Chained Chinese defenders

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peter2010
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Chained Chinese defenders

#1

Post by peter2010 » 26 Aug 2012, 02:34

Came across a Japanese officer's memoir from the lower Yangtze River campaign in the fall of 1937 suggesting that some Chinese defenders had chained themselves to the floors of their pillboxes, to rule out any retreat. Is this mere hyperbole, or are there other records of this alleged Chinese practice?

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YC Chen
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Re: Chained Chinese defenders

#2

Post by YC Chen » 26 Aug 2012, 13:21

Hello,
I have seen more than one memoirs from Japanese officers and soldiers which mentioned this practice, but I haven't seen any Chinese source talk about this. I think this might be the actions by some individual Chinese soldiers as many of them fought bravely in this region.

BTW, I have been investigating Chinese pillboxes in Nanjing since three years ago and have found over 20 pillboxes built before 1937, but none of them have remains which can be linked to this practice - but it's all too possible that these remains have vanished after all these years.


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Peter H
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Re: Chained Chinese defenders

#3

Post by Peter H » 27 Aug 2012, 01:32

Hyperbole.

The Vietnam veteran Karl Maralantes in What it is like to Go to War also mentions such rumours about the NVA occurring in the Vietnam War.He never saw it.Such rumours also inflate the bravery of the attacking forces,going against opposing die hards etc in his view.

Similar rumours also occurred about "chained" German defenders in WW1.Most cases really involved the strapping the Germans used for heavy MG hauling.Bodies were found entangled in their strapping --most likely they were killed attempting to pull back and hauling their MGs.

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ralphrepo
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Re: Chained Chinese defenders

#4

Post by ralphrepo » 21 Nov 2012, 00:34

Not so sure if the average Chinese soldier would have done anything like that. Given the climate of the times, and how soldiers in general (on all sides) were treated by superiors and the massive flight that Chinese troops experienced when confronted by IJA advances, IMHO, I would be more inclined to believe that the soldiers were chained by their superiors to prevent unauthorized withdrawal, retreat or desertion. This sort of reminds me of the stories in which Soviet troops were machine gunned by their officers in order to keep attacks going forward and to prevent their troops from hesitating. Of course, most war films coming out of China today typically emphasize courage and bravery even in the face of overwhelming defeat. Of course, there were Chinese battle victories and stalwart tales of heroic resistance. However, these were few and far between and one has to remember that the bulk of the Chinese population, military and civilian, were fleeing throughout the war. It typically wasn't very pretty, noble, nor brave when an army was routed.

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YC Chen
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Re: Chained Chinese defenders

#5

Post by YC Chen » 21 Nov 2012, 11:16

Hello,

There sure is possibility that they were chained by their superiors. I have read many accounts mentioning that during the civil war 1946-49 some soldiers were locked in their pillboxes to prevent fleeing.

However, at the time of the battle of Nanking, the morale of Chinese troops was not very low. Although there were troops that wasnt very well-equipped(like the 10th Army) in Nanking, but most of them took pride in defending the capital.

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