In the late 1930, The Japanese and Chinese forces were fighting the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Massacre of Nanking was preceded by a battle in Shanghai, where the two sides fought for three months. The Chinese army defended the site even though the Japanese thought it was going to be a blowout. Infuriated by the results of the battle, the Japanese march towards Nanjing for vengeance. In a time span of six weeks, the killing of 300 thousand people and the raping of 20 thousand—80 thousand women occurred. This event is known as the Nanjing Massacre or the Nanking Massacre. To this day Japanese refuse to acknowledge the massacre and in result the poor relationship between the two nations continued.
The Nanjing massacre was the horrid rape
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Afraid of losing a majority of his forces, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek withdrew the majority of their prisoners and official troops, leaving only the untrained rookies in the city. Chiang also ordered the remaining soldiers not to evacuate at any cost. (Though many people disobeyed and fled, despite orders.) (History.com Staff, 2009)
By November small refugee camps had opened up in the middle of town. Started by 20 Americans and Europeans, They were all located in a “safety zone” about the size of Central Park. Soon to be abandoned these camps became the forced evacuation point for all those still left in the city.(History.com Staff, 2009)
Entering the city on December 13, 1937, the Japanese began killing everyone in sight. In only four days, thousands of dead soldiers, women, and children were left dead in the Japanese wake. Left on the blood covered streets, bodies were dumped “into the Yangtze River until the river was red with their blood.” (PacificWar.org Staff) Slaughtering wasn’t the only thing the Japanese did. They raped anywhere from 20 to 80 thousand women. Little is known about the actual number as Japan had destroyed their records shortly after their surrender in 1945. Women and children from ages from 8-70. Family were forced to witness the Japanese brutally rape their daughter and their wives. There were even