Reel 4 of The Battle of China (1944) exposes the horrors of the Nanking Massacre, one of the darkest chapters of World War II. Following the fall of Shanghai in 1937, Japanese forces launched a full-scale assault on Nanking, the capital of China. Footage captures Japanese artillery shelling the city, street battles, and the brutal treatment of civilians. The film documents the mass executions, indiscriminate killings, and horrific war crimes committed during the massacre, where 40,000 men, women, and children were murdered. These shocking images, secretly photographed by an American missionary and smuggled out of China, provide damning evidence of Japan’s wartime atrocities.
Despite this devastation, the Chinese people united in defiance. Their survival strategy was unprecedented: they moved the entire industrial base of China to the western interior, trading space for time to rebuild and arm themselves. What could be dismantled was transported, while what remained was burned or destroyed to deny resources to the enemy. This triggered the largest human migration in recorded history, as 30 million people—traveling on foot, by ox cart, train, and boat—journeyed westward, carrying industrial equipment and supplies to establish a Free China.
This reel highlights both the immense suffering inflicted by Japan and the unbreakable spirit of the Chinese people, who refused to surrender in the face of overwhelming force.
The Battle of China (1944) - WWII Documentary on Japan’s Invasion