Japan's decision to capture Nanjing
The conflict which would become known as the Second Sino-Japanese War started on July 7, 1937, with a skirmish at Marco Polo Bridge which escalated rapidly into a full-scale war in … See more

By the start of December, Japan's Central China Area Army had swollen in strength to over 160,000 men, though only about 50,000 of these would ultimately participate in the fighting. The plan of attack against Nanjing was a pincer movement See more

"Mopping-up operations:" the mass execution of prisoners
The fighting in Nanjing did not end on the night of December 12–13, when the Japanese Army … See more

News of the massacre was tightly censored in Japan, where Nanjing's capture provoked a frenzy of excitement among the citizenry. Mass celebrations of every sort, either … See more

China's defense preparations
Following the Manchurian Incident of 1931, the Chinese government began a fast track national … See more

Opening shots
In the dawn of December 9, Japanese soldiers from the 36th Infantry Regiment reached the Nanjing city wall near the Guanghua gate … See more

The capture of Nanjing had been quicker and easier than the Japanese had foreseen. According to Iwane Matsui's diary, they lost only 1,953 soldiers in battle, plus 4,994 wounded. Recent research however, suggests higher Japanese losses in … See more