Editing Nanjing Massacre (section)

== Military situation ==
{{Main|Battle of Nanking}}

The [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] commenced on July 7, 1937, following the [[Marco Polo Bridge incident]], and rapidly escalated into a full-scale war in northern China between the Chinese and Japanese armies.<ref name="JTaylor">Jay Taylor, ''The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China'' (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2009), 145–147</ref> The [[National Revolutionary Army]], however, wanted to avoid a decisive conflict in the northern region and instead opened a second front by launching offensives against Japanese forces in [[Shanghai]].<ref name="JTaylor" /> In response, Japan deployed an army led by General [[Iwane Matsui]], to fight the Chinese forces in Shanghai.<ref name="DreaSatoshi">Hattori Satoshi and Edward J. Drea, "Japanese operations from July to December 1937," in ''The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945'', eds. Mark Peattie et al. (Stanford University Press, 2011), 169, 171–172, 175–177.</ref>

In August 1937, the Japanese army [[Battle of Shanghai|invaded Shanghai]], where they met strong resistance and suffered heavy casualties. The battle was bloody as both sides faced attrition in urban [[hand-to-hand combat]].<ref>[https://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/ShanghaiGreater-japanese-1937 1937 Japanese Field Commander's Map of the Battle of Shanghai, China] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517173832/https://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/ShanghaiGreater-japanese-1937 |date=May 17, 2020 }} geographicus.com Retrieved April 22, 2020</ref> Although the Japanese forces succeeded in forcing the Chinese forces into retreat, the General Staff Headquarters in Tokyo initially decided not to expand the war because they wanted the war to end.<ref name="tokushi">{{Cite book |last=Tokushi Kasahara |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |year=1997 |location=Tokyo |pages=50–52 |language=ja |script-title=ja:南京事件}}</ref> However, there was a significant disagreement between the Japanese government and its army in China.<ref name="masahiro">Masahiro Yamamoto, ''Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity'' (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000), 43, 49–50</ref> Matsui had expressed his intention to advance on Nanjing even before departing for Shanghai. He firmly believed that capturing Nanjing, the Chinese capital, would lead to the collapse of the entire Nationalist Government of China, thereby securing a swift and decisive victory for Japan.<ref name="tokushi" /><ref name="masahiro" /> The General Staff Headquarters in Tokyo eventually relented to the demands of the Imperial Japanese Army in China by approving the operation to attack and capture Nanjing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Toshio Morimatsu |publisher=Asagumo Shinbunsha |year=1975 |location=Tokyo |page=422 |language=ja |script-title=ja:戦史叢書: 支那事変陸軍作戦(1)}}</ref>

=== Strategy for the defense of Nanjing ===
In a press release to foreign reporters, [[Tang Shengzhi]] announced the city would not surrender and would fight to the death. Tang gathered a garrison force of some 81,500 soldiers,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Askew |first=David |date=2003 |title=Defending Nanking: An Examination of the Capital Garrison Forces |journal=Sino-Japanese Studies |page=173}}</ref> many of whom were untrained conscripts, or troops exhausted from the [[Battle of Shanghai]]. The Chinese government left for relocation on December 1, and the president left on December 7, leaving the administration of Nanjing to an International Committee led by [[John Rabe]], a German national and [[Nazi Party]] member.

In an attempt to secure permission for this ceasefire from [[Chiang Kai-shek]], Rabe, who was living in Nanjing and had been acting as the Chairman of the [[Nanking International Safety Zone]] Committee, boarded the {{USS|Panay|PR-5|}} on December 9.

On December 11, Rabe found that Chinese soldiers were still residing in areas of the Safety Zone, meaning that it became an intended target for Japanese attacks despite the majority being innocent civilians. Rabe commented on how efforts to remove these Chinese troops failed and Japanese soldiers began to lob grenades into the refugee zone.{{sfn|Rabe|Wickert|1998|pp=56, 59–60}}