[Commentary] On June 5, from 10:30 to 42, the air defense alarm sounded over the main city of Chongqing. Nearly 100 Chongqing bombing survivors, relatives of the victims, and people from all walks of life expressed their condolences to the compatriots who died in the "June Five Tunnels Massacre" 79 years ago.
On the evening of June 5, 1941, Japanese military aircraft carried out a large-scale fatigue bombing of Chongqing for more than 5 hours. An air defense tunnel at Jiaochangkou, Chongqing City, because the number of evacuees exceeded the capacity, and the tunnel was not well ventilated, more than 2,500 people were suffocated. The death resulted in the "Six Five Great Tunnel Massacre" that shocked both China and foreign countries.
To commemorate these killed compatriots, the Chongqing municipal government designated June 5 as the air defense warning test day. Since 1998, every year on June 5th, Chongqing will organize the city's air defense siren to test sound, mourn the compatriots killed in the Chongqing bombing, and warn the public not to forget history.
[Same period] (Su Yuankui, a survivor of the Chongqing bombing)
This was such a day when Japan invaded China and took a large-scale bombing indiscriminately, injuring the Chinese people. Therefore, we commemorate these dead compatriots every year.
【Explanation】During World War II, Chongqing, as the world's anti-fascist war command center and the wartime capital of the National Government, was subjected to strategic bombing by the Japanese for 6 years and 10 months. According to statistics, the bombing of Chongqing caused 32,929 direct casualties and 6,651 indirect casualties.
The victims of the Chongqing bombing and their families belonged to a private claim group against Japan in 2004 and filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government. In February 2015 and December 2017, the case was sentenced in first and second instance, and the results were all lost by the plaintiff. Although the judgment acknowledged the historical facts of the Chongqing bombing, it rejected the plaintiff's request for compensation from the Japanese government for guilt. After the verdict in the second instance, the plaintiffs filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Japan. Recently, the claim team received a legal document that the Japanese Supreme Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
[Same period] (Su Yuankui, a survivor of the Chongqing bombing)
The Japanese High Court ruled that we lost the case and we refused to accept it. We filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Japan, and now the Supreme Court of Japan has rejected our appeal. The vows originally screamed out, and life was endless, and the claims continued.
[Explanation] It is understood that during World War II, a large number of weapons used by the Japanese to bomb Chongqing were made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Therefore, the Claims Group believes that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries played an accomplice role in the Japanese bombing of Chongqing. It made a lot of money during the war and caused tremendous harm to the people of the injured country. It should reflect on and bear the responsibility. The claim team plans to file a lawsuit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in China. Su Yuankui, head of the claim group in the Chongqing bombing, said that the claim was not for the continuation of hatred, but the hope that the world would remember history, oppose war, cherish peace, and prevent history from repeating itself.
Reporter Xiao Jiangchuan from Chongqing
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]