The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 768 The Japanese Army’s Public Opinion War

The Japanese government has a huge budget fund, which it uses to buy influential media people in the United States, make propaganda in favor of Japan in mainstream newspapers and TV stations in the United States, and produce pro-Japanese brochures and leaflets, etc.

During the Jinling Massacre, Japan used this trick to cover up the truth. Instead of thinking about how to improve the discipline of the army, they tried every means to spend more money and resources to launch a large-scale propaganda offensive in an attempt to cover up to some extent the bloodiest massacre in world history. massacre.

In the face of public opinion in China, the Japanese military media spread overwhelming propaganda, saying that everything was fine in Jinling City.

At the same time, RB news agency Alliance News Agency reported that residents of Jinling City have begun to return home one after another, and everything in the city is normal.

Dr. Robert Wilson, who witnessed the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese army in Jinling City, wrote: "If this is all the reports about the ban, when the true situation is revealed, it will definitely cause an uproar."

Next, the RB Emperor approved the carefully arranged trip to Jinling for RB tourists.

After the Alliance News Agency's report was published, a merchant ship full of RB tourists arrived in Jinling from Shanghai.

George Fitch recorded this visit in his diary: “They were carefully led through the few streets where corpses had just been cleared, and sweets were distributed gracefully to the Chinese children, and even these shocked ones were patted. The child’s head.”

Some women accompanied RB's business representatives on a tour of Jinling.

Fitch noticed that these women looked extremely complacent, and at the same time they were happy and inspired by RB's victory, but they knew nothing about what was happening in Aurous City.

Just a few hundred meters away from the street where they were sightseeing, a street was filled with piles of corpses that were piled up and twisted into a ball, and even more of the corpses were mutilated.

In January 1938, RB journalists came to take pictures of Jinling for distribution in RB and other countries around the world.

On New Year's Eve, the RB Embassy called a meeting with the Chinese managers of various refugee camps and told them that a 'spontaneous' celebration would be held in the city the next day. They ordered the Chinese who participated in the celebration to make thousands of RB The national flag was brought to the street parade to show the residents of Jinling cheering and welcoming the RB army, and the video was captured.

RB photographers also captured footage of Chinese children receiving treatment from RB military doctors and receiving candies from RB soldiers in Jinling.

As everyone knows, when the Japanese army attacked Songhu and Jinling, their field hospitals could not even treat their own people. ,

As for those staged shots, the children's faces were full of fear, and even their smiles looked extremely stiff and weird.

"This scene would not have been possible without the presence of cameras," Lewis wrote to a friend.

The most shameless case of RB's false propaganda was an article published in the Japanese-controlled Shanghai "Xinsheng Daily" on January 1938, 1. The article was titled "The atmosphere in Jinling is harmonious and the situation is progressing gratifyingly."

It is claimed that after the imperial army entered the city, they sheathed their swords, extended their hands of mercy, examined and healed the sick, brought food to the hungry, and provided medical services to the sick.

"Men, women, and children all knelt down to the imperial army to express their admiration. A large number of people gathered around the RB soldiers under the Sun Flag and the Red Cross Flag, shouting 'Long Live' to express their gratitude. The RB soldiers get along well with Chinese children, I am happily playing on the slide. Jinling has become the most benign place in the world, and everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of peaceful coexistence and peace and contentment."

In the face of public opinion within China, RB attempted to cover up the truth of the Jinling Massacre through deception.

This aroused suspicion among some missionaries.

James McCarron wrote in his diary on January 1938, 1: "The Japanese are now trying to discredit our efforts in the safe zone by intimidating and threatening the poor Chinese so that they refuse to take our word for it. .Some Chinese are even willing to prove that all the looting, raping and burning was done by their own compatriots and had nothing to do with the Japanese. Sometimes I think we are dealing with madmen and idiots, and to my surprise, all of us Foreigners have withstood this ordeal and survived."

George Fitch wrote in his diary: "We read several RB newspapers published in Songhu and two "Tokyo Daily News". These newspapers told people: As early as December 12, the store in Jinling had It opened quickly and resumed normal business; the Japanese cooperated with the foreigners staying in Jinling to help the poor refugees; the Chinese who looted the city have been eliminated; peace and order have been restored in Jinling! If it were not for the tragedy of the entire incident, These lies are simply unbearable, and they are typical lies that the Japanese have been trying to spread to the outside world since the war began."

However, among the many diaries recorded by George Fitch, "Reader's Digest" only reproduced another of his diaries:

"In 1938, a government radio station in Tokyo released this news to the world, 'The thugs who caused heavy casualties and property damage in Jinling have been captured and executed. They are disaffected Chinese soldiers in Chiang Kai-shek's army. Now everything has been Back to normal, the Japanese army is rescuing 30 refugees.'"

In a letter to his wife on March 1938, 3, Lewis Smythe wrote in a half-joking manner: "The latest news from RB newspaper is that they have discovered 8 Chinese armed bandits. They are the culprits of all the bad things in Jinling City. ! Alas, if each of them could rape 11-100 women day and night for two weeks and escape with a reported $200, then these Chinese are too powerful."

The Japanese army didn't just use newspapers to publish it.

They even sent planes to drop countless leaflets on the refugees in the safe zone.

Above it read: "All good Chinese people who return to their homes will be given food and clothing. Those Chinese who have not been fooled by the devils of Chiang Kai-shek's army, RB is willing to be your good neighbor."

These leaflets not only wrote such tempting slogans, but also printed colorful pictures: a handsome RB soldier holding a Chinese child in his arms. The child's mother knelt at his feet and thanked him for sending him a few gifts. Bags of rice.

On the day the leaflets were distributed, thousands of Chinese people left the refugee camps and returned to their homes, which had become ruins.

The Japanese army did more than spread false leaflets.

They even announced to the refugees in the safety zone that all fighting in Jinling City was over, the streets were clear, and peace was welcoming them.

Use lies to coax refugees in safe zone camps to leave the safe zone.

As early as after the fall of Jinling City, the Japanese army used the same method to coax the refugees in the safety zone. These refugees who walked out of the safety zone were quickly massacred by the Japanese army. Women were taken away by the Japanese army, and their fate was obvious.

The Japanese army also posted colorful posters on or near the exterior walls of houses where they had caused tragedies. Most of the contents painted on the posters were the same.

A handsome RB soldier picked up a Chinese child and at the same time handed a bucket of rice to the child and mother, and handed candies and other food to the child's father.

The upper right corner of the poster reads: "Come back to your hometown! I'll give you food! Trust the RB Army! You can get help!"

At the same time, RB also held receptions and media events in Jinling and Shanghai to divert people's attention from the Jinling Massacre and give the soldiers in Jinling City time to dispose of the bodies.

In early February 1938, a Japanese general invited representatives of diplomats from other countries to attend a tea party held by the RB Embassy in Jinling. The general boasted at the tea party that the RB army was famous for its strict discipline. During the Eighth Incident, there was not a single incident of disciplinary violations in the military. He said that even if the Japanese army committed atrocities in Jinling City for some reason, it could only be the result of the Chinese resistance to the Japanese army under the instigation of some foreign citizens.

This is an allusion to members of the International Committee for Safe Zones.

But curiously, the general's words contradicted those he had given in the same speech, in which he had previously admitted that during the advance toward Aurous Hill, the Japanese had turned their anger to the fact that they could not find anything to eat or use. Take it out on the Chinese.

The diplomatic corps of other countries were not fooled by the tactics of RB media. They were not ignorant of the crimes committed by RB in Jinling.

This was a war of public opinion, and the Japanese side did achieve success. Many domestic people believed the reports of the Japanese army, and most of these people did not know the truth.

Xia Yuan comes from the future and has a very clear idea of ​​the future direction of Jinling City. Even if he makes this matter public, nothing will be changed.

He could only keep the evidence and hope to let the Chinese have more key evidence in future post-war trials.

same.

While Xia Yuan was working hard to collect evidence and attack the Japanese army.

The members of the International Committee in the safe zone did not stop taking action.

The International Committee of the Safety Zone did its best to fight back against RB's intensive propaganda offensive. In the first few days of the massacre, the person in charge of the safety zone, with the help of some foreign journalists, filmed and interviewed many victims, as well as Japanese soldiers. The scene of the massacre was immediately expelled by RB, and the things they filmed were also confiscated by the Japanese.

After that, the RB government began to ban journalists from other countries from entering Jinling.

For example, Max Kopenin of the Chicago Tribune was once blocked from Jinling City and was not allowed to enter Jinling.

When the Japanese discovered that their actions were no longer subject to the scrutiny of the world's media, the Japanese army committed atrocities even more unscrupulously.

However, the Japanese still underestimated the ability of the International Committee of Safe Zones to carry out propaganda activities.

One of the common characteristics of safe zone leaders is that they have received excellent training in verbal expression. They are almost without exception writers and speakers with good language skills.

There are many missionaries in the International Committee of the Safe Zone who have been educated in the best universities in the United States and Europe. They have devoted most of their adult years to preaching, writing articles and giving Christian lectures. Many professors in the International Committee have also served Published his own books.

Beyond that, as a group, they are very good at working with the media.

Long before the fall of Jinling, they gave speeches on Jinling's radio broadcasts or wrote articles about China in popular newspapers.

These missionaries also had an unexpected goal for the Japanese. They spent their entire lives pursuing the true meaning of "hell" and the truth about "hell".

After the fall of Jinling, the Japanese army massacred Chinese people in Jinling City. The streets were filled with corpses, blood-red scenes, and broken walls, which were exactly the same as the hell scene they imagined.

What they had been pursuing all their lives was actually realized in Jinling.

They used sharp words and sufficient evidence to describe the "hell" scenes they witnessed in Jinling City. They vividly recorded the descriptions of hell in their diaries and also appeared in the letters they sent to friends and relatives. , and in the reports sent to superiors.

These letters and reports were copied and printed many times, and after being reported by the media, they also caused waves abroad.

And these contents are without any signature. ,

The members of the International Committee of the Safety Zone knew very well that if the Japanese army discovered that they had conveyed what happened in Jinling City in the form of letters, they would inevitably be retaliated and expelled by the Japanese army, so they sent letters and reports to their homes. , recipients are kindly requested not to disclose their names or information.

Pastor Magee wrote in a letter to his family: "Please do not handle this letter with caution. Once it is published, we may be expelled from Jinling, which will be a disaster for the Chinese in Jinling." .”

The reason why the safe zone can maintain normal operation basically relies on the identity of these international committee members. The Japanese are afraid of their identities, and the indirect intervention of other countries makes this safe zone exist.

I can’t imagine how the Chinese refugees in the safe zone would be treated if these people were expelled by the Japanese.

I'm afraid it will be like the civilians of Jinling City who were massacred.

The Japanese army's strict defense was certainly effective. After all, many of the items recorded by reporters were confiscated by the Japanese army, but not all of them were confiscated.

This includes the diary of George Fitch, which was the first to be taken out of Jinling and caused a "sensation" in Shanghai. This diary and other people's stories were soon published in "Times" and "Reader's Digest" " and "Far East" and other mainstream magazines, arousing the indignation of the majority of American readers.

The stories recorded in the diary have also been included in some books.

Although the diary was successfully published and some results were achieved, compared with the Japanese army's generosity and the help from the United States, their counterattack was much less powerful.

As expected, the report of the International Commission on Safe Zones has aroused doubts from many American people.

Especially after an article "The Jinling Disaster" was published in Reader's Digest, a subscriber wrote to the editor, saying: "It's incredible that you actually believe this kind of thing. This is obviously poor propaganda. It reminds one of the false information fed to the public during the last war."

Other subscribers also made similar comments, most of which questioned the authenticity of the article.

(End of this chapter)