Status Updates From The Rape of Nanking: The Fo...

Gosh I shouldn’t read this before bed. Content warning: violence.

“soldiers impaled babies on bayonets and tossed them still alive into pots of boiling water.”

And the Yangtze river literally ran red with blood…

- Nanking is a city with a a lot of history and has been invaded 3 times. (6th century, 1853 by taping rebels, 1937 by Japan)
- August fighting starts in Shanghai and end of month it falls to Japan
- Nanking falls and leader of nationalists Chiang Kai-shek leaves Tang Sheng-chich in charge of defense in November
- govt officials moved west and by DEC 90,000 troops moved to Nanking for defense

"Another time, when she saw a boy wearing an armband with the Japanese symbol of the “Rising Sun” to ensure his safety, Vaultrin scolded him and said: 'You do not need to wear this Rising Sun emblem. You are Chinese, and your country has not perished. You should remember the day you wore this thing, and you should never forget.' ”

- Nanking was located in a bend on the Yangtze River making it easy for the Japanese to flank and trap it from the south
- Late November the Japanese moved in 3 diff groups to surround the city
- General Matsui was in charge but he fell ill with TB and Prince Asaka assumed command
- Matsui had given orders to take the city civilly
-However Asaka (or his staff officer) gave the command to kill all. This is not clear