Thursday, May 26, 2016

Rape of NanKing and Atomic Bombs, WARNING NOT A FUN READ.

WARNING NOT A FUN READ...
There were 199,000 total casualties as a result of the atomic bombs used to end WWII.

I have heard people say President Truman was a cruel man to authorize the dropping of two Atomic Bombs on Japan.  The president knew some of the following facts when he made the decision:
1.     His knowledge that a Japanese soldier was ordered to die rather than surrender.
2.    He also knew of the torture of his own soldiers at the hands of the Japanese.
3.     The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is a best selling 1997 non-fiction book written by Iris Chang 
Atrocities
The book depicted in detail the killing, torture, and rape that occurred during the Nanking Massacre. Chang listed and described the kinds of torture that were visited upon the residents, including live burialsmutilation, "death by fire", "death by ice", and "death by dogs". Based on the testimony of a survivor of the massacre, Chang also described a killing contest amongst a group of Japanese soldiers to determine who could kill the fastest. On the rape that occurred during the massacre, Chang wrote that "certainly it was one of the greatest mass rapes in world history." She estimated that the number of women raped ranged from 20,000 to as many as 80,000, and stated that women from all classes were raped, including Buddhist nuns. Furthermore, rape occurred in all locations and at all hours,] and both very young and very old women were raped. Not even pregnant women were spared, Chang wrote, and that after gang rape, Japanese soldiers "sometimes slashed open the bellies of pregnant women and ripped out the fetuses for amusement". Not all rape victims were women, according to the book, Chinese men were sodomized and forced to perform repulsive sexual acts. Some were forced to commit incest—fathers to rape their own daughters, brothers their sisters, sons their mothers.
Death toll
Chang wrote of the death toll estimates given by different sources; Chinese military specialist Liu Fang-chu proposed a figure of 430,000; officials at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and the procurator of the District Court of Nanjing in 1946 stated at least 300,000 were killed; the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) judges concluded that more than 260,000 people were killed; Japanese historian Fujiwara Akira approximated 200,000; John Rabe, who "never conducted a systematic count and left Nanking in February", estimated only 50,000 to 60,000; and Japanese author Ikuhiko Hata argued the number killed was between 38,000 and 42,000.
The book discussed the research of historian Sun Zhaiwei. In his 1990 paper,The Nanking Massacre and the Nanking Population, Sun estimated the total number of people killed at 377,400. Using Chinese burial records, he calculated that the number of dead exceeded the figure of 227,400. He then added estimates totaling 150,000 given by Japanese Imperial Army Major Ohta Hisao in a confessional report about the Japanese army's disposal efforts of dead bodies, arriving at the sum of 377,400 dead Chang wrote that there is "compelling evidence" that the Japanese themselves, at the time, believed that the death toll may have been as high as 300,000. She cited a message that Japan's foreign minister Kōki Hirota relayed to his contacts in Washington, DC in the first month of the massacre on January 17, 1938. The message acknowledged that "not less than three hundred thousand Chinese civilians [were] slaughtered, many cases in cold blood."
Foot note:
President  Truman knew the Japanese had murdered hundreds of thousands (civilians), but did not know it was into the Millions when he okayed the use of the A-Bombs.

Two wrongs do not make a right.  But my mama had two boys in that war. Along with many family.  We were all glad when the war ended. I am sorry if it offends anyone, but in 1945-46 no one cared how, we just wanted the war OVER.


 From the research of R.J. Runnel.


From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. This democide was due to a morally bankrupt political and military strategy, military expediency and custom, and national culture (such as the view that those enemy soldiers who surrender while still able to resist were criminals).

Nite Shipslog.
I appreciate comments, but do not feel obligated to comment. I gladly accept Negative comments also.

5 comments:

betty said...

War is an ugly thing all around. The atrocities people do during that time is so heartbreaking to hear about. I am sure it was not an easy decision the president had to make, but sometimes evil must be completely destroyed no matter how it is done.

Betty

Glenda said...

This is grim reading, but profoundly written. I have made a note to see if our library has Iris Chang's book. Thank you for the information, much I was unaware of. Thank you for your service and Happy Memorial Day to you and yours.

Lisa said...

Great post. Sad, but imformative. I believe in ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Hope you and Sherry have a great Memorial day weekend.
Lisa

Mevely317 said...

Admittedly, when reading your title, I was hesitant to comment. Until now, I'd not heard of Ms. Chang's book.

Given my upbringing in Los Alamos, I was (and am!) unashamedly proud of Groves' and Oppenheimer's efforts to end the war. Cataclysmic, for sure, but I believe it was for the greater good.

Rick Watson said...

War is ugly.