fujisan-ni-noboru-hinode: This day in history: December 13th, 1937 - the beginning of one of the wor

fujisan-ni-noboru-hinode:This day in history: December 13th, 1937 - the beginning of one of the worst events in human history - The Rape of Nanking After the Japanese captured Nanking in the first week of December 1937, the conquering troops engaged in a rampage of violence. Depending on various sources, somewhere between 50,000 to over 300,000 Chinese, mostly civilians and prisoners of war, were killed. Those who had bullets ripping through their bodies as they ran away could have been said the lucky ones, as many other victims suffered worse fates. Deaths by bayoneting, burning alive, crushing by tanks, burying alive, and decapitation were common. Even worse were those who bled to death by after being nailed to telephone poles or doors, castrated, delimbed, or disemboweled. And then there were the over 20,000 cases of rapes, victims of which crime ranged from girls under 10 years of age to over 80 years of age; many of those who were raped, itself a grotesque crime, were further tortured by the Japanese troops by impalement of their vaginas with everything from beer bottles to bayonets. Few but not unseen atrocities were committed by the most sadistic, who tore out fetuses from pregnant women with bayonets and forced sons to rape their mothers. In 1938, a 16-millimeter film made by Episcopal missionary John Magee was smuggled out of China and eventually made its way to the United States. It was shown anonymously to certain US Congressmen, US Army, and Red Cross members. The original films were found in the 1990s after being lost for more than fifty years, documenting aftermath of the atrocity. Over time, many Japanese veterans of the war stepped forth and admitted to the atrocities that took place, confirming the widespread violence.Journalist Edgar Snow provided the following eyewitness account:“Thousands of men were led out of the [Nanjing International Safety] Zone, lined up, and machine-gunned. Sometimes groups were used for bayonet exercises. When the victors grew bored with such mild sport they tied their victims, poured kerosene over their heads, and cremated them alive. Others were taken out to empty trenches, and told to simulate Chinese soldiers. Japanese officers then led their men in assaults to capture these ‘enemy positions’ and bayoneted the unarmed defenders.”Property damage to the city of Nanking was also extensive. Unlike the many other cities that were devastated during WW2, which were largely damaged by either aerial bombing or by fierce fighting, only about 1% to 2% of the damage done at Nanjing were caused by military actions. Almost all of the damage were done after Chinese troops had departed, and most was caused by systematic arson of entire neighborhoods by Japanese troops.Many of the women who survived the rapes would commit suicide. Months later, many infant babies, drowned or choked to death, were found around the city; speculations held that they were children conceived by the raped women.There were some who claim that the atrocities were not as widespread as reported by the Chinese and the westerners. There were eyewitnesses from Nanjing’s International Safety Zone who said that the atrocities were isolated (even Rabe estimated only 50,000 to 60,000 deaths), while interviews with Japanese junior officers and soldiers present at Nanjing during these months sometimes resulted in testimonies that either noted the city of nearly deserted thus the death toll could not have been as high or claimed that the conduct of the Japanese troops in general were honorable. While the true death toll could never be verified, it would still be likely that, in the span of a few weeks, the number of Chinese deaths rivaled the number of Japanese killed by the two atomic blasts near the end of the war, so well into the 300,000s.No one really knows why the Japanese troops did this. Japanese troops were legendary for their discipline and conduct at the time, and just 20-some years before, during the Russo-Japanese war, Japanese troops went out of their way to show mercy to POWs. Interviews with Japanese army veterans proved very mixed. Most had one thing in common, however. Almost all said that they did what they did because they didn’t want to be different from their fellow soldiers. It was a group mentality, and IJA veterans said that if they didn’t participate “they would be ridiculed, and their honor and manhood would be questioned.”Prince Asaka, head of the Japanese army troops in Nanking, was said to have instigated this massacre and mayhem. He arrived just before the Japanese captured the city. When victory was achieved, he is reported to have decreed “Kill all Captives”. Some believe he never actually gave this order, and that it was given without his knowledge by lieutenant colonel Isamu Cho. It’s debated to this day who did it, but whoever was responsible for issuing the order, in doing so, created what can be simply described as one of the greatest crimes against humanity in all of human history. Prince Asaka is mostly held responsible because he never gave an order telling the troops to stop. He escaped persecution after the war, as he was granted immunity by the Americans. These horrible activities mostly occurred from December 13th 1937 until around mid January 1938, however, this type of conduct was well reported on a smaller scale well into nearly April. The madness only ended when General Iwane Matsui arrived and was angered, as he had previously stated that “the property and citizens of the nation must not be harmed in order to avoid causing an international incident.” Nevertheless, Matsui’s instructions said nothing of Chinese POWs. He inadvertently added to the carnage without his knowledge, when he demanded entrance to the city and scheduled a victory parade to be held December 17th. This scrambled Japanese troops to get the job of killing all captured prisoners and apprehending all Chinese military personnel still in the city completed. It is not clear if Matsui was aware at the events that were occurring at the time, however it is known that he was semi-aware. In his dairy, he stated that he had been informed by an officer of a few reports of rape and plundering, but wrote that this was normal in war and nothing unexpected. After his parade, he stayed for 5 days before returning to Japan on December 22nd. He would later return in February 1938 after hearing many reports of the activities happening in the city. He met with Prince Asaka, and lectured him for “failing to prevent a number of abominable incidentswithin the last 50 days.”After the war Matsui went on trial for accusations involving him with several crimes during the war. Ultimately most of the accusations were dismissed, however, for his involvement in the Massacre at Nanking, he was charged for failing to adhere to the rules of war, and on 23 December 1948, he, simultaneously alongside Tojo, Muto, and Doihara, was hanged after shouting 3 cheers of ‘banzai’. -- source link

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