The Nanjing Massacre

Nanjing Massacre: The role of Iwane Matsui The Nanjing Massacre, also called the Nanking Massacre, took place in Nanjing on December 13, 1937. It is also known as the Rape of Nanking (Rape of Nanjing). It was a genocidal war crime that lasted more than six weeks. A mass murder and rape of Japanese troops happened against Nanking, the capital of China back then. The Imperial Japanese Army murdered over 300,000 civilians and disarmed combats. Although this may be true, there is an argument about whether the massacre really happened or not. Many argue about how many were killed, who was the perpetrator or whether it at all had even happened. The people who say it did not happen claim that the testimonial, photos, records, and documentaries

At this time, the city’s population was approximately 250,000 people but the population grew quickly and in the 1930s there were more than a million people living in the city. A lot of those people were refugees that ran away from the Japanese armed forces which held an attack on China in 1831. After Shanghai became secured in the hands of the Japanese, in 1937, on the eleventh of November, their army invaded Nanking from all directions possible. On the 9th of December, a massive attack was launched by the Japanese troops after the defending troops of China did not follow to surrender. Three days after, the Chinese troops went to the opposite side of the Yangtze River. On December 13th, many refugees attempted to cross the Yangtze River in order to escape from the hands of the Japanese army, but as a result, got trapped because of the absence of transportation, to overcome that, many decided to swim across the river. While the Chinese swam across the Yangtze River, the Japanese took the shore on the other side and shot all who managed to make it. By that time, over 50,000 were killed. The 116th and the 6th Japanese army divisions gained access to Guanghua Gate and the 16th division of the Japanese army entered the Pacific Gate and Zhongshan Gate. In the afternoon of the same day, the capital of China was in the hands of the Japanese which is known as the tragic Nanking Massacre that lasted six weeks. During the massacre, the Japanese committed many crimes such as rape, murder and many other things one’s mind might not even understand. They would also execute prisoners that were held in jail, steel and set everything on fire. Altogether there were 300,000 victims and an estimate from 20,000 to 80, 000 women that were sexually assaulted. The capital was turned into ruins. It is impossible to actually get all of the facts together since so much happened, only