The Defense of Hengyang was the fiercest city defense battle since the start of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The Japanese army's general assault was repelled three times, and its main attacking forces were repeatedly decimated. More than 200,000 Japanese troops (110,000 attacking the city and over 100,000 engaging relief forces) were held at bay here for 48 days. Japanese casualties were devastating. Although estimates are disputed, ranging from 20,000 to 60,000, what cannot be denied is that large numbers of mid- and high-ranking Japanese officers died here, and at least three Japanese generals were struck down outside the city walls.
Yet the defenders paid a terrible price as well. More than 6,000 soldiers died, and 9,000 were wounded. When ammunition and food ran out, and all hope of aid was gone, the remaining 2,000 or so troops stopped resisting so that the 9,000 wounded soldiers, no longer fit to fight, would not be massacred. They were sent to prisoner-of-war camps, which were in fact forced-labor camps. This was a bitter disappointment to those who had hoped they would all fight to the death.
No one knows how many ultimately died, or what became of the survivors. Decades have passed since this city was the site of the toughest siege the Japanese army had faced since invading China, and not even the soldiers' graves have been preserved. Yet the remains of thousands of them still lie scattered haphazardly throughout the city.
For those who remember the dead who fell in the War of Resistance, to honor the brave and not-so-brave people who once defended this country, and to mourn those who will never have gravestones, I have tried to reconstruct their stories, using fictional characters to bring real history to life.
