Witness accounts from the period state that over the course of six weeks following the fall of Nanjing, Japanese troops engaged in an orgy of rape, murder, theft, and arson. The site of some of the most gruesome atrocities committed during the ordeal was the Nanjing hospital. Bandages were torn from the flesh of the wounded, casts were smashed with clubs, and nurses were repeatedly raped.

Rape

istorians estimate that up to 80,000 women from as young as seven to the elderly were raped. According to historians, rapes were often performed in public during the day, and often in front of spouses or family members. It is believed that rape was systemized in a process where soldiers would search door to door for young girls. It is said as well that many women were taken captive to be gang-raped, and some were kept to be raped again. It is considered that it was common for a woman to be killed immediately after being raped, usually by mutilation. According to the testimonies, some women were forced into military prostitution as comfort women. It is even believed that the Japanese troops often forced families to commit acts of incest: sons were forced to rape their mothers, fathers were forced to rape daughters. Monks who had declared a life of celibacy were forced to rape women for the amusement of the Japanese. While the rape peaked immediately following the fall of the city, it continued for the duration of the Japanese occupation.