Immediately after capturing the Chinese capital, Nanjing, on
December 13, 1937, Japanese soldiers committed atrocities such as
mass executions, rampant rapes, arson, and looting in and around
the city. The carnage went on for weeks. On January 6, 1938, after
the worst of the massacre atrocities was over, three American
diplomats arrived in Nanjing. Upon their arrival, Third Secretary
John Moore Allison, Vice Consul James Espy, and Code Clerk
Archibald Alexander McFardyen, Jr. cabled dispatches about the
atrocities and other conditions in the city to the Department of
State and other U.S. diplomatic posts in China. Often, they
dispatched several reports within a day. These atrocity reports,
which were largely based on interviews with American missionaries
and their own investigations, gave detailed descriptions of
Japanese atrocities, property damage, social conditions, relief
efforts, diplomatic wrestling, and many other aspects of life in
the city during and after the massacre period. The value of these
diplomatic dispatches and reports, which were retrieved from the
national archives, rests on that they extensively document the
American diplomats' role, their observations and attitude toward
the situation there, their efforts to help the Chinese and protect
the Americans, and their struggles with the Japanese.
General
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