Nanjing has a population of nearly one million, and in order to increase the speed and efficiency of killing, the Japanese army set off a killing contest with the whole army, but there are still many Japanese soldiers who are afraid of killing. In order to solve the problem of timidity of some Japanese soldiers, a Japanese soldier named Tajima provided the following testimony:

At the beginning of the Nanjing Massacre, a second lieutenant named Ono said to us: "Our task now is to kill people, to kill a group of Chinese who have no ability to resist. I know you're recruits and haven't killed anyone yet. So, from today on, we are going to kill people every day, and we will kill people constantly. There are too many Chinese, and they hate us Japanese in their bones. The hatred that we have taken their land, that we have taken their homeland, that we have killed their loved ones, cannot be explained in words. As soon as the time comes, they will take revenge on us tenfold, a hundredfold. So, if we want to occupy this land permanently, we can only be safe if we destroy their flesh and make him disappear. You can't treat the Chinese as human beings, you have to treat them as animals that are not even as good as pigs and dogs. Be brave! Now, those who voluntarily do killing exercises, come to the front. ”

No one moved, because this was killing, not killing dogs, these people were people who looked like them. There is no enmity between them, they know in their hearts that they are aggressors, and if it were not for the Japanese militarism, they would not have come to this cruel world.

"What a bunch of cowards you guys are!" Captain Ono roared, "None of you can be called Japanese soldiers. Didn't anyone volunteer? Then I command you! So, he began to name names: "Otani Yoshikawa, Uenoda Island!" ”

"Oh my God! Called me! Uenodajima exclaimed.

With trembling hands with bayonets, I slowly walked over to a Chinese standing opposite the captain amid hysterical cursing. He stood next to a dug earthen pit, which he had dug himself, and the Chinese already knew that the pit behind him was reserved for him, and his face was already gray with fright. I finally stood still. I didn't dare to look into his eyes, and I begged him for forgiveness in my heart. I don't want to kill him, I don't want to kill someone who has no enmity with me and is unarmed. I closed my eyes, the second lieutenant's curse ringed in my ears, and finally plunged the bayonet into the frightened Chinese. When I opened my eyes again, he had fallen into the pit he had dug himself, he was not dead, he was still struggling, it was the second lieutenant who grabbed the bayonet on my gun and pierced the frightened Chinese hard. It's cruel! "Executioner! Butcher! "I'm cursing myself.

For recruits, fear is a natural state. In a Japanese wartime memoir, a group of Japanese recruits and veterans are described when a group of Nanjing prisoners of war were brutally tortured to death:

Twenty-four prisoners of war were taken to the training ground by re-abduction, and they were all blindfolded. A large pit 10 meters long, 2 meters wide and 3 meters deep has been dug. Both the wing commander and the squadron leader arranged their positions. There were all new recruits standing around. The executioners were all veterans, and each veteran carried no less than a dozen lives, and killing people was a happy thing for them. There was no horror on their faces, and they rubbed their fists one by one. Second Lieutenant Tanaka reported to the Wing Commander that the killings had begun. Second Lieutenant Tanaka first demonstrated the maneuvers himself. He drew his saber and scooped a spoonful of water from the bucket with a long-handled spoon and poured it on both sides of the blade. He swung his saber to shake off the excess water, then raised his saber, steadied himself, spread his legs, and "Hey! With a bang, the head fell to the ground. The human head flew more than a meter away. Shoot a bloody arrow from your body.

The remaining twenty-three captives were killed with a single slash with their heads cut off and a bloody arrow.