This November 2 Is The 66th Anniversary Of The Battle

This November 2 is the 66th anniversary of the Battle of Changde. On this date the merciless Japanese Army attacked and marched into the city and sparked off a battle that lasted until mid-December 1943 causing enormous human casualties in the process. Changde is a relatively large city located on the north western Hunan plain in the lower eastern part of the PRC. It has a long history going back to the earliest human settlements in the region. Today it is quite a bustling and properous city of about 6 million. However, it was not that fortunate or properous or shining during the Second World War. Changde suffered very indescribably when in the Japanese military campaign to conquer the Sichuan region of China in late 1943, the city became a primary target. On November 2 1943 the Japanese Army entered Changde and as usual went about doing what they were trained to do. The Chinese National Revolutionary Army then decided to drive them out which they did. The Japanese forces counterattacked and retook the city after some very fierce fighting. But by early December the Japanese forces were again driven out of the city. Ground combat between the two sides continued in the areas around the city until mid-December when the Japanese forces finally retreated from the battlefield. During the battle, the Japanese Army callously and inhumanly used biological and chemical weapons against the city's civilians and also against the soldiers of the NRA on the battlefield. In fact, the Nippon Army had carried out such attacks long before the battle itself took place. These horror attacks formed the preliminary events in the Jap campaign against Sichuan province as they moved westwards in their conquest of China. The fierce fighting between the two sides plus the use of illegal and cruel weapons by the Japanese resulted in the deaths of about 50,000 NRA soldiers and 300,000 civilians. Such mindless slaughter was very typical of the Japanese Army during their rampage across China during WW2. Changde and many other cities and towns in the country were turned into wholesale abattoirs by the very inhuman and cruel Japanese aggressors during the war and such actions by them resulted in the deaths of over 30 million people, starting from September 1931 when the first shots were fired until the end of the war in September 1945. WW2 caused over 100 million deaths around the world and many cities earned the dubious title of 'meatgrinder' as a result of enormous human casualties caused by heavy fighting and fierce combat. Many people can still recall or remember places like Stalingrad (which is now Volgograd) and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Leningrad chalked up over a million civilian deaths with Stalingrad only a little bit less. But very few today can recall cities like Changde and fewer still can recall their enormous suffering during the war. There were almost countless places like Changde throughout China during the Japanese onslaught from 1931 to 1945 but history has almost forgotten about them. Even during the years before the arrival of the Japanese, China had already suffered many such Changde cases at the hands of the Christian West. Almost countless civilians were routinely lined up for head-chopping sessions and many other bestial acts by European armies and their recruits from

their colonies in other parts of the world. Yet today, these very same people are the ones that are so enthusiastically and so very busily hollering and shouting about the so-called 'china threat'. Their media and their politicians are busily talking and discussing about the PRC's 'military buildup' and 'enormous budget' but these people have very conveniently forgotten about the very unmentionable battlefield crimes carried out by their fathers and grandfathers in China at a time when china was helplessly defenceless against their wanton and inhuman aggression. The sufferings endured by places like Changde should always be kept alive in memory and those hypocrites should be asked if they could ever truly guarantee that such agony like that experienced by Changde would not happen again. As long as they cannot provide such a guaranteee they have no right to question the PRC's defence policies. On the other hand, the PRC must proceed to develop its forces to become the number one defensive force in the world. Let others be the number one in offensive capability but in the art of defence, the PRC must strive to be above all the rest. Not to do so would be a great injustice to its people and the souls of those who died in Changde and in many other cities would surely never be able to rest in peace. Always remember that Changde's past suffering is today being shared by cities like those in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their tormentors are totally merciless and inhuman, just like the Japanese armies of WW2. And like them, these tormentors can never be fully satisfied. The PRC is in no way safe from these evil entities. The PRC must ensure that when the time comes and the aggressors are near, the country must be able to kick them in the behind and send them packing. Never forget the fate of Changde. Even today, Japan is never fully free of its desire to harm China, and absolutely no one can guarantee that the past would never again get repeated in the future. The evil forces are still around and they are growing in strength with each passing day. The PRC must therefore keep its eyes peeled !!! Remember Changde !!! Forever.