They Were in Nanjing: The Nanjing Massacre Witnessed by American and British Nationals

Suping Lu, 2004

The author briefly covers the basics of the massacre and then notes various other sources from American and British nationals who were there either during and/or just after the massacre. He notes that out of 14 American missionaries there, twelve were abused in some form. The American diplomats were concerned about damage to American property and interests (in other words, things first, people second.)

The author then includes a list of the people in the International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone, and the members of the Red Cross Committee of Nanking. He says there were 27 Western nationals in the city that witnessed its fall to the Japanese army. He includes actual reports from correspondents who wrote about the massacre.

The reports are extremely graphic and upsetting. The book then goes into the Safety Zone committee and its communications with the Japanese military leaders in the area. The fourth chapter deals with personal accounts of Americans who were living in the city, and they also do not make for pretty reading.

The fifth chapter deals with diplomatic records and U.S. Naval Intelligence reports. The next chapter is about Japanese attacks on American nationals. Again, very considerable detail is given about these attacks, to whom they happened, under what circumstances and the nature of the attack (such as robbery, threatening, etc.)

The book also includes appendices with even more information.

This is absolutely not pleasant reading at all in any sense of the term, but it is an excellent examination of extremely specific events in Nanjing during the massacre and afterwards, specific events happening to specific people in specific places, something which would be hard to deny except for the most rabid revisionists.

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