The Nanjing Massacre ( 南京大屠杀 )

On the afternoon of December 13^th, 1937, the Japanese forces，under the command of Tani Hisao [1882-1947], brought their invasion into Nanjing along three roads leading to Yuhua, Guanghua, and Zhonghua Gates. Nanjing，the capital of the Republic of China, fell to the Japanese Imperial Army. After entering the city, a group of these brutal soldiers immediately occupied each level of the Nanjing government, in addition to banks and warehouses, while another group, like wild animals, searched out and massacred opponents. The crowds of refugees became the battle targets. In the following six weeks, the Japanese army launched a massacre of unparalleled savagery, which was one of the greatest horrors of the century. According to the records of several welfare organizations which buried the dead bodies after the Massacre, around 300,000 people were brutally slaughtered.

 

According to historical records, on December 15^th, around 2,000 Chinese soldiers and policemen were sent to Hanzhong Gate under escort, strafed dead. And the night on the same day, the Japanese Imperial Army slaughtered 9000 more Nanjing citizens and soldiers. At nightfall on the16^th, another 5,000 Chinese soldiers and refugees were shot on the Zhongshan dork and the corpses were disposed of into the Yangtze River, only several of them survived. The Japanese Army didn’t stop raiding their killing objects and on the next day that was on 17^th, they shot dead another 3,000 civilians and burned the bodies, some of which were workers from Nanjing Power Company. On the 18^th, the Japanese Army tied up more than 57,000 captives with lead wire, drove them to the Straw Sandals Gorge in Xiaguan district, and launched an inhuman atrocity. Using machine guns, rifles, and revolvers, the Japanese soldiers indiscriminately shot at these people. Then they recklessly wailed their long swords upon the surviving ones. After a short while, tens of thousands of people had lost their lives under the murderous blades. Slaughter had no hint to cease in the following days. The roads and alleyways were awash with blood and flesh, and corpses were strewn throughout the streets. A shroud of terror descended upon the entire city.

 

The Nanjing Massacre is also known as The Rape of Nanjing. Besides brutal killings, over twenty thousand cases of rape were reported during those six weeks. Many of the victims were gang raped and then killed, many of whom are young girls and old women. And the figure did not include those captives who were sent to army brothels (the so-called "comfort stations").