The Defender

During the Battle of Songhu on August 31, 1937, Yao Ziqing was ordered to lead more than 500 troops to guard Baoshan County. In order to expand the landing area, the Japanese army launched a crazy attack on Baoshan coordinated by land, sea and air. With backward equipment, unfavorable terrain, and no reinforcements, Yao Ziqing, who was both wise and courageous, led the entire battalion to defend the isolated city with an outnumbered enemy. He flexibly used tactics and strategies, from taking the initiative to attack the enemy to holding on to the position and resisting tenaciously. Within seven days, he repelled the Japanese attacks again and again, and more than 500 people in the entire battalion died on the battlefield. On September 7, the Japanese army broke into the city. Yao Ziqing led more than 20 remaining men to engage in fierce street fighting in the city, and eventually died heroically for his country.