12 déc. 1937 - USS Panay is Attacked

Description:

The U.S. gunboat Panay was carrying United States evacuees and Standard Oil barges away from China on the Yangtze River. Out of nowhere, the vessel was hit and sunk by the Japanese during the battle for Nanking in the SIno-Japanese War. Although the vessel had clearly been marked neutral and its location was known to the Japanese, Japan had maintained that the attack was completely an accident, but still agreed to pay $2 million in reparations. Though the Japanese apologized and paid the cost, the incident still affected America's opinion of the Japanese and subsequently how they would react to Japanese aggression later.