====================================================================== BASIC FACTS ON THE NANKING MASSACRE AND THE TOKYO WAR CRIMES TRIAL ====================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Foreword The Nanking Massacre Nanking Massacre -- The Japanaese Versions The Tokyo War Crimes Trial Summary of the Verdict and Sentence Summary of Convicted Class A War Criminals Chronology of the Japanese Invasion of Asia, 1894-1945 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * This pamphlet is prepared in the spirit of freedom of information. Reproduction and circulation are welcome and encouraged. Please forward comments and suggestions for revisions and corrections to: New Jersey Hong Kong Network P.O. Box 18 Bound Brooks, NJ 08805 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FOREWORD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It has almost been three years since the first edition of this pamphlet was printed in 1991. During this time, the pamphlet has frequently been requested by various organizations in the United States and around the world. As the first print of the pamphlet is running out and requests of the pamphlet continue to come in, we decide to print the pamphlet for the second time. In this new edition of the pamphlet, while the material remains the same, a few errors in the last edition have been corrected. We hope that this pamphlet continues to serve as a vehicle for people to learn about this "Forgotten Holocaust." New Jersey Hong Kong Network September 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Japanese invasion of China immediately before and during World War II lasted from the early 1930's to 1945. During this dark period in modern Asian history, the Japanese military machine was motivated by an uncontrollable desire for aggression, expansion and imperialism. The brutalities and atrocities committed by the Japanese military in China and elsewhere in Asia finally ended with destruction on Japanese soil -- the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. The victims of the Japanese militarists' aggression included the innocent and peace-loving peoples of China, Korea, the Philippines, other south east Asian countries, United States, and Japan herself. In the past forty-five years, China and other countries have allowed the Japanese war crimes to be forgotten. In fact, the only constant reminders of the victims of World War II in Asia were the events commemorating the Japanese who were killed by the atomic bomb dropped by the United States. The young generations, Chinese and Japanese alike, are not kept informed about the consequences of imperialist militarism. During this time, the Japanese Ministry of Education distorted the facts of World War II in their history textbooks, the government glorified convicted Class A war criminals as national heroes, and high ranking Japanese officials publicly denied the occurrence of the Nanking Massacre, one of the most infamous atrocities committed by the Japanese armies in China. This pamphlet is an attempt to raise awareness on an issue -- the history behind the bombing of Hiroshima -- where proper attention is long overdue. Although this pamphlet is far from an exhaustive research on the subject, we hope to provide the readers with some basic information on a few pertinent topics: o The Nanking Massacre o Nanking Massacre -- the Japanese Versions o The Tokyo War Crime Trial o Chronology of the Japanese Invasion of China o References The constant reminders of the atrocities of Germany's Nazi regime is now recognized as a major preventive measure against the revival of Nazism in Germany, and the annual commemoration of the victims of Hiroshima provides a strong basis for the resistance to the dangerous escalation of nuclear weapons. By preparing this pamphlet, we hope to help initiate a long term movement to bring attention to the war crimes committed by the Japanese militarists during World War II, and, by doing so, to unite with peace-loving people of all nationalities to prevent the resurgence of militarism anywhere in the world. New Jersey Hong Kong Network December, 1990 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NANKING MASSACRE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In 1928, the Chinese Nationalist Government moved the capital of China from Peking to Nanking. The city normally held about 250,000 people, but by the mid-1930's its population had swollen to more than 1 million. Many of them were refugees, fleeing from the Japanese armies which had invaded China since 1931. On November 11, 1937, after securing control of Shanghai, the Japanese army advanced towards Nanking from different directions. In early December, the Japanese troops were already in the proximity of Nanking. On December 9, after unsuccessfully demanding the defending Chinese troops in Nanking to surrender, the Japanese troops launched a massive attack upon the city. On the 12th, the defending Chinese troops decided to retreat to the other side of Yangtze River. On the 13th of December, the 6th and the 116th Divisions of the Japanese Army first entered the city. At the same time, the 9th Division entered Guang Hua Gate, and the 16th Division entered Zhong Shan Gate and the Tai Ping Gate. In the afternoon, two Japanese Navy fleets arrived on both sides of the Yangtze River. On the same day, December 13th, 1937, Nanking fell to the Japanese. In the next six weeks, the Japanese committed the infamous Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, during which an estimated 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed, and 20,000 women were raped. During the Nanking Massacre, the Japanese committed a litany of atrocities against innocent civilians, including mass execution, raping, looting, and burning. It is impossible to keep a detailed account of all of these crimes. However, from the scale and the nature of these crimes as documented by survivors and the diaries of the Japanese militarists, the chilling evidence of this historical tragedy is indisputable. (I) THE TRAGEDY AT YANGTZE RIVER -------------------------------- On December 13th, a large number of refugees tried to escape from the Japanese by trying to cross the Yangtze River. They were trapped on the east bank because no transportation was available; many of them tried to swim across the river. Meanwhile, the Japanese arrived and fired at the people on the shore and in the river. A Japanese soldier reported that the next day he saw an uncountable number of dead bodies of adults and children covering the whole river. He estimated that more than 50,000 people were killed at this tragic incident of the Nanking massacre. (II) ANNIHILATION IN THE CITY ----------------------------- When the Japanese troops first entered the city on the 13th, the streets were crowded with more than 100,000 refugees or injured Chinese soldiers. The Japanese relentlessly fired at these people. The next morning, tanks and artilleries entered the city and killing of people continued. Dead bodies covered the two major streets of the city. The streets became "streets of blood" as a result of the two-day annihilation. (III) MASS EXECUTION OF CAPTIVES -------------------------------- A large number of Chinese soldiers had already been captured in the suburban areas before the Japanese entered the city. The rest of the Chinese soldiers scattered inside the city and changed into civilian clothes. After the "City-Entering Ceremony" on the 17th, the Japanese arrested anybody who was suspected to be a Chinese soldier. A large number of young men who were arrested, together with those who had been captured earlier, were sent outside of the city to be massacred, from several thousand to tens of thousand at a time. In most cases, the captives were shot by machine guns, and those who were still alive were bayoneted individually. In some cases, the Japanese poured gasoline onto the captives and burned them alive. In some cases, poison gas was used. (IV) SCATTERED ATROCITIES WITH EXTREME CRUELTY ---------------------------------------------- Numerous atrocities occurred within and around the city, and the victims were largely civilians. Japanese soldiers invented and exercised inhumane and barbaric methods of killing. The brutalities included shooting, stabbing, cutting open the abdomen, excavating the heart, decapitation (beheading), drowning, burning, punching the body and the eyes with an awl, and even castration or punching through the vagina. (V) RAPING ----------- An estimated 20,000 women were raped by the Japanese soldiers during the six weeks of the Nanking Massacre, most were brutally killed afterwards. The Japanese soldiers even raped girls less than ten years old, women over seventy years old, pregnant women, and nuns. Rampant raping took place in the streets or at religious worshiping places during the day. Many women were gang raped. Some Japanese even forced fathers to rape their daughters, sons to rape their mothers, etc. Those who resisted were killed immediately. (VI) ATROCITIES IN THE SAFETY ZONE ---------------------------------- When the Japanese were approaching Nanking in mid-November, a group of concerned foreigners formed an international rescue committee to establish a safety zone in an attempt to protect the refugees. The safety zone was located inside the city and consisted of more than twenty refugee camps, each of which accommodated from 200 to 12,000 people. During the six weeks of the Nanking Massacre, the Japanese frequently entered the safety zone to arrest young men. Every time, several hundred young men were arrested and executed on the site. (VII) LOOTING ------------- The Japanese looted all the storehouses and seized virtually everything from the civilians. The loot included jewelry, coins, domesticated animals, food, clothes, antiques, and even inexpensive items such as cigarettes, eggs, fountain pens, and buttons. (VIII) BURNING AND VANDALISM ---------------------------- The Japanese organized burning of buildings in the city. After they had set fire to buildings using either gasoline or some other inflammable chemicals, they hid, waited for and killed people who came to extinguish the fire. Numerous people were killed by fire. Nanking, once a beautiful historical city, was burned to ashes by the Japanese. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NANKING MASSACRE -- THE JAPANESE VERSIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From 1937 to now (1990), the Japanese militarists, the government and the public dealt with the undeniable atrocities committed by the Japanese troops in Nanking and the rest of Asia in a number of ways. The major waves of Japanese treatment of this dark historical tragedy ranged from total cover-up during the war, confessions and documentation by the Japanese soldiers during the 1950's and 60's, denial of the extent of the Nanking Massacre during the 70's and 80's, official distortion and rewriting of history during the 80's, and total denial of the occurrence of the Nanking Massacre by government officials in 1990. (I) DURING AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR ------------------------------------------------------- The Japanese Government had a tight control over the news media during the War and the Japanese civilians did not know about the truth of the Nanking Massacre or other crimes committed by the Japanese troops abroad. In fact, the Japanese soldiers were always described as heroes. It was not until the postwar Tokyo Trial (tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East) that the truth of the Nanking Massacre was first revealed to the Japanese civilians. The atrocities revealed during the Trial shocked the Japanese society at the time. (II) POSTWAR TO 1970's ---------------------- Prior to 1970, there was no open denial by the Japanese regarding the Nanking Massacre. In fact, there were a number of Japanese books, many were confessions or diaries by Japanese soldiers, which confirmed and gave detailed accounts of the Massacre. Works by the Japanese documenting the Nanking Massacre climaxed with the appearance of Katsuichi Honda's series of articles, "The Journey to China", published in Asahi Shinbun (Nov.,1971), which were based on interviews with the survivors of the Massacre. However, the Nanking Massacre was never emphasized in the Japanese history textbooks. During the Tokyo Trial, the Massacre was treated as one unique example of the atrocities committed in Asia, rather than as a separate charge. Few Japanese historians treated the Massacre as a serious research topic. (III) 1970 TO PRESENT --------------------- The denial of the Nanking Massacre started around 1972, when the right-wing political force in Japan began to rise. The Japanese denial of the Nanking Massacre and other brutalities in Asia can be divided into three broad categories: (a) Complete Denial of the Massacre By the end of 1971, the wave of confessions by Japanese soldiers and research by journalists exposing the brutal crimes in Asia encountered strong resistance from the right-wing conservatives. The denial movement began with two controversial yet influential articles: (1) an article by Shichihei Yamamoto, "Reply to Katsuichi Honda" published in Shokun!, March 1972; (2) an article by Akira Suzuki, "The Phantom of The Nanking Massacre", published in the April issue of the same Journal. This wave of open and public Japanese denial of their war crimes escalated over the years, as evidenced by Massaki Tanaka's book "Fabrication of Nanking Massacre" (Nihon Kyobun Sha, 1984) in which not only was the Nanking Massacre denied, but the Chinese Government was charged as responsible for the occurrence of the Sino-Japanese War. (b) Disputes on the Number of People Killed in the Massacre Besides total denial, another line of Japanese thoughts insisted that the Nanking Massacre was exaggerated by the Chinese. This view is best elaborated in a book written by Hata Ikuhiko "Nanking Incident" (Chuo Koron Shinsho, 1986) in which it was argued that the number of victims in the Massacre was between 38,000-42,000. It was also argued that the killing of surrendered or captured soldiers should NOT be considered as "Massacre". This book is now considered as the official history text on the issue by the Japan Ministry of Education. (c) Distortion and Rewriting of History In 1982, the Ministry of Education embarked on a campaign to distort the presentation of the history of World War II. In the process of the revision of history textbooks in Japan, Japanese "aggression" in China was substituted by "advancing in and out" of China during the Sino-Japanese War. The Nanking Massacre was described as a minor incident which occurred because the Japanese soldiers were too frustrated by the strong resistance from the Chinese Army. Although the substitution of the word "aggression" by "advancing in and out" was finally stopped because of the strong protest by the surrounding Asian countries and various Japanese educational groups, the rewriting of the Nanking Massacre remained. Moreover, the Ministry of Education has never admitted that the distortion of history is a mistake. (IV) 1990, DENIALS BY JAPANESE OFFICIALS The Nanking Massacre came into focus again when an interview with Shintaro Ishihara, the most popular contemporary writer in Japan (co-author of "The Japan that Can Say No") and the most flamboyant member of the Diet, was published in the October issue of Playboy Magazine. In the interview, Ishihara declared that the Nanking Massacre never occurred, and that "it is a story made up by the Chinese, ... it is a lie". On November 10, 1990, during a protest by Chinese Americans against the Japanese actions in Diao-Yu-Tai Island, the Deputy Japanese Consul in Houston maintained that according to Japanese sources, "the Nanking Massacre never occurred." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE TOKYO WAR CRIMES TRIALS MAY 3, 1946 to NOVEMBER 12, 1948 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- All Japanese Class A war criminals were tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) in Tokyo. The prosecution team was made up of justices from eleven Allied nations: Australia, Canada, China, France, Great Britain, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. The Tokyo trial lasted two and a half years, from May 1946 to November 1948. Other war criminals were tried in the respective victim countries. War crime trials were held at ten different locations in China. I. THE INDICTMENT ------------------ Of the eighty (80) Class A war criminal suspects detained in the Sugamo prison after 1945, twenty-eight (28) men were brought to trial before the IMTFE. The accused included nine civilians and nineteen professional military men: Four former premiers: Hiranuma, Hirota, Koiso, Tojo Three former foreign ministers: Matsuoka, Shigemitsu, Togo Four former war ministers: Araki, Hata, Itagaki, Minami Two former navy ministers: Nagano, Shimada Six former generals: Doihara, Kimura, Matsui, Muto, Sato, Umezu Two former ambassadors: Oshima, Shiratori Three former economic and financial leaders: Hoshino, Kaya, Suzuki One imperial adviser: Kido One radical theorist: Okawa One former admiral: Oka One former colonel: Hashimoto The indictment accused the defendants of promoting a scheme of conquest that "contemplated and carried out ... murdering, maiming and ill-treating prisoners of war (and) civilian internees ... forcing them to labor under inhumane conditions ... plundering public and private property, wantonly destroying cities, towns and villages beyond any justification of military necessity; (perpetrating) mass murder, rape, pillage, brigandage, torture and other barbaric cruelties upon the helpless civilian population of the over-run countries." Joseph Keenan, the chief prosecutor representing the United States at the trial, issued a press statement along with the indictment: ".. it is high time ... that the promoters of aggressive, ruthless war and treaty-breakers should be stripped of the glamour of national heroes and exposed as what they really are --- plain, ordinary murderers." II. WAR CRIMES IN CHINA REVEALED --------------------------------- (a) The Nanking Massacre Numerous eye-witness accounts of the Nanking Massacre were provided by Chinese civilian survivors and western nationals living in Nanking at the time. The accounts included gruesome details of the Nanking Massacre. Thousands of innocent civilians were buried alive, used as targets for bayonet practice, shot in large groups and thrown into the Yangtze River. Rampant rapes (and gang rapes) of women ranging from age seven to over seventy were reported. The international community estimated that within the six weeks of the Massacre, 20,000 women were raped, many of them subsequently murdered or mutilated; and over 300,000 people were killed, often with the most inhumane brutality. Dr. Robert Wilson, a surgeon who was born and raised in Nanking and educated at Princeton and Harvard Medical School, testified that beginning with December 13, "the hospital filled up and was kept full to overflowing" during the next six weeks. The patients usually bore bayonet or bullet wounds; many of the women patients had been sexually molested. The international community had filed many protests to the Japanese Embassy. Bates, an American professor of history at the University of Nanking during the Japanese occupation, provided evidence that the protests were forwarded to Tokyo and were discussed in great detail between Japanese officials and the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo. Brackman (reporter at the trial and author of the book "The Other Nuremberg") commented: "The Rape of Nanking was not the kind of isolated incident common to all wars. It was deliberate. It was policy. It was known in Tokyo." Yet it was allowed to continue for over six weeks. (b) Unconventional warfare: Narcotics and Bacteriological warfare - Narcortics Trafficking Japan's opium operations in China in the 30's and 40's was conducted with full approval from Tokyo as a state policy, under the directives of an official Japanese umbrella organization, the China Affairs Board. The Board was responsible for political, economic, and cultural affairs in occupied China. This organization was run by Prince Konoye, and the ministers of war, the navy, finance and foreign affairs of the time. Japan's opium trafficking was designed to weaken the Chinese people's will to resist and to provide substantial revenues to finance Japanese military and economic aggression. - Bacteriological Warfare Reference to the bacteriological warfare was only briefly mentioned during the trial. The assistant U.S. prosecutor David Sutton read the following statements: "The enemy's TAMA Detachment carried off their civilian captives to the medical laboratory, where the reactions to poisonous serums were tested. This detachment was one of the most secret organizations. The number of persons slaughtered by this detachment cannot be ascertained." Surprisingly, the prosecutor did not pursue the subject, and hence was rejected as unsupported. After the trial by the IMTFE, in December 25-30, 1949, the Soviets tried twelve former members of the TAMA detachment who were captured in Manchuria. The twelve were convicted of conducting experiments on living people. In the February 23, 1950 issue of Izvestia, the Soviet government daily, the Soviets charged that in September 1946, the Soviet prosecutors had turned over to the U.S. prosecutor, the chief of the Allied counsel, hard evidence of Japan's experiments on bacteriological weapons. In 1976, the Tokyo Broadcasting System confirmed the existence of the TAMA detachment. Five living members of the top-secret operation told a Japanese reporter that they had escaped indictment as war criminals in return for divulging their research to the U.S. authorities. III. THE VERDICT ---------------- Two (Yosuke Matsuoka and Osami Nagano) of the twenty-eight defendants died of natural causes during the trial. One defendant (Shumei Okawa) had a mental breakdown on the first day of trial, was sent to a psychiatric ward and was released in 1948 a free man. The remaining twenty-five (25) were all found guilty, many of multiple counts. Seven (7) were sentenced to death by hanging, sixteen (16) to life imprisonment, and two (2) to lesser terms. All seven sentenced to death were found to be guilty of inciting or otherwise implicated in mass-scale atrocities, among other counts. Three of the sixteen sentenced to life imprisonment died between 1949 and 1950 in prison. The remaining thirteen (13) were paroled between 1954 and 1956, less than eight years in prison for their crimes against millions of people. Two former ambassadors were sentenced to seven and twenty years in prison. One died two years later in prison. The other one, Shigemitsu, was paroled in 1950, and was appointed foreign minister SUMMARY OF THE VERDICT AND SENTENCE ----------------------------------- Counts ACCUSED 1 27 29 31 32 33 35 36 54 55 SENTENCE NOTE --------------------------------------------------------------- ARAKI G G X X X X X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 DOIHARA G G G G G X G G G O Death HASHIMOTO G G X X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1945 HATA G G G G G X X X G Life Imp. Paroled 1955 HIRANUMA G G G G G X X G X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 HIROTA G G X X X X X X G Death HOSHINO G G G G G X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 ITAGAKI G G G G G X X Death KAYA G G G G G X G G G O Life Imp. Paroled 1955 KIDO G G G G G X X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 KIMURA G G G G G G G Death KOISO G G G G G X X G Life Imp. Died 1950 MATSUI X X X X X X X X G Death MINAMI G G X X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1954 MUTO G G G G G X X G G Death OKA G G G G G X X Life Imp. Paroled 1954 OSHIMA G X X X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 SATO G G G G G X X Life Imp. Paroled 1956 SHIGEMITSU X G G G G G X X G 7 years Paroled 1950 Apointed Foreign Minister 1954 SHIMADA G G G G G X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 SHIRATORI G X X X X Life Imp. Died 1949 SUZUKI G G G G G X X X X Life Imp. Paroled 1955 TOGO G G G G G X X X 20 years Died 1948 TOJO G G G G G G X G O Death Enshrined as martr"at the Yasukuni Shrine in 1978 UMEZU G G G G G X X X Life Imp. Died 1949 Blank: No indictment; G: Guilty; X: Not Guilty; O: Other. COUNTS OF INDICTMENT: Count 1: as "leaders, organizers, instigators, or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy ... to wage wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law." Count 27: waging unprovoked war against China. Count 29: waging aggressive war against the United States. Count 31: waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth. Count 32: waging aggressive war against the Netherlands. Count 33: waging aggressive war against France (Indochina). Count 35 & 36: waging aggressive war against the USSR. Count 54: "ordered, authorized, and permitted" inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) and others. Count 55: "deliberately and recklessly disregarded their duty" to take adequate steps to prevent atrocities. SUMMARY OF CONVICTED CLASS A WAR CRIMINALS ------------------------------------------ Seven (7) sentenced to death: Doihara, General Kenji (1883-1948). Commander, Kwantung Army, 1938-40; Supreme War Council, 1940-43; army commander in Singapore, 1944-45. Deeply involved in the army's drug trafficking in Manchuria. Later ran brutal POW and internee camps in Malaya, Sumatra, Java and Borneo. Convicted on counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 54. Hirota, Baron Koki (1878-1948). Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1928-31; foreign minister, 1933-36; premier, 1936-37. Was foreign minister during the Rape of Nanking and other atrocities perpetrated by the army. As premier, he led his cabinet in planning the invasions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands, in addition to continuing the undeclared war against China. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 55. Itagaki, General Seishiro (1885-1948). Chief of staff, Kwantung Army, 1936-37; minister of war, 1938-39; chief, army general staff, 1939; commander in Korea, 1941; Supreme War Council, 1943; commander in Singapore, 1945. Troops under his command in China and elsewhere terrorized prisoners and civilians. Was responsible for prison camps in Java, Sumatra, Malaya, Borneo and elsewhere. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 35, 36, 54. Kimura, General Heitaro (1888-1948). Chief of staff, Kwantung Army, 1940-41; vice minister of war, 1941-43; Supreme War Council, 1943; army commander in Burma, 1944-45. Helped plan the China and Pacific wars, including surprise attacks. Involved in the brutalization of the Allied POWs and was the field commander in Burma when civilian and POW slave labor built and died on the Siam-Burma Railway. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 54, 55. Matsui, General Iwane (1878-1948). Personal appointee of the emperor to the Geneva Disarmament Conference, 1932-37; commander, China Expeditionary Force, 1937-38. Troops under his overall command were responsible for the Rape of Nanking in 1937 and other atrocities. He retired in 1938 and then ceased to play an active role in military affairs. Convicted on Count 55. He was one of 14 Class A war criminals who were secretly enshrined as "matyrs" at the Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead and is Japan's most revered Shinto temple. Muto, General Akira (1892-1948). Vice chief of staff, China Expeditionary Force, 1937; director, military Affairs Bureau, 1939-42; army commander in Sumatra, 1942-43; army chief of staff in the Philippines, 1944-45. Troops under his command participated in both the Rape of Nanking and the Rape of Manila. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 54, 55. Tojo, General Hideki (1884-1948). Chief, Manchurian secret police, 1935; councillor, Manchurian Affairs Bureau, 1936; chief of staff, Kwantung Army, 1937-38; vice minister of war, 1938; minister of war 1940-44; premier, 1941-44. Considered the arch-criminal of the Pacific War. Tojo assumed full responsibility for all the actions of his government and the military during the war. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 33, 54. Sixteen (16) sentenced to life imprisonment: Araki, General Sadao (1877-1966). Minister of war, 1931-34; Supreme War Council, 1934-36; minister of education 1938-39; senior adviser to the cabinet, 1939-40. An early advocate of Japanese military expansionism. While education minister, he restructured the Japanese school system along military lines. Convicted on Counts 1 and 27. Paroled in 1955. Hashimoto, Colonel Kingoro (1890-1957). Held various commands, including that of an artillery regiment during the Rape of Nanking in 1937. Played a major role in staging the Mukden Incident, which eventually led to war with China. Author of political books of racist propaganda, he was important in mobilizing Japanese public opinion behind the Pacific War. Convicted on Counts 1 and 27. Paroled in 1954. Hata, Field Marshal Shunroku (1879-1962). Supreme War Council, 1937; commander, China Expeditionary Force, 1938, 1941-44; minister of war, 1939-40. One of the militarists who planned the invasion of China in the 1930s. He was in overall command of troops who perpetrated countless atrocities against Chinese civilians. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 55. Paroled in 1954. Hiranuma, Baron Kiichiro (1867-1952). Privy Council, 1924-39; founder and president, Kokuhonsha (right-wing patriotic society), 1926-28; premier, 1938; minister of home affairs, 1940; minister without portfolio, 1940-41; president, Privy Council, 1945. Convicted on crimes 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 36. Hoshino, Naoki (1892-1978). Chief of financial affairs, Manchukuo (Manchuria), 1932-34; director of general affairs (chief civilian officer), Manchukuo, 1936; minister without portfolio, 1940-41; chief cabinet secretary, 1941-44. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 312, 32. Paroled in 1955. Kaya, Okinori (1889-1977). Minister of finance, 1937-38, 1941-44; president, North China Development Company, 1939-41. An early advocate of selling narcotics to the Chinese to finance the expenses of the occupation forces. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Paroled in 1955. Kido, Marquis Koichi (1889-1977). Chief secretary to the lord keeper of the privy seal, 1930-37; minister of education, 1937; minister of welfare, 1938; minister of home affairs, 1939; lord keeper of the privy seal 1940-45. Was Emperor Hirohito's closest adviser during the most critical periods of the wars with China and the Allies. His secret diary, which he kept during all of his time at or near the seat of power, was the prosecution's bible during much of the Tokyo trial. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Paroled in 1955. Koiso, General Kuniaki (1880-1950). Vice minister of war, 1932; chief of staff, Kwantung Army, 1932-34; army commander in Korea, 1935-38; minister of overseas affairs, 1939; governor-general, Korea, 1942-44; premier 1944-45. Was known among the Korean population as "the Tiger of Korea" because of his brutality. As premier, he was aware of POW death camps. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32, 55. Minami, General Jiro (1874-1955). Minister of war, 1931; Supreme War Council, 1931-34; commander, Kwantung Army, 1934-36; governor-general, Korea, 1936-42; privy Council, 1942-45. An early leader of the army clique that controlled Japan in the 1930s and 1940s. Ruled Japan's Korean colony with an iron fist. Convicted on Counts 1 and 27. Paroled in 1945. Oka, Admiral Takasumi (1890-1973). Chief, Naval Affairs Bureau, 1940-44; vice minister of the navy, 1944. An important participant in planning the surprise attacks perpetrated by Japanese naval forces during the second week in December 1941. Also administered some POW and civilian to shoot survivors of torpedoed Allied ships. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Paroled in 1954. Oshima, General Hiroshi (1886-1975). Military attache in Germany, 1934-38; ambassador to Germany, 1938-39, 1941-45. Helped forge the Axis Pact with Germany and Italy and was an intimate of Hilter, Himmler, Goring, and Ribbentrop. Convicted on Count 1. Paroled in 1955. Sato, General Kenryo (1895-1975). Section head, then chief, Military Affairs Bureau, 1942-44; assistant chief of staff, China Expeditionary Force, 1944; army commander in Indochina, 1945. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Paroled in 1956. Shimada, Admiral Shigetaro (1883-1976). Vice chief of naval staff, 1935-37; commander, China Fleet, 1940; navy minister, 1941-44; Supreme War Council, 1944. Authorized the naval surprise attacks in December 1941. Naval units under his overall command massacred Allied POWs, transported prisoners and civilian internees aboard hellships, and killed any surviving crew members of torpedoed Allied ships. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Paroled in 1955. Shiratori, Toshio (1887-1949). Director, Information Bureau, Foreign Ministry, 1929-33; ambassador to Italy, 1938-40; adviser tot the foreign minister, 1940. A supporter of military expansionism, he favored an alliance among Germany, Italy the Soviet Union and Japan to dominate the world. Convicted on Count 1. Suzuki, General Teiichi (1888- ). chief, China Affairs Bureau, 1938-41; president, Cabinet Planning Board, and minister without portfolio, 1941-43; adviser to the cabinet, 1943-44. An early and active supporter of militarism. Involved in Japan's drug trafficking in China and approved the use of POWs and civilians as slave laborers. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Paroled in 1955. Umezu, General Yoshijiro (1882-1949). Section chief, general staff, 1931-34; commander, China Expeditionary Force, 1934; vice minister of war, 1939-44; army chief of staff, 1944-45. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Two sentenced to lesser terms: Shigemitsu, Mamoru (1887-1957). Ambassador to China, 1931-32; vice minister of foreign affairs, 1933-36; ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1936-38; ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-41; foreign minister, 1943-45. He and General Umezu signed the instrument of surrender in 1945. Convicted on Counts 27, 29, 31, 32, 33, 55. Sentenced to seven years in prison. Paroled in 1950, he reentered the political arena and was appointed foreign minister in 1954. Togo, General Hideki (1884-1948). Ambassador to Germany, 1937; ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1938; foreign minister, 1941-42, 1945. Convicted on Counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32. Sentenced to twenty years in prison. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CHRONOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE INVASION OF ASIA, 1894-1945 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1894-5 First Sino-Japanese war -- fledging Japanese navy defeats Chinese fleet off Yalu River. Fortress of Port Arthur (Lushun) stormed. After the war, Japan seizes Taiwai and S. Manchuria. 1910 Annexation of Korea. 1926 Hirohito becomes Emperor. 1931 Sept. 18 "The Mukden Incident" -- Bomb explodes under Japanese- owned express train in Manchuria (planted by Japanese secret agents); Japanese troops proceed to occupy all Manchuria. 1932 Chinese boycott of Japanese goods leads to the "Battle of Shanghai"; Japanese aircraft carriers in action for the first time. League of Nations condemns Japanese aggression in Manchuria. 1933 Japan withdraws from League of Nations. 1934 Pu Yi -- former emperor of China -- becomes puppet emperor of Manchukuo (Manchuria). 1937 July "The China Incident" -- a skirmish between Japan and Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge (Luguoqiao), near Peking, sparks off a full scale invasion of China. Augest Japanese bombers make the first trans-oceanic raids in history -- from Taiwan and Kyushu to Nanking and Shanghai. Nov. Imperial General Headquarters established in Tokyo (the Emperor, the Chiefs of the Army, and Naval General Staffs). Dec. The Nanking Massacre (Rape of Nanking) -- the Chinese capital sacked by Japanese troops. The American gunboat USS Panay bombed and sunk near Nanking. 1938 Dec. Japan proclaims a "New Order in East Asia". 1940 May- Chungking -- war capital of China -- bombed day and night Sept. by Japanese. Sept. Japanese troops occupy northern Indo-China. Japan signs Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. 1941 July Japanese troops occupy southern French Indo-China. Dec. 6 President Roosevelt addresses a personal appeal for peace to Emperor Hirohito. Dec. 7 Japan raids Pearl Harbor, invades Siam, Hong Kong, Burma, North Borneo, the Dutch West Indies, the Philippines and Pacific Islands. Britain and United States declare war on Japan. 1942 May Japanese midget submarines attack shipping in Diego Suarez harbor (Madagascar) and Sydney Harbor (Australia). Jun Battle of Midway -- Japanese Carrier Force defeated off Midway Island and the invasion abandoned. 1943 Nov. Issue of Cairo Declaration. 1944 April U.S. forces land on Okinawa. July Issue of Postdam Declaration to Japan. 1945 August Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Russia declares war on Japan. Japan surrenders. Sept. Surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. ESTIMATED CHINESE ARMIES CASUALTIES*, 1937-1945 ----------------------------------------------- Year Total Wounded Killed Missing 1937 367,362 242,232 125,130 1938 735,017 485,804 249,213 1939 346,543 176,891 169,652 1940 673,368 333,838 339,530 1941 299,483 173,254 144,915 17,314 1942 247,167 114,180 87,917 45,070 1943 162,895 81,957 43,223 27,715 1944 210,734 103,596 102,719 4,419 1945 168,850 85,583 57,659 25,608 Total 3,311,419 1,761,335 1,319,958 130,126 * Civilian casualties are not included. Estimated total Chinese casualties during the period is 35,000,000. Source: Dept. of Defense, Republic of China. Official Report. REFERENCES: ----------- (1) Source Materials Relating to the Horrible Massacre Committe by the Japanese Troops in Nanking Nan-jing da tu-sha shi-liao bian-ji wai-yuan-hui and the Library of Nanking, Jiang-su gu-ji chu-ban-she, 1985. (2) Archival Document Relating to the Horrible Massacre Committed by the Japanese Troops in Nanking Nan-jing da tu-sha shi-liao bian-ji wai-yuan-hui, Jiang-su gu-ji chu-ban-she, 1987. (3) Draft Manuscript of the History Relating to the Horrible Massacre Committed by the Japanese Troops in Nanking Nan-jing da tu-sha shi-liao bian-ji wai-yuan-hui, Jiang-su gu-ji chu-ban-she, 1987. (4) The Nanking Massacre Tomio Hora, Gendeishi Kenkyuukai, 1982. (5) A Personal Account of the Nanking Massacre Kazuo Sone, Sairyusha, 1984. (6) The True Story of the Nanking Massacre Akira Fujiwara, Peng-Jen Chen (tr.), Journal of Studies of Japanese Aggression Against China(JSJAAC), V.2&3, 1990. (7) Large-scale Killing within the City of Nanking Seigo Imai, Bungei Shunju, special coll. 1956. (8) The Attack on Nanking and the Murder Cases Katsumi Shimada, Jinbutsu Oraisha, special issue 1956. (9) The White Tiger Unit Soaked with Blood ed. by Kensuke Hata, Japan Weekly, 1957 (10) The Nanking Massacre Incident and the Diaries of Iwane Matsui. (11) History of the Sino-Japanese War Ikuhiko Hata, Kawade Shoboo, 1961, renewed ed. 1986 (12) The Research Situation of the Nanking Massacre and Future Directions Xing-Zu Gao, (n.d.) (13) Japan's Textbook Controversy Shinji Kojima, Journal of Studies of Japanese Aggression Against China(JSJAAC), V.2, 1990. (14) The Other Nuremburg: The Untold Story of the Tokyo War Crime Trials Arnold Brackman, Morrow, 1988. (15) Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II Peter Williams and David Wallace, Free Press, 1989. (16) Japanese Terror in China Harold John Timperley, Modern Age Books, 1938.