Draft History of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Invading Forces

Author: / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-02-01
Features: The massacres in the suburbs, apart from collective killings, were commonly carried out by the Japanese army in a scattered manner. The massacres in the city began on December 13, when Nanjing fell. However, before that, from Dongqiao to Longtan in the east, Banqiao to Shuangzhao in the west, Fangshan to Niushou in the south, and as far north as the northern bank of the Yangtze River and Pukou, wherever the Japanese army went, the blood of Chinese civilians and soldiers stained the land. For example, in Xuxiang Village, Tangshan Town, Jiangning, far from the city, when the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, they passed through this village and massacred it. Elder Chen Guangxiu recalled: I was born in Xuxiang Village, Tangshan Town, Jiangning. In February 1937, the vanguard of the Japanese army advanced towards Nanjing from near my home along the highway. On the eighth day of the first lunar month (February 10 in the Gregorian calendar), my father, Chen Zhishong, was moving hay to feed the cattle on the grassland when he was shot by Japanese soldiers. At that time, there were nearly 200 households in the village, and the Japanese soldiers gathered nearly 200 young people in the rice field, opened their chests, and stabbed them one by one with bayonets. My younger brother, Chen Guangdong, was among them. A man named Shi Daling was found alive during a Japanese inspection and was stabbed several more times. With each stab, he screamed, "My mother!" Thus, he died a miserable death. At that time, the four brothers of the Ai family—Ai Honglai, Ai Genlai, Ai Yisheng, and Ai Renyi—were captured by the Japanese soldiers and beaten to death like sacks. Some people from other places who were captured by the Japanese soldiers to work as laborers were later disemboweled with bayonets. A man named Fang Laer in a neighboring village was cut in half, with one part thrown at Dachaogang and the other at Liamaikou. Another man named Liu Laowu had his head chopped off by the Japanese soldiers when they broke into his house, with half his body outside the door and half inside. Elder Chen Guangxiu, apart from his father and brother being killed, his sister-in-law gave birth to a child in the wild mountains to avoid the Japanese soldiers and died of postpartum wind. His mother also died of grief after her family was killed. He said, "My family is destroyed, all of this is due to the Japanese invasion. The crimes of the Japanese soldiers in massacring Xuxiang Village are hard to forget."① For example, near Qixia Town, a large number of people were killed. In the winter of 1937 (February in the Gregorian calendar), the Japanese soldiers entered the village, burned and killed, and forced the local people to lead them to find "flower girls." Xue Jialin, who was present, replied, "No," and the Japanese soldiers beheaded him with a knife. His head tilted, and the knife struck his mouth, "splitting his upper and lower lips into four pieces." He said, "Although I survived the ordeal, the scars on my mouth will forever record the crimes of the Japanese invaders." Dai Xingjin lived in Xinxhe Village, Qixia. In those days, he lived in a ravine called "Razhangkushan," which was considered safe by many people. However, in the winter of 1937, when the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, they passed through this small mountain village and suffered the same fate. The Japanese soldiers killed his wife and took his sister away. Li Chunxiang lived in Qixia Street. In those days, he was a tenant farmer in Qixia Temple and lived in Wu Zhuang Village in Qixia. On February 10, 1937, the Japanese army advancing towards Nanjing passed by his door, stole his oxen, and shot his father. Zheng Yongying lived in Qianjiaodu, Qixia. She said, "Before the Japanese soldiers attacked Nanjing, my husband, Liu Yongfu, took my grandmother to hide from the Japanese soldiers. They encountered two Japanese soldiers at Hengyang Temple and, without asking for clarification, insisted that my husband was a 'Central Army soldier' and shot him twice with their guns."② In Meishan Village, the Japanese soldiers massacred this small village with only six households and twenty or so people. According to the testimony of the survivor Mei Fuke, on an afternoon in December 1937, more than 200 Japanese soldiers arrived in Meiji Village, gathered my grandmother, father, second brother, niece, three brothers, and me, eight people, along with four neighbors, a total of 12 people, to a small mound outside the village, and ordered us to face the mound and form a circle. Then, they tied the hands of each person with cloth strips. After the ties were completed, the Japanese soldiers threw hand grenades into our group. After the grenades exploded, fearing we had not all died, they ran over and stabbed each of us several times with their bayonets. Poor my little niece, unable to endure the pain from the knife, cried out, and immediately the Japanese soldiers choked her to death with their hands. My own ears, jaw, and root of the tongue were injured by the explosion, and I was stabbed three times: two in the chest and one in the buttocks. Of the 12 people who suffered this fate, 10 died, and only me and another neighbor survived. My family of eight, seven were brutally killed by the explosion." Hanfu Village and Xishan Bridge, though far from the city, also escaped the tragedy of being slaughtered by the Japanese army. Li Fucheng is a retired worker from the canteen of Nanjing Iron and Steel Factory and a survivor who miraculously escaped death. He confirmed that in December 1937, one day, nine Japanese devils broke into Hanfu Village, and at that time, all the men in the village had fled to Hanfu Mountain for safety. The Japanese found no one in the village and went up the mountain to search, only to discover more than 200 men hiding in the ravines. The Japanese soldiers dragged out 13 people from the young and strong, and I was 24 years old and was also dragged out. The nine devils used bayonets to dig a large pit and then opened fire on us. Bullets whizzed past my face, piercing my nose tip, and I fell headfirst into the pit. Then, the bodies of the fellow countrymen who were shot were piled on top of me. At that time, one of the victims suffered from asthma. He was shot in the abdomen and fell into the pit, but he did not die, only kept wheezing. Unexpectedly, the sound came from the pit, and the Japanese heard it and stabbed the bodies with their bayonets many times. I was stabbed several times in the back. Only late at night did I dare to crawl out of the pile of bodies and hide in the mountains, finally escaping death with difficulty. Fu Zuojin used to work at the kiln factory in Xishan Bridge and has since retired, living in Nengrenli, Yuhua Town. Before 1937, his whole family lived in the kiln factory. When the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, they passed through this area, committing murder and arson, burning down his house and those of his neighbors. His father-in-law, "who stayed at home, was beheaded by the Japanese soldiers with a knife, and his mother-in-law was shot in the heel by the Japanese soldiers and died of lack of medical treatment due to the chaos." His nephew, who was only 12 years old at the time, had his head chopped off by the Japanese soldiers and rolled into the river." Fu Zuojin, along with his mother and wife, survived because they hid in the nearby mountains.② Shuangzhao is in the western suburbs of Nanjing, near the Yangtze River, and relatively far from the city. However, when the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, it also could not escape the iron hooves of the Japanese army. Jianming Casting Factory retiree Zhao Zongtao, a survivor of the Japanese massacre in Shuangzhao, testified that in December 1937, when the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, I lived in Shuangzhao Street in the western suburbs and ran a small business. One afternoon, gunshots erupted, and the neighbors panicked and scattered. At that time, I was discussing with my neighbor, the teacher Chen Youchen, and the carpenter Li Wenshan, where to hide. Suddenly, Japanese cavalry galloped from Banqiao, and we were terrified and didn’t know what to do. Later, I hid by the pond behind the street. The other two, due to panic, failed to avoid and were beheaded by Japanese soldiers with swords. At the same time, the Japanese soldiers began burning houses, and in no time, Shuangzhao Street turned into a sea of fire, and my house was also burned down, leaving me homeless. I had to take my wife to my father-in-law’s house in Shazhou Xue to seek refuge. Of course, the Japanese army did not stop slaughtering refugees in the suburbs after occupying Nanjing. Many refugees who fled from the city to the suburbs were also killed along with the suburban refugees. For example, Ma Mingfu, now the manager of Nanjing Tobacco Company, lived near Zhonghua Gate at that time, with six people in his family—his parents, sisters, brother, and himself. To avoid the ferocity of the Japanese army, the whole family fled to Shazhou Xue. But after arriving in Shazhou Xue, more than 50 local people and Ma Mingfu’s maternal grandfather, grandmother, mother, sister, two uncles, and one cousin, a total of seven people, were brutally killed by the Japanese army. For example, Liu Zhifa from Tao Village in Pukou, Shi Jia from Dingjie Village in Pukou, Xu Jinfeng from Shazhou Xue, Zhang Zhushi from Wushang Village in Tieshiqiao, Xu Zhoushi from Qixia Village in Qixia, and Li Wenru from Jiangbao Village in Shuangzhao, their parents or other relatives were all killed when the Japanese army massacred their villages. Wu Biyi is a retired cadre from the Nanjing Chamber of Commerce. At that time, he lived in Xiaocaihua Street, Yu Zhou Road. On December 15, the Japanese army took him to Wuhu. He recalled: After passing through Zhonghua Gate, along the Ningwu Highway to the west, the road was lined with the bodies of Chinese people. At Dongshan Bridge, the wheat field by the roadside was piled with countless bodies of Chinese civilians and soldiers, a scene too tragic to behold.