Tactics
During the Nanking Massacre, the Japanese used many awful, extreme, tactics including propaganda, mass scale rape, human degradation, torture, looting, burning and just overall gorilla warfare.
The methods of killing the Japanese used against the Chinese ranged from beheading, to bayoneting, to live burials. Nobody was safe from these atrocities as the Japanese took the lives of the soldiers, the elderly, women, and even children. This indiscriminate murdering of the Chinese left 100,000's either dead, injured, terrified, or without homes.
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The Japanese were ruthless. They Japanese trained their soldiers to obey every order. No matter how hard the act may be to commit, they were to fulfill their commanders wishes. A Japanese soldier recalls the horrifying moment he took his first life,
“Of course I was reluctant to show my weakness in front of others. My last bit of courage was brought out when I screamed `Kill!'--and brought down the sword against the prisoner's neck ... The severed head dropped to the ground and rolled like a ball down the embankment to the water. The whole process lasted only a few seconds. But it seemed like hours to me. Thus, I had now obtained the unusual experience of a beheading.” (Li, 1999) |
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This massacre went deeper than just the mindless massacre of a nationality, both sides used propoganda. While under attack, the Chinese sent for help to many people, including the US. However, the Japanese used propaganda saying that the Chinese where making the whole thing up and that everything was fine.
A Chinese reporter wrote this in his journal while seeking refuge in a Nanking safe-zone, “We heard yesterday that the Japanese News Agency, Domei, reported the population returning to their homes, business going on as usual and the population welcoming their Japanese visitors, or words to that effect (Kajimoto, 2000).” |