| Original caption: “Soldiers and civilians were tied in groups of fifty and executed by the Japanese Army, angered by house-to-house fighting inside Nanking. The bodies above have been dead for some time. Notice the telephone pole and wires lying across the men in the foreground. Japanese soldiers in the background are using the carts for systematic looting of shops, chiefly for food. Unusual in a well-disciplined army like Japan’s, the organized looting of Nanking would indicate that the Japanese Army commissariat needs food more than prestige.” Japanese soldiers pause with carts outside 1 of the side entrances to the Zhonghua Gate across from the Yinma Bridge. Dead Chinese civilians lie where they fell. Damage to the 600-year-old wall is evident. Out of frame are the Chinese characters vowing “vengeance for our country.” The city wall of Nanking (Nanjing) was built from 1360 to 1386 under the founder of the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (October 21, 1328 – June 24, 1398). 13 gates were built into the Nanking Wall. Jubao Gate (“Gathering Treasure Gate”) was renamed Zhonghua Gate (“Gate of China”) when the Kuomintang Nationalist Party made Nanking the capital in 1931. Nationalist dictator Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975), constantly in competition with various political factions, wanted to distinguish Nanking from the Peiping (Beijing) nationalists, who had renamed the Ming Gate “Zhonghua Gate” in 1912. The reasons for defending Nanking in December 1937 are debated to this day. Kai-Shek felt an emotional demand to protect his national capital, but the Kuomintang lacked weapons, trained soldiers, air cover, and communications. The Kuomintang had lost most of its best, most highly trained forces in the Battle of Shanghai, fought from August to November 1937. As the Kuomintang fell back on Nanking, they impressed thousands of local men and boys into their army. The best tactical decision would have been to abandon Nanking and retreat into the Chinese interior. However, Chiang Kai-Shek left Nanking but ordered a determined defense that ultimately left hundreds of thousands of Chinese dead. The Nanking city walls were studded with machine guns, and the gates were reinforced with sandbags and concrete. The Imperial Japanese Army and Navy bombed Nanking constantly. Anyone who could afford to leave Nanking did, but many residents couldn’t or wouldn’t. Westerners, including Nazi German diplomat John H. Rabe (November 23, 1882 – January 5, 1950), created a safe zone in the center of the city for civilians. On December 8, all civilians were ordered to evacuate to the designated safe zone; however, many were unable to reach it due to overcrowding and a lack of essential supplies, including food, water, and medicine. In November and December, the Japanese fought through Chinese defensive lines in front of Nanking, committing atrocities along the way. Chinese Prisoners of War were routinely executed, and civilians were brutalized; women were raped. News of these atrocities reached the defenders in Nanking. The Imperial Japanese Army 36th Infantry Division reached the Zhonghua Gate on December 9, 1937. When the Japanese sent combat engineers 3 times to blow a hole in the city wall, however, each attempt failed. The Japanese issued an ultimatum on December 10, but it was rebuffed. The Imperial Japanese Army 6th Infantry Division cleared the trenches in front of the city walls on December 11. Under the cover of artillery and tanks, the Japanese killed the defenders of the Kuomintang 88th Infantry Division in front of the Zhonghua Gate, but the wall held. Artillery from both sides rained down on each other throughout the day on December 12. The Chinese began to abandon the city walls that night; the Japanese, noticing reduced resistance, scaled the city walls at 0400 Hours on December 13. Zhonghua Gate crumbled from artillery fire at 1700 Hours. Engineers climbed bamboo ladders and secured the gate by dusk. Of the 13 city gates in Nanjing at that time, Zhonghua Gate was the only 1 that retained its Ming Dynasty style. Under the heavy damage of the artillery fire, Guanghua Gate was reduced to ruins. On December 13, Imperial Japanese Army Infantry entered Nanking through the ruins of the Zhonghua Gate. Refugees on the road were killed on the way. Jiro Suzuki, a military reporter for the Japanese newspaper Tokyo Nichi Shimbun, recounted: “I entered Nanjing with the Japanese Army after its capture and stayed inside for four days, witnessing countless atrocities. On December 13th, near Zhonghua Gate on the city wall, I witnessed an extremely horrific and tragic massacre. Prisoners were lined up on the twenty-five-meter-wide (eighty-foot) wall, and many Japanese soldiers, holding rifles with bayonets, roared in unison and charged at the prisoners, stabbing them in the chests or abdomens. One after another, they were stabbed and fell outside the city. Blood sprayed into the air, and the eerie atmosphere made my hair stand on end. I stood there, stunned and speechless. Yet, some prisoners wore cold smiles, while others laughed nonchalantly, awaiting their deaths.” Chinese soldiers stripped off their uniforms and, wearing civilian clothes, attempted to slip through the Japanese lines to escape. The Japanese killed some 300,000 people in Nanking; women were brutally raped, and families were tortured. The culpability of the Imperial Japanese Army has been a subject of intense debate ever since. This image appeared in the January 10, 1938, issue of LIFE Magazine. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1542.jpg |
| Image Size | 437.53 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2000 x 1500 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 15, 1937 |
| Location | |
| City | Nanking |
| State or Province | Jiangsu |
| Country | China |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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