uction and brutality.
While most people focus on the six-week period from December 1937 to January 1938 when discussing the atrocities of the Nanking Massacre, it’s important to also understand the brutality that occurred in the weeks before. Historians have noted that while the Japanese Army moved through China, from Shanghai to Nanking, they undertook a series of mass murders and rapes against the Chinese Army and civilian population. Regardless, once the Japanese army entered Nanking it carried out horrible atrocities against the people of the city.
There were many westerners living in the city of Nanking at the time of the massacre. While most of them left in the days and weeks before the Japanese assault on the city, several of them decided to stay and established the ‘Nanking Safety Zone’. Led by German businessman John Rabe, the westerners formed the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone and worked to establish an area in the city where Japanese forces would not attack. It was hoped that Nanking civilians could seek refuge in the zone, along with the westerners who had also remained in the city. Many of the westerners in this zone played an important role in the history of the Nanking Massacre because they provided a firsthand account of the atrocities.
The Japanese forces entered the city of Nanking on December 13th, 1937 led by General Iwane Matsui. They quickly overwhelmed what Chinese forces remained in the city and soon began to carry out the massacre. For example, the Japanese Army carried out raids inside and outside of the Nanking Safety Zone in hopes of finding any remaining Chinese soldiers. Many Chinese soldiers had changed into plain clothes and hid among the civilians in the zone, and the Japanese Army wanted to find and remove them as part of their attack on the city. It’s estimated that Imperial Japanese Army found and removed nearly 4000 Chinese soldiers hiding among the civilians. Regardless, the Japanese soldiers began their attack against the helpless Chinese civilians soon after.
Firsthand accounts of the massacre describe how the Japanese soldiers went from home to home searching for civilians. During this time, they carried out mass rapes and murders of Chinese women and girls. For example, on December 19th in 1937, Reverend James M. McCallum wrote: “I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet ... People are hysterical ... Women are being carried off every morning, afternoon and evening. The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases.” It was not uncommon for the women and girls to be killed following the rape, although many did survive the attacks. It has been estimated that as many as 20,000 women and girls were raped during the assault. At the same time, the Japanese Army was also carrying out a systematic attack against the city in the form of theft, arson and mass murder. There is evidence and firsthand accounts of Japanese soldiers breaking into shops and hotels in the city and stealing any of the goods that they could carry. They also destroyed huge sections of the city by lighting homes and offices on fire. Some historians have reported that over one third of the city was destroyed by fire. Finally, the Japanese Army carried a widespread massacre of the citizens, which resulted in the death of as many 300,000 Chinese citizens. In general, it’s difficult to determine the exact number of people that died it’s a controversial historical topic. The difficulty in determining the number that died is a result of the lack of record keeping of the time, but contemporary historians generally accept that anywhere from 40,000 to 300,000 were killed as part of the massacre. Many of the victims were found to be shot to death. Some were shot by firing squad, while others were shot in the back as they tried to flee. Whereas, other victims