Expert on China's unsung role in World War Two

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Europe

Peter Harmsen, author of the book "Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City", said China paid a hefty price for defeating the enemies in the World War Two, but its contribution to end the War is often overlooked in the West.

"China played a huge role in World War Two, and the county was involved in a life-and-death struggle with Japan. China fought in World War Two far longer than any other Allied power,” Harmsen told CGTN.

"Another thing is the loss that China had during the war, with about 15 to 20 million deaths, which is 50 times more than the number of Americans killed in the war.”

Peter Harmsen is the author of the book "Nanjing 1937: Battle for a Doomed City".

In 1937, Nanjing, then China's capital, experienced its darkest time in history. Over 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were slaughtered in cold blood.

During the six-week massacre, Japanese soldiers committed indescribable atrocities. However, this period of history is not as widely known in the West as the Holocaust.

"The history of the war has been written mostly by English-language historians since 1945, it’s way too Euro-centric. For many years after the end of the war, people in the West thought about it as the D-day and Stalingrad,” Harmsen noted, adding that “it’s changing now, and young historians in both Europe and North America are becoming much more aware of China’s contribution."

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