Nikolayevsk-na-Amure Incident, 1920

The Nikolayevsk incident or Nikolaevsk incident (Russian: Николаевский инцидент) was a series of mass killings that took place in the region of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur during the Russian Civil War. The massacre and terrorism perpetrated by the Red Army under Yakov Tryapitsyn (a group of Russian Bolshevik-anarchist, Chinese and Korean guerrillas led by Ilya Park) killed thousands of Russians in Nikolaevsk and devastated the region. In general, historians agree that the event was a massacre in which there was "unprecedented and unprovoked brutality" that killed and devastated many people. Following a hastily prepared court-martial, Tryapitsyn and 29 of his colleagues were executed, while another 33 received prison terms. According to Bolshevik documents and trial verdicts, half of the population was killed in the massacre, of which the majority were Russians. At the time of the massacre, Japan deliberately omitted facts about the thousands of Russians slaughtered by the Red Army and exaggerated the number of Japanese killed. As a result, the Nikolayevsk Massacre is often mistakenly perceived as a 'massacre against the Japanese'.