What was the significance of the Nanking Massacre in the context of World War II?
Answers
Starting in July 1937, Japanese soldiers in China were tolerated -- and then encouraged -- to treat the Chinese with complete contempt. Imbued with a belief in national and racial superiority, and subjected to a strict discipline, maltreatment of captured Chinese was one of the few outlets ordinary Japanese soldiers had -- particularly when many of their officers encouraged it.
Japanese soldiers began to murder POWs and commit rapes even in Shanghai, and continued these practices as they advanced on Nanking through the Autumn. With the defeat of the Chinese Nationalist forces screening Nanking, large numbers of POWs and Chinese civilians fell into Japanese hands.
While there might be some validity to the Japanese belief that stray Chinese solders might turn into guerrillas, the systemic mass murder of tens of thousands of POWs and male civilians was often accomplished through great cruelty: Burying captives alive, using them for live bayonetting practice, even an apparent beheading contest. At least some 20,000 women in Nanking were raped -- and very often murdered afterwards.