22nd Division | |
---|---|
Active | 1938 - 1945 |
Country | Empire of Japan |
Branch | Imperial Japanese Army |
Type | Infantry |
Nickname(s) | Plains Division |
Engagements | Second Sino-Japanese War |
hide 22nd Division (1938-1945) | |
---|---|
Components |
|
The 22nd Division (第22師団 Dai-nijūni Shidan ) was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army . Its call sign was the Plains Division (原兵団 Hara Heidan ). The 22nd Division was raised in 1938 out of the reserve components of the 14th Division , in the same day as 15th , 17th , 21st and 23rd divisions, as part of the military buildup following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War .
After minimal training, it was assigned to the Japanese Central China Area Army , and participated at the Battle of Wuhan . Assigned to the Japanese 13th Army , its primary duty was initially to be a garrison force for the Hangzhou area. However, as the war against China continued to heat up, the 22nd Division was called upon in the Third War Area in the 1939-40 Winter Offensive campaign. In 1942, it fought in Quzhou , Guangfeng District and other places. By 1943, the 22nd division was garrisoning Jinhua . 24 November 1943, the divisional infantry brigade was abolished and infantry regiments were directly subordinated to the divisional command. By February 1944 the 22nd Division came under the command of the Japanese 23rd Army , and was in Guangdong province , opposite Hong Kong . An effort to cross over into Hong Kong was thwarted by the US Navy , which resulted in the loss of most of the 86th Infantry Regiment when their transports were sunk. Unable to reach Hong Kong, the 22nd Division turned south, and fought its way through Guangxi province (and participating in the Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou (a part of a general Japanese offensive operation Ichi-Go ), until it linked with the Japanese-occupied French Indochina . In 1945, the headquarters of the 22nd Division was in Bangkok , Thailand , and it contributed forces to the defense of Burma against the British (Operation Dracula ). The 22nd Division was dissolved in Bangkok with the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of World War II ; however, a number of its troops refused to return to Japan, and defected to join the Viet Minh in their struggle for independence (First Indochina War ) against the returning French colonial forces.
Second Sino-Japanese War | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II [a] | |||||||||
Clockwise from top left : The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Special Naval Landing Forces troops in gas masks prepare for an advance in the rubble of Shanghai , 1944 Operation Ichigo IJA Type 92 Heavy machine gun, dead victims of the Nanking Massacre on the shore of the Qinhuai River with a Japanese soldier standing nearby, Chinese machine gun nest in the Battle of Wuhan , Japanese Bombing of Chongqing , the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India in 1942 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
Chinese civilian deaths : 17,000,000–22,000,000[13] | |||||||||
|
show
|
---|
show
|
---|
show
|
---|
show
|
---|
Events leading to World War II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
History of the Republic of China (ROC) |
---|
Names |
In China, the war is most commonly known as the "War of Resistance against Japan" (simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ), and shortened to the "Resistance against Japan" (Chinese : 抗日 ) or the "War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 抗戰 ). It was also called the "Eight Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 八年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 八年抗戰 ), but in 2017 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive stating that textbooks were to refer to the war as the "Fourteen Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 十四年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 十四年抗戰 ), reflecting a focus on the broader conflict with Japan going back to 1931.[34] It is also referred to as part of the "Global Anti-Fascist War", which is how World War II is perceived by the Communist Party of China and the PRC government.[35]
In Japan, nowadays, the name "Japan–China War" (Japanese : 日中戦爭 , translit. Nitchū Sensō ) is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. When the invasion of China proper began in earnest in July 1937 near Beijing , the government of Japan used "The North China Incident" (Japanese: 北支事變/華北事變 , translit. Hokushi Jihen/Kahoku Jihen ), and with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai the following month, it was changed to "The China Incident" (Japanese: 支那事變 , translit. Shina Jihen ).
The word "incident" (Japanese: 事變 , translit. jihen ) was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war . From the Japanese perspective was that localizing these conflicts was beneficial in preventing intervention from other nations, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which were its primary source of petroleum and steel respectively. A formal expression of these conflicts would potentially lead to American embargo in accordance with the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s .[36] In addition, due to China's fractured political status, Japan often claimed that China was no longer a recognizable political entity on which war could be declared.[37]
In Japanese propaganda , the invasion of China became a crusade (Japanese: 聖戦 , translit. seisen ), the first step of the "eight corners of the world under one roof" slogan (Japanese: 八紘一宇 , translit. Hakkō ichiu ). In 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe launched the Taisei Yokusankai . When both sides formally declared war in December 1941, the name was replaced by "Greater East Asia War " (Japanese: 大東亞戰爭 , translit. Daitōa Sensō ).
Although the Japanese government still uses the term "China Incident" in formal documents,[38] the word Shina is considered derogatory by China and therefore the media in Japan often paraphrase with other expressions like "The Japan–China Incident" (Japanese: 日華事變/日支事變 , translit. Nikka Jiken/Nisshi Jiken ), which were used by media as early as the 1930s.
The name "Second Sino-Japanese War" is not commonly used in Japan as the war it fought with the Qing dynasty in 1894 is called the Qing-Japanese War (Japanese: 日清戦争 , translit. Nisshin–Sensō ) rather than the First Sino-Japanese War .
The origin of the Second Sino-Japanese War can be traced to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, in which China, then under the Qing dynasty , was defeated by Japan and was forced to cede Formosa , and to recognize the full and complete independence of Korea in the Treaty of Shimonoseki ; Japan had also allegedly annexed the Diaoyudao /Senkaku Islands in early 1895 as a result being the victors of this war (Japan claims the islands to have been uninhabited in 1895).[39] [40] [41] The Qing dynasty was on the brink of collapse from internal revolts and foreign imperialism , while Japan had emerged as a great power through its effective measures of modernization .[42]
The Republic of China was founded in 1912, following the Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). However, central authority disintegrated and the Republic's authority succumbed to that of regional warlords , mostly from the former Beiyang Army . Unifying the nation and repelling imperialism seemed a very remote possibility.[43] Some warlords even aligned themselves with various foreign powers in their battles with each other. For example, the warlord Zhang Zuolin of Manchuria from the Fengtian clique openly cooperated with the Japanese for military and economic assistance.[44]
In 1915, Japan issued the Twenty-One Demands to extort further political and commercial privilege from China, which was accepted by Yuan Shikai.[45] Following World War I , Japan acquired the German Empire 's sphere of influence in Shandong province,[46] leading to nationwide anti-Japanese protests and mass demonstrations in China. Under the Beiyang government , China remained fragmented and was unable to resist foreign incursions.[47] For the purpose of unifying China and defeating the regional warlords, the Kuomintang (KMT, alternatively known as the Chinese Nationalist Party) in Guangzhou launched the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928 with limited assistance from the Soviet Union .[48]
The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) formed by the KMT swept through southern and central China until it was checked in Shandong, where confrontations with the Japanese garrison escalated into armed conflict. The conflicts were collectively known as the Jinan incident of 1928, during which time the Japanese military violently killed several Chinese officials and fired artillery shells into Jinan. Between 2,000 and 11,000 Chinese and Japanese civilians were believed to have been killed during these conflicts. The Jinan incident severely deteriorated the relations between the Chinese Nationalist government and Japan.[49] [50]
As the National Revolutionary Army approached Beijing, Zhang Zuolin decided to retreat back to Manchuria, before he was assassinated by the Kwantung Army in 1928.[51] His son, Zhang Xueliang , took over as the leader of the Fengtian clique in Manchuria. Later in the same year, Zhang decided to declare his allegiance to the Nationalist government in Nanking under Chiang Kai-shek , and consequently, China was nominally reunified under one government.[52]
Japanese troops entering Shenyang during the Mukden Incident
The internecine warfare in China provided excellent opportunities for Japan, which saw Manchuria as a limitless supply of raw materials, a market for its manufactured goods (now excluded from the influence of many Western countries in Depression -era tariffs ), and as a protective buffer state against the Soviet Union in Siberia .[citation needed ] Japan invaded Manchuria outright after the Mukden Incident in September 1931. Japan charged that their rights in Manchuria, established by the Russo-Japanese War , had been systematically violated and that there were "more than 120 cases of infringement of rights and interests, interference with business, boycott of Japanese goods, unreasonable taxation, detention of individuals, confiscation of properties, eviction, demand for cessation of business, assault and battery, and the oppression of Korean residents".[55]
After five months of fighting, Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, and installed the last Emperor of China , Puyi , as its puppet ruler. Militarily too weak to challenge Japan directly, China appealed to the League of Nations for help. The League's investigation led to the publication of the Lytton Report , condemning Japan for its incursion into Manchuria, causing Japan to withdraw from the League of Nations. No country took action against Japan beyond tepid censure.
Incessant fighting followed the Mukden Incident. In 1932, Chinese and Japanese troops fought the January 28 Incident battle. This resulted in the demilitarisation of Shanghai , which forbade the Chinese from deploying troops in their own city. In Manchukuo there was an ongoing campaign to defeat the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies that arose from widespread outrage over the policy of non-resistance to Japan.
In 1933, the Japanese attacked the Great Wall region. The Tanggu Truce established in its aftermath, gave Japan control of Jehol province as well as a demilitarized zone between the Great Wall and Beiping-Tianjin region. Japan aimed to create another buffer zone between Manchukuo and the Chinese Nationalist government in Nanking .
Japan increasingly exploited China's internal conflicts to reduce the strength of its fractious opponents. Even years after the Northern Expedition , the political power of the Nationalist government was limited to just the area of the Yangtze River Delta . Other sections of China were essentially in the hands of local Chinese warlords. Japan sought various Chinese collaborators and helped them establish governments friendly to Japan. This policy was called the Specialization of North China (Chinese: 華北特殊化 ; pinyin: huáběitèshūhùa ), more commonly known as the North China Autonomous Movement. The northern provinces affected by this policy were Chahar , Suiyuan , Hebei , Shanxi , and Shandong .
This Japanese policy was most effective in the area of what is now Inner Mongolia and Hebei. In 1935, under Japanese pressure, China signed the He–Umezu Agreement , which forbade the KMT from conducting party operations in Hebei. In the same year, the Chin–Doihara Agreement was signed expelling the KMT from Chahar. Thus, by the end of 1935 the Chinese government had essentially abandoned northern China. In its place, the Japanese-backed East Hebei Autonomous Council and the Hebei–Chahar Political Council were established. There in the empty space of Chahar the Mongol Military Government was formed on May 12, 1936. Japan provided all the necessary military and economic aid. Afterwards Chinese volunteer forces continued to resist Japanese aggression in Manchuria , and Chahar and Suiyuan .
On the night of July 7, 1937, Chinese and Japanese troops exchanged fire in the vicinity of the Marco Polo (or Lugou) Bridge, a crucial access-route to Beijing. What began as confused, sporadic skirmishing soon escalated into a full-scale battle in which Beijing and its port city of Tianjin fell to Japanese forces (July–August 1937). On July 29, some 5,000 troops of the 1st and 2nd Corps of the East Hopei Army mutinied, turning against the Japanese garrison. In addition to Japanese military personnel, some 260 civilians living in Tongzhou in accordance with the Boxer Protocol of 1901, were killed in the uprising (predominantly Japanese including the police force and also some ethnic Koreans). The Chinese then set fire to and destroyed much of the city. Only around 60 Japanese civilians survived, who provided both journalists and later historians with firsthand witness accounts. As a result of the violence of the mutiny against Japanese civilians, the Tungchow mutiny , as it came to be called, strongly shook public opinion within Japan.
The Imperial General Headquarters (GHQ) in Tokyo, content with the gains acquired in northern China following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, initially showed reluctance to escalate the conflict into full-scale war. The KMT, however, determined that the "breaking point" of Japanese aggression had been reached. Chiang Kai-shek quickly mobilized the central government's army and air force , placed them under his direct command, and laid siege to the Japanese area of Shanghai International Settlement , where 30,000 Japanese civilians lived with 30,000 troops on August 12, 1937.
An NRA soldiers' machine gun nest in ShanghaiOn August 13, 1937, Kuomintang soldiers and warplanes attacked Japanese Marine positions in Shanghai, leading to the Battle of Shanghai . On August 14, Kuomintang planes accidentally bombed the Shanghai International Settlement , which led to more than 3,000 civilian deaths.[56] In the three days from August 14 through 16, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) sent many sorties of the then-advanced long-ranged G3M medium-heavy land-based bombers and assorted carrier-based aircraft with the expectation of destroying the Chinese Air Force . However, the Imperial Japanese Navy encountered unexpected resistance from the defending Chinese Hawk III and P-26/281 Peashooter fighter squadrons; suffering heavy (50%) losses from the defending Chinese pilots (August 14 was subsequently commemorated by the KMT as China's Air Force Day ).[57] [58] [59]
Japanese troops in the ruins of ShanghaiThe skies of China had become a testing zone for advanced biplane and new-generation monoplane combat-aircraft designs. The introduction of the advanced A5M "Claude" fighters into the Shanghai-Nanking theater of operations, beginning on September 18, 1937, helped the Japanese achieve a certain level of air superiority .[60] [61] However the few experienced Chinese veteran pilots, even in their older and slower biplanes, proved more than able to hold their own against the sleek A5Ms in dogfights , and it also proved to be a battle of attrition against the Chinese Air Force.[62] [63] At the start of the battle, the local strength of the NRA was around five divisions, or about 70,000 troops, while local Japanese forces comprised about 6,300 marines.[64] On August 23, Japanese Army reinforcements succeeded in landing in northern Shanghai. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) ultimately committed over 200,000 troops, along with numerous naval vessels and aircraft, to capture the city. After more than three months of intense fighting, their casualties far exceeded initial expectations.[65] On October 26, the Japanese Army captured Dachang, an important strong-point within Shanghai, and on November 5, additional reinforcements of Japan landed from Hangzhou Bay. Finally, on November 9, the NRA began a general retreat.
Building on the hard-won victory in Shanghai, the IJA captured the KMT capital city of Nanking (Nanjing) (December 1937) and Northern Shanxi (September–November 1937). These campaigns involved approximately 350,000 Japanese soldiers, and considerably more Chinese. Historians estimate that between December 13, 1937, and late January 1938, Japanese forces tortured and murdered up to 300,000 Chinese (mostly civilians and surrendered soldiers) and raped tens of thousands of women during the Nanking Massacre (also known as the "Rape of Nanking"), after its fall .
In 2005, a history textbook prepared by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform which had been approved by the government in 2001, sparked huge outcry and protests in China and Korea. It referred to the Nanking Massacre as an "incident", glossed over the issue of comfort women, and made only brief references to the death of Chinese soldiers and civilians in Nanking.[66] A copy of the 2005 version of a junior high school textbook titled New History Textbook found that there is no mention of the "Nanjing Massacre" or the "Nanjing Incident". Indeed, the only one sentence that referred to this event was: "they [the Japanese troops] occupied that city in December".[67] As of 2015, some right-wing Japanese negationists deny that the massacre occurred, and have successfully lobbied for revision and exclusion of information in Japanese schoolbooks.[68]
At the start of 1938, the leadership in Tokyo still hoped to limit the scope of the conflict to occupy areas around Shanghai, Nanking and most of northern China. They thought this would preserve strength for an anticipated showdown with the Soviet Union, but by now the Japanese government and GHQ had effectively lost control of the Japanese army in China. With many victories achieved, Japanese field generals escalated the war in Jiangsu in an attempt to wipe out Chinese resistance, but were defeated at the Battle of Taierzhuang (March–April 1938). Afterwards the IJA changed its strategy and deployed almost all of its existing armies in China to attack the city of Wuhan , which had become the political, economic and military center of rump China, in hopes of destroying the fighting strength of the NRA and of forcing the KMT government to negotiate for peace.[69] The Japanese captured Wuhan on October 27, 1938, forcing the KMT to retreat to Chongqing (Chungking), but Chiang Kai-shek still refused to negotiate, saying he would only consider talks if Japan agreed to withdraw to the pre-1937 borders.
With Japanese casualties and costs mounting, the Imperial General Headquarters attempted to break Chinese resistance by ordering the air branches of their navy and army to launch the war's first massive air raids on civilian targets. Japanese raiders hit the Kuomintang's newly established provisional capital of Chongqing and most other major cities in unoccupied China, leaving millions dead, injured, and homeless.
From the beginning of 1939, the war entered a new phase with the unprecedented defeat of the Japanese at Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang , 1st Battle of Changsha , Battle of South Guangxi and Battle of Zaoyi . These outcomes encouraged the Chinese to launch their first large-scale counter-offensive against the IJA in early 1940; however, due to its low military-industrial capacity and limited experience in modern warfare , this offensive was defeated. Afterwards Chiang could not risk any more all-out offensive campaigns given the poorly trained, under-equipped, and disorganized state of his armies and opposition to his leadership both within the Kuomintang and in China in general. He had lost a substantial portion of his best trained and equipped troops in the Battle of Shanghai and was at times at the mercy of his generals, who maintained a high degree of autonomy from the central KMT government.
During the offensive, Hui forces in Suiyuan under generals Ma Hongbin and Ma Buqing routed the Imperial Japanese Army and their puppet Inner Mongol forces and prevented the planned Japanese advance into northwest China. Ma Hongbin's father Ma Fulu had fought against Japanese in the Boxer Rebellion . General Ma Biao led Hui, Salar and Dongxiang cavalry to defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Huaiyang .[70] [71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76] [77] [78] Ma Biao fought against the Japanese in the Boxer Rebellion.
Wang Jingwei and officers of the Collaborationist Chinese ArmyAfter 1940, the Japanese encountered tremendous difficulties in administering and garrisoning the seized territories, and tried to solve its occupation problems by implementing a strategy of creating friendly puppet governments favourable to Japanese interests in the territories conquered, most prominently the Nanking Nationalist Government headed by former KMT premier Wang Jingwei . However, atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army, as well as Japanese refusal to delegate any real power, left the puppets very unpopular and largely ineffective. The only success the Japanese had was to recruit a large Collaborationist Chinese Army to maintain public security in the occupied areas.
By 1941, Japan held most of the eastern coastal areas of China and Vietnam, but guerilla fighting continued in these occupied areas. Japan had suffered high casualties from unexpectedly stubborn Chinese resistance, and neither side could make any swift progress in the manner of Nazi Germany in Western Europe .
The basis of Chinese strategy before the entrance of the Western Allies can be divided into two periods as follows:
Unlike Japan, China was unprepared for total war and had little military-industrial strength, no mechanized divisions , and few armoured forces .[79] Up until the mid-1930s, China had hoped that the League of Nations would provide countermeasures to Japan's aggression. In addition, the Kuomintang (KMT) government was mired in a civil war against the Communist Party of China (CPC), as Chiang Kai-shek was quoted: "the Japanese are a disease of the skin, the Communists are a disease of the heart". The Second United Front between the KMT and CPC was never truly unified, as each side was preparing for a showdown with the other once the Japanese were driven out.
Chinese soldiers in house-to-house fighting in the Battle of Taierzhuang , March–April 1938Even under these extremely unfavorable circumstances, Chiang realized that to win support from the United States and other foreign nations, China had to prove it was capable of fighting. Knowing a hasty retreat would discourage foreign aid, Chiang resolved to make a stand at Shanghai , using the best of his German-trained divisions to defend China's largest and most industrialized city from the Japanese. The battle lasted over three months, saw heavy casualties on both sides, and ended with a Chinese retreat towards Nanking, but proved that China would not be easily defeated and showed its determination to the world. The battle became an enormous morale booster for the Chinese people, as it decisively refuted the Japanese boast that Japan could conquer Shanghai in three days and China in three months.
Afterwards, China began to adopt the Fabian strategy of "trading space for time" (simplified Chinese: 以空间换取时间 ; traditional Chinese: 以空間換取時間 ). The Chinese army would put up fights to delay the Japanese advance to northern and eastern cities, allowing the home front , with its professionals and key industries, to retreat west into Chongqing . As a result of Chinese troops' scorched earth strategies, in which dams and levees were intentionally sabotaged to create massive flooding , Japanese advances began to stall in late 1938.
During this period, the main Chinese objective was to drag out the war for as long as possible in a war of attrition , thereby exhausting Japanese resources while building up Chinese military capacity. American general Joseph Stilwell called this strategy "winning by outlasting". The NRA adopted the concept of "magnetic warfare" to attract advancing Japanese troops to definite points where they were subjected to ambush, flanking attacks , and encirclements in major engagements. The most prominent example of this tactic was the successful defense of Changsha in 1939 (and again in 1941 ), in which heavy casualties were inflicted on the IJA.
Local Chinese resistance forces , organized separately by both the communists and KMT, continued their resistance in occupied areas to pester the enemy and make their administration over the vast land area of China difficult. In 1940, the Chinese Red Army launched a major offensive in north China, destroying railways and a major coal mine. These constant harassment and sabotage operations deeply frustrated the Imperial Japanese Army and led them to employ the "Three Alls Policy " (kill all, loot all, burn all) (三光政策 , Hanyu Pinyin : Sānguāng Zhèngcè , Japanese On : Sankō Seisaku ). It was during this period that the bulk of Japanese war crimes were committed.
By 1941, Japan had occupied much of north and coastal China, but the KMT central government and military had retreated to the western interior to continue their resistance, while the Chinese communists remained in control of base areas in Shaanxi . In the occupied areas, Japanese control was mainly limited to railroads and major cities ("points and lines"). They did not have a major military or administrative presence in the vast Chinese countryside, where Chinese guerrillas roamed freely.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor , the United States declared war against Japan, and within days China joined the Allies in formal declaration of war against Japan, Germany and Italy.[82] As the Western Allies entered the war against Japan, the Sino-Japanese War would become part of a greater conflict, the Pacific theatre of World War II . Almost immediately, Chinese troops achieved another decisive victory in the Battle of Changsha , which earned the Chinese government much prestige from the Western Allies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China as the world's "Four Policemen ", elevating the international status of China to an unprecedented height after the century of humiliation at the hands of various imperialist powers.
Knowledge of Japanese naval movements in the Pacific was provided to the American Navy by the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO) which was run by the Chinese intelligence head Dai Li .[83] Philippine and Japanese ocean weather was affected by weather originating near northern China.[84] The base of SACO located in Yangjiashan.[85]
Chiang Kai-shek continued to receive supplies from the United States. However, in contrast to the Arctic supply route to the Soviet Union which stayed open through most of the war, sea routes to China and the Yunnan–Vietnam Railway had been closed since 1940. Therefore, between the closing of the Burma Road in 1942 and its re-opening as the Ledo Road in 1945, foreign aid was largely limited to what could be flown in over "The Hump ". In Burma, on April 16, 1942, 7,000 British soldiers were encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division during the Battle of Yenangyaung and rescued by the Chinese 38th Division.[86] After the Doolittle Raid , the Imperial Japanese Army conducted a massive sweep through Zhejiang and Jiangxi of China, now known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign , with the goal of finding the surviving American airmen, applying retribution on the Chinese who aided them and destroying air bases. The operation started May 15, 1942, with 40 infantry battalions and 15–16 artillery battalions but was repelled by Chinese forces in September.[87] During this campaign, the Imperial Japanese Army left behind a trail of devastation and had also spread cholera , typhoid , plague and dysentery pathogens. Chinese estimates put the death toll at 250,000 civilians.[88] [89] [90]
Most of China's industry had already been captured or destroyed by Japan, and the Soviet Union refused to allow the United States to supply China through Kazakhstan into Xinjiang as the Xinjiang warlord Sheng Shicai had turned anti-Soviet in 1942 with Chiang's approval. For these reasons, the Chinese government never had the supplies and equipment needed to mount major counter-offensives. Despite the severe shortage of matériel, in 1943, the Chinese were successful in repelling major Japanese offensives in Hubei and Changde .
Chiang was named Allied commander-in-chief in the China theater in 1942. American general Joseph Stilwell served for a time as Chiang's chief of staff, while simultaneously commanding American forces in the China-Burma-India Theater . For many reasons, relations between Stilwell and Chiang soon broke down. Many historians (such as Barbara W. Tuchman ) have suggested it was largely due to the corruption and inefficiency of the Kuomintang (KMT) government, while others (such as Ray Huang and Hans van de Ven ) have depicted it as a more complicated situation. Stilwell had a strong desire to assume total control of Chinese troops and pursue an aggressive strategy, while Chiang preferred a patient and less expensive strategy of outwaiting the Japanese. Chiang continued to maintain a defensive posture despite Allied pleas to actively break the Japanese blockade, because China had already suffered tens of millions of war casualties and believed that Japan would eventually capitulate in the face of America's overwhelming industrial output. For these reasons the other Allies gradually began to lose confidence in the Chinese ability to conduct offensive operations from the Asian mainland, and instead concentrated their efforts against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean Areas and South West Pacific Area , employing an island hopping strategy.[91]
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek , Franklin D. Roosevelt , and Winston Churchill met at the Cairo Conference in 1943 during World War II.Longstanding differences in national interest and political stance among China, the United States, and the United Kingdom remained in place. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was reluctant to devote British troops, many of whom had been routed by the Japanese in earlier campaigns, to the reopening of the Burma Road ; Stilwell, on the other hand, believed that reopening the road was vital, as all China's mainland ports were under Japanese control. The Allies' "Europe First " policy did not sit well with Chiang, while the later British insistence that China send more and more troops to Indochina for use in the Burma Campaign was seen by Chiang as an attempt to use Chinese manpower to defend British colonial holdings. Chiang also believed that China should divert its crack army divisions from Burma to eastern China to defend the airbases of the American bombers that he hoped would defeat Japan through bombing, a strategy that American general Claire Lee Chennault supported but which Stilwell strongly opposed. In addition, Chiang voiced his support of Indian independence in a 1942 meeting with Mahatma Gandhi , which further soured the relationship between China and the United Kingdom.[92]
American and Canadian-born Chinese were recruited to act as covert operatives in Japanese-occupied China (Canadian-born Chinese who had not been granted citizenship were trained by the British army). Employing their racial background as a disguise, their mandate was to blend in with local citizens and wage a campaign of sabotage. Activities focused on destruction of Japanese transportation of supplies (signaling bomber destruction of railroads, bridges).[93] Chinese forces invaded northern Burma in late 1943 besieged Japanese troops in Myitkyina and captured Mount Song .[94] The British and Commonwealth forces had their operation in Mission 204 which attempted to provide assistance to the Chinese Nationalist Army.[95] The first phase in 1942 under command of SOE achieved very little, but lessons were learned and a second more successful phase, commenced in February 1943 under British Military command, was conducted before the Japanese Operation Ichi-Go offensive in 1944 compelled evacuation.[96]
The United States saw the Chinese theater as a means to tie up a large number of Japanese troops, as well as being a location for American airbases from which to strike the Japanese home islands. In 1944, with the Japanese position in the Pacific deteriorating rapidly, the IJA mobilized over 500,000 men and launched Operation Ichi-Go, their largest offensive of World War II, to attack the American airbases in China and link up the railway between Manchuria and Vietnam. This brought major cities in Hunan, Henan and Guangxi under Japanese occupation. The failure of Chinese forces to defend these areas encouraged Stilwell to attempt to gain overall command of the Chinese army, and his subsequent showdown with Chiang led to his replacement by Major General Albert Coady Wedemeyer .
By the end of 1944 Chinese troops under the command of Sun Li-jen attacking from India, and those under Wei Lihuang attacking from Yunnan , joined forces in Mong-Yu , successfully driving the Japanese out of North Burma and securing the Ledo Road , China's vital supply artery.[97] In Spring 1945 the Chinese launched offensives that retook Hunan and Guangxi . With the Chinese army progressing well in training and equipment, Wedemeyer planned to launch Operation Carbonado in summer 1945 to retake Guangdong, thus obtaining a coastal port, and from there drive northwards toward Shanghai. However, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Soviet invasion of Manchuria hastened Japanese surrender and these plans were not put into action.[98]
Germany and the Soviet Union provided aid to China at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. By 1940 the United States had become China's main diplomatic, financial and military supporter.[99]
Prior to the war, Germany and China were in close economic and military cooperation, with Germany helping China modernize its industry and military in exchange for raw materials. More than half of German arms exports during its rearmament period were to China. Germany sent military advisers such as Alexander von Falkenhausen to China to help the KMT government reform its armed forces. Some divisions began training to German standards and were to form the core of modernized forces in the NRA. While 30 German-trained divisions were proposed originally, the plan failed to materialize as Germany withdrew its support in 1938 in favor of an alliance with Japan against the Soviet Union.[citation needed ]
The Soviet Union defeated Japan in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in May – September 1939, leaving the Japanese reluctant to fight the Soviets again.[100] After Germany and Japan signed the anti-communist Anti-Comintern Pact , the Soviet Union hoped to keep China fighting, in order to deter a Japanese invasion of Siberia and save itself from a two-front war . In September 1937, they signed the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and approved Operation Zet , the formation of a secret Soviet volunteer air force , in which Soviet technicians upgraded and ran some of China's transportation systems. Bombers , fighters , supplies and advisors arrived, including Soviet general Vasily Chuikov , future victor in the Battle of Stalingrad . Prior to the Western Allies, the Soviets provided the most foreign aid to China: some $250 million in credits for munitions and other supplies. In April 1941, Soviet aid ended with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War . This pact enabled the Soviet Union to avoid fighting against Germany and Japan at the same time. In August 1945, the Soviet Union annulled the neutrality pact with Japan and invaded Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, the Kuril Islands, and northern Korea. The Soviets also continued to support the Chinese Communist Party . In total, 3,665 Soviet advisors and pilots served in China,[101] and 227 of them died fighting there.[102]
From December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS Panay and the Nanking Massacre swung public opinion in the West sharply against Japan and increased their fear of Japanese expansion, which prompted the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to provide loan assistance for war supply contracts to China . Australia also prevented a Japanese government-owned company from taking over an iron mine in Australia, and banned iron ore exports in 1938.[103] However, in July 1939, negotiations between Japanese Foreign Minister Arita Khatira and the British Ambassador in Tokyo, Robert Craigie , led to an agreement by which Great Britain recognized Japanese conquests in China. At the same time, the US government extended a trade agreement with Japan for six months, then fully restored it. Under the agreement, Japan purchased trucks for the Kwantung Army,[104] machine tools for aircraft factories, strategic materials (steel and scrap iron up to October 16, 1940, petrol and petroleum products up to June 26, 1941),[105] and various other much-needed supplies.
A "blood chit " issued to American Volunteer Group pilots requesting all Chinese to offer rescue and protectionJapan invaded and occupied the northern part of French Indochina (present-day Vietnam , Laos , Cambodia ) in September 1940 to prevent China from receiving the 10,000 tons of materials delivered monthly by the Allies via the Haiphong–Yunnan Fou Railway line.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union . In spite of non-aggression pacts or trade connections, Hitler 's assault threw the world into a frenzy of re-aligning political outlooks and strategic prospects.
On July 21, Japan occupied the southern part of French Indochina (southern Vietnam and Cambodia), contravening a 1940 "gentlemen's agreement " not to move into southern French Indochina. From bases in Cambodia and southern Vietnam, Japanese planes could attack Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies. As the Japanese occupation of northern French Indochina in 1940 had already cut off supplies from the West to China, the move into southern French Indochina was viewed as a direct threat to British and Dutch colonies. Many principal figures in the Japanese government and military (particularly the navy) were against the move, as they foresaw that it would invite retaliation from the West.
Free Thai , American and Chinese military officers in China during the warOn July 24, 1941, Roosevelt requested Japan withdraw all its forces from Indochina. Two days later the USA and the UK began an oil embargo; two days after that the Netherlands joined them. This was a decisive moment in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The loss of oil imports made it impossible for Japan to continue operations in China on a long term basis. It set the stage for Japan to launch a series of military attacks against the Allies, including the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
US Air Forces video: Flying Tigers Bite BackIn mid-1941, the United States government financed the creation of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), or Flying Tigers , to replace the withdrawn Soviet volunteers and aircraft. Contrary to popular perception, the Flying Tigers did not enter actual combat until after the United States had declared war on Japan. Led by Claire Lee Chennault , their early combat success of 300 kills against a loss of 12 of their newly introduced shark painted P-40 fighters heavily armed with 6X50 caliber machine guns and very fast diving speeds earned them wide recognition at a time when the Chinese Air Force and Allies in the Pacific and SE Asia were suffering heavy losses, and soon afterwards their "boom and zoom" high-speed hit-and-run dissimilar air combat tactics would be adopted by the United States Army Air Forces .[106]
The Sino-American Cooperative Organization [107] [108] [109] was an organization created by the SACO Treaty signed by the Republic of China and the United States of America in 1942 that established a mutual intelligence gathering entity in China between the respective nations against Japan. It operated in China jointly along with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), America's first intelligence agency and forerunner of the CIA while also serving as joint training program between the two nations. Among all the wartime missions that Americans set up in China, SACO was the only one that adopted a policy of "total immersion" with the Chinese. The "Rice Paddy Navy" or "What-the-Hell Gang" operated in the China-Burma-India theater, advising and training, forecasting weather and scouting landing areas for USN fleet and Gen Claire Chennault's 14th AF, rescuing downed American flyers, and intercepting Japanese radio traffic. An underlying mission objective during the last year of war was the development and preparation of the China coast for Allied penetration and occupation. The Foochow (Fujian Province) was scouted as a potential staging area and springboard for the future military landing of Allies of World War II to Japan.
A British-Australian commando operation, Mission 204 , was initialized in February 1942 to provide training to Chinese guerrilla troops. Commandos working with the Free Thai Movement also operated in China, mostly while on their way into Thailand .[110]
The Japanese recorded around 1.1 to 1.9 million military casualties during all of World War II (which include killed, wounded and missing). The official death toll of Japanese men killed in China, according to the Japan Defense Ministry, is 480,000. Based on the investigation of the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun , the military death toll of Japan in China is about 700,000 since 1937 (excluding the death in Manchuria).[19]
Another source from Hilary Conroy claim that a total of 447,000 Japanese soldiers died in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Of the 1,130,000 Imperial Japanese Army soldiers who died during World War II, 39 percent died in China.[165]
Then in War Without Mercy , John W. Dower claim that a total of 396,000 Japanese soldiers died in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Of this number, the Imperial Japanese Army lost 388,605 soldiers and the Imperial Japanese Navy lost 8,000 soldiers. Another 54,000 soldiers also died after the war had ended, mostly from illness and starvation.[165] Of the 1,740,955 Japanese soldiers who died during World War II, 22 percent died in China.[166]
Japanese statistics, however, lack complete estimates for the wounded. From 1937 to 1941, 185,647 Japanese soldiers were killed in China and 520,000 were wounded. Disease also incurred critical losses on Japanese forces. From 1937 to 1941, 430,000 Japanese soldiers were recorded as being sick. In North China alone, 18,000 soldiers were evacuated back to Japan for illnesses in 1938, 23,000 in 1939, and 15,000 in 1940.[166] [a] From 1941 to 1945: 202,958 dead; another 54,000 dead after war's end. Chinese forces also report that by May 1945, 22,293 Japanese soldiers were captured as prisoners. Many more Japanese soldiers surrendered when the war ended.[165] [166]
Contemporary studies from the Beijing Central Compilation and Translation Press have revealed that the Japanese suffered a total of 2,227,200 casualties, including 1,055,000 dead and 1,172,341 injured. This Chinese publication analyses statistics provided by Japanese publications and claimed these numbers were largely based on Japanese publications.[22]
Both Nationalist and Communist Chinese sources report that their respective forces were responsible for the deaths of over 1.7 million Japanese soldiers.[21] Nationalist War Minister He Yingqin himself contested the Communist's claim, finding it impossible for a force of "untrained, undisciplined, poorly equipped" guerrillas of Communist forces to have killed so many enemy soldiers.[167]
The National Chinese authorities ridiculed Japanese estimates of Chinese casualties. In 1940, the National Herald stated that the Japanese exaggerated Chinese casualties, while deliberately concealing the true amount of Japanese casualties, releasing false figures that made them appear lower. The article reports on the casualty situation of the war up to 1940.[168] [169] [170]