In the Japanese press the Nanking atrocity was heralded as reason to celebrate. The Japan Advertiser ran with a story that charted the successes of two Japanese soldiers who were competing to become the first to decapitate 100 Chinese soldiers:

The paper eagerly reported the literal head count. There’s been speculation that the story was either exaggerated or made up, but the fact that the paper ran with the story at all shows the level of hatred between nations.

The massacre was also reported in the New York Times and other Western rags, but the story seemed so incredibly blood thirsty and extreme that many didn’t even believe it was true. At that time the West’s eyes were focused on the expansion of Hitler’s borders and his swift re-arming of the military. They had their own Fritz to fry.

The Nanking massacre is mostly forgotten by the West, but it won’t be so easily forgotten by the Chinese.

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