By the men's own admission, the victims were unarmed, defenseless people. Worse yet, the people these two men cut open weren't enemy combatants killed on the battlefield while fighting for their lives. Japanese magazines bragged about a contest between two soldiers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, who had challenged one another in a race to see who could slaughter 100 people with their swords first. To the invading army, the Rape of Nanking was sometimes even a game. Some victims of the Nanking Massacre were thrown into mass, unmarked graves others were just left to rot in the sun.
They then slaughtered scores of people they happened upon. They looted nearly every building they could find, stealing from the poor and the rich alike. They burned down the city's walls, people's homes, the surrounding forests, and even whole villages situated in their path. When the Japanese Army reached Nanking, their brutality continued unabated. One Japanese journalist, traveling with the 10th Army, wrote in his notes that he believed the army was moving forward with such strength because of the "tacit consent among the officers and men that they could loot and rape as they wish." The Nanking Massacre Begins Among the invading army, nothing was forbidden and they believed that gave them strength. The Japanese Army was moving through China at the outset of their invasion, massacring and looting with strict orders to "kill all captives." The rape and murder that would soon envelop Nanking started before the Japanese Army ever reached the city walls. The Brutal March That Preceded The Rape Of Nanking Some of the worst of it occurred over the six weeks after the Japanese stormed into the Chinese capital of Nanking (now known as Nanjing) in December 1937. They were civilians, unarmed and defenseless, and many of them were put through unimaginable hell before they were killed. In the end, China lost as many as 20 million lives (the second most of any country involved in the war) while the Japanese Empire sought to conquer much of East Asia and the Pacific.Īnd as many as 17 million Chinese casualties weren't soldiers. While Europe was struggling to hold off the Nazi war machine, China was victim to the Japanese invasion that first launched in late 1937. But, all too often, when an atrocity happens on the other side of the world, people don't hear much about it or think much of it.Īlongside all the catastrophes that plagued Europe during World War II, the atrocities committed in Southeast Asia were every bit as disturbing - even if most people in the West hardly ever learn about them in school.Īnd few of the atrocities committed in Asia during World War II were as terrible as the Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking.
#MANSFIELD OHIO FIRE DOGS PERISHED FULL#
Many Westerners know full well about the horrors that have happened on their side of the world throughout history.
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