Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Photo B Photo A Photo 84Photos 84 and A: The caption of Photo 84 as included in RON-YY reads, “A massacre atYuhuatai, south of the city. This photo was taken moments after the massacre.” The factis, however, that the China Weekly Review featured Photo A in its October 22, 1938, issue.According to its caption, this image shows a Japanese officer inspecting massacredcivilians in Shuchow.Photo B: An enlargement of a part of Photo A. The uniform’s collar looks like a turned-upcollar.The Japanese army issued its ordinance nos. 392-94 to effectuate this change inuniform style on May 31, 1938. This ordinance was followed by a directive that obligedthe army personnel to keep wearing the old uniform as long as they could. As a result,army documents indicate that the transition from the old uniform to the new one was still inprogress, for example, at the army’s field artillery school as late as September 1939.In view of these facts, Photo 84 cannot have been taken in or around Nanking fromend-1937 to early 1938, and, thus, cannot constitute a piece of valid evidence tosubstantiate the Nanking “atrocities”. Nevertheless, the September 11, 2002, issue ofTime magazine carried a reprint of this photograph with the caption headline “NanjingMassacre.”149