893.01 Manchuria/647
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Nanking to the Chinese Legation31
Owing to the strict censorship on the part of the Japanese authorities, the world has heard little of the many atrocities committed by the Japanese militarists in Manchuria. The world has heard only of the news every now and then that so many hundreds or thousands of “bandits” have been killed by the Japanese armed forces in Manchuria.
A gruesome account of the atrocious acts committed by the Japanese troops upon the inhabitants of the three villages of Pingtingshan, Chiengchinpao and Litsekow, about four or five miles from Fushun, with about 500 families, mostly farmers and a population of approximately 3,000, was relayed from Nanking to Washington as follows:
On the morning of September 16, 1932, three Chinese volunteers appeared in the village of Pingtingshan for scouting purposes. The Japanese learned of their appearance. Suspecting that the two neighboring villages, Chiengchingpao and Litsekow, were also implicated in the activities of the volunteers, the Japanese despatched a force of 200 soldiers with more than ten machine-guns to Pingtingshan, where they called in the elders of the three districts who were put to a severe interrogation as to the whereabouts of the volunteers, whether the inhabitants of the three villages were hiding any of the volunteers, and whether there were any indications of a revolt. The Japanese also told the elders that should the investigation prove favorable to the people of the three villages, they would be considered as good people [Page 366] and would be accorded a good reward. The elders were then ordered to bring out all the inhabitants of their respective villages and have them congregated on an open ground at the south-western part of Pingtingshan.
When the three thousand men, women and children had been gathered together, they were ordered first to sit down quietly awaiting investigation. At the same time the machine-guns were placed over a hundred feet in front of the congregation. The machines having been brought into this position, the crowd was ordered to about face and kneel. The more sensitive ones sensing the tragedy that lay ahead started to stand up and run. At this moment began a continuous stream of volleys from the deadly machine-guns which swept over the seething mass of human beings. Rising above the din of the machine-guns were the screams of the women and children and the cries of pain and agony.
Those who succeeded in getting away numbered only some 130 persons. Some 60 to 70 persons died of wounds during the escape. More than 700 of the men, women and children were killed instantaneously. The Japanese then stabbed with their bayonets all the rest, including the wounded, who were struggling in the pools of blood amidst the corpses. The dead bodies were then piled up in a heap and burned to ashes with wood and kerosene.
All the houses in the three villages were next set on fire until not one of them was left standing. The grains of the farmers were given to the Koreans who were allowed to take away what their hearts desired.
The same fate was meted out to the inhabitants of the villages of Pihkwangpao and Hwangshapao near Liaoyang.
- Translation of telegram transmitted to the Department by the Chinese Legation, November 25, 1932.↩