Rape of Nanking in 1937...

THE NEW YORK TIMES, December 14, 1937.

* The Nanking China Rape Massacre by Japanese Troops

This 52 page newspaper has a two line, one column headline on the front page: "NANKING OCCUPIED, JAPANESE REPORT" with subheads that include: "They Announce Fall of the City After Bitter All-Day Battle--Chinese Dispute Claim" and more. Other news of the day throughout with interersting advertisments. Rag edition in great condition.

 

Historcial Background: The Nanking massacre, commonly known as "The Rape of Nanking", is an infamous war crime committed by the Japanese military carried out by Japanese troops in and around Nanjing (also known in English as Nanking), China, after it fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on December 13, 1937. The duration of the massacre is not clearly defined, although the period of carnage lasted well into the next six weeks, until early February 1938.

During the occupation of Nanjing, the Japanese army committed numerous atrocities, such as rape, looting, arson and the execution of prisoners of war and civilians. Although the executions began under the pretext of eliminating Chinese soldiers disguised as civilians, a large number of innocent men were wrongfully identified as enemy combatants and killed, or simply killed in any event as the massacre gathered momentum. A large number of women and children were also killed, as rape and murder became more widespread.

The extent of the atrocities is hotly debated between China and Japan, with numbers^[1] ranging from some Japanese claims of several hundred,^[2] to the Chinese claim of a non-combatant death toll of 300,000. A number of Japanese researchers consider 100,000 200,000 be an approximate value.^[3] Other nations usually believe the death toll to be between 150,000 300,000.^[4] This number was first promulgated in January of 1938 by Harold Timperly, a journalist in China during the Japanese invasion, based on reports from contemporary eyewitnesses. Many other sources, including Iris Chang's commercially-successful The Rape of Nanking, also promote 300,000 as the death toll.

In addition to the number of victims, a few extreme nationalists have even disputed whether or not the atrocity happened. Whilst the Japanese government has acknowledged such an incident did occur, the extremists presented their case starting with the Japanese army's claims at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East that the death toll was military in nature and that no such civilian atrocities ever occurred. However, an overwhelming amount of evidence contradicts this. The existence of such an atrocity has been repeatedly confirmed by statements of Westerners at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East as well as eyewitnesses then today, who had personally witnessed civilians being murdered and women raped by Japanese soldiers. There is also an extensive collection of photographic records of mutilated bodies of Chinese women and children. Recent archaeological findings further support the existence of this massacre having taken place.