January and July mean temperatures are about 37 °F (3 °C) and 82 °F (28 °C), respectively. The approaching Japanese forces were under the temporary command of Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, a right-wing militarist and the uncle by marriage of On December 10, the Japanese mounted a five-pronged attack on Nanking.
Many of the untrained Chinese conscripts broke ranks and ran, and Japanese soldiers hunted them down and captured or slaughtered them.
F. Tillman Durdin, a reporter for the Perhaps equally horrifying, the Japanese soldiers made their way through entire neighborhoods systematically raping every female they found.
Senior Fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1973–74.
Chinese honor guard members march past the words "Victims 300000" during a ceremony to mark China's first National Memorial Day at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing … By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.
The Rape of Nanking is also called The Nanking Massacre, The Chinese Holocaust and The Forgotten Holocaust. Some were blown up with mines, mowed down in their hundreds with machine guns, or sprayed with gasoline and set on fire.
The average annual rainfall is about 40 inches (1,000 mm), the bulk of it falling between June and The central city of Nanjing, encircled by hills and rivers, resembles a gourd with its tip pointing northwest, toward The old central city southeast of the Yangtze consisted of four districts (West of Xuanwu district is Gulou district, named for the Gulou (“Drum Tower”), a city landmark built in 1382. The Nanking Massacre stands as one of the worst atrocities of the bloody twentieth century.General Iwane Matsui, who had recovered from his illness somewhat by the time Nanking fell, issued several orders between December 20, 1937 and February of 1938 demanding that his soldiers and officers "behave properly."
The screams of the injured went on for hours, as the Japanese soldiers made their leisurely way down the lines to bayonet those who were still alive, and dump the bodies into the river.Chinese civilians also faced horrific deaths as the Japanese occupied the city.
KMT General Tang Shengzhi was left to defend the city, with an untrained force of 100,000 poorly-armed fighters.
The Nanjing Massacre is said to be one of the worst incidents of mass extermination that occurred during World War II on December 13, 1937.
It is also known as “The Rape of Nanking,” where in a duration of six weeks, over 260,000 Chinese civilian lives were lost to Japanese soldiers. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Some sadistic soldiers forced celibate Buddhist monks and nuns to perform sex acts for their amusement, or forced family members into incestuous acts. Nanjing is an old city. In Nanjing history, it served as China's capital throughout ten dynasties and has been named by many names since its creation – historical records list more than forty names, including Jinling, Moling, Jianye, Jiankang, Jiangning, Yingtian and Tianjing. Search Britannica Rather than wasting his soldiers in a futile attempt to hold Nanking, Chiang decided to withdraw most of them inland about 500 kilometers (310 miles) west to Wuhan, where the rugged interior mountains offered a more defensible position. Having captured Shanghai, the Japanese were then able to move up the Yangtze River and lay siege to the Nationalist capital Nanking (now called Nanjing). The first, called City Of War: The Story Of John Rabe, tells the story of a German resident and Nazi party leader in Nanking who set up a safety zone in the city. Emeritus Professor of History, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Situated west of the Qinhuai River and completely outside of the city wall (and thus with more vacant space available), it has been designated as a new city centre and includes a science and technology park. Author of See also Steele, “War’s Death Drama Pictured by Reporter,” Chicago Daily News, 17 December 1937. The Rape of Nanking refers to the violent 1937 - 1938 capture of China's capital city at that point, Nanking, by the Japanese.
History textbooks in The Chinese Nationalist Army or Kuomintang (KMT) lost the key city of Shanghai to the advancing Japanese in November of 1937. Login
Elderly women were gang-raped and then killed. Alongside the Yangtze and known as the northern gate of Nanjing, Xiaguan is traditionally a collecting and distribution point for the city.