I also joined in with everyone else to shout and cheer them on. These soldiers are really different from the troops I've interviewed before. On their bodies, I see a kind of aura, that is, an overbearing aura, a "who dares to compete with me" kind of aura. Even though their weapons and equipment may not be as good as those of the enemy, they have already put life and death aside, completely adopting a "fight to the death" approach. If their guns are gone, they'll use their teeth to bite. I clearly saw a Chinese soldier biting a Japanese soldier to death with his bare teeth. It's a bloodthirsty feeling, as if this army is the messenger of hell, Satan's troops. Of course, for us, this army is our savior, our guardian angel.

  This troop has been guarding our safety zone and fought with the enemy for dozens of times, but today they can no longer hold on. After repelling an attack by the enemy, a high-ranking officer led his men to detonate a box of explosives on the battlefield, dying together with the charging Japanese troops. Before their death, they sang a song, a majestic and inspiring song: "If our motherland is invaded, we should strengthen ourselves; let's drink up this bowl of wine from our hometown, brave warriors will never return. The rolling Yellow River, the surging Yangtze River, give me life, give me strength, let my blood dye the most beautiful flower red and sprinkle it on my chest." The military horn sounds, swords are drawn, thunder rumbles and lightning flashes; it has always been that the brave win when meeting on a narrow road. Move forward, move forward! This is truly an iron-blooded troop, a troop worthy of respect.

  I heard a little girl next to me say that this troop belongs to the 77th Army, and the commander of the 77th Army is Liu Zhenfeng, who was also the commander of the 37th Division of the 29th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. It's really him, it's really him, no mistake, only his troops have such morale, only they have such a fearless spirit, but, is it really him?

  Soon, I got the confirmation that when the Japanese soldiers were attacking us, another troop appeared behind them. A bloody officer was shouting and commanding his troops in battle. I finally saw clearly that it was Liu Zhenfeng, he had indeed arrived in Nanjing, with him here, Nanjing is safe, we are saved, great, great!

  Unfortunately, this annoying guy just walked away after saying a few words to me. What does he mean? Is he annoyed with me?

  The battle is still going on, the bayonet of the 77th Army is waving in Nanjing...

  ;