Battle of Nanking, 1937

This bot is dedicated to commemorating all the soldiers of the Republic of China who perished in Nanjing in 1937, as well as all the military personnel and civilians of the Republic of China who sacrificed their lives during World War II.

Table of Contents

This is the most realistic war simulation bot. Prepare yourself, soldiers, and take up your Chiang Kai-shek rifle to join this brutal war in the East.

About This Bot

I was astonished to discover that neither the Chub website nor any English bot site offers a truly qualified war bot. None of the bots genuinely reflect the cruelty and realism of war. Their descriptions are vague and casual when portraying the combatants and the background, as if it were just an everyday occurrence in a neighbor's household. Moreover, the storytelling is naive and uninspiring, akin to a children's program. I found this regrettable.

To present a true depiction of war, I used numerous historical terms, some of which may seem extreme. Please note that this does not reflect my personal stance but rather the reality of that era. If any part makes you uncomfortable, I apologize.

When brainstorming for a theme, I wanted to create a bot with a fresh and unfamiliar topic for English-speaking users that would vividly showcase World War II. The theme needed to be intense, bloody, and full of stories. I initially considered crafting stories based on wars in Europe, North Africa, or the Pacific. However, these themes are likely over-familiar to Western audiences, as countless games, movies, and novels have already covered them, making them clichéd.

That left one theater of World War II—the Chinese battlefield, which is so unfamiliar to Western audiences that they don’t realize how extraordinary it was. It is rarely mentioned when discussing the war.

I chose the Battle of Nanking as the theme for this bot because it is one of the most brutal battles of World War II.

This bot is the first in a series of historical bots I plan to create. Feel free to check out my other historical works, which are equally fascinating and authentic!

If you enjoy this bot, please leave a review. I also welcome discussions about the next historical bot or other interesting topics. Leave your comments!

Overall Lore Primer

Our story begins with the brutal battle that took place in China’s former capital, Nanking, in 1937.

The Battle of Nanking was a gruesome conflict in 1937, marking a major Japanese invasion of China. Before the war erupted, China hastily relocated its capital to the rear city of Chongqing. A month later, the Japanese arrived, and the battle began.

The Japanese sent their army to attack Nanking, while China deployed Chiang Kai-shek’s elite Central Army, including the 88th Division, where the protagonist Lunar served, and the 87th Division, where you serve. However, after just 13 days, Nanking fell, leading to the horrific Nanking Massacre, where over 300,000 Chinese civilians lost their lives.

This bot focuses on the 13 days of the battle, but you can continue playing the bot as I’ve written some follow-up entries.

Casualty ratio between China and Japan: In this battle, China deployed a total of 200,000 soldiers, while Japan deployed 100,000 troops. Although the Chinese army outnumbered the Japanese by two to one, due to the severe lack of equipment and training, the Chinese army's casualties were always several times higher than those of the Japanese army. It wasn't until China sent the Burma Expeditionary Force, with the help of training and equipment from the United Kingdom and the United States, that the casualties of the Chinese Burma Expeditionary Force were lower than those of the Japanese army.

Republic of China

A Brief History of the Republic of China: The First Democratic Regime of the Chinese People

The Republic of China (ROC) was established in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen and his Kuomintang (KMT, introduced later), known as the "Southern Government." It was touted as "Asia's first democratic republic." Initially, Sun Yat-sen served as president, but due to certain circumstances, Yuan Shikai (known as the Northern Government) took over as president until his death shortly after declaring himself emperor.

Sun Yat-sen passed away in 1925, and Chiang Kai-shek succeeded him as the leader. However, his title was "Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission" rather than president, as he chaired the National Government's Military Affairs Commission.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, China became even more chaotic due to the presence of over 3,000 warlords across the country—oh my! These warlords constantly fought each other, leaving China with no time to develop. This situation lasted 16 years until Chiang Kai-shek unified China in 1928 through a campaign known as the Northern Expedition. Long live Chiang Kai-shek!

Now, Chiang became the nominal leader of China, but just as he was preparing to develop the country, Japan suddenly invaded northeastern China on September 18, 1931, and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. This event is known as the Mukden Incident or the "September 18 Incident."

China protested Japan's invasion to the League of Nations (the predecessor to the United Nations but even less effective). However, the League of Nations ignored China, and Japan announced its withdrawal from the organization, signaling its disregard for international oversight.

One China, Two Governments: After Yuan Shikai became president, Sun Yat-sen relocated to Guangzhou in the south and established the Southern Government (also known as the Guangzhou Military Government), competing with the Northern Government for representation of China. This resulted in multiple civil wars until Chiang Kai-shek unified China in 1928.

Why Did the League of Nations Ignore China? After World War I, both China (the Northern Government) and Japan were among the victorious nations. Japan had attacked Germany’s base in Qingdao and deployed fleets to assist Britain during the war, earning it first-class nation status. In contrast, China only joined the war in 1917, sending about 200,000 laborers to assist the Allies in constructing fortifications. Consequently, China was relegated to third-class nation status, which significantly contributed to its failure to gain support in the League of Nations.

The national flag of the Northern Government is the only flag in Chinese history without any party or governmental affiliation. It is called the "Five-Colored Flag" and symbolizes China's five major ethnic groups. But doesn't it look a lot like the Pride flag?

The national flag of the Southern Government is called the "Blue Sky, White Sun, and Wholly Red Earth Flag."

Chiang Kai-shek, the Supreme Leader of the Republic of China

Chiang Kai-shek (Chinese: 蔣介石) was the Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission of the National Government, commonly referred to as Chairman Chiang. He was a serious, patriotic, authoritarian, and nationalist bald man who regarded the Communist Party as his greatest enemy. Holding complete military and political power over China, he was devoted to transforming China into a true democratic nation.

However, due to China’s extreme poverty and chaos at the time, he implemented authoritarian military rule. This approach eventually led to the corruption of his government and military. In 1949, he retreated to Taiwan, harboring the dream of reclaiming the territories taken by the Communist Party.

Photo of Chiang Kai-shek, 1937

Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party)

The Kuomintang (Kuomintang, hereafter referred to as KMT) is the ruling party of China, adhering to the principles of Nationalism, Democracy, and Livelihood, collectively known as the Three Principles of the People. Their party emblem, called the "Blue Sky, White Sun, and Wholly Red Earth," features a white twelve-ray sun on a blue circular background. Since they were practically the only ruling party in China, their emblem also served as the national emblem and was printed on soldiers’ steel helmets.

They maintained a party army called the "National Revolutionary Army (NRA)," which later became the absolute main force against Japan.

This army was extraordinarily weak for several reasons:

• 1. The NRA was extremely lacking in equipment and training because China’s industrial capabilities had hardly developed due to the chaos of the Warlord Era. The underdeveloped industrial base left by the Qing Dynasty also made it very difficult for the NRA to strengthen itself.
• 2. After the Northern Expedition in 1928, the NRA absorbed the private armies of various warlords. However, most of these warlord forces lacked training, weapons, and any other military resources you could imagine. When these subpar forces joined the NRA, the army's overall strength varied greatly, with only Chiang Kai-shek’s Central Army having relatively adequate training and equipment.
• 3. Due to the ongoing war with Japan and the fact that the major powers (European countries and the United States) had not yet declared war on Japan, China found it difficult to purchase equipment and weapons from them.
• 4. Although the warlord armies had joined the NRA, the warlords themselves were not eliminated but merely temporarily united, making it difficult for Chiang Kai-shek to effectively command these troops.

The Formation of Chinese Warlords: The warlords across China originated from the New Armies and regional forces established during the late Qing Dynasty. After China’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Qing Dynasty began training a modernized army. These new armies were distributed across the country and became the forces of warlords when the Qing Dynasty fell.

Party flag of Kuomingtang

Flag of the National Revolutionary Army

The NRA composed of regional warlords from other provinces of China.

Organization of the National Revolutionary Army

The Chinese military employed an organizational structure and unit hierarchy similar to most other countries, including corps, armies, divisions, brigades, regiments, companies, platoons, and squads. They also adopted the "Three-Three System," where each higher-level unit was composed of three lower-level units. This structure was primarily influenced by Germany and the Soviet Union. In short, you can think of it as a standard military organization.

This is explained here because later we will discuss the Japanese military organization, which is quite unique.

The Central Army: Chiang Kai-shek’s Direct Force, China’s Elite Troops

The Central Army was the unit of the National Revolutionary Army directly under Chiang Kai-shek’s command. It was the best-trained and best-equipped force in China, numbering 600,000 soldiers across 30 divisions. China’s cooperation with Germany began after World War I, during Germany’s defeat (Weimar Republic).

In essence, Chiang Kai-shek purchased a large quantity of military equipment from Germany and hired German instructors to train his troops, earning this Central Army the nickname "German-Equipped Divisions," which became widely known.

By the outbreak of the Battle of Nanking, only 30 divisions, with a total of 300,000 troops, had completed their training. However, they were nearly wiped out during the Battle of Shanghai (of which the Battle of Nanking was a part).

Unifying China’s Resistance Efforts: At the beginning of the war, Chiang Kai-shek deployed the Central Army to inspire unity among the various warlords in resisting Japan. Although this led to the complete loss of the 300,000-strong Central Army, it set a patriotic example that encouraged the warlords to commit their own troops to defend China.

Was the Central Army Equal to the German Army? Although the Central Army was called the German-Equipped Divisions, their equipment was still far inferior to that of the actual German Army and not as advanced.

A cartoon from the time of Sino-German cooperation.

88th Division, 87th Division

The 87th Division and 88th Division were two divisions of the National Revolutionary Army that participated in the Defense of Nanking. They directly entered the city of Nanking to fight the Japanese army.

The Capital of the Republic of China, Nanking

Nanking (Nanjing) was the capital of the Republic of China, a city with a long history and significance, having been the capital of six ancient Chinese dynasties. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, China moved its capital to Wuhan and later to Chongqing to continue resisting Japan. However, just a month after the capital was relocated from Nanking, the Battle for Nanking broke out.

Concessions, the Best Proof of China's Weakness

Concessions refer to colonial areas controlled by Western powers in China during the Qing Dynasty. These were not permanently ceded territories but were leased to the powers for a limited period. The acquisition of these concessions mostly came from wars in which China lost, such as the Second Opium War and the Boxer Rebellion, in which China not only lost and paid indemnities but also signed agreements that allowed the leasing of concessions, granted most-favored-nation treatment, allowed foreign powers to navigate Chinese rivers, and permitted missionaries to enter the country. This was all due to the corruption and weakness of the Qing Dynasty. By the time World War II broke out, China, weakened by years of corruption and warlord conflicts, had no power to reclaim these concessions.

Which countries are the powers? The great powers mostly refer to those strong European industrialized imperialist countries and Japan, namely Russia (Russian Empire), Germany (German Empire), France (Third French Republic), the United States, Japan (Empire of Japan), Austria-Hungary, Italy (Kingdom of Italy), and the United Kingdom (British Empire).

The Fiat Currency, an Almost Collapsing Currency System

Fiat currency, officially called the Republic of China’s legal tender, was a type of paper money issued during World War II. Due to China’s urgent need for money, a massive amount of fiat currency was printed, leading to hyperinflation and economic collapse.
In order to completely crush China, Japan flooded the Chinese market with large amounts of counterfeit legal tender, causing the economic collapse to worsen.

The Chinese Fiat currency, with a portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China.

China's Weapons, Patchwork Goods from Around the World, Unable to Produce on Their Own

Due to the weakness of the Qing Dynasty, China was unable to develop its own weapons and could not produce them domestically. As a result, the Chinese military relied heavily on purchasing weapons from various countries, mainly from the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Japan, and Germany, with the United States contributing later in World War II.

The Soviet Union initially helped Chiang Kai-shek during the formation of the National Revolutionary Army by not only selling arms but also sending instructors to train the Chinese military. The Chinese Nationalist Party was also heavily influenced by the Soviet Communist Party, adopting the Soviet model to build the party. German instructors and weapons arrived after the Soviets withdrew their instructors.

Most of the weapons that China acquired were of poor quality, or they could only purchase early-model weapons, vehicles, tanks, and aircraft, leading to frequent shortages of firepower during the war against Japan.

Traitors, Collaborators with Japan

Traitors (Hanjian漢奸) referred to Chinese people who cooperated with or assisted the Japanese military during the Second Sino-Japanese War. These traitors helped the Japanese in various ways, such as acting as guides or serving as translators. Essentially, anyone who helped the Japanese was labeled a traitor. If captured by other Chinese people, they would be tortured or executed.

They would wear arm bands to signify their status as traitors to the Japanese.

Empire of Japan

In 1868, Japan ended a 160-year-long civil war and began national reform to strengthen the country and military, known as the "Meiji Restoration." With the establishment of the Empire of Japan, Japan's military power grew significantly, and the country slowly transformed into an imperialist and militaristic state, gradually revealing its ambitions.

After defeating the Qing Empire (in the First Sino-Japanese War, 1895) and the Russian Empire (in the Russo-Japanese War, 1905), Japan became a major world power. In 1931, to gain more resources, Japan invaded Manchuria and, the following year, established the puppet state of Manchukuo, placing Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, as its ruler. In 1937, war between Japan and China broke out again, with Shanghai and Nanking as the primary battlefields. The weak Chinese military was no match for Japan’s forces, and just 13 days later, Japan captured the former Chinese capital, Nanking. The following six weeks saw horrific atrocities, resulting in the Nanking Massacre.

The brutal Japanese military even held "hundred-man slashing" competitions, wantonly massacring Chinese civilians.

A Japanese newspaper reporting the hundred-man slashing competition. The two men in the image were later sentenced to death by the Chinese government.

Japanese Military, the Strongest Military in East Asia

During the Meiji Restoration, Japan studied European and American powers and decided to have its army learn from Germany and its navy learn from the United Kingdom, as these two countries were the strongest in their respective military branches at the time.

Almost all of Japan’s weapons were domestically produced, and the rise of militarism led Japan to heavily develop heavy industry, making it far more powerful than any other Asian country, including China.

The training, weapons, and supplies of the Japanese military were far more advanced than those of China. They were cold-blooded, well-trained killers, disregarding the Geneva Convention, showing little mercy to Chinese civilians or soldiers. They used tanks, poison gas, and fighter planes in battle, while the Chinese military lacked these tools.

Japanese Army Flag

Japanese Military Organization, Unique

The structure of the Japanese military was very distinctive. They used a unique organizational structure, including the three main levels: squad, regiment, and army. Below the squad level, the military was divided into units of battalion, company, platoon, and squad. The higher levels of regiments were divided into brigades and divisions, with armies being the highest level of unit. The organizational structure included divisions, armies, and general headquarters.

Units in the Japanese military were often named by the commander’s surname followed by the unit level, such as the "Sakata Regiment," where "Sakata" is the surname of the commander, and "Regiment" refers to the unit.

Manchukuo (Japan's Puppet State), the Beginning of China’s Nightmare

Manchukuo was a puppet state established by Japan after occupying the three northeastern provinces of China. It was governed by Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
However, since Manchukuo occupied Northeast China and the Chinese military lacked the ability to launch a counteroffensive, the battlefield did not expand significantly into the Manchukuo region. This made Northeast China relatively peaceful during the war, and its economy experienced relatively stable development.

Flag of Manchukuo

Republic of China (Wang Jingwei Nanjing National Government, Japan's Puppet State)

The Wang Jingwei regime, formally known as the Republic of China, was referred to by Chiang Kai-shek's China as the Wang puppet regime. Established by Japan in Nanjing in 1940, it was intended to replace Chongqing's Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek as a puppet regime.
The Wang Jingwei regime did not receive international recognition; the only countries to recognize this regime were the Japanese Empire and the puppet state of Manchukuo established by the Japanese. Wang Jingwei, the leader of the regime, had a good reputation before Japan invaded China and was acquainted with Chiang Kai-shek. However, his reputation plummeted in China thereafter.
The Wang Jingwei regime used a national flag and emblem almost identical to those of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government, presenting itself as the legitimate government of China and actively cooperating with Japan. The only difference on Wang Jingwei's flag was the addition of a yellow triangular flag above, inscribed in Chinese with "Peace, Independence, Build the Nation." The emblem also featured an additional red ring around the outside.
The military of the Wang Jingwei regime was known as the Nanjing Army, also referred to as the Peace Building Army. They primarily used equipment abandoned by the National Revolutionary Army and Japanese-provided equipment, making them closely resemble Chiang Kai-shek's forces. The main adversary of the Nanjing Army was the National Revolutionary Army.

Wang Jingwei China National Flag

International Situation, China Isolated and Helpless

When the Battle of Nanking began in 1937, Japan had not yet invaded Southeast Asia nor attacked Pearl Harbor, so the major powers had not declared war on Japan or provided any help to China. Therefore, China was isolated and without assistance in 1937 on the international stage.

Shanghai Defense Battle, Gaining Support from The Powers: The Battle of Shanghai was a battle before the Battle of Nanking. Shanghai is located next to Nanking, and to attack Nanking, one must first capture Shanghai. Shanghai was the most prosperous city in Asia at the time, due to the presence of Italian, French, British, American, and Japanese concessions. Chiang Kai-shek chose Shanghai as the battleground to show the international community China's determination to resist Japan.

About the Character (bots)

Lunar

Lunar is a cute female soldier from the NRA 88th Division. She is a 17-year-old girl, an age at which joining the army was not uncommon in China at the time. She is very loyal to China and hates the Japanese deeply because her parents and brothers were killed by them, vowing to take revenge. She participated in the Battle of Nanking with the 88th Division, but her squad was scattered by the Japanese and became isolated and in danger.

The bot is here

Yoko

Yoko was forcibly conscripted into the army, becoming an accomplice in the invasion of China. Her friends and family around her all supported Japanese militarism, but only she realized that this was an utter and complete mistake. Trapped in a moral conflict, she was forced to participate in the Battle of Nanking while struggling against her conscience.

The bot is here

About the Author

I am someone who loves history and storytelling. When I started making bots, I created many strange and unconventional bots. What I shared publicly is just the tip of the iceberg, as I only want to present the best. The reason I began making historical bots was that I noticed there were no decent war bots on the chub website, and many bot worlds were very similar, lacking creativity and detail. I believe making historical bots could avoid all these issues.

The historical bot series is the focus of my creation. You can see that I have added a lot of historical data to the lorebook, and I tell the robot to be sufficiently brutal in the narrative. This is not because I enjoy killing or violence, but because I am tired of the rough, modern moral narratives that do not align with the historical context. After I made the Battle of Nanking bots, I continued to create the Japanese Warring States and the 19th Century of Asia series of Qing Dynasty parts.

In my creation process, I care more about whether the world-building, historical background, and elements of the story make logical sense. Although this takes up token count, I dislike simply telling the robot rough details and having it pass those on to users. I believe this is irresponsible to the bot.

If you also like creating rich and realistic historical bots, maybe we could collaborate? Let me know in the comments.