During the Second World War, there were a number of war criminals who committed terrible
atrocities in Europe and the Pacific. A number of these were brought to their executions
at the firing ranges and gallows across the world, after being found guilty. But there
were many Japanese war criminals who went unpunished at the end of World War 2, and
it’s believed that the Japanese army were responsible for the executions and killings
of 14 millions civilians and innocent people. Some members of the Japanese government were
executed for their crimes which were wide ranging, but some of the most sadistic crimes
occurred in the city of Nanking, 2 years before the war broke out in Europe. But one Japanese
general who was condemned for his involvement of crimes committed in Nanking was Tani Hisao
who in his 60s was taken back to the site of his biggest crimes and was shot by a firing
squad. Join us today as we look at the execution of the monster of Nanking, and remember to
support our channel please make sure to subscribe.
Tani Hisao was born in December 1882, and he was born into a farming family. He had
a relatively normal upbringing, but then he enlisted in the Japanese Army’s training
academies, and he graduated from the 15th class in 1903. He was not at the top of his
class, but Tani then was drafted into the Japanese Army. He saw combat during the Russo-Japanese
war, and was promoted to second leftenant as part of the Guards’ First infantry battalion.
He had initially trained as an artillery soldier, but he transition across to being an infantry
soldier. But following this conflict, he then continued to train at the Army War college,
and he wrote accounts of his experiences on the battlefield, and he interviewed many other
survivors and punished a book titled ‘The Secret History of the Russo Japanese War.’
This book was highly thought of in Japanese military circles, and it became required reading
for those who studied at the Army Staff College, but some Japanese generals criticised it and
said it was not an accurate account of the conflict.
However Tani was clearly a talented member of the military, and he became a military
diplomat and travelled to Great Britain as a military attache from 1915. He then became
an official military observer during the First World War, and he would report back to the
combat situation on the Western Front and he reported back. Following heading back to
Japan he then worked as an instructor at the Army Staff college where he studied, and he
imparted his knowledge onto the new students who wanted to become soldiers in the Japanese
Army. Tani Hisao remained inside of the Imperial Japanese Army, and he was then appointed to
become the commander of the 61st Infantry Regiment, before he became the Chief of Staff
of the 3rd Division. But then Tani became part of the League of Nations Standing committee
and was an expert on military aircraft, and in August 1930 he was appointed to being a
major general. He continued to act as a commander in different divisions and regiments, and
further promotions came his way before he served as the commander of the Tokyo Bay Fortress.
However it was clear in the Pacific that a huge war would break out, as the Japanese
sought to expand and conquer and look towards China. Hisao Tani had been charged with restructuring
the 6th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, and in July 1937, the division was assigned
to the Japanese China Garrison Army. They then were thrust into combat and fighting
in the Second Sino Japanese War, and they took part in the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin.
But following this it took part in further operations against the Chinese before it became
part of the 10th Army and attacked Chinese soldiers at the Hangzhou Bay. However then
Tani Hisao’s soldiers transitioned to become part of the 18th Division and the 14th Division
and they were then involved inside of the Battle of Nanking, and they were involved
in the Nanking Massacre.
On the march to Nanking, there were Japanese War crimes committed everywhere by the Japanese
forces. There was a mentality of brutality, and there was even a killing contest that
took place between two officers who had a competition to see who could massacre 100
civilians with a sword the quickest. This was publicised in newspapers almost as if
it was a sporting event, and the score was reported like a football match. But as the
Japanese reached Nanking, they issued a demand to surrender, and they received no response,
and for this then it was ordered for Nanking to be taken by force. What came next was chaos
inside of the city. There was a heavy artillery bombardment, but from the 13th December 1937
there were random acts of murder, assault, looking and arson inside the city. The crimes
continued for weeks, and what people saw inside Nanking was hell on earth. One witness wrote,
‘The Japanese have looted widely yesterday and today, have destroyed schools, have killed
citizens, and assaulted women. One thousand disarmed Chinese soldiers, whom the International
Committee hoped to save, were taken from them and by this time are probably shot or bayoneted.
In our South Hill House Japanese broke the panel of the storeroom and took out some old
fruit juice and a few other things.’
The horror inside of Nanking continued, and another witness said, ‘the slaughter of
civilians is appalling. I could go on for pages telling of cases of brutality almost
beyond belief. Two bayoneted corpses are the only survivors of seven street cleaners who
were sitting in their headquarters when Japanese soldiers came in without warning or reason
and killed five of their number and wounded the two that found their way to the hospital.
Let me recount some instances occurring in the last two days. Last night the house of
one of the Chinese staff members of the university was broken into and two of the women, his
relatives, were assaulted. Two girls, about 16, were assaulted to death in one of the
refugee camps. In the University Middle School where there are 8,000 people the Japs came
in ten times last night, over the wall, stole food, clothing, and assaulted until they were
satisfied. They bayoneted one little boy of eight who [had] five bayonet wounds including
one that penetrated his stomach, a portion of omentum was outside the abdomen. I think
he will live.
It was Tani Hisao’s forces who were part of the massacres and the crimes. For days
the terror continued, as another said ‘Two Japanese soldiers have climbed over the garden
wall and are about to break into our house. When I appear they give the excuse that they
saw two Chinese soldiers climb over the wall. When I show them my party badge, they return
the same way. In one of the houses in the narrow street behind my garden wall, a woman
was assaulted, and then wounded in the neck with a bayonet. I managed to get an ambulance
so we can take her to Kulou Hospital ... Last night up to 1,000 women and girls are said
to have been raped, about 100 girls at Ginling College...alone. You hear nothing but terror.
If husbands or brothers intervene, they're shot. What you hear and see on all sides is
the brutality and bestiality of the Japanese soldiers.’
Tani then following this returned to Japan and became the commander of the Central District
Army before he went to the reserve. But following the bombing of Hiroshima he was brought back
into active service to command the 59th Army, and these soldiers were part of the final
defensive effort by the Japanese Empire to deter allied landings of Japan. But then following
the surrender he was demobilised. However then a warrant for Tani’s arrest was issued,
and he was arrested in February 1946 and he was charged with Class B and Class C war crimes,
but as he had committed many of his crimes in China, Tani Hisao was extradited to China
to stand trial at the Nanking war crimes tribunal.
When presented with the charges, he denied them all, and said that his soldiers were
disciplined in Nanking and he said the area of Nanking his soldiers operated in was evacuated
mostly. But no witnesses could also identify his unit numbers and there was evidence presented
to the court saying that he actually operated in different areas that he said. But the judge
refused Toni’s request to call his Chief of Staff and other officers to become witnesses,
and the judge said that due to the witnesses who saw his soldiers rampaging through the
city, there was no need. There was some controversy regarding Hisao Dani’s trial, but the ruling
of the court said that all of the Japanese commanders who took part in the battle of
Nanking had an equal responsibility for the horrors that took place inside of the city,
and because of this they were to be judged as guilty.
Hisao Tani despite the fact he was not the most senior general involved in the battle
was sentenced to death, and he was was then taken to the Nanking and the mountain nearby
where he was to be killed. There was a huge crowd that had gathered to witness his execution,
and there was a small firing squad that had been gathered to perform the execution. Many
of the people who witnessed Dani’s execution had been in hiding during the atrocities,
but Tani was then ordered to kneel down in front of the crowd, and then an executioner
went up behind him and shot into the back of his head.
Tani Hisao was a Japanese General who was convicted of war crimes and he was a commander
whose soldiers were involved in atrocities in China. He was a man who was in his 60s
when he was executed in front of thousands of people, but he had a long history inside
of the Japanese Army. Hisao was a man who’s direct involvement in crimes at Nanking was
disputed, but he was executed for the fact the courtroom applied the shared responsibility
clause, meaning that any commander inside of Nanking was condemned to death and was
guilty. The stories of Nanking were tragic and were horrific, and the whole city was
a scene of depravity and terror.
Thanks for watching
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe
Once again thanks for watching