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Table of Contents # of Lines
English Translation By: Robert P. Gray (pgray@pro.net), Vancouver, Canada
The original Chinese document was submitted to China News Digest by Yue Ren
To view this document as a formatted homepage with photographs and more
information, please visit http://www.cnd.org/njmassacre/njm-tran/
[Editor's Note: Mr. Robert Gray is a graduate student who got his M.A. in
Chinese history from Harvard University. We thank him for his great efforts
in translating this valuable document.]
In 1960, the Japanese history section in the Department of History
at Nanjing University organized a group of students to carry out an
investigation into the Nanjing Massacre committed by the Japanese army
beginning in December 1937. In 1962, based on extensive materials
uncovered during this investigation, these scholars collectively wrote the
book Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing (riben diguozhuyi zai
nanjing de datusha). Initially, this book was labelled a classified
document (neibu ziliao) and was not published openly. In 1979, a
classified publication of the book was issued in China for internal
circulation only.
In 1995, a scholar from mainland China who had obtained and carried
this publication to America made it available to China News Digest (CND) for
publication. In August 1995, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the
end of WWII, CND published extracts from this rare piece of scholarship in
the original Chinese. Subsequently, in March 1996, CND published this
English translation.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr. Yim Tse, Chinese
librarian at the University of British Columbia Asian Library, without whom
the present translation would not have been possible. His professional
editing of the translation and tireless searching for original sources and
Chinese and Japanese names went above and beyond the call of duty. It was
a great honour and highly edifying experience to work with Mr. Tse on this
translation.
All footnotes and notes within square brackets in the following
translation are supplementary notes written by the translator. All
Japanese names (transliterated from Chinese by Yim Tse) are written with
the surname first and the given name last. Pinyin romanization has been
used throughout except in cases in which the Wade-Giles spelling is more
familiar, such as "Yangtze" or "Kuomintang."
The spelling "Nanking" rather than "Nanjing" is used in the text
when referring to organizations in the 1930s which used that spelling in
their names, such as "Nanking University."
Responsibility for any errors in this translation, of course, rests
entirely with me.
Robert P. Gray (pgray@pro.net), Vancouver, Canada
In 1937, early in the war of resistance against Japan, airplanes of
the invading Japanese army indiscriminately bombed the city of Nanjing. From
beginning to end, the air raid consisted of more than 100 fly-overs. Most
of the bombs fell on non-military targets. Southern Nanjing, the most
lively and densely populated area of the city, suffered from the worst
bombings. The single most devastating bombing incident occurred on the
25th of September. From nine-thirty in the morning until four-thirty in
the afternoon, the Japanese planes made five fly-overs, a total of
ninety-five sorties, and dropped about 500 bombs from the skies above
Nanjing, resulting in more than 600 civilian casualties. A refugee camp at
Xiaguan [a neighborhood in Nanjing adjacent to the Yangtze River] was
unfortunate enough to be hit, resulting in more than 100 deaths. In
addition to power plants, water works and a radio station, bombs were also
dropped on Nanjing's Central Hospital, which had a large red cross painted
on its rooftop.
On November 20th, the invading Japanese forces were approaching
Nanjing. The Kuomintang government announced that it would be moving the
capital to Chongqing [a city in central China]. Nanjing fell into a state of
chaos. High officials and bureaucrats alike hastily fled the city, leaving
behind the helpless civilians. Before the war, the population of Nanjing
hovered around one million. After the war broke out, people began to flee,
but only the high officials and the wealthy had the means to escape to far-off
places. The commoners could, at best, flee to neighboring areas to escape
temporarily from the war. There was a steady flow of refugees fleeing into
Nanjing from the front lines, so the population of the city was still quite
large. The Kuomintang government did nothing for the helpless refugees.
On the contrary, it took a group of charitable British and Americans [and
other foreigners] to propose to the Kuomintang government that an
"International Committee"{1} be established in Nanjing and that a certain
district be designated as a "safety zone" for the refugees. The Kuomintang
[government] concurred.
On November 25th, the Japanese forces spread out along three fronts
in preparation for the attack on Nanjing: the eastern front followed the
Shanghai-Nanjing railway to attack Nanjing directly; the central front
followed along the Nanjing-Hangzhou railway, taking Lishui and Jurong [two
prefectures outside of Nanjing], to attack the city from the rear; the
western front advanced from Guangde, Xuancheng and Wuhu to encircle
Nanjing. By the beginning of December, the Japanese forces advancing along
these three routes had reached the outskirts of the city, and a battle
ensued with Nanjing's garrison army. At that time, Nanjing's garrison
forces consisted of more than 100,000 soldiers under the command of General
Tang Shengzhi [1889-1970]. General Tang chose to abandon his positions
outside of Nanjing, preferring the strategy of staying shut up within a
besieged city to await death.
On December 12th, the main force of the Japanese army mounted a fierce
attack on Misty Flower Terrace [an area just outside of Nanjing]; it fell
into enemy hands by noon. At two o'clock in the afternoon, they stormed
through Zhonghua Gate and the city of Nanjing was exposed. At five
o'clock, General Tang Shengzhi hastily convened a twenty minute long
meeting of high-ranking military officials of the rank divisional commander
and above during which he distributed a mimeographed order calling for the
army to break out of the encirclement. But he himself was unwilling to
live up to his oath to "live or die with Nanjing." In a panic, he crossed
the river and fled the city. On the 13th of December the Japanese army
occupied Nanjing, and from this time forward a much more brutal scene
unfolds in front of our eyes.
When the Japanese forces invaded Nanjing, most of those left behind
in the city hid in the safety zone (for details on the safety zone, see
below). Some people remained behind in order to care for their shops and
businesses, while others wanted to guard their houses and property. Thus,
very few people were seen wandering the streets. But routed soldiers from
the front lines, injured and sick troops, and refugees from many areas
accompanied by their families were all driven to flight by the destructive
force of the Japanese army and came gushing into the city through Zhongshan
and Zhonghua Gates. After these people fled into Nanjing, the sounds of
enemy artillery and gunfire drew closer and closer. Panic was spreading
and everyone hoped to find solace in the refugee hostels located in the
safety zone. But all were being turned away from the safety zone.
Finally, some of these people planned to storm out of the city gates and
cross the Yangtze River. Thus, one group of people rushed to North
Zhongshan Road, which leads to the banks of the Yangtze River, and prepared
to force their way out of Yijiang Gate. After passing through the gate,
they would flee to Zhongshan Wharf at Xiaguan from where they would cross
the Yangtze. Another group beat a hasty retreat to Central Road and
prepared to force its way through Peace Gate and traverse the river from
Swallow Cliff.
While the crowds of refugees were making their way along North
Zhongshan and Central Roads, the last of the Kuomintang government troops
fleeing from Nanjing were gathering like ants on the banks of the [Yangtze]
river. The soldiers had not yet been able to escape across the river and
feared that the swarms of refugees would impede their escape. Thus, to ensure
their successful flight across the river and to save their own lives, they
locked Yijiang and Peace Gates tightly behind them.
The fleeing crowds, chased by Japanese gunfire from behind and
blocked by the locked city gates ahead, cried, cursed, and let out great
howls and angry screams which resounded all along the two roads by which
they were attempting to escape. These crowds were mostly comprised of
injured and sick soldiers along with elderly and weak men and women who had
had to endure hunger and freezing cold temperatures for an extended period of
time. Trapped in a situation in which neither advance nor retreat was
possible, some people attempted to escape by fleeing in various directions
while others stayed put: in both cases, thereafter, they lost control of
their own fates.
On the afternoon of December 13th, 1937, the Japanese forces brought
their invasion into the city along three roads leading to Yuhua, Guanghua,
and Zhonghua Gates. That same day, the Japanese forces under the command of
Tani Hisao [1882-1947] entered the city. 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
in the streets, especially those along North Zhongshan and Central Roads
and the surrounding alleys, became battle targets. Using machine guns,
rifles, and revolvers, the Japanese soldiers indiscriminately shot at these
people. In this way the Nanjing massacre began to unfold.
The people in one assembled group -- including groups of the elderly,
women and children, and wounded and sick soldiers -- were toppled over in
succession in the wake of echoing gunfire. The vast majority of these
people died on the spot, though some survived and were left screaming and
moaning on the ground. Suddenly, the roads and alleyways were awash with
blood and flesh and corpses were strewn throughout the streets. Devoid of
all humanity, the Japanese forces continued to shoot and kill the unarmed
people in the crowd. That day marked the beginning of the massacre.
In the early morning of December 14th, with the Japanese tank
battalions leading the way, artillery battalions and all kinds of vehicles
poured into Nanjing. The Japanese forces came in great numbers and brutally
and viciously continued to massacre people who had fled into the streets and
alleyways. The sounds of gunfire rang out and the din of exploding
grenades lasted the entire day, not ceasing for even one moment. The
slaughter continued until not a soul could be found on the streets. At
that point, Yijiang and Peace Gates were thrown open and the massacre was
extended to the outskirts of the city.
After the two day massacre on the 13th and 14th of December, South
and North Zhongshan Road, Central Road, along with the adjacent streets and
alleyways, all became hellish paths awash with blood.
The slaughter committed by the Japanese outside the city and in the
various districts neighboring Nanjing was even more savage and cruel than
that which occurred within the city. Refugees fleeing from all over,
wounded and sick soldiers, and family members of the military men died in
even greater numbers and under even more cruel circumstances.
As the Kuomintang troops had already seized control of every sort of
boat available in order to save their own lives, the refugees from Nanjing who
were trapped on the banks of the river could do nothing but gaze helplessly
across the Yangtze. On December 13th, the sounds of gunfire emanating from
within the city caused a stir among the refugees gathered along the river
as they came to realize that the Japanese had already occupied the city.
The situation along the river became extremely chaotic. Those with even a
little strength left, whether they were routed soldiers or fleeing
refugees, used every last bit of energy to put up one last fight. In a
desperate attempt to flee across the river, some people went to houses and
shops and removed wooden doors, planks of wood, bathtubs, long benches,
logs, and even old, rotten pieces of wood to serve as make-shift flotation
devices. There were too many people and too few adequate implements. In
the end, only a small number of people were lucky enough to cross the river
successfully, while the majority were left behind in an entirely hopeless
situation.
On the afternoon of December 14th, the Japanese troops suddenly threw
open Yijiang Gate and charged forward from the city towards Zhongshan Wharf
and Xiaguan Station. Wielding machine guns and rifles, they recklessly fired
upon the refugees and indiscriminately tossed grenades into the crowds.
Panic-stricken, angry and in despair, thousands upon thousands of refugees
were toppled. Some refugees who were still able to put up a struggle and
were unwilling to allow themselves to be killed by the Japanese tossed
themselves in the river and committed suicide. In the end, those left
standing on the banks of the river were forced into the water by the
Japanese and drowned en masse. After a short while, tens of thousands of
people had lost their lives under the murderous blades of the Japanese
soldiers.
On December 16th, more than 5,000 people who had taken refuge in the
Overseas Chinese Center (now 81 North Zhongshan Road) were bound together
in groups and transported on large trucks to Xiaguan Station to be killed.
The corpses were disposed of in the river.
There were various places along the river where the killings occurred
on a larger scale. These areas included Straw Sandals Gorge, Swallow Cliff
and Goddess of Mercy Gate. Prior to the occupation of Nanjing, those unable
to escape to far-off areas scattered in groups to the outskirts of town.
Moreover, those fleeing from the frontlines (amongst whom were a large
number of wounded and sick soldiers) increasingly attempted to squeeze into
the suburban districts and the area along the Yangtze River. For a short
while, those without the means to cross the river organized themselves into
a refugee village in order to maintain some semblance of order necessary
for their survival. But soon after the Japanese forces occupied Nanjing,
they began to scour the countryside. They rounded up and bound large
numbers of refugees, about 50,000 in total, who were detained for several
days without provision of food or drink. A large number of the sick and
wounded starved or froze to death. Finally, those who survived the ordeal
were driven to Straw Sandals Gorge where they were brutally slaughtered.
Straw Sandals Gorge was formerly the location of a fortress which
housed the Kuomintang headquarters as well as a torpedo boat base. The Yangtze
River and a nearby highway ran parallel from east to west, and in between
there was a piece of farmland referred to as Straw Sandals Gorge. It was to
this area that the refugees were driven to be executed by the Japanese
army. A government official was there on the day in question to witness
the scene, and he recorded detailed notes describing what he saw.
On a certain evening, I had been sleeping in Damao Cave on Tiger Mountain,
an area where there were many refugees. . . . On this particular evening,
I heard the sounds of dense machine gunfire emanating from Straw Sandals
Gorge. There must have been about twenty machine guns firing. I suspected
that our army might be staging a counter-offensive. The next day, before
dawn, two bloodied men appeared: Squad Leader Feng of the instructional
unit; and Mr. Guo, a member of the security unit. They described for me
what had happened. After the Japanese invaders entered the city, they
rounded up more than 57,000 people, including prisoners, men, women, young
and old, and refugees, and imprisoned them in several small hamlets at the
foot of Mufu Mountain. On the evening of December 16th, lead wire and rope
were used to tie everyone up in pairs. Subsequently, they were lined up in
four rows and driven to Straw Sandals Gorge where they were riddled with
machine gunfire. The victims of this atrocity summoned all of their
courage and yelled out, "Seize the guns! Seize the guns!" . . . The dead
fell on each other and accumulated into a mountain of corpses. The enemy
then set upon the corpses with their bayonets, stabbing away randomly.
Finally, the bodies were doused with kerosene and set ablaze. Feng and
Guo, pretending to lie dead on the ground, pulled the corpses over them.
Feng's right arm had been wounded from a bayonet stab and both men's
clothing had been burned.
(See, "Sources on the Bitter Hatred of the People of Nanjing," Xinhua
Daily, Nanjing, 10 March 1950)
The area around Swallow Cliff has many ancient temples, a modest rural
town, and a small hill facing the river. Ascending this hill, one can see
the Yangtze River. Since ancient times, the "setting sun over Swallow
Cliff" has been one of Nanjing's most famous scenic attractions. Before
the occupation of Nanjing, over 100,000 people fled to this area hoping to
cross the river and seek refuge north of the Yangtze. But due to a serious
shortage of boats there was no way to traverse the river. Prior to the
Japanese invasion of Nanjing, this section of the Yangtze had already been
patrolled by enemy ships and planes which had opened fire upon fleeing
civilians. Thus, these refugees were forced to flee to neighboring
villages. While the Japanese army stormed into Nanjing, unexpectedly a
group of enemy soldiers was making its way to Swallow Cliff. They forced
the fleeing refugees to a nearby beach and gathered them together. Dozens
of machine guns were set up and the refugees were shot to death. Some of
the corpses were just left to float away along the river, creating a
blood-red tide. Other corpses were piled up on the beach and left to rot
in the falling rain and hot sun. No one bothered to do anything about the
decaying corpses until the end of spring or the beginning of summer of the
next year, even though the foul stench spread for miles and miles around.
North of Zhenjiang [a city northeast of Nanjing], in the vicinity of
Dragon Pond and Qixia Mountain [two outskirts of Nanjing], the Japanese
captured over 30,000 routed soldiers and refugees. They were bound and
transported to a low-lying depression in a small forested area of Central
University near Goddess of Mercy Gate. They were left there, freezing and
without food, for several days. Subsequently, the Japanese set the trees
ablaze and the soldiers and refugees were all burned to death.
When the Japanese forces reached Purple Gold Mountain{2}, they
gathered up the more than 2,000 refugees in the area, marched them to the
foot of the mountain, and buried them alive.
Before the Japanese invaded Nanjing, the Chinese army staged a
resistance at Misty Flower Terrace. The battle caused many refugees to
scatter to the relative safety of the nearby rural villages and countryside;
they dared not move from their hideouts. When the fighting had subsided,
large groups of wounded and routed soldiers mixed themselves in among the
refugees. But the Japanese ferreted out the soldiers and gathered them
together at Misty Flower Terrace. The crowd, about 20,000 in total, was
divided into groups and systematically murdered.
Another site of the massacre was a stretch of land on a sandbank just
outside of Hanxi Gate. After the Japanese had occupied Nanjing, there were
hundreds and thousands of refugees, disarmed soldiers, and policemen who
were tied up and marched off, one group after the other, to be brutally
murdered on this sandbank. On one occasion, six or seven thousand people
were disposed of in this manner all at once, without one machine gun being
fired. Group after group was marched to the site, doused with kerosene,
and burned to death. The Japanese soldiers stood in clusters surrounding
their victims and, amidst the harrowing cries of desperation, laughed and
derived pleasure from the scene.
Wu Changde was one of the fortunate survivors of these murderous
games. He and more than 2,000 others were bound, hands behind their backs,
divided into three groups, and driven outside Hanxi Gate. As they advanced,
soldiers wielding machine guns kept close watch over them from all sides.
After arriving at an area adjacent to the site of the slaughter the advance
was temporarily halted. Wu Changde was in one of the rear groups and was
able to hear distinctly the guns firing up front. A short time passed and
his group was forced into the killing area. Facing the river with the
Japanese behind them, the guns began to ring out. As soon as Wu Changde
heard the gunfire he hit the ground, avoiding the flying bullets
altogether. The gunfire subsided and a group of Japanese approached the
bodies, their rifles leveled. To ensure there were no survivors, the
soldiers used their bayonets to stab ruthlessly the bodies of the fallen
men. Wu Changde sustained a stab wound about five inches in length; as the
blood flowed from the wound Wu was sure he would die. Subsequently,
kerosene was poured over all of the bodies and they were set ablaze.
Unable to stand the heat of the fire, Wu managed to roll himself into the
river, hoping to speed up his death by drowning himself. It was
wintertime, so the level of the river was low and he was not drowned.
Quite to the contrary, the fire burning all over his body was extinguished.
Although Wu's injuries were serious, they were not fatal. He struggled to
make his way back onto the banks of the river and, taking cover in the
black of night, sought refuge in a cow shed not far from the site of the
massacre. An old beggar woman took Wu in and cared for him. After a
while, he was able to escape from the area, skirting many obstacles along
the way. After a long period of treatment for his injuries Wu managed to
pull through. (Note: After the war, Wu Changde testified at the
"International Military Tribunal for the Far East."{3} After 1949, he
became a bean curd maker and moved back to Nanjing where he lived at 96
Sugar Mill Bridge on Yangtze Road.)
On December 23rd, the Japanese once again used dozens of large trucks
to ferry more than 1,000 young and old men and women down to the sandbanks.
The entire group was pushed into a pre-dug pit and buried alive. The
victims of this crime had their hands bound tightly behind them and could
not put up any resistance except for their screaming and cursing.
Amongst the many sites where the massacre occurred around the city of
Nanjing was Shangyuan Gate. On December 14th, the Japanese massacred in
succession eight or nine thousand people on this very spot. One refugee
named Yin Youyu was left lying in pools of blood during this episode, but
was fortunate enough to survive. Situated at Precious Pagoda Bridge was
the Nanjing Egg Factory, quite a large establishment. When Nanjing was
occupied, as many as 10,000 people sought refuge within this factory.
After the Japanese discovered these people, they were tied up, divided into
groups, and murdered. The Shangxin River, which runs along Phoenix Street,
also became one of the sites of the massacre. On one occasion, the
Japanese took several thousand wounded and sick soldiers, as well as old
and feeble refugees whom they had captured, tied them up, and pushed them
into the river. They threw straw doused with kerosene into the river and
burned them all to death.
The events recorded above are merely some of the larger scale
slaughters which occurred in the first week or so after the occupation of
Nanjing. Numerous other murders occurred involving fewer numbers, such as
ten or several dozen people at a time, for which we have no record. It
would have been impossible to record them all.
The [initial] massacre in Nanjing and the surrounding areas continued
for more than ten days. In the daytime, not a soul was to be found on the
streets, except for the Japanese forces running harum-scarum throughout the
city. In the evening, except for the lamps set up by the Japanese army, it
was pitch dark outside. From the first day the Japanese occupied Nanjing,
many tens of thousands of unarmed and defenseless people suffered brutal
deaths. But the atrocities of the Japanese did not stop there.
On December 17th, the Japanese army held a so-called "victorious entry
into the city" ceremony during which the commander of the Japanese
expeditionary force in central China, Matsui Iwane [1878-1948], poised atop
a large steed, entered Nanjing. While heaping praise upon his subordinate
commander, Tani Hisao, for various military gains [already achieved],
Matsui Iwane was making arrangements for the second phase of the massacre.
Matsui believed that by shutting their doors, the shops, companies,
and residents of Nanjing were staging a deliberate act of defiance against the
Japanese. So he ordered them to open their doors and welcome the Japanese.
At the same time, Matsui used this order as a pretext to ransack houses
and businesses in search of anti-Japanese elements.
In the last ten days of December, the campaign to clear the streets
began. Japanese soldiers shouldering loaded rifles were stationed at the
entrances to all the streets, avenues and alleys in the city. Motorcycle
brigades patrolled the entire city. Japanese soldiers, in groups of three
to five, went from door to door wielding long swords, loudly screaming out
orders, and insisting the doors be opened. Accordingly, the companies,
shops and residents all opened their doors. With surprised and inquisitive
looks on their faces, those who had been hiding inside for so long could
not help but poke their heads out their doors to look around and see what
had happened outside. Then catastrophe befell them. The moment they
opened their doors to take a look, the Japanese opened fire. Many
shopkeepers and other residents were hit and fell to the ground under the
din of the echoing gunfire. On this one day alone, the dead and wounded
numbered in the thousands.
At the same time, the Japanese were carrying out a large-scale search
of the area. Young shopkeepers and residents suspected of being anti-Japanese
were carted away without being given a chance to defend themselves. The
Japanese said that these people were to be interrogated, but frequently
they were taken away never to return. In reality, they were taken to Wutai
Mountain, doused with gasoline, and burned alive. All told, more than
10,000 people were killed in this manner.
After this incident, the murderous blades of the Japanese soldiers
were turned upon the businessmen and remaining residents [of Nanjing].
Japanese soldiers in groups of twos and threes, whether they were officers or
soldiers, horse groomers or army truck drivers, recklessly forced their way
into homes and businesses and wantonly carried out searches and arrests.
Sometimes they even carried out on-the-spot executions. A shroud of terror
descended upon the entire city as the campaign to clean the streets was
carried out.
The savage and brutal methods with which the Japanese carried out
their killings were so many and varied as to surpass the human imagination.
Some Japanese soldiers considered the act of killing people to be a form of
amusement. For instance, there was one incident in which more than 1,000
people who had been bound and marched into a square were separated into
rows and made to stand still. Some were wearing long traditional gowns,
while others were wearing western style clothing; some in the group were
women and there were also children. The entire group was haggard,
disheveled, and barefoot. First, the Japanese doused the people with
gasoline and then they opened fire on the crowd with machine guns. When
the bullets hit their bodies, the gasoline caught fire. The refugees'
burning bodies quivered from head to toe causing the whole scene to flicker
from the light of the gasoline fires on their bodies. The Japanese
soldiers stood by laughing hysterically and taking pleasure from the scene
they had created. (See the [two] files from the Nanjing Historical
Archives, "A Record of the Miserable Conditions in Enemy Occupied Areas,"
Volume V (unpublished), and "A Conversation with Liu Rouyuan After His
Escape From Nanjing to Hunan.")
There were some Japanese soldiers who tied up groups of several dozen
or several hundred refugees and forced them to march to the edge of a frozen
pond. The Japanese forced them all to strip naked, break the ice, enter
the freezing water, and "go fishing." In a matter of seconds they froze to
death. Some tried to resist but were immediately shot and their corpses
shoved into the frozen water. In another incident, Japanese soldiers, for
no apparent reason, captured a young man and hung him from an electrical
wire. Below their victim, they stacked up a pile of firewood. The wood
burned slowly until much of the young man's body had been roasted and
charred to a crisp. The soldiers, yelling wildly, departed the scene. On
another day, the Japanese set a fire on Taiping Road. After the fire had
spread, they forced a large number of shop clerks from the area to
extinguish it. But while they were in the midst of putting out the fire,
the Japanese soldiers used rope to tie up the fire fighters and tossed them
into the blaze to be burned alive. The soldiers watched on the sidelines,
raising an uproar and yelling excitedly. On yet another occasion, the
Japanese bound up a group of refugees, hand and foot, and threw them into a
shallow pond. One after the other, they lobbed in their grenades causing
an explosive shower of blood and flesh. The assembled Japanese soldiers
could not control their laughter. In another case, the Japanese tied up a
group of captives and marched them to the Judicial Yuan building. One by
one, the Japanese forced them to climb up to the roof of the building.
Some people, realizing that their time had come, voluntarily tossed
themselves off the building and fell to their immediate deaths. Others,
however, had to be forced onto the roof. Down below, the Japanese had
built a bonfire. The captives could neither go up nor go back down, and
the screams echoed from amidst the flames.
One time, several Japanese suddenly charged into a butcher shop.
They captured a young man, ordered him to remove his clothing, and poured acid
all over his body from head to toe. Immediately, his body was burned. In
order to speed up his death, the youth began cursing indignantly at the
Japanese. From behind the young man, the Japanese followed along raising a
clamor and enjoying themselves. They forced the young man to walk around
until he died. There were some other Japanese who tied up a group of about
100 captives. They divided them up, gouged out their eyes, cut off their
noses and ears, and then used gasoline to burn them to death. Even worse
than this incident, one time a group of Japanese gang raped a middle-aged
woman. Later, when they discovered that the woman was pregnant, they
wantonly cut open her stomach, pulled out the fetus, and used it as a
plaything. Laughing, they carried their toy out onto the street where they
ran into a Japanese officer. They brandished the fetus, which was pierced
onto one of their bayonets, in front of the officer causing him to let out
a chuckle.
It is impossible to say how many hundreds or thousands of cases of
these sorts of savage killing games actually occurred. The instances described
here are only a very few examples.
Those in charge of the Japanese forces went so far as to use killing
"competitions" as a way to boost morale among the troops. They even
organized interview teams and sent newspaper reporters to conduct
interviews with the "winners" in the competitions to kill people. The
interviews were intended to praise the actions of the killers and to
encourage the rank and file soldiers to improve their efficiency. One of
the atrocities in these "killing competitions" occurred at the foot of
Nanjing's Purple Gold Mountain and reports about it were published in major
newspapers all around the world. The savage and brutal behavior [exhibited
in this incident] is simply beyond the imagination of any human being.
Here are the facts of the case: Prior to the invasion and occupation
of Nanjing, there were two savage beasts in the Katagiri Detachment stationed
at Jurong [a prefecture outside of Nanjing] named Mukai Toshiaki and Noda
Takeshi. These two men, both sub-lieutenants, were honored for exhibiting
the strongest samurai spirit by having the title "brave soldier" bestowed
upon them. Encouraged by their senior officials, they agreed to engage in
a killing "competition." Whoever could kill a full 100 people before the
invasion and occupation of Nanjing was completed would take the prize.
When the Japanese forces arrived at Tang Mountain, Mukai Toshiaki had only
killed eighty-nine people, while Noda Takeshi had killed a mere
seventy-eight. Having failed to reach their goal of 100 dead, the
competition could not yet be brought to a close.
Although neither of these two savage beasts had been able to take
the prize, the senior officers did not let their labors go to waste. They
repeatedly meted out encouragement and rewards, urging them to sustain
their efforts. The Osaka newspaper Mainichi Shinbun along with the Tokyo
newspapers Nichinichi Shinbun and the Japan Advertiser (English edition)
all reported this killing competition.
Mukai Toshiaki and Noda Takeshi did not stop there. Not wanting to
let down their superiors, the two men continued their "competition" at the
foot of Purple Gold Mountain after the Japanese forces had entered Nanjing.
Although Mukai Toshiaki had already killed 106 people and Noda Takeshi had
already killed 105, it was not clear who had reached the 100 mark first.
Since there was no way to prove who had reached the goal first, there was
no way to make a final judgement on who the winner was. But both men
recognized that this was merely a "friendly wager" or, as Mukai Toshiaki
called it, an "amusement." Since a winner could not be determined at that
point, they agreed to reset the target to 150 people, or maybe to extended
it to a full 1,000. They would decide later, depending on whether or not
they could sustain their interest in the competition. One source reported
that Mukai Toshiaki had already racked up 250 kills which put him ahead of
Noda Takeshi, so Mukai invited Noda to make it a race to 1,000.{4} (See
Osaka's Mainichi Shinbun newspaper, 9 February 1938.)
By the end of 1937, there were only seventeen military policemen who
had come to Nanjing. They became mixed in with the raping and pillaging
committed by the ground forces and were unable to act independently. By
the spring of 1938, more than 1,000 military police had been periodically
dispatched to Nanjing. They were divided into the military police
battalions under Kanbayashi and Yamamoto. All were stationed within the
city, except for one group which was quartered at Tang Mountain. Although
they did not kill people as flagrantly and openly as did the ground forces,
their savagery and cruelty were just the same. They wantonly seized people
and if they did not falsely accuse them of being government officials, they
accused them of being soldiers and used torture to extort the desired
confessions. Sometimes the military police would tie their prisoners to a
tree, slap them across the face right and left, and ruthlessly kick them:
they called this tactic "converging from three directions" and didn't stop
until their victim was dead.
In another incident, the Kanbayashi Military Police Battalion
stationed at Tang Mountain arrested dozens of residents, including Liang
Tingju, Rao Degong, Shao Jugong and Cheng Dabiao. They used all sorts of
cruel torture techniques to obtain confessions from the prisoners, but were
unsuccessful. In the end the entire group of prisoners was murdered. They
also arrested Han Decheng, along with more than 230 people whom they had
falsely accused of being soldiers, and disposed of them in the same way.
That which is recounted above represents some of the atrocities
committed in the second stage of the massacre. The two largest scale
massacres took place during the first two months following the occupation of
Nanjing. The massacre certainly did not end after this point, but was merely
carried out in a more clandestine manner. For example, Mrs. Dong Ding (of
Liuhe Prefecture) was employed as a nurse by a family that lived in Yuangu
Tower in Big Bell New Village. Her only son, a freshman high school student,
was named Dong Xiaochun. By that time, the Japanese had occupied Nanjing for
quite some time and her family had returned to the village and was living
in a make-shift grass hut. One day, two Japanese soldiers came to their
home and, although she managed to hide herself, her husband and only son
were seized. They murdered the son, Xiaochun, right there on the spot. As
for the husband, they shut him up inside the house and set it on fire.
Although he was able to escape, their son was lost along with all of their
worldly goods. Soon afterwards the husband also died, and then it was just
Mrs. Dong Ding, left lonely and helpless. There was another nurse, Mrs.
Huang Shi (of Wuwei Prefecture in Anhui Province), whose husband, tailor
Huang, was seized by the Japanese on Big Stone Bridge Street. They set him
free right away, but Huang had walked only a few steps when the Japanese
sicked a ferocious dog on him. The rabid dog pounced on Huang and bit him
all over. A few days later, Mr. Huang died.
After the initial massacre had run its course, the streets within
the city were strewn with corpses, baggage, parcels, and all sorts of other
miscellaneous items. Not only were cars unable to pass through, even
making one's way by foot was made difficult by the mess. The Japanese
began negotiations with the International Committee [for the Nanking{5}
Safety Zone]; they wanted the International Committee to assist in
clearing the corpses from the streets. The International Committee
assembled a corps of men from the refugee camp, issued them white badges,
and organized them into several brigades to collect the corpses. Under the
supervision of Japanese soldiers from the engineering corps dispatched to
the scene, they began the work of clearing away and burying the corpses.
Because there was an inadequate number of men assigned to the task,
initially the work of clearing the streets was carried out only on the main
thoroughfares. On the other streets, where many corpses and miscellaneous
items had accumulated, they used clothing and other assorted materials to
cover up the corpses until they could be cleared away on another day. A
foreign correspondent witnessed and reported about these piles of corpses
that lined both sides of the Nanjing streets.
In the area near the Nanjing Drum-Tower is the intersection of the
roads leading to Peace and Yijiang Gates. The Japanese slaughtered a large
number of refugees there, so there was an exceptionally large number of
corpses and debris in that area. There were so many corpses that the
workers clearing them away had no choice but to move some of them to the
nearby Double Dragon and Stone Grandmother Lanes. The corpses were piled
up high along both sides of these lanes. The lanes were extremely narrow,
so the amassed bodies looked like an edifice constructed of corpses, a
veritable wall of flesh. The area became a paradise for wild dogs, stray
cats, and rats. Fortunately, the weather that winter was freezing cold, so
the corpses did not decompose and it was relatively easy to move them away
to be buried.
The brigade in charge of clearing away the corpses transported another
pile of bodies to two lanes at the foot of the western face of Dabei
Mountain where there was a stretch of wasteland. The corpses were wantonly
abandoned there, until a huge number of bodies had accumulated on this
spot. A while later, the Japanese transported some of the bodies to Wutai
Mountain (the present location of the Wutai Mountain Stadium) where, to get
rid of the evidence of their crimes, they doused them with gasoline and set
them ablaze. The rest of the corpses were buried in the ground right there
on Dabei Mountain, hence the mountain's nickname -- Corpse Mountain --
bestowed upon it by the residents of the area. In 1954, when buildings
were being constructed on this site, countless numbers of skeletons were
exhumed. According to the locals, there were originally four or five
thousand bodies piled up on this spot.
In addition to the piles of corpses enumerated above, there were also
ponds and sewage canals by the roadsides which became virtual storage tanks
for the corpses. For instance, in the two ponds north-east of Big Bell
Pavilion and in the one located at the end of Jiangsu Road, the corpses
were piled up, one atop the other. When the thaw came, a noxious red tide
of blood overflowed the banks of the river -- a truly horrifying sight.
During the first month of 1938, the Japanese were subjected to
worldwide condemnation and denunciation for the atrocities they had committed
during the Nanjing massacre. The ruling clique in Japan could do nothing but
admit that their forces in Nanjing had in fact committed the criminal acts
of brutal murder, rape, plunder, arson, and destruction. They hastily
recalled Matsui Iwane, along with more than eighty generals and colonels
under his command, back to Japan, but not a single one was punished for his
crimes. They proceeded to order Nanjing's International Committee to
oversee an expeditious and thorough clearing away of all the remaining
corpses which had been accumulating inside and outside the city, either by
burial or mass incineration.
From the beginning of February they started burying the corpses which
lay on the roadsides. Generally, a large pit would be dug and over 100 corpses
pitched into the hole. After dirt was dumped on top of the bodies and the
pit filled in, the task was considered complete. But some humane
organizations participating in these burial tasks kept statistics on where
and how many corpses were buried. Thus, we have indisputable evidence of
the atrocities committed by the Japanese in Nanjing.
Of all the hideous crimes committed by the Japanese, none were worse
than those situations in which women, victims of the same killings as the men,
were first forced to endure sexual assault and rape by the Japanese!
Frequently, after being raped, the women suffered a cruel death at the
hands of Japanese soldiers. "Sometimes the soldiers would use bayonets to
slice off the women's breasts, revealing the pale white ribs inside their
chests. Sometimes they would pierce their bayonets into the women's
genitals and leave them crying bitterly on the roadside. Sometimes the
Japanese took up wooden bats, hard reed rods, and even turnips, forced the
implements into the women's vaginae, and violently beat them to death.
Other soldiers stood by applauding the scene and laughing heartily."
(Military Commission of the Kuomintang, Political Department: "A True
Record of the Atrocities Committed by the Invading Japanese Army," compiled
July 1938)
A resident of Nanjing seized by the Japanese during the occupation
of the city was forced to become a cook for the Japanese army. He left the
following recollections after he escaped:
It was the 16th [of December] and I . . . was walking along the street.
The black smoke still hung in the air and the bright red flames continued
to smolder. The corpses of my fellow countrymen were so numerous that it
was frightening. So many female bodies were among the corpses . . . and
eight out of ten had been stabbed in the stomach, their intestines strewn
out onto the ground. There were even mothers lying next to their
blood-smeared fetuses. . . . The breasts of many of these women had been
completely severed from their bodies and, if not cut off, their chests had
at least been stabbed with a bayonet so that the blood and flesh were mixed
in an indistinguishable mass.
("A Debt of Blood: An Eyewitness Account of the Barbarous Acts of the
Japanese Invaders in Nanjing," 7 February 1938, Dagong Daily, Wuhan
edition)
Another person who was involved in the work of burying corpses
outside of Nanjing had this to say:
There were hundreds of corpses strewn all over the countryside; dozens of
bodies were laying in sewers, ponds, fields, and haystacks. The tragic
scene was beyond description. As for the mutilated female corpses, their
faces were ashen, their cheeks broken open, and their teeth dislodged.
Blood was dripping out of the sides of their mouths, their breasts had been
cut off, and their chests and bellies pierced through by bayonets. Their
intestines had been dragged out of their bodies, their stomachs kicked in
and their bodies stabbed randomly by bayonets.
("A Pictorial History of the Japanese Atrocities," Dahua Publishing House,
published 1946.)
During the Nanjing massacre, many female corpses were left laying in
the streets in this condition both in and outside of the city. In the vicinity
of Xinzhong Gate on the east end of the old city wall foundation was a
grass hut in which a sixty or seventy year old woman was found dead with
her genitals swollen and ripped open. North of Sheepskin Lane, a young
girl lay dead on the ground, her stomach punctured and her intestines
strewn all over the ground. Her eyes were wide open and glaring straight
ahead and blood was streaming out of the side of her mouth. On Rear
Guyilang Street lay a girl who could not have been more than twelve or
thirteen years old. She lay dead on the ground, her underwear torn, eyes
closed, and mouth agape. These facts show that our female compatriots not
only died under the murderous knives of the Japanese, they also endured
great humiliation before dying.
The rapes and indiscriminate killings committed by the Japanese forces
were astonishingly inhumane. Not only did the Japanese military command
fail to take action to restrain such atrocities, but, on the contrary, the
authorities tolerated this behavior. They thought that by condoning such
behavior the rank and file soldiers would be able to satisfy their animal
desires temporarily. And allowing the soldiers to "get their kicks" in
this way would stave off feelings of homesickness and combat fatigue.
Thus, wherever the Japanese went, rape became a common, everyday practice.
All over China it was the same: in Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, . . .
in all of the places put under the iron heel of the Japanese forces women
suffered similar fates. But our Nanjing female compatriots suffered an
even more cruel fate than the others.
After the occupation of Nanjing, the soldiers immediately formed into
groups and roamed throughout the city. When they came across a woman, they
would take turns raping her. A report on these atrocities can be found in
the appendices of Harold John Timperley's book "A Foreigner's Eyewitness
Account of the Atrocities Committed by the Japanese."{6} Almost the entire
account is devoted to crimes involving rape. A few items selected from
Timperley's book will suffice to show how these scattered troops from the
Japanese army went about committing the crime of rape.{7}
At noon, December 14th, on Chien Ying Hsiang Road{8}, Japanese soldiers
entered a house and took four girls, raped them, and let them return [home]
in two hours.{9}
On the night of December 14th there were many cases of Japanese soldiers
entering Chinese houses and raping women or taking them away.{10}
On the night of December 15th, a number of Japanese soldiers entered the
University of Nanking buildings at Tao Yuen and raped thirty women on the
spot, some by six men.{11}
On the evening of the 15th [of December] at San Tian Hsiang many soldiers
got into the house and raped many women.{12}
On December 16, seven girls (ages ranged from 16 to 21) were taken away
from the home at the Military College. Five returned. Each girl was raped
six or seven times daily -- reported December 18th.{13}
On December 18th, evening, 450 terrified women fled for shelter to our
office and spent the night in our yard. Many have been raped.{14}
(See: "A Foreigner's Eyewitness Account of the Atrocities Committed by the
Japanese Army," pp.189-199.{15} Cited in a report from the International
Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone.)
The incidents outlined in the preceding section are only those from
the first few days after the initial Japanese invasion of Nanjing. In reality,
"the violent rapes . . . committed during the initial six week occupation
and during the four weeks following Matsui and Mutu's entry into the city
continued without abatement on a grand scale." ("Verdicts of the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East," p.458.) During these
times, "every day, twenty-four hours a day, there was not one hour when an
innocent woman was not being dragged off somewhere by a Japanese soldier."
(Dagong Daily)
These atrocities were not committed exclusively by the rank and file
soldiers; both high and low-ranking military officers also took part. For
example, at eight o'clock on the evening of December 16th, two Japanese
military officers and two rank and file soldiers broke into 18 Ganheyan
[Road]. First, they drove out all of the men, and then the women in the
neighboring areas fled. But the women trapped inside had no chance to
escape and the Japanese soldiers took turns raping them. Another example
from the afternoon of that same day involved a mother and daughter with the
surname Ma who lived together and took care of one another in a house on
Fuxing Street. A Japanese military officer accompanied by two soldiers
suddenly broke into their home and, in broad daylight, violently raped both
mother and daughter. (Archives of the Nanjing Municipal Intermediate
People's Court, number 1-35116.) One of the main culprits in the Nanjing
massacre was the senior Japanese general Tani Hisao himself. Once, just
outside of Zhonghua Gate, he violently raped Mrs. Ding Lan along with three
other women. On another occasion, he raped Liu Yuqin and four other women
on Saihong Bridge. In yet another instance, he raped more than ten women
in the area around Yellow Mud Pond. (See: "The Public Prosecution of Tani
Hisao, One of the Leading Participants in the Nanjing Massacre," Heping
Daily, 31 December 1946.) According to testimony from eyewitnesses to
these crimes, it was a common occurrence to see Japanese military officials
carry off many women to their residences where they would take turns raping
them.
The Japanese who committed such violent rapes not only satisfied
their own animal desires, but also aroused wild laughter among their fellow
soldiers by humiliating, beating up, and teasing the women.
These packs of animals frequently carried out gang rapes. Many women
were brutally raped by several, or even several dozen, bestial soldiers.
Moreover, the end result of these rapes was often death; the defiled
women's corpses could be found all over the city. According to eyewitness
accounts, the corpses were frequently found laying face-up on the ground,
underwear torn, genitals swollen and ruptured, with their lower abdomens
bulging out like drums.
In addition to defiling ordinary women, even the very young and old
were not passed over by the Japanese. For example, one time a young girl,
barely nine years old, was raped at the same time as her seventy-five year old
grandmother. On December 26th, more than ten Japanese soldiers who forced
their way into the University of Nanking{16} brutally raped two women and
one young girl who was barely eleven years old. This unfortunate young
girl passed away two days after surviving this gang rape. According to
eyewitness reports, the blood-stained, swollen and ruptured area between
the girl's legs created a disgusting scene difficult for anyone to look at
directly. On February 5th, three Japanese soldiers broke into the
Sanpailou neighborhood in which the residence of an old lady with the
surname Zheng was located. While one soldier guarded the entrance, the
other two took turns raping this woman who must have been at least sixty
years old. The woman's grandson would not stop crying, so [the soldiers]
stabbed him twice.
Therefore, the women raped by the Japanese during the massacre
included wives of professors, Buddhist nuns, workers, teachers, office workers,
students, and housewives. But more than that which is recorded above, the
account which follows will make one so furious that one's hair will stand
on end.
At the end of February, a family of refugees returned to their home
at 7 Xinkai Road. Upon their arrival, all fourteen family members were killed
by the Japanese. The youngest girl was just fourteen years old. Her dead
body was found laying on top of two adjacent tables. Her upper body was
clothed but her lower body was totally exposed and blood was smeared all
over the place. Her stomach had been stabbed twice. Another girl, a
little older, was found dead on her bed in conditions identical to her
younger sister. The mother was found laying dead on the floor beside the
table still cradling in her arms a baby slightly more than one year old.
The baby had also been stabbed with a knife, and its intestines were strewn
out onto the floor. It was an atrocious scene, not fit to be seen by human
eyes. International Committee member Xu Chuanyin went with some others to
inspect the scene. They took many pictures and handed them over to an
American member of the International Committee as well as to the Japanese
ambassador. [In a similar incident,] "a certain widow who lived just
outside West Water Gate had three daughters aged eighteen, thirteen, and
nine. All three girls were gang raped. The youngest girl died right there
on the spot, while the other two girls lost consciousness. . . . Since
the bodies of most of these young girls were not yet fully developed, they
were insufficient to satisfy the animal desires of the Japanese. Still,
however, they would go ahead, tear open the girls' genitals, and take turns
raping them." (Du Chengxiang, "A Report on the Japanese Atrocities,"
Shidai Publishing Company, 1939, p.55.) These sorts of incidents
illustrate how the Japanese soldiers often behaved worse than animals.
Even pregnant women did not escape the horrors of the Nanjing massacre.
"At half-past seven o'clock on the evening of December 19th, two Japanese
soldiers raped a seventeen year old young woman who was nine months
pregnant. She not only had a miscarriage, but also suffered a complete
mental collapse." ("Verdicts of the International Military Tribunal for
the Far East," p.451.) After seizing a pregnant mother from the family of
a vegetable farmer outside of Hongwu Gate, the Japanese raped her, cut open
her belly with their knives, and pulled out the fetus. Another pregnant
woman was being carted off to be raped by the Japanese when her
mother-in-law came forward and attempted to stop them. But the Japanese
soldiers, more cruel than rabid jackals, just kicked the old woman out of
the way and turned their knives on her pregnant daughter-in-law. The
unborn child, only a few months old{17}, came trickling out of the woman
and within a few minutes both of their lives, mother and child, were
extinguished. (Xinhua Daily, 24 February 1951.)
After being raped, frequently the women would be slaughtered. On one
occasion, a Japanese military captain issued an "instruction" to his
subordinates stating: "in order to avoid too many problems arising, . . .
kill the women after you are done [with them]." ("A Pictorial History of
the Japanese Atrocities") For a long time now, many women brutalized by
the Japanese have suffered in silence, choking back their tears and
swallowing their hatred towards the Japanese. But we still have the
written accusations of one woman who narrowly escaped with her life from
the Japanese. This account serves as proof of the veracity of the Japanese
atrocities. This particular female victim, who originally lived at 6 Chien
Ying Hsiang Road, was taken to some unknown location in the city along with
some other women. These women spent their days washing clothes and their
nights suffering through repeated rapes by the Japanese. Those who were
relatively advanced in years would be raped anywhere from ten to twenty
times each night; the younger and more beautiful ones would be raped even
more. On January 2nd, two Japanese soldiers tied up this particular woman
and carted her off to a desolate, abandoned schoolhouse. They stabbed her
body in ten places: four slashes to the neck, one slash across the wrist,
one slash across the face, and four slashes across the back. The Japanese
soldiers thought she had died of her wounds, so they just abandoned her
there. A person passing by spotted her body, took her to a hospital, and
her life was saved. There were many women who lived through such brutal
rapes, but frequently they caught venereal diseases from which they
suffered greatly the rest of their lives.
Many of our male compatriots put up a fight to protect their loved
ones, but were killed by the Japanese soldiers for their actions. For
instance, when one woman was being raped inside a courtyard on Shanxi Road,
her husband stepped forward to rescue her. He died on the end of a Japanese
bayonet. At the entrance to Pearl River Road lived a seventy-nine year old
woman who was raped by the Japanese. Her son fought fiercely against the
Japanese but was killed. In one incident, while one of these bestial
soldiers was raping a woman, another soldier used his hand to cover the
mouth of a five-month-old baby who would not stop crying; the baby was
smothered to death!
Many women preferred death to humiliation, and they were subjected
to the even more cruel methods of killing meted out by the Japanese. There
are many records of this sort of killing.
At South Gate Lane Bridge, the corpses of three young women were found, all
approximately twenty years old. The upper parts of their underpants were
intact with their two hands holding on tightly to the waistline of the
garments, but the lower parts of their underwear were ripped and tattered.
Their hair was dishevelled, their eyes were gouged out, and their noses and
ears were cut off. They died as a result of this torture which was carried
out as punishment for resisting rape.
In the Sanfang Lane Flower Market, as well as other places, as many as nine
women were found with their limbs amputated; they met their deaths with a
defiant look in their eyes. And by Banshanyuan Road, there were seven
women, some in their forties and others in their sixties and seventies,
whose stomachs had been stabbed and breasts cut off, their hair was in
knots and their underwear tattered. They died with their heads held high,
showing a recalcitrant look in their eyes, their mouths open, defiantly
baring their teeth.
("Tragic Scenes from Nanjing After the Occupation," 20 February 1938,
Dagong Daily, Wuhan edition.)
The inevitable result of putting up a resistance to the raping
soldiers and to doing one's best to defy the Japanese was to meet with
especially cruel punishment. Women who put up a resistance to being raped
would frequently be nailed onto a wall and have their bodies cut open as a
warning to others. Other times, the soldiers would ram a long wooden rod
up between the women's legs, shove the implement in deep, and then discard
the women in the street.
Sometime after [the initial atrocities], because of condemnation from
international public opinion, daytime raping became less and less common.
Instead, during the day the Japanese soldiers would just keep their eyes
open and then come knocking at the door in the evening. Otherwise, the
Japanese would employ traitorous Chinese to do their bidding for them,
empowering them to use threats of violence or the promise of reward to
accomplish their aims. Facing such circumstances, many parents hastily
married off their daughters believing that doing so would protect their
daughters from becoming targets of the violent Japanese sexual attacks.
Little did they know that as soon as the Japanese laid eyes upon even a
simple and crude bridal sedan chair or carriage they would, as a rule,
order it to halt and seize the new bride, carrying her off to their
barracks or other residences. Some were only detained for a few days, but
others were kept for up to ten days or two weeks before being released from
captivity. Many of these new brides felt such intense shame [after these
incidents] that they committed suicide. When something like this happened,
it was not uncommon for tense negotiations to take place between the
[deceased] bride's father and his erstwhile son-in-law. (See, Nanjing
Historical Archives, "A Report on the Miserable Conditions in the Occupied
Areas," Volume 6, "Capital City Under an Iron Heel," unpublished.)
In addition to committing brutal, on the spot rapes, the Japanese
also kidnapped many women to staff the "pleasure chambers" or "social clubs"
which they set up in order to satisfy their lust over a longer period of
time. They treated these women like so much worthless property or
foodstuff to be carted off in large quantities. For instance, there were
more than 2,000 Suzhou women, more than 3,000 Wuxi women, and 20,000
Hangzhou women who were kidnapped. They were divided into three grades:
upper, middle, and lower class. They were assigned numbers in order to
satisfy their captors' sexual desires more conveniently. At that time, on
Nanjing's New Street, Iron Tube Lane, in addition to many other places,
there were these "pleasure chambers." Once inside, some of the women went
on a voluntary hunger-strike and after only a few days they had starved to
death. But soon after, other women were captured to take their places.
It is impossible to list all the reams of documents regarding
atrocities involving rape committed by the Japanese in Nanjing. But the most
shocking materials are in the form of pictures taken by the Japanese
themselves. Captured Japanese soldiers were caught red-handed with
photographs of their female victims. After raping the women of Nanjing,
Japanese soldiers would often force them to lift up their dresses to reveal
their genitals and to have photographs taken. Some particularly bestial
soldiers shamelessly squatted beside the women who had undergone the most
severe and humiliating abuse and forced their victims to pose for "group
photographs." In one of the worst cases, a picture was found of an abused
woman who was forced to use her own hands to reveal her genitals for the
Japanese to photograph. (To be continued)
Translator's Introduction
Nanjing Prior to the Occupation
Two Blood-Stained Paths
Cruel Slaughter Along the River
Slaughter in the Outskirts of the City
The Campaign To Clear the Streets
Killing Games
Killing Competitions
Killings Committed by Military Police
Corpses on the Roadside
Widespread Incidents of Rape