Many here in the west would that the terrible things done as part of the effort to win the second world war comes after these sorts of incidents. That's why we spent so much time on this nanking atrocity because it's hardly the only thing going on. When the atomic bombs are at the end of the war, the japanese are still bogged down in china. The countryside is infested with nationalist armies, communist armies, guerillas, insurgents, warlord troops, bandits. And there will be hundreds of thousands, usually close to a million, japanese troops, some of their best forces, too, all requiring supplies all the time for the entire war
Deep themes run through this show, with allegations of Japanese war crimes and atrocities in China at the start leading to eerily familiar, almost modern questions over how the world should respond. And then Dec 7, 1941 arrives...