It is claimed that Japan moved gradually to avoid external interference but accelerated its actions in response to the Republic of China's growing unity and development. Contrary to many modern timelines of the war, the film downplays Chinese resistance in Manchuria and presents the Marco Polo Bridge Incident as a largely-peaceful and foregone conclusion. Instead, the Battle of Shanghai is presented as the beginning of real hostilities. The aerial bombardment that produced the "Bloody Saturday" photograph is called the first such attack on civilians in history. (Although the photograph itself is not used, the image, which was then famous, is alluded to in footage of the child being carried across the ruins of the old Shanghai South Railway Station.) The film then includes graphic footage of the aftermath of the Rape of Nanking that is said to have been smuggled out of occupied China by a hospital worker. The death toll is said to be unprecedented, but its figure of 40,000 is far lower than most modern estimates.