Japanese army lost the most solider fighting in China, hence, their long drawn campaign turned very bitter.
They were doing despicable things in peacetime Manchuria well before they turned their eyes on rest of China.
Japanese army lost the most solider fighting in China, hence, their long drawn campaign turned very bitter.
Yah like the Germans lost most of their soldiers in the USSR. That doesn't mean they treated USSR civilians and occupied parts like they did on the level of Western Europe....even when they were losing tremendous casualties there as well after D-Day.
There was a specific racial based "lebensraum" doctrine against the Slavic people...just like the Japanese had with the Chinese.
If the Germans took over USSR easily, they would have been just as vicious on its surrendered people over time, probably more given their stereotype of a weak inferior race would have been established in their eyes. There is only so much correlation with the campaign bitterness. I'm not saying its 0, but its not 100% either.
In contrast, Southeast Asian folks barely put up any resistance.
They were already under occupation by foreigners (except Thailand which had no reasonable chance against the Japanese, so allied them instead). China still had its sovereignty at much higher level....and Chinese also very quickly saw this is going to be a war of survival. There would be no mercy from the Japanese in the long term, best to give everything you got in the short term. Any population would have done the same. I respect what Chinese did very much in fact.
And if you wonder Japanese would've treated civilians under its control any nicer, look at Korea, the women civilians bore the brunt.
I am not saying 0 atrocities happened in the Japanese occupation of Korea. Quite far from it. But the level of cruelty inflicted on China (past all sense of what a war/campaign bitterness can entail) is unparalleled in the Asian theatre.
I don't think British treated Indian that cruelty, except for Bengal famine.
British cruelty mostly came from behind the scenes (different topic). It was never manifested so overtly and directly on an extermination basis like Japanese and Germans had on what they perceived to be inferior. It does not excuse the British however either.
All you have to think is if British rule continued in India, would I be around....and apply that to China (if Japan conquered and subjugated it)....would you still be around in percentage likelihood terms. There would be your answer.
War crime is not something to glorify about.
All are bad and can never be glorified. But that does not mean we cannot rank and compare their relative evil. Shooting and mistreating a surrendered enemy soldier (who did raise arms and could have killed some of your comrades) ranks very differently to going into a civilians house and doing unspeakable things to its defenseless inhabitants who you have no idea about their level of realised support to their own fighters.
