Description:

(TOKYO WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL) REPORT ON ‘ALL MILITARY AGGRESSION IN CHINA'
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), popularly known as the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, convened in April 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their crimes against peace, conventional war crimes, and crimes against humanity, leading up to and during World War II. Presented here is an interesting period mimeographed document, 72pp. legal folio, prepared by American associate counsel for the prosecution DAVID NELSON SUTTON (1895-1974) who was responsible for gathering witness testimony related to Japanese war crimes in China. Titled ‘All Military Aggression in China – Including Atrocities Against Civilians and Others – Summary of Evidence and Note of Argument', the document presents the history of actions taken by Japanese military and governmental forces in Japan that were intended to provoke a Chinese military response and be provide a pretext for war. Some of the events described in detail include the Marco Polo Bridge incident of July 1937, the attack on the U.S. gunboat PANAY, Japanese attacks on Soviet forces along the Chinese border, and other Japanese maneuvers. A large part of the report also discusses atrocities committed against Chinese civilians throughout the period of Japanese occupation, with specific attention given to eyewitness reports of the Rape of Nanking [now Nanjing]. In small part: ‘...The evidence introduced before the Tribunal discloses that the atrocities committed against civilians and others by the Japanese troops in China, comprising Class ‘C' offenses and crimes against humanity, included: 1. Murder and massacre 2. Torture 3. Rape 4.Robbery, looting and wanton destruction of property. That these crimes against humanity on the part of Japanese soldiers continued from 1937 until 1945, and occurred in every province in China occupied by Japanese troops. Knowledge of these continuing acts was brought home not only to the commanding generals in China, but to the government in Tokyo, and no effective action was taken to correct the situation. These acts were assented to, if not authorized and directed by both the military and civil authorities of Japan. That the commission of these crimes constituted the Japanese pattern of warfare. The first and outstanding instance of the commission of these acts by Japanese troops at Nanking [now Nanjing], and is commonly called ‘The Rape of Nanking'…' The report goes on to give an overview of the atrocities committed at Nanjing, and summarizes the witnesses statements of several Americans, including Americans Miner Searle Bates, a leader of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, and George A. Fitch, missionary and director of the Nanking Safety Zone, as well as numerous Chinese witnesses. These accounts describe numerous cases of rape, torture and mass murder committed by Japanese soldiers in graphic detail. The report closes by identifying the culpability of individual defendants before the IMTFE, in part: ‘...On 29 April 1940, nineteen of the present were each decorated by the Japanese Government for ‘meritorious services rendered in the China Incident.' The Defendants receiving this decoration were: DOIHARA, HASHMOTO, HATA, HOSHINO, ITAGAKI, KIMURA, MATSUI, MINAMI, MUTO, OKA, OSHIMA, SATO, SHIGEMITSU, SHIMADA, SHIRATORI, SUZUKI, TOGO, TOJO and UMEZU. These defendants willingly took credit for the action of Japan against China. They sought to conceal its true character by calling it ‘The China Incident'. They cannot now escape responsibility when these acts revealed in their true light show the planning, preparing, initiating, and waging of a war of aggression and a war in violation of treaties and assurances. The China Incident was a war. It was a war begun in violation of solemn treaty obligations and repeated official assurances. It was a war waged in violation of every rule or organized warfare and in a manner which shocked the conscience of humanity. The acts of the defendants violated the inexorable rules of human conduct. Their acts were a sin against humanity. ‘The wages of sin is death.' The report is bound in a manila folder with a metal file clip, with the title typed on the front cover, and with Sutton's name at bottom right. Also present is a second copy of the same report, unbound and with the titles appearing on its plain paper covers, adding the date it was submitted before the IMTFE ‘4 November 1946'. The group is rounded out by six additional mimeographed documents, all lists of key incidents in the lead-up to Japanese involvement in World War II, treaty obligations violated by Japan, the guidelines set forth by the Geneva convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, and other. Lastly, the group includes a pad of legal paper, completely filled with Sutton's handwritten notes on ‘Events Leading up to World War 2' summarized from a U.S. House document. Nine pieces, all of which originate from Sutton's archives, all in very good condition.

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November 13, 2025 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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