Was the United States justified in the dropping of the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Japanese War Crimes
Rape of Nanking
In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to
murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage would become known as the
Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific
theaters of war.
In late 1937, over a period of six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army forces brutally murdered hundreds of thousands of
people–including both soldiers and civilians–in the Chinese city of Nanking (or Nanjing) during the Sino-Japanese War.
The horrific events are known as the Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, as between 20,000 and 80,000 women
were sexually assaulted. Nanking, then the capital of Nationalist China, was left in ruins, and it would take decades for
the city and its citizens to recover from the savage attacks.
Aftermath of Nanking
There are no official numbers for the death toll in the Nanking Massacre, though estimates range from 200,000 to
300,000 people. Soon after the end of the war, Japan’s Matsui and his lieutenant Tani Hisao, were tried and convicted
for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and were executed. Anger over the events at
Nanking continues to color Sino-Japanese relations to this day. The true nature of the massacre has been disputed and
exploited for propaganda purposes by historical revisionists, apologists and Japanese nationalists. Some claim the
numbers of deaths have been inflated, while others have denied that any massacre occurred.
The Count of Pearl Harbor Deaths
Officially, it is estimated that 2,335 military personnel were killed on December 7, 1941. The number breaks down as
such:
●
2,008 naval men
●
109 Marines
●
218 army men
●
Additionally, 68 civilians also lost their lives that day.
Of the 2,335 military personnel killed, 1,177 were killed on board the U.S.S.
Arizona
. The battleship was one of the first
ships hit when the Japanese began their attack just before 8 a.m. that morning. The
Arizona
had just refueled the day
before, so when the bombs dropped, much of the fuel aboard the ship also exploded, causing a terrible fire. Though
the men onboard fought bravely to try and save the ship while rescuing survivors, the ship eventually sank. It was the
only ship that sank completely that day.
Japanese Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March, march in the Philippines of some 66 miles (106 km) that 76,000 prisoners of war (66,000
Filipinos, 10,000 Americans) were forced by the Japanese military to endure in April 1942, during the early stages of
World War II. In total, 10,000 men – 1,000 American and 9,000 Filipino – died during the Bataan Death March. Those
that survived the march would spend the next 40 months in horrific conditions in confinement camps. Most were
transported to the Japanese man island aboard “death ships.” Many did not survive the voyage.
Captain William Dyess was a fighter pilot stationed on Luzon in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded. Captured
