By the year’s end, more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians had died in the Lower Yangtze Delta. It was only the beginning. Seven years of war remained.
* Peter Harmsen, Shanghai 1937, Stalingrad on the Yangtze, p. 165-167
The war in China was one without mercy. For a Chinese soldier, dying in battle was a cleaner fate than being captured alive by the Japanese. It was for that reason why, when the defenses of Nanjing collapsed, thousands of Chinese soldiers committed mass suicide by attempting to swim across the Yangtze River rather than contemplate surrender, a virtual death sentence in the winter.
>A Japanese officer descending the hill to inspect the scene noticed something stirring inside an untidy and bloody pile of corpses. A Chinese soldier crawled out, got on his feet, and when he saw he was surrounded by enemies, drew his gun and shot himself. “He is an enemy, but he has made himself worthy of admiration,” the officer said with an approving nod of his head.
* Harmsen, p. 237
These are a few from Shanghai, from just the first battle.
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Between Shanghai and Nanjing, [350,000 Chinese soldiers ](https://preview.redd.it/the-battle-of-shanghai-v0-umlwt34abeue1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3fbd3d5523ebe942e23131172493937ee1ba5186)fell defending their homes and families. Half of them forever.
[100,000 Japanese soldiers ](https://preview.redd.it/the-battle-of-shanghai-v0-m168tlujaeue1.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9444adfc8639fe122f25e79ffd96b45ae56d88f3)became casualties in the first campaign of what was promised to be a three-month war. 25,000 of them died in that victory.
And in cities like Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Jiading, Changzhou and Suzhou, [innocent civilians died by the tens of thousands. ](https://preview.redd.it/atrocities-photographed-in-the-second-sino-japanese-war-nsfl-v0-lqo7k95x8wnd1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3efedbcdf1ee7779f335323047d0864d11c17c16)
By the year’s end, more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians had died in the Lower Yangtze Delta. It was only the beginning. Seven years of war remained.
>The “spy” was a woman of about 60. With lowered voice she kept mumbling away in her own language. More soldiers started crowding around, and they began discussing what to do with her. Suddenly, a voice cut through the chatter: “I’ll kill her.” The voice belonged to a young soldier with a cultured appearance that betrayed a wealthy family background. He had a combat knife in his hand. Without hesitation, he walked up to the old woman, shouting: “Hey, you!” As she turned around, he stabbed her in the chest. The woman cried out briefly. She was dead before she hit the ground.
The war between China and Japan was one where no quarter was given. [Anyone ending up in Japanese hands was considered as good as dead](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Chinese_prisoners_of_war_at_Shanghai%2C_August_1937.jpg?20090818133619). Captives, including civilians suspected of spying, were interrogated and once they had no more information to offer, they were disposed of. [Typically executions were in the traditional manner of decapitation](https://preview.redd.it/japanese-atrocities-in-china-during-the-second-sino-v0-vpepsvhh7xbd1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=b069ce42273f00634bbf322d2fb87496f50e714e). Shanghai residents got used to the sight of headless bodies, frozen in the kneeling position they had assumed at the moment of death, floating down Suzhou Creek. Those were the lucky ones. There were reports that injured Chinese prisoners were [tied together, face down, doused with gasoline and burned](https://preview.redd.it/the-battle-of-shanghai-v0-0x7qigpn1fue1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=8e23bd18985aaafa6071bdda1ce7159e9b7e46ea).
* Peter Harmsen, Shanghai 1937, Stalingrad on the Yangtze, p. 165-167
The war in China was one without mercy. For a Chinese soldier, dying in battle was a cleaner fate than being captured alive by the Japanese. It was for that reason why, when the defenses of Nanjing collapsed, thousands of Chinese soldiers committed mass suicide by attempting to swim across the Yangtze River rather than contemplate surrender, a virtual death sentence in the winter.
>A Japanese officer descending the hill to inspect the scene noticed something stirring inside an untidy and bloody pile of corpses. A Chinese soldier crawled out, got on his feet, and when he saw he was surrounded by enemies, drew his gun and shot himself. “He is an enemy, but he has made himself worthy of admiration,” the officer said with an approving nod of his head.
* Harmsen, p. 237
These are a few from Shanghai, from just the first battle.
[Bloody Saturday.](https://preview.redd.it/the-battle-of-shanghai-v0-m58o0sbkweue1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=b58526d729af3fa2b7ccfe999aa25ff968a9eaef)
[The victims of the Great World Amusement Centre bombing.](https://preview.redd.it/the-battle-of-shanghai-v0-tyyc2ecmzeue1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=b48581cb293efe5c803a2d51ee66fe9622bd9c57)
[Foreign expats watch Shanghai burn from the International Settlement.](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/105212183/photo/china-the-people-of-shanghai-are-watching-the-city-burn-from-afar-following-the-bombardements.jpg?s=612×612&w=0&k=20&c=6yr59gKiEWrJOUeT7OW5ZbFaP2kxHFuKF6z6AlJRsOQ=)
[A boy buried in rubble.](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/3289599/photo/the-body-of-a-child-killed-in-the-fierce-japanese-bombing-of-shanghai.jpg?s=612×612&w=0&k=20&c=xEMqRuTC54LFtAu-2ZYxaBNxWMPo1fOdpvAd-D64QgE=)
[A mother carries her injured baby into the International Settlement.](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/78962105/photo/personalities-sino-japanese-war-pic-september-1937-a-chinese-mother-carries-her-baby-to-the.jpg?s=612×612&w=0&k=20&c=9nk34idhtzG0yXcSjgf8e3Hnj4afrtiC1X7m2WV96_M=)
[A Japanese soldier slashes the throat of a Chinese prisoner near Dachang. Several more bodies are visible.](https://preview.redd.it/the-battle-of-shanghai-v0-e4ir75e7aeue1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=2cac651fe2de8e049a3a2187d325d27d8373356c)
[A Japanese soldier poses with his trophy. He smiles.](https://preview.redd.it/atrocities-photographed-in-the-second-sino-japanese-war-nsfl-v0-svu7hqey6wnd1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=c279426ee4524e3bcca282da98488610cf4021f7)
There is nothing NSFW. Just historical photographs.
Incredible.
The extent of the terror the Japanese empire caused in ten years time isn’t talked about enough in respect to WW2.
Interesting how the Eurocentric view has WWII starting in September 1939, but the Japanese started their portion of the conflict several years earlier
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