Six Weeks of Terror Summary and Analysis

The author notes that the plan to take the city of Nanking was helped immensely by the fact that Nanking was blocked by water in two directions. To the north and east lay the Yangtze River, which meant the Japanese forces needed only to attack in a semicircle from the southeast. The attack was led by three primary forces. The first attacked from the west, assisted by the Japanese Air Force which destroyed key bridges and railway systems. This force was led by Nakajima Kesago, an ex-secret police officer of the emperor. The author notes Nakajima has been described by authors around the world as a devil, a copy of Himmler, a specialist in thought control and torture, a sadist, a beast, and a violent man. Chang backs these negative concepts by noting that Nakajima...