A Blood-Soaked City: Changde, 1943

In 1943, the Pacific front had reached a stalemate, and the Japanese army planned to break through China’s southwestern defenses by capturing Changde. The 57th Division of the 74th Army was entrusted with this desperate mission. Eight thousand “Tiger Warriors” marched to the besieged city to fight thirty thousand Japanese troops to the death.

New recruit Zhao Gang arrived in Changde with a burning desire to serve his country and quickly matured amid the flames of war. He became sworn brothers with Zhou Dalei, a veteran returning from the Battle of Shanghai, and followed the iron-willed company commander Chen Hu in defending the city walls, watching his comrades charge forward through a hail of bullets. Division commander Yu Chengwan took up his position at the Confucian Temple, directing the troops to fight for every inch among the shattered walls with the resolve to “live or die with Changde.”

After twelve days and nights of bloody fighting, the moat was choked with bamboo spikes and bodies, and the streets became a hell of scorched earth. With ammunition exhausted and reinforcements nowhere in sight, the soldiers of the 57th Division used bayonets, stones, and even their own bodies to pin the Japanese troops beneath the city walls. During a brutal street battle, Zhao Gang took up the rifle of a fallen comrade. Zhou Dalei used his last grenade to take the enemy with him, while Chen Hu carved a path through the encirclement with his bloodstained saber...

At last, the bugles of the reinforcements rang out, and the smoke above Changde slowly began to clear. This isolated city, nearly razed to the ground, bore witness to the most tragic and resolute stand made by Chinese soldiers. Based on the true battle, The Besieged City in Blood: Changde 1943 composes a stirring anthem to heroes, honoring the iron-hearted souls who gave their lives to forge the backbone of the nation.