Chongqing - A collection of 138 pages of archival materials documenting Japanese air raids on Chongqing during World War II was formally handed over to the Chongqing Municipal Archives on August 10 by a French research team, adding fresh historical evidence to the "unjudged crimes" of Japanese invaders.

On August 10, 2026, French friend Marcus Detrez and his team member Zhong Haosong handed over archival materials (scanned copies) on the Bombing of Chongqing, collected in France, to the Chongqing Municipal Archives. (Photo/Cui Li)

The documents, primarily in French, consist of telegrams and correspondence between the French Consul in Chongqing, the French representative in Sichuan, the French Ambassador to China, and French military attachés. They provide detailed records of Japanese bombing campaigns against Chongqing and surrounding areas between 1938 and 1941, including raid dates, aircraft types, tactics, bomb impact points, attack durations, property destruction, and casualties.

Among the materials are 124 pages specifically related to the Chongqing Bombing, documenting air strikes on the city center, Wanxian (now Wanzhou District), Fuling, Hechuan, and Tongliang. The records show that Japanese invaders targeted military airfields, factories, government buildings, financial institutions, and schools - evidence of indiscriminate bombing against civilian populations.

The Tunnel Tragedy of June 5, 1941

The archive contains explicit records of the "June 5th Tunnel Tragedy," one of the deadliest incidents of the Chongqing Bombing. On the night of June 5, 1941, from 19:00 to 23:30, Japanese aircraft launched their first nighttime raid on the city. Massive numbers of civilians rushed into air-raid shelters, leading to suffocation and a stampede. It is officially reported that 461 deaths and 291 injuries occurred, but eyewitnesses and contemporary accounts suggest the actual death toll may have been as high as 6,000 to 7,000. The incident remains one of the largest mass casualty events from indirect bombing during World War II.

The "Unjudged Crimes"

From February 1938 to December 1944, the Japanese invaders subjected Chongqing and its surrounding cities to relentless aerial bombardment for six years and ten months. The campaign caused over 32,000 direct casualties and more than 6,600 indirect casualties, destroyed 11,814 buildings and 21,295 rooms, and resulted in property losses estimated at 10 billion Chinese National Currency.

Despite the scale of the atrocities, the postwar International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo did not prosecute the bombing of Chongqing's civilians. None of the planners or executors of the air raids were ever held accountable - a historical injustice that Chinese scholars have termed the "unjudged crimes" of the Japanese Invaders.

A Third-Party Perspective

The archive also includes a Chinese version and French translation of the Statement of the Imperial Japanese Government, issued in November 1938, which openly demanded China's submission to a "New Order in East Asia" and proposed a tripartite alliance between Japan, Manchukuo, and China.

Included in the transferred archival materials is the Statement of the Imperial Japanese Government, issued in November 1938. (Photo/Cui Li)

Additional materials feature an open letter from prominent Sichuan figures to Chinese compatriots, exposing Japanese war crimes and calling for international solidarity against aggression. Fourteen pages of the collection pertain to the bombing of Chengdu, consisting of correspondence from 1938 between the French Ambassador and the French Air Attaché.

"This archive is not cold text - it is the real blood-and-tear memory of our people and an eternal wound for this city," said Zhang Jianbo, Director of the Archival Collection and Arrangement Division at the Chongqing Municipal Archives. "These records reconstruct the historical facts from a third-party perspective, exposing Japan's crimes from multiple angles - military operations, war atrocities, political coercion, civilian resistance, and international reactions."

A Transnational Effort for Historical Truth

The collection was gathered by French researchers Marcus Detrez and Bastien Rata, together with Chinese team member Zhong Haosong, from the Diplomatic Archives Centre of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nantes. The center restricts each researcher to consulting only six files per day, making the collection process particularly painstaking.

"We are donating this archive for one purpose: to preserve this history, let justice prevail, let the world see the truth, and wait for the day Japan offers a formal apology," Detrez and Zhong said after the ceremony.

Detrez's grandfather, who lived in Shanghai after the city fell to Japanese forces in 1937, witnessed Japanese invaders' brutality and took numerous photographs documenting war crimes. Last year, Detrez, Rata, and Zhong donated 618 of those photographs to Chinese institutions.

"We chose to donate because we deeply understand that this is vital not only to Chinese history but to world peace," Detrez said. "These photos are not just memories of my family - they are memories of the world. They expose the monstrous crimes committed by the Japanese invaders."

On August 10, 2026, French friend Marcus Detrez and his team member Zhong Haosong handed over archival materials (scanned copies) on the Bombing of Chongqing, collected in France, to the Chongqing Municipal Archives. (Photo/Cui Li)

The team has also established a nonprofit organization called "Echoes of the World" in France, holding exhibitions worldwide, including in Japan, to raise global awareness of this historical truth.

The Chongqing Municipal Archives said it will conduct in-depth research on the newly acquired materials to maximize their historical and educational value.