The German Foreign Ministry received the following account from the German embassy in Nanking in February 1938.
Immediately after the fall of the city, Japanese soldiers embarked on a determined search for former Chinese soldiers. They took most of the morning tying all of the POWs' hands together and in the dusk divided them into four columns, and opened fire at them. Unable to escape, the POWs could only scream and thrash in desperation. It took an hour for the sounds of death to stop. It is estimated that at least 57,500 POWs were killed.
According to a testimony made by American missionary Ralph Phillips, he was "forced to watch while the Japs disembowelled a Chinese soldier" and "roasted his heart and liver and ate them".
一九三八年二月，德國外交部接到南京德國大使館一段報告如下：
南京失守之後，日軍馬上致力搜捕城陷前的中國軍人。他們花了大半個上午，把戰俘雙手縛起來，到了黃昏，把他們分為四大隊，然後向他們開槍。戰俘無法逃避，只能慘叫着亂成一團。死亡之聲一小時之後才結束，估計被殺戰俘至少有五萬七千五百人。
美國傳教士雷爾夫．菲利普斯有證詞說，他「被迫看着日本鬼子挖出一個中國軍人的內臟」，並「把挖出的心臟、肝臟烤熟吃掉」。