From December 1937 to January 1938, Japanese soldiers raped up to 80,000 and killed at least 200,000 in Nanking, China in one of history's worst — and most overlooked — massacres.

The Rape of Nanking: A Six-Week Descent Into Horror

In December 1937, as World War II intensified in Europe, another catastrophe was unfolding in Asia. The Imperial Japanese Army advanced deeper into China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, eventually reaching the Chinese capital of Nanking (now Nanjing). What followed over the next six weeks would become one of the most brutal atrocities of the 20th century — the Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking.

The violence did not begin in Nanking. As Japanese forces moved through China, they left behind a trail of destruction. Soldiers operated under orders to eliminate captives, and discipline broke down into sanctioned brutality. Looting and sexual violence were widespread. One Japanese journalist traveling with the army later described a “tacit consent” among officers and soldiers that they could loot and rape freely.

When Japanese troops entered Nanking on December 13, 1937, the city descended into chaos. Homes, villages, and even sections of the city walls were burned. Buildings were stripped of valuables. Civilians — men, women, and children — were rounded up, beaten, and executed. Many were buried in mass graves; others were left where they fell.

Killing sometimes became a spectacle. Japanese newspapers reported on a gruesome contest between two officers, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, who allegedly competed to see who could kill 100 people first with a sword. After the war, Noda admitted that many of their victims were unarmed prisoners and civilians. He described lining them up and cutting them down one by one.

Sexual violence was systematic and widespread. Historians estimate that between 20,000 and 80,000 women were raped during the occupation. Soldiers often went door to door, dragging women from their homes. Many victims were assaulted repeatedly and then murdered. Pregnant women were mutilated. Young girls and elderly women were not spared.

Foreign missionaries and journalists in the city recorded what they witnessed. American missionary James M. McCallum wrote in his diary that rape was occurring “at least 1,000 cases a night.” Reports from the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone documented women assaulted multiple times daily, elderly women attacked, and families killed after the abuse ended.

Executions were carried out on a massive scale. Prisoners of war were gathered in large groups and machine-gunned along the Yangtze River. Others were used for bayonet practice. Bodies accumulated so heavily in some areas that witnesses described having to climb over them to pass through streets and gates. Fires were set to destroy evidence, and corpses were dumped into the river.

By the time the massacre subsided in January 1938, estimates of the death toll ranged widely. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East later concluded that at least 200,000 people were killed. Chinese sources have long placed the number closer to 300,000, while some historians argue for lower figures. Regardless of the exact count, the scale of violence was immense.

Japanese General Iwane Matsui, commander of the forces in China, claimed he had not directly ordered the atrocities but acknowledged moral responsibility. After the war, he was tried, convicted of war crimes, and executed in 1948.

The legacy of the massacre remains deeply contested. In 1995, Japan issued a formal apology for its wartime aggression, though statements have varied in tone and acceptance over the years. Some Japanese officials and public figures have questioned or minimized the events, while historians and survivors continue to present extensive documentation and testimony.

Today, the Nanjing Massacre is remembered in China as one of the darkest chapters in its modern history. Memorials stand in Nanjing to honor the victims, and December 13 is observed as a national day of remembrance. The massacre remains a painful symbol of wartime brutality and a continuing source of tension in East Asia.

The events in Nanking serve as a stark reminder of how quickly war can descend into inhumanity — and how vital it is to preserve historical memory, even when it is uncomfortable or disputed.