There is a new book by Iris Chang about the infamous event in the late 30's of "The Rape of Nanking". To many Chinese, this event is well-known and is the worst case of the atrocities committed in China during World War Two.
Though this event is well-known to most Chinese, it has been largely forgotten by the West and especially the Japanese, of which army committed the rapes, tortures and murders in Nanking (now known as Nanjing).
Nanking fell in December 13th, 1937 to the Japanese. Many crimes were committed against the Chinese people. Young men were rounded up and killed by various methods. Machine-gunning probably the more "humane", compared with them being used as live bayonet practice targets, being drenched in gasoline and burned, and digging their own graves and being buried alive.
A command sent out from Prince Asaka's headquarters, was distributed to officers. The Japanese 66th Battalion was given this command:
"BATTALION BATTLE REPORTER, AT 2:00 RECEIVED ORDER FROM THE REGIMENT COMMANDER: TO COMPLY WITH ORDERS FROM BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS, ALL PRISONERS OF WAR ARE TO BE EXECUTED. METHOD OF EXECUTION: DIVIDE THE PRISONERS INTO GROUPS OF A DOZEN. SHOOT TO KILL SEPARATELY."
The Japanese army reasoned that because there were so many captives, they could not possibly feed the thousands and thousands of POWs so there was no other alternative than to kill them.
There are so many different massacre sites that it would take too long to explain all of them, so I will put what happened, generally to the people of Nanking.
Soldiers who surrendered were executed.
Civilians were fired upon randomly. Many were shot in the back as they ran away.
The Japanese troops also massacred villages and suburbs in the countryside. Bodies piled up around the walls of Nanking, the river, which had turned red with blood, and in ponds, lakes and on hills and mountains.
Soldiers went to each house, or shop, ordering people to open their doors to the victorious Japanese army. When they complied, they were shot. The army murdered many people in this manner.
Women, from the ages of 8 onwards could not escape of being raped. Coal trucks were sent to kidnap women, where 15 to 20 soldiers were allocated to each woman for sexual intercourse and abuse.
When women were raped, they were killed after so that they could not report it as the Japanese army had officially outlawed the rape of enemy women, but none of the soldiers took it seriously.
There are so many more atrocities that were committed by the Japanese soldiers.
I will probably update this as I have read about a third of the book.
The total amount of the dead is uncertain. Anything from 3,000, claimed by some Japanese, up to 430,000 by a Chinese military specialist. There are many figures estimated in between these.
I agree with the figures of between 260,000 (International Military Tribunal of the Far East) up to 400,000 (authors Yin and Young or IMTFE plus Japanese Burial Records). In this range is Sun Yat-Sen's total : 377,400.
This exceeds the death-toll for the atomic blasts of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Though many Japanese soldiers participated in this slaughter, there were a few Japanese, including General Matsai, reporters from Japan and some soldiers who showed humanity. I will report more on this later.
18th of October
I finished the book some time ago, but never got around to finishing this.
Though I have only known about his event since young, the details and pictures in this book are horrendous.
Though I am glad that this book has been produced, I completely disagree with one of the passages in the book. I am surprised that no critic has picked up this inaccuracy, probably because they are all American.
On page 167 it states:
"The end of Nanking's ordeal came at last in the summer of 1945. On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped and untested uranium bomb on Hiroshima, Japan's eigth largest city, killing 100.000 of its 245,000 people on the first day. When a Japanese surrender was not forthcoming, the Americans dropped, on August 9, a second, plutonium-type bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Less than a week later, on August 14, the Japanese made the final decision to surrender."
I disagree. With all the evidence we have now, I believe that it was extremely unnecessary to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think The American govt had to justify the spending on the making of the bomb; it cost them 2 billion US dollars. The use of the bomb was to also prevent the Russians entering the war, so that they, the Americans could "decide the peace" in Japan.
(ie. They could do whatever they bloody well liked).
Other factors that blur the "good" intent of America dropping the bomb, is that they were harsher on Japan, compared with Germany beacause of Pearl Harbour, and also an unproven racial factor. (A survey done in WWII showed that American soldiers felt sorry for their German captives after some time, but that they didn't feel bad about the Japanese POW's).
There is alot more evidence to disprove that Japan surrendered because of the bombs. They were on the verge of defeat. Their supplies had been cut, their people were starving, and the bombing of Nagasaki apparently added to the "general gloom" of the Japanese politicians.
The attack on Manchuria by the Russians was most likely the main reason for surrender, not the bombs. Modern day scholars agree with this. Making Japan surrender was an excuse to test out this nuclear device on humans and created a nuclear arms race. Don't you love the Americans?????
Ok, so I completely switched topics, but at least you know I do not hate the Japanese because they raped Nanking. I hate prejudice. I think that the Japanese should be educated about this event but I don't think we should blame the entire race for what happened.
