When mentioned, World War II rings images of cities ruined by German blitzes, Nazi Death Camps, D-Day and perhaps other cases of destruction, both material and human, on the European front. Yet, the most abhorrent deeds committed remain wrapped in a shroud of shadows as dark as their nature. The number dead from this genocide exceed even the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and rival the civilian death toll of several European countries throughout the entirety of the war. If they could be resuscitated and hold hands, they would form a chain spanning 200 miles; stacked up they would reach the height of a 74-story building. This is a forgotten Holocaust; its music muted by the curtains of time. Today, let us unearth this song and listen to its haunting melody.
The Battle for Nanking was a four-day siege that ended in a chaotic retreat and the submission of the city. …