Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Analyses of Group A photographs1. Scenes of bombingAerial bombing constitutes military action. A crucial question is whether or notJapanese armed forces conducted indiscriminate bombing on civilian targets in Nanking,as the American Army Air Corps did against Tokyo. More specifically, did Japaneseplanes drop bombs in the “safety zone,” where practically all the remaining Chinesecivilians made their temporary home and shelter?The answer is negative. In the very first letter that the ICNSZ addressed to theJapanese embassy on December 13, 1937, the committee thanks the Japanese for havingspared the safety zone from artillery barrage. In fact, not only army artillery but also thenaval air force did not attack the safety zone. Tomizawa Shigenobu, who reviewedforeign sources that touched on the Japanese bombardment and aerial bombing of the city,concluded in his Nankin jiken no kakushin [Core Truth of the Nanking Incident] thatdamage caused by such attacks was collateral and sporadic since the Japanese targetedonly military facilities. Lillie Abegg, a correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung,substantiated this line of reasoning in her Chinas Erneuerung [China’s Innovation]published in 1940. Referring to a photo that seemingly captured a scene of the Japanesebombing of Shanghai in 1937 (Photo A), she said that the Japanese dropped the bombs inan area immediately beyond the line that demarked the international settlement— in thearea where the both armies clashed.Photo A: A scene of aerial bombardment in Shanghai. Lily Abegg, Chinas Erneuerung.57