In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage is known as the Rape of Nanking.
After finally defeating the Chinese at Shanghai in November, 50,000 Japanese soldiers then marched on toward Nanking. Unlike the troops at Shanghai, Chinese soldiers at Nanking were poorly led and loosely organised. Although they greatly outnumbered the Japanese and had plenty of ammunition, they withered under the ferocity of the Japanese attack, then engaged in a chaotic retreat. After just four days of fighting, Japanese troops smashed into the city on December 13, 1937, with orders issued to "kill all captives." Their first concern was to eliminate any threat from the 90,000 Chinese soldiers who surrendered. Many were beaten to death by Japanese soldiers, others were simply mowed down by machine-gun fire , tied-up, soaked with gasoline and burned alive.
After finally defeating the Chinese at Shanghai in November, 50,000 Japanese soldiers then marched on toward Nanking. Unlike the troops at Shanghai, Chinese soldiers at Nanking were poorly led and loosely organised. Although they greatly outnumbered the Japanese and had plenty of ammunition, they withered under the ferocity of the Japanese attack, then engaged in a chaotic retreat. After just four days of fighting, Japanese troops smashed into the city on December 13, 1937, with orders issued to "kill all captives." Their first concern was to eliminate any threat from the 90,000 Chinese soldiers who surrendered. Many were beaten to death by Japanese soldiers, others were simply mowed down by machine-gun fire , tied-up, soaked with gasoline and burned alive.
After killing Chinese soldiers, the Japanese soldiers turned their attention to the women of Nanking. Old women over the age of 70 as well as little girls under the age of 8 were dragged off to be sexually abused. More than 20,000 females (with some estimates as high as 80,000) were gang-raped by Japanese soldiers, then stabbed to death with bayonets or shot so they could never bear witness.
Even pregnant women were not spared. In several instances, they were raped, then had their bellies slit open and the foetuses torn out. Sometimes, after storming into a house and encountering a whole family, the Japanese forced Chinese men to rape their own daughters, sons to rape their mothers, and brothers their sisters, while the rest of the family was made to watch.
Throughout the city of Nanking, random acts of murder occurred as soldiers frequently fired their rifles into panicked crowds of civilians, killing indiscriminately. Young or old, male or female, anyone could be shot on a whim by any Japanese soldier for any reason. Corpses could be seen everywhere throughout the city. The streets of Nanking were said to literally have run red with blood.
Those who were not killed on the spot were taken to the outskirts of the city and forced to dig their own graves. Other times, the Japanese forced the Chinese to bury each other alive in the dirt.
This incredible carnage continued unabated for about six weeks, from mid-December 1937 through the beginning of February 1938.
But according to some theories this massacre never happened. It was a false propaganda spread by Chinese Nationalists and Communists for their political purposes. Well who knows whats the truth.
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