Rape of Nanjing : One of the worst wartime atrocities

 Trigger warning : The following content includes graphic references, covering topics such as rape, murder, abuse and violence. Please engage in self-care as you read this article since it is disturbing and traumatizing. 

History of Japan

From the year 1603 to 1854, Japan was a closed country. This meant that nobody could come in or go out of Japan. This naturally meant that Japan didn't welcome trading or foreigners. However, foreigners were limited to a small port in Hiroshima. 

This all changed on July 8, 1853, when an American naval officer named Matthew.C.Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world. On seeing the hermit country, the Western world was left in shock. This was because Japan was 200 years behind from the rest of the world economically, technologically and militarily. Now Japan's main goal was to modernize their country as quickly as possible. And they achieved that goal pretty soon, in 40 to 50 years, Japan transformed itself from a feudal society governed by an outdated warrior class to a regional power.

In 1896, the Japanese defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War over influence in Korea. Japan also won the island of Taiwan and several other concessions in Chinese cities, which essentially put the Japanese in control of small parts of China.. In 1904-1905, Japan won a stunning victory over the Russian Empire.  The Japanese were proud of their victory over Russia, it showed the world that their country was equal to any Western nation.  They believed that they were the superior race. 

In 1931, the Japanese army provoked an “incident” in Manchuria, today a part of China, but then a  territory governed by Chinese military “warlords.”  Japanese invaded and took over resource-rich Manchuria.

The invasion

In November 1937, Japan invaded China, after quickly capturing Shanghai they marched on towards Nanjing. Their plan was to next capture the capital of China, Beijing. By early December, the Japanese army was on the outskirts of Nanjing. As the Japanese approached, the Chinese army withdrew the bulk of its forces since Nanjing was not a defensible position. The massacre began on December 13, the day the Japanese troops reached the city. They faced little to no resistance and ran entirely unchecked. 

This was because the Chinese army was tired, demoralized and afraid.  And in the haste to flee the Japanese, some Chinese units fired on each other to the clear the way and get ahead of the others to get away. They knew that falling alive into Japanese hands was much worse than death. 

The Massacre Contest

The Japanese army followed the "Burn To Ash Policy" also called as "Three Alls Policy".

This policy had three simple rules: 1. Kill All

                                                         2. Burn All

                                                         3. Loot All

The army engaged in random murder, wartime rape, looting and other war crimes. Such crime continued for three to six weeks. The first three weeks were more intense. Among the many atrocities, were Japanese officers who challenged each other to see who could behead the most Chinese in a certain amount of time with their samurai swords.

Chinese soldiers and civilians including the elderly, infirm, women and children were grouped and taken to different areas of the city and under the eye of machine gunners who cut down anyone trying to flee, began to shoot and chop the heads off their victims. The Japanese soldiers then stacked them into grisly piles which were left to rot. Other soldiers and officers used their bayonets (short,sharp-edged, sometimes pointed weapon, designed for attachment to the muzzle of a firearm), spearing as many Chinese as possible. 

Rape of Nanjing

A large number of rapes were done systematically by the Japanese soldiers as they went from door to door, searching for girls, with many women being captured and gang-raped. The women were often killed immediately after being raped, often through torture and mutilation.Nobody was spared from the brutality, some of the victims were seventy years and older, some were as young as six or seven years old. 

The unexpected savior 

John Rabe, a German trade official and Nazi party member, remained in the city to help other Europeans remain safe from the Battle of Nanjing and the atrocities afterward. At the time Germany and Japan were not allies but the relations between the countries were getting closer in 1937, and would lead to an alliance in 1940. The Japanese did not want to alienate Hitler by violating German property during their invasion. Within a short time John Rabe and his staff were admitting Chinese citizens into his diplomatic safe zone. They were venturing into the city and issuing diplomatic safe conduct passes to anyone they could find. He is credited with saving thousands of people. 

Conclusion
Although I have covered most of the story of "The Rape of Nanjing", there are many graphic and grisly details that I have not mentioned. It is simply too much to stomach. To this day "The Nanjing Massacre Anniversary" is celebrated every year in China on 13th December, on this day the entire country mourns for the victims.

References

YouTube, Google and Wikipedia