1.
Hundred Regiments Offensive (film)
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It was released in China on August 28,2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japans surrender. Tao Zeru as Peng Dehuai, Deputy Commander of the Eighth Route Army, liu Zhibing as Zuo Quan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Eighth Route Army. Yin Xiaotian as Yao Shangwu, a soldier in Zhang Zizhongs army, at last, wu Yue as Liang Shan, a female soldier in the Eighth Route Army. Tang Guoqiang as Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Military Commission Wang Wufu as Zhu De, Deng Chao as Zhang Zizhong, a general of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army. Ma Xiaowei as Chiang Kai-shek, Generalissimo of the Republic of China, yasuyuki Hirata as Hayao Tada, Commander of the Japanese Imperial Army. Zhang Hongsen, Director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and this film was shot in Liaoning and Hebei. On June 13,2015, Deng Chao was cast as Zhang Zizhong during filming in Zhuzhou, principal photography started in April 2015 and wrapped in June 2015. The film was released in China on August 28,2015, the film has so far grossed over ￥240 million in China. Hundred Regiments Offensive at Douban Hundred Regiments Offensive at the Mtime
2.
Second Sino-Japanese War
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The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7,1937 to September 9,1945. The First Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1894 to 1895, China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War. Many scholars consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to have been the beginning of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to access to raw material reserves, food. The period after World War One brought about increasing stress on the Japanese polity, leftists sought universal suffrage and greater rights for workers. Increasing textile production from Chinese mills was adversely affecting Japanese production, the Depression brought about a large slowdown in exports. All of this contributed to militant nationalism, culminating in the rise to power of a militarist fascist faction and this faction was led at its height by the Imperial Rule Assistance Associations Hideki Tojo cabinet under the edict from Emperor Shōwa. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, the last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is traditionally seen as the beginning of total war between the two countries. Since 2017 the Chinese Government has regarded the invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931, initially the Japanese scored major victories, such as the Battle of Shanghai, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior, by 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japans lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, on December 7,1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States began to aid China via airlift matériel over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road, in 1944 Japan launched the invasion, Operation Ichi-Go, that conquered Henan and Changsha. However, this failed to bring about the surrender of Chinese forces, in 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. At the same time, China launched large counteroffensives in South China and retook the west Hunan, the remaining Japanese occupation forces formally surrendered on September 9,1945 with the following International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened on April 29,1946. China was recognized as one of the Big Four of Allies during the war, in the Chinese language, the war is most commonly known as the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also known as the Eight Years War of Resistance, simply War of Resistance. It is also referred to as part of the Global Anti-Fascist War, which is how World War 2 is perceived by the Communist Party of China, in Japan, nowadays, the name Japan–China War is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. In Japan today, it is written as 日中戦争 in shinjitai, the word incident was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war
3.
Flag of the Republic of China
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The flag of the Republic of China is red with a navy blue canton bearing a white sun with twelve triangular rays. In Chinese, the flag is described as Blue Sky, White Sun. It was first used in mainland China by the Kuomintang in 1917 and was made the flag of the Republic of China in 1928. It was enshrined in the article of the Constitution of the Republic of China when it was promulgated in 1947. As the islands of Taiwan and Penghu had been under Japanese rule since 1895, the flag is now mostly used within Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other outlying islands where the ROC relocated in 1949 after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War. The Republic of China is often referred to as Taiwan since withdrawing from the United Nations in 1971, the canton originated from the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag designed by Lu Haodong, a martyr of the Xinhai Revolution. He presented his design to represent the army at the inauguration of the Society for Regenerating China. This design was adopted as the KMT party flag and the Coat of Arms of the Republic of China. The red Earth portion was added by Sun Yat-sen in winter of 1906, during the Wuchang Uprising in 1911 that heralded the Republic, the various revolutionary armies had different flags. Lu Hao-tungs Blue Sky with a White Sun flag was used in the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, in Wuhan, a flag with 18 yellow stars was used to represent the 18 administrative divisions at the time. In Shanghai and northern China, a Five-Colored Flag was used of five horizontal stripes representing the five nationalities of China, the Han, the Manchu, the Mongol, the Hui. When the government of the Republic of China was established on January 1,1912, the 18-Star Flag was adopted by the army and the modern flag was adopted as a naval ensign. Sun Yat-sen, however, did not consider the five-colored flag appropriate and he continued using this design when the KMT established a rival government in Guangzhou in 1917. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the invading Japanese established a variety of puppet governments using several flag designs, the Reform Government established in March 1938 in Nanjing to consolidate the various puppet governments employed the Five-Colored Flag. However, the Japanese preferred the Five-Colored flag, as a compromise, the Japanese suggested adding a triangular yellow pennant on top with the slogan Peace, Anti-Communism, National Construction in black, but this was rejected by Wang. The flag was specified in Article Six of the 1947 Constitution, after the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the government of Chiang Kai-shek relocated to the island of Taiwan and continued the Republic of China. On the mainland, the communist forces of Mao Zedong established the Peoples Republic of China and adopted their own national flag. While the public display of the ROC flag declared illegal in the PRC, Sun Yat-sen added the Red Earth to the flag to signify the blood of the revolutionaries who sacrificed themselves in order to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and create the ROC
4.
North China
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Northern China or North China is a geographical region of China. The heartland of North China is the North China Plain, or the Yellow River Plain, North China is usually restricted to the northern part of China proper (inner China and excludes Xinjiang and often Manchuria and the Northeast China. The vast region in China from the Yellow River Valley south to the Yangtze River was the centre of Chinese empires, in prehistory and early history, the plain is considered the origin of Chinese civilization in official Chinese history. The region cultivated wheat, and most speak Northern Chinese, which includes Beijing dialect, which is largely the basis of Standard Chinese, jin Chinese and Mongolian are also widely spoken. The region remains the political, military, and cultural center of the PRC, in prehistory, the region was home to the Yangshao and Longshan cultures. Peking man was found near modern-day Beijing, North China Plain Northeast China East China Northern and southern China
5.
Communist Party of China
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The Communist Party of China is the founding and ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. It was founded in 1921, chiefly by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the CPC is currently the worlds second largest political party with a membership of 88.76 million as of 2016. It also controls the worlds largest armed force, the Peoples Liberation Army, the highest body of the CPC is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. The partys leader holds the offices of General Secretary, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, through these posts the party leader is the countrys paramount leader. The current party leader is Xi Jinping, elected at the 18th National Congress, the CPC is still committed to communist thought and continues to participate in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties each year. The official explanation for Chinas economic reforms is that the country is in the stage of socialism. The planned economy established under Mao Zedong was replaced by the socialist market economy, the CPC has its origins in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, during which radical ideologies like Marxism and anarchism gained traction among Chinese intellectuals. Other influences stemming from the Bolshevik revolution and Marxist theory inspired the Communist Party of China, Li Dazhao was the first leading Chinese intellectual who publicly supported Leninism and world revolution. In contrast to Chen Duxiu, Li did not renounce participation in the affairs of the Republic of China, both of them regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere. The CPC was modeled on Vladimir Lenins theory of a vanguard party, Study circles were, according to Cai Hesen, the rudiments. Several study circles were established during the New Culture Movement, the founding National Congress of the CPC was held on 23–31 July 1921. With only 50 members in the beginning of 1921, the CPC organization, while it was originally planned to be held in Shanghai French Concession, police officers interrupted the meeting on 3 July. Because of that, the congress was moved to a tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, only 12 delegates attended the congress, with neither Li nor Chen being able to attend. Chen sent a representative to attend the congress. The resolutions of the called for the establishment of a communist party. The communists dominated the left wing of the KMT, a party organized on Leninist lines, when KMT leader Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, Chiang Kai-shek, who initiated moves to marginalize the position of the communists. Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek turned on the communists, ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by communist militias. Although the communists welcomed Chiangs arrival, he turned on them, Chiangs army then marched on Wuhan, but was prevented from taking the city by CPC General Ye Ting and his troops
6.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
7.
Peng Dehuai
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Peng Dehuai was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, and served as Chinas Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. When he was sixteen, Peng became a professional soldier, over the next ten years Peng served in the armies of several Hunan-based warlord armies, raising himself from the rank of private second class to major. In 1926 Pengs forces joined the Kuomintang, and Peng was first introduced to communism, Peng participated in the Northern Expedition, and supported Wang Jingweis attempt to form a left-leaning Kuomintang government based in Wuhan. After Wang was defeated, Peng briefly rejoined Chiang Kai-sheks forces before joining the Chinese Communist Party, allying himself with Mao Zedong and Zhu De. Peng was one of the most senior generals who defended the Jiangxi Soviet from Chiangs attempts to capture it, Peng participated in the Long March, and supported Mao Zedong at the Zunyi Conference, which was critical to Maos rise to power. Peng was the commander in the combined Kuomintang-Communist efforts to resist the Japanese occupation of Shanxi in 1937. In 1940, Peng conducted the Hundred Regiments Offensive, a massive Communist effort to disrupt Japanese logistical networks across northern China, after the Japanese surrendered, in 1945, Peng was given command of Communist forces in Northwest China. He was the most senior commander responsible for defending the Communist leadership in Shaanxi from Kuomintang forces, the rivalry between Peng and Mao culminated in an open confrontation between the two at the 1959 Lushan Conference. Mao won this confrontation, labeled Peng as a leader of an anti-Party clique, Peng lived in virtual obscurity until 1965, when the reformers Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping supported Pengs limited return to government, developing military industries in Southwest China. In 1966, following the advent of the Cultural Revolution, Peng was arrested by Red Guards, in 1970 Peng was formally tried and sentenced to life imprisonment, and he died in prison in 1974. After Mao died in 1976, Pengs old ally, Deng Xiaoping, Deng led an effort to formally rehabilitate people who had been unjustly persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, and Peng was one of the first leaders to be posthumously rehabilitated, in 1978. In modern China, Peng is considered one of the most successful, Peng was born in 1898 in the village of Shixiang, Xiangtan County, Hunan. His personal name at birth was Dehua, Pengs family lived in a thatched-straw hut and owned approximately 1.5 acres of irrigated land, on which the family grew bamboo, sweet potatoes, tea, cotton, and various vegetables. His father also operated a bean curd shop, the income from the land and shop supported an extended family of eight people, including Peng, his three brothers, his parents, his grandmother, and a grand-uncle. Peng later described his own background as lower-middle peasant. From 1905–1907, Peng was enrolled in a traditional Confucian primary school, in 1908 Peng attended a modern primary school, but, at the age of ten, was forced to withdraw from this school due to his familys deteriorating financial situation. In 1905–1906, there was a drought in Hunan. Pengs mother died in 1905, and Pengs six-month-old brother died of hunger, Pengs father was forced to sell most of his family possessions for food, and to pawn most of his familys land
8.
Zhu De
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Zhu De was a Chinese general, warlord, politician, revolutionary, and one of the pioneers of the Communist Party of China. Born poor in 1886 in Sichuan, Zhu was adopted by an uncle at age nine. After his time at the academy, he joined a rebel army and it was after this period that he adopted communism. He ascended through the ranks of the Red Army as it closed in on securing the nation, by the time China was under Maos control, Zhu was a high-ranking official within the Communist Party of China. He served as Commander-in-Chief during the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1955, Zhu became one of the Ten Marshals of the Peoples Liberation Army, of which he is regarded as the principal founder. Zhu remained a prominent political figure until his death in 1976, as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress from 1975 to 1976, Zhu was the head of state of the Peoples Republic of China. Zhu was born on December 18,1886, to a tenant farmers family in Hung, a town in Yilong County. Of the fifteen children born to the only eight survived. His family relocated to Sichuan during the migration from Hunan province and his origins are often given as Hakka, but Agnes Smedleys biography of him says his people came from Guangdong and speaks of Hakka as merely associates of his. She also says that older generations of his family had spoken the Kwangtung dialect (which would be close to, and that his generation also spoke the Szechwan dialect, Sichuanese, a distinct regional variant of Southwest Mandarin that is unintelligible to other speakers of Standard Chinese. In spite of the poverty, by pooling resources, Zhu was chosen to be sent to a regional private school in 1892. At age nine, Zhu was adopted by his prosperous uncle, before the suspension of imperial examinations in 1906, he attained the rank of Xiucai, which allowed him to qualify as a civil servant. He enrolled in a Sichuan high school around 1907, and graduated in 1908, subsequently, he returned to Yilongs primary school as a gym instructor. There, he joined the Beiyang Army and the Tongmenghui secret political society and it was at the Yunnan Military Academy in Kunming, that Zhu first met Cai E. He taught at the Academy after his graduation in July 1911, siding with the revolutionary forces after the Chinese Revolution, he joined Brigadier Cai E in the October 1911 expeditionary force that marched on Qing forces in Sichuan. He served as a commander in the campaign to unseat Yuan Shikai in 1915-16. When Cai became governor of Sichuan after Yuans death in June 1916, following the death of his mentor Cai E and of his first wife, Zhu developed a severe opium habit that afflicted him until 1922, when he underwent treatment in Shanghai. His troops continued to him, and so he consolidated his forces to become a warlord
9.
Hayao Tada
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Hayao Tada was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. A native of Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, Tada graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903 and he served in the artillery during the Russo-Japanese War. Tada graduated from the 25th class of the Army War College in 1913 and he served as an instructor to the Chinese Army at the Beijing Military Academy from 1926-1927. After returning to Japan, he served as an instructor at the Army War College from 1927–1928 and he was promoted to Chief of staff of the IJA 16th Division in 1930. Tada returned to the Beijing Military Academy from 1931-1932, from 1932-1934, Tada was Chief Military Advisor to the Empire of Manchukuo. For a time he had as a mistress Princess Aisin Gioro Xianyu, from 1 August 1935 –1 May 1936 Tada served as commander in chief of the China Garrison Army. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Tada assumed command of the IJA 11th Division, however, he was recalled to Japan on 14 August 1937 to become Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. He concurrently held the post of Commandant of the Army Staff College, after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Tada attempted to contact Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek to defuse tensions between Japan and China. Tada returned to China on 10 December 1938 as commander of the Japanese Third Army, on 12 September 1939, he was promoted to commander in chief of the North China Area Army. Tada was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite, 2nd class in July 1941 and he retired from active military service two months later. After the end of the war, Tada was arrested by the SCAP occupation authorities and was held for trial for alleged “Class A” war crimes and he died in prison on 16 December 1948, before the end of the trial. It was revealed a week after his death that he was scheduled to have released without charges being pressed. The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-41, From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, the Generals of World War II
10.
8th Route Army
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Together with the New Fourth Army, the Eighth Route Army formed the main Communist fighting force during the war and was commanded by Communist party leader Mao Zedong and general Zhu De. Though officially designated the 18th Group Army by the Nationalists, the unit was referred to by the Chinese Communists, the unit was renamed the Peoples Liberation Army in 1947, after the end of World War II, as the Chinese Communists and Nationalists resumed the Chinese Civil War. The Eighth Route Army consisted of three divisions, during World War II, the Eighth Route Army operated mostly in North China, infiltrating behind Japanese lines, to establish guerrilla bases in rural and remote areas. The main units of the Eighth Route Army were aided by local militias organized from the peasantry, the Communist Partys liaison offices in cities under Nationalist control such as Chongqing, Guilin and Dihua that were called Eighth Route Army Offices. Ethnic Koreans who fought in the Eight Route Army later joined the Korean Peoples Army, norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor and communist, served with the Eighth Route Army. Peoples Liberation Army Guerrilla National Revolutionary Army
11.
Collaborationist Chinese Army
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The term Collaborationist Chinese Army refers to the military forces of the puppet governments founded by Imperial Japan in mainland China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. They most notably include the armies of the Provisional Government, Reformed Government and those forces were also commonly known as puppet troops but went under different names during their history, such as Nanjing Government Army. In total, all forces in China combined had a total of around one million men by the end of the war in 1945. Originally, the Japanese did not allow Wang Kemins Provisional Government of the Republic of China to have an army of its own and instead relied on a police force of 5,000 men for security. In May 1938 steps were taken towards forming an army for his government by opening a military academy in Beijing. In February 1939, a Training School was opened for non-commissioned officers with one thousand cadets undergoing a six-month course, along with graduates of the academies, who were given the rank of lieutenant or second lieutenant, there were also former Nationalist and warlord officers. In addition, there was also a 400-man bodyguard unit for Wang, in December 1938, Pacification Minister Ren Yuandao announced that the army consisted of 10,000 troops. The year-long training course was given by Japanese officers, however, their training was cut short as the expanded army, which numbered 30,000 men by November 1939, needed officers. Its quality was low, as reports indicated that Reformed Government troops fled from guerillas that they engaged and it was commanded by Vice Admiral Xu Jianding, the former commander of the Nationalist navys Yangtze Squadron. A water police training school was established with 150 cadets trained by 30 Japanese and 30 Chinese instructors, however, it had few vessels to carry out its duty with. During its existence, the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China fielded a force that was estimated by Western sources to have been between 300,000 to 500,000 strong. Wang Jingwei initially planned to raise a force of twelve divisions under his personal command, all military matters were theoretically managed by the Central Military Commission, but in reality the body was largely symbolic and had little authority. The Nanjing Army commanders were able to operate without interference from Wangs government. In the Japan–China Military Affairs Agreement signed by Japan and the Reorganized National Government and they were provided with mostly captured Nationalist equipment along with small amounts of Japanese weapons. The main type of artillery in use by the Nanjing Army were medium mortars, the Japanese provided 18 Type 94 tankettes in 1941 so that the Wang Jingwei regime would have at least a token armored force. Records indicate that the Nanjing Army was also given 20 armored cars and 24 motorcycles, since there were few factories in the Nanjing Governments territory, it had to rely on weapons captured from Nationalist troops and those provided by Japan. Due to this the quality and quantity of arms used by the Nanjing Army varied greatly. Two of the most widely used rifles were the Mauser 98k, in 1941 the Japanese sold some 15,000 captured Mannlicher rifles and 30,000 new Arisaka rifles which were issued to the best Nanjing Army units
12.
Mukden Incident
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The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China, known as Manchuria. On September 18,1931, Lt. Suemori Kawamoto detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a line owned by Japans South Manchuria Railway near Mukden. The ruse of war was soon exposed by the Lytton Report of 1932, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations. The bombing act is known as the Liutiaohu Incident, and the episode of events is known in Japan as the Manchurian Incident. Japanese economic presence and political interest in Manchuria had been growing ever since the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the war had granted Japan the lease of the South Manchuria Railway branch of the China Far East Railway. This included absolute and exclusive administration within the South Manchuria Railway Zone, there were many reports of raids on local Chinese villages by bored Japanese soldiers, and all complaints from the Chinese government were ignored. In Nanjing in April 1931, a leadership conference of the Republic of China was held between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang. They agreed to assert Chinas sovereignty in Manchuria strongly, Itagaki and Ishiwara chose to sabotage the rail section in an area near Liutiao Lake. The alleged Japanese plan was to attract Chinese troops by an explosion, the Japanese press labeled the site Liǔtiáo Ditch or Liǔtiáo Bridge, when in reality, the site was a small railway section laid on an area of flat land. The choice to place the explosives at this site was to preclude the extensive rebuilding that would have been necessitated had the site actually been a railway bridge. Colonel Seishirō Itagaki, Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara, Colonel Kenji Doihara, at around 10,20 PM, September 18, the explosives were detonated. However, the explosion was minor and only a 1. 5-meter section on one side of the rail was damaged, in fact, a train from Changchun passed by the site on this damaged track without difficulty and arrived at Shenyang at 10,30 PM. On the morning of the day, two artillery pieces installed at the Mukden officers club opened fire on the Chinese garrison nearby. Zhang Xueliangs small air force was destroyed, and his soldiers fled their destroyed Beidaying barracks, the Chinese troops were no match for the experienced Japanese troops. By the evening, the fighting was over, and the Japanese had occupied Mukden at the cost of five hundred Chinese lives, honjō moved the Kwantung Army headquarters to Mukden and ordered General Senjurō Hayashi of the Chosen Army of Japan in Korea to send in reinforcements. At 04,00 on 19 September, Mukden was declared secure, therefore, the Japanese soldiers proceeded to occupy and garrison the major cities of Changchun and Antung and their surrounding areas with minimal difficulty. Despite this resistance, within five months of the Mukden Incident, the Imperial Japanese Army had overrun all major towns and cities in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. Chinese public opinion strongly criticized Zhang Xueliang for his non-resistance to the Japanese invasion, while the Japanese presented a legitimate threat, the Kuomintang focused their efforts mainly on eradicating the communist party
13.
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
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The Japanese invasion of Manchuria began on September 18,1931, when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident. The Japanese established a state called Manchukuo, and their occupation lasted until the end of World War II. The Chinese-Japanese dispute in July 1931 was followed by the Mukden Incident, the same day as the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, which had decided upon a policy of localizing the incident, communicated its decision to the Kwantung Army command. However, Kwantung Army commander-in-chief General Shigeru Honjō instead ordered his forces to proceed to expand all along the South Manchurian Railway. Between September 20 and September 25, Japanese forces took Hsiungyueh, Changtu, Liaoyang, Tungliao, Tiaonan, Kirin, Chiaoho, Huangkutun and this effectively secured control of Liaoning and Kirin provinces and the main line of rail communications to Korea. Tokyo was shocked by the news of the Army acting without orders from the central government, during this era, the elected government could be held hostage by the Army and Navy, since Army and Navy members were constitutionally necessary for the formation of cabinets. Without their support, the government would collapse, after the Liaoning Provincial government fled Mukden, it was replaced by a Peoples Preservation Committee which declared the secession of Liaoning province from the Republic of China. Other secessionist movements were organized in Japanese-occupied Kirin by General Xi Qia head of the New Kirin Army, on October 13, General Chang Hai-peng ordered three regiments of the Hsingan Reclamation Army under General Xu Jinglong north to take the capital of Heilongjiang province at Tsitsihar. Some elements in the city offered to surrender the old walled town. However his advance guard was attacked by General Dou Lianfangs troops, during this fight the Nenjiang railroad bridge was dynamited by troops loyal to General Ma Zhanshan to prevent its use. Using the repair of the Nen River Bridge as the pretext, despite his failure to hold the bridge, General Ma Zhanshan became a national hero in China for his resistance at Nenjiang Bridge, which was widely reported in the Chinese and international press. The publicity inspired more volunteers to enlist in the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies, the repaired bridge made possible the further advance of Japanese forces and their armored trains. Additional troops from Japan, notably the 4th Mixed Brigade from the 8th Division, were sent in November, on November 15,1931, despite having lost more than 400 men and 300 left wounded since November 5, General Ma declined a Japanese ultimatum to surrender Tsitsihar. On November 17, in weather,3,500 Japanese troops, under the command of General Jirō Tamon, mounted an attack. In late November 1931, General Honjō dispatched 10,000 soldiers in 13 armored trains, escorted by a squadron of bombers and this force had advanced to within 30 kilometres of Chinchow, when it received an order to withdraw. However, the two failed to reach a lasting agreement. The Wakatsuki government soon fell and was replaced by a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi, further negotiations with the Kuomintang government failed, the Japanese government authorized the reinforcement of troops in Manchuria. The total strength of the Kwantung Army was thus increased to around 60,450 men, on December 28, a new government was formed in China after all members of the old Nanjing government resigned
14.
Jiangqiao Campaign
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After the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Kwantung Army quickly overran the provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, occupying major cities and railways. At that time, the Chairman Wan Fulin of Heilongjiang Province was in Beijing, leaving the provincial government leaderless, General Ma Zhanshan arrived in the capital Qiqihar on October 19 and took office the next day. This bridge had been dynamited earlier by Mas forces during the fighting against pro-Japanese collaborationist forces of General Zhang Haipeng, a repair crew, guarded by 800 Japanese soldiers, went to work on 4 November 1931, but fighting soon erupted with the 2,500 Chinese troops nearby. Each side charged the other with opening fire without provocation, the skirmish continued for over three hours, until the Japanese drove General Mas troops off toward Qiqihar. Later General Ma Zhanshan returned to counterattack with a larger force. Japanese Major General Shogo Hasebe, had the river on his left. Wide swamplands made the Japanese left wing impregnable, forcing Ma to concentrate his cavalry against the exposed Japanese right wing, although dislodging the Japanese from their advance positions, Ma was unable to recapture the bridge, which the Japanese continued to repair. Ma was eventually forced to withdraw his troops in the face of Japanese tanks, Ma became a national hero for his resistance to the Japanese which was widely reported in the Chinese and international press. The publicity inspired more volunteers to enlist in the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies, on November 15,1931, despite having lost more than 400 killed and 300 wounded since November 5, General Ma declined a Japanese ultimatum to surrender Qiqihar. Japanese cavalry charged down the Chinese front line cutting a swath into which Japanese infantry followed, Mas right flank held at first. The Chinese cavalry tried to encircle the Japanese right flank, but were stopped by Japanese artillery, the superior Japanese firepower turned the battle. Chinese units broke and fled across the frozen steppes, on November 18, Ma evacuated Qiqihar. By November 19, he led his troops to the east to defend Baiquan and his forces had suffered serious casualties and their strength was now much reduced. However once Ma was forced to retire up the Nonni River valley, he managed to regroup his forces, Japanese troops attempting to press Mas men further up the Nonni River towards Koshen in the cold suffered large casualties on several occasions. At the same time the Japanese began their occupation of Qiqihar, at Mukden and Kirin the Japanese had already established collaborationist Chinese governments. At Qiqihar they established another government under pro-Japanese General Zhang Jinghui, japan also secured control of the central section of the Chinese Eastern Railway, however, the eastern section was still under the control of General Ting Chao in Harbin. Second Sino-Japanese War Mukden Incident Coogan, Anthony, northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front. The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932
15.
Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge
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It marked the start of the Jiangqiao Campaign. This bridge had been dynamited earlier by Mas forces during the fighting against the pro-Japanese collaborationist forces of General Chang Hai-Peng, a repair crew, guarded by 800 Japanese soldiers, went to work on 4 November 1931. Nearby were 2,500 Chinese troops under General Ma Zhanshan, each side charged the other with opening fire without provocation. The Japanese claimed the Chinese opened fire using rifles and machine guns late in the day during a fog when Japanese troops started across the span, the Japanese retaliated and the skirmish continued for over three hours. Only 15 Japanese were reported killed and 120 Chinese, as the Japanese advanced, later General Ma Zhanshan returned to counterattack with a much larger force. Although dislodging the Japanese from their positions, he was unable to recapture the bridge. Ma was eventually forced to withdraw his troops in the face of Japanese tanks, the repaired bridge made possible the further advance of Japanese forces and their armored trains. Despite his failure to hold the bridge, General Ma Zhanshan became a hero in China for his resistance at Nenjiang Bridge. The publicity inspired more volunteers to enlist in the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies, although often led by army officers and with numbers of former regular troops among their ranks, most volunteers had no previous military experience. These irregular armies were to become the main anti-Japanese force in northeast China during 1932. Jiangqiao Campaign Japanese invasion of Manchuria Coogan, Anthony, northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front. The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932, two War Lords, TIME Magazine, Nov.16,1931 NONNI RIVER BRIDGE The volunteer armies of northeast China
16.
Jinzhou Operation
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The Jinzhou Operation was an operation in 1931 during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which was a preliminary, contributing factor to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. This force advanced to within 30 kilometers of Chinchow when it received an order to withdraw, however the two sides failed to reach a lasting agreement. The Wakatsuki government soon fell and was replaced by a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai, further negotiations with the Kuomintang government failing, the Japanese government approved an increase in the military forces in Manchuria. Following the defeat of General Ma Zhanshan in Heilongjiang province, and in anticipation of reinforcements, General Honjo insisted that his troops were moving out to clear the country of bandits, and added that the Chinese evacuation of Chinchow was absolutely imperative. The Japanese estimated the Chinese at Jinzhou had 84,000 defenders, the Chinese first defensive line,20 miles north of the city, was a series of trenches aimed to stop the Japanese advance at the Taling River Bridge on the Peiping-Mukden Railway. The Chinese had a line of earthworks and entrenchments completely encircling Jinzhou to fall back on if the Japanese forces broke through the first line. Japanese Lieutenant General Jirō Tamons troops cautiously advanced south from Mukden, the temperature was 30 below zero, and Japanese forces were camouflaged in white. Japanese reconnaissance aircraft reported a force of at least 3,000 Chinese bandits waiting to defend Panshan County. Brushing aside these Chinese skirmishers in a series of clashes, Tamon prepared to meet and crush the first serious Chinese resistance. By the evening of December 31,1931, the Japanese advance guard was fifteen kilometers from Jinzhou on the banks of the Taling river, General Tamon halted briefly to bring up the rest of his 2nd Division, for the final drive on Jinzhou. Japanese forces occupied Jinzhou on January 3,1932, with the local populace waving Japanese flags homemade during the night to appease the conquerors, on the Chinese side confusion reigned. The old government of Chiang Kai-shek at Nanjing had resigned and a new one under Premier Sun Fo had been formed, additionally, Marshal Zhang Xueliangs defenders were in disorderly retreat toward the Great Wall, leaving only a small garrison to protect the few government functionaries who remained behind. Nine Chinese generals in various parts of China denounced Premier Sun Fos new government, the day after the fall of Jinzhou, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied Shanhaiguan, thus completing its military control over south Manchuria. Japanese invasion of Manchuria Pacification of Manchukuo Coogan, Anthony, northeast China and the Origins of the Anti-Japanese United Front. The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932, strong Policy From the Dec.28,1931 issue of TIME magazine The Charleston Gazette Friday Morning, January 1,1932. 4,1932 Jaunting Juggernaut Fun & Blood From the Jan,11,1932 issue of TIME magazine
17.
January 28 Incident
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The January 28 Incident or Shanghai Incident was a conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, before official hostilities of the Second Sino-Japanese War commenced in 1937. In Chinese literature it is known as the January 28 Incident, after the Mukden Incident, Japan had acquired the vast northeastern region of China and would eventually establish the puppet government of Manchukuo. However, the Japanese military planned to increase Japanese influence further, especially into Shanghai where Japan, in order to provide a casus belli to justify further military action in China, the Japanese military instigated seemingly anti-Japanese incidents. On January 18, five Japanese Buddhist monks, members of an ardently nationalist sect, were beaten near Shanghais Sanyou Factory by agitated Chinese civilians, two were seriously injured, and one died. Over the next few hours, a burnt down the factory. One policeman was killed and several more hurt when they arrived to quell the disorder, the situation continued to deteriorate over the next week. The militarys justification was that it had to defend its concession, during the afternoon of January 28, the Shanghai Municipal Council agreed to these demands. Throughout this period, the Chinese 19th Route Army had been massing outside the city, causing consternation to the civil Chinese administration of Shanghai and the foreign-run Concessions. The 19th Route Army was generally viewed as more than a warlord force. In the end, Shanghai donated a substantial bribe to the 19th Route Army, hoping that it would leave, however, at midnight on January 28, Japanese carrier aircraft bombed Shanghai in the first major aircraft carrier action in East Asia. In what was a surprising about-face for many, the 19th Route Army, though the opening battles took place in the Hongkew district of the International Settlement, the conflict soon spread outwards to much of Chinese-controlled Shanghai. The majority of the Concessions remained untouched by the conflict and it was often the case that those in the Shanghai International Settlement would watch the war from the banks of Suzhou Creek and they could even visit the battle lines by virtue of their extraterritoriality. On January 30, Chiang Kai-shek decided to relocate the capital from Nanjing to Luoyang as an emergency measure. However, Japan refused, instead continuing to mobilize troops in the region, on February 12, American, British and French representatives brokered a half-day cease fire for humanitarian relief to civilians caught in the crossfire. The same day, the Japanese issued another ultimatum, demanding that the Chinese Army retreat 20 km from the border of Shanghai Concessions and this only intensified fighting in Hongkew. The Japanese were unable to take the city by the middle of February, subsequently, the number of Japanese troops was increased to nearly 90,000 with the arrival of the 9th Infantry Division and the IJA 24th Mixed Brigade, supported by 80 warships and 300 airplanes. On February 14, Chiang Kai-shek sent his 5th Army, including his 87th and 88th divisions, on February 20, Japanese bombardments were increased to force the Chinese away from their defensive positions near Miaohang, while commercial and residential districts of the city were set on fire. The Chinese defensive positions deteriorated rapidly without naval and armored support, Japanese forces increased to over a 100,000 troops, backed by aerial and naval bombardments
18.
Pacification of Manchukuo
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The operations were carried out by the Imperial Japanese Kwantung Army and the collaborationist forces of the Manchukuo government from March 1932 until 1942, and resulted in a Japanese victory. The provincial government of Liaoning Province had fled west to Chinchow, Governor Zang Shiyi remained in Mukden, but refused to cooperate with the Japanese in establishing a separatist and collaborationist government and was imprisoned. On 23 September 1931, Lieutenant General Xi Qia of the Kirin Army was invited by the Japanese to form a government for Kirin Province. In Kirin, the Japanese succeeded in achieving a bloodless occupation of the capital, General Xi Qia issued a proclamation on 30 September, declaring the province independent of the Republic of China under protection of the Japanese Army. On 24 September 1931, a government was formed in Fengtien with Yuan Chin-hai as Chairman of the Committee for the Maintenance of Peace. However he was not able to act as much of the area surrounding Harbin was still held by anti-Japanese militias under Generals Ting Chao, Li Du, Feng Zhanhai and others. After the fall of Chinchow, the movement made rapid progress in northern Manchuria. There he attempted to continue to govern Heilongjiang province, Colonel Kenji Doihara began negotiations with General Ma from his Special Service Office at Harbin, hoping to get him to join the new state of Manchukuo Japan was organizing. Ma continued negotiating with Doihara, while he continued to support General Ting Chao, away from the Japanese garrisons in cities and along the railroads, resistance units mustered openly and relatively free from molestation in late 1931-early 1932. One of the first such forces to form, called the Courageous Citizens Militia, had established by November 1931 near the estuary port of Chinchow. These militias operated principally in southern Fengtien, which had half of Manchurias population, Fengtien had come almost immediately under Japanese control, as most population centers and its capital of Mukden all lay along the tracks of the South Manchuria Railway in the S. M. R. Zone, which had been garrisoned by Kwantung Army troops since long before the conflict, peasant brotherhoods were a traditional form of mutual protection by Chinese small-holders and tenant farmers. Waves of immigrants fleeing the wars of the Warlord era that ravaged north, the Red Spear Society was strongest in the hinterlands of Fengtien and countryside around Harbin. The Big Swords Society predominated in southeastern Kirin and adjoining parts of Fengtien, in 1927, the Big Swords had spearheaded an uprising triggered by the collapse of the prevailing Feng-Piao paper currency. During the rebellion the Big Swords were respected by the peasants because they did not harm or plunder the common people, the Big Swords became the principal component of partisan resistance in this region, forming loose ties with the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies. The bandit leader Lao Pie-fang commanded several bands of Big Swords in western Fengtien, the Big Swords in southeast Kirin were allied with Wang Delin, and General Feng Zhanhai organized and trained a Big Sword Corps of 4,000 men. The Red Spear Society groups were more widespread, members formed important centers of resistance as the war spread out through the countryside. Red Spears frequently attacked the S. M. R, zone from the Hsinlintun and Tungfeng districts, close to Mukden and the Fushun coal mines
19.
Battle of Rehe
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The battle was fought from February 21 to March 1,1933. The province of Rehe, on the side of the Great Wall was the next target. Declaring the province to be historically a portion of Manchuria, the Japanese Army initially hoped to secure it through the defection of General Tang Yulin to the Manchukuo cause, when this failed, the military option was placed into action. The Japanese armys Chief of Staff requested Emperor Hirohitos sanction for the operation against Chinese forces in Rehe. On February 23,1933, the offensive was launched, on February 25, Chaoyang and Kailu were taken. On March 2, the Japanese 4th Cavalry Brigade encountered resistance from the forces of Sun Dianying, Sun Dianying mounted a counterattack against the Japanese 6th Division on the same day, and at one time penetrated to near the Japanese headquarters. On March 4, Japanese cavalry and the 1st Special Tank Company with Type 89 Tanks. took Chengde the capital of Rehe, Rehe was subsequently annexed to Manchukuo. Zhang Xueliang was forced by the Kuomintang government to relinquish his posts for “medical reasons, however, this would prove to be only a temporary respite before the full scale combat of the Second Sino-Japanese War erupted in earnest in 1937. Order of battle Operation Jehol Fenby, Jonathan, chiang Kai-shek, Chinas Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost. Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed.1971, translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing,33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. 中國抗日戰爭正面戰場作戰記, Guo Rugui, editor-in-chief Huang Yuzhang, Jiangsu Peoples Publishing House, Date published, 2005-7-1, ISBN 7-214-03034-9 Jowett, rays of the Rising Sun, Volume 1, Japans Asian Allies 1931–45, China and Manchukuo. Battles of the Great Wall THE HISTORY OF BATTLES OF IMPERIAL JAPANESE TANKS Jan
20.
Defense of the Great Wall
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The Defense of the Great Wall was a campaign between the armies of Republic of China and Empire of Japan, which took place before the Second Sino-Japanese War officially commenced in 1937. It is known in Japanese as Operation Nekka and in many English sources as the First Battle of Hopei, Shanhaiguan is the fortified eastern end of the Great Wall of China, where the Great Wall meets the ocean. Per the terms of the 1901 Boxer Rebellion accord, the Imperial Japanese Army maintained a garrison of around 200 men at Shanhaiguan. On the night of 1 January 1933, the Japanese garrison commander staged an incident by exploding a few hand grenades, the Kwantung Army used this as an excuse to demand that the Chinese 626th Regiment of the Northeastern Army, guarding Shanhaiguan, evacuate the pass defenses. When the Chinese garrison refused, the Japanese 8th Division issued an ultimatum, the Japanese attack was supported by close air support from bombers, and by shelling by warships of the Imperial Japanese Navys IJN 2nd Fleet with a dozen warships offshore. On January 3, Chinese regimental commander Shi Shian, unable to withstand this attack, was forced to evacuate from his positions after losing half of his force, the province of Rehe, on the northern side of the Great Wall was the next target. Declaring the province to be historically a portion of Manchuria, the Japanese Army initially hoped to secure it through the defection of General Tang Yulin to the Manchukuo cause, when this failed, the military option was put into action. The Japanese armys Chief of Staff requested Emperor Hirohitos sanction for the operation against Chinese forces in Rehe. On February 23,1933, the offensive was launched, on February 25, Chaoyang and Kailu were taken. On March 2, the Japanese 4th Cavalry Brigade encountered resistance from the forces of Sun Dianying, on March 4, Japanese cavalry and the 1st Special Tank Company took Chengde the capital of Rehe. On March 4, the 139th Division of the KMT 32nd Corps managed to hold Lengkou Pass, on March 9, Chiang Kai-shek held discussions with Zhang Xueliang about resisting the Japanese invasion in Baoding in Hebei Province. Chiang Kai-shek began to relocate his forces away from his campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet, Chiang Kai-shek also called over Fu Zuoyis 7th Corps from Suiyuan. However, his actions were too late and the reinforcements were of insufficient strength to stop the Japanese advance, on March 11, Japanese troops pushed up to the Great Wall itself. On March 12, Zhang Xueliang resigned his post to He Yingqin, over twenty close assaults were launched, with sword-armed Northwestern Army soldiers repelling them. However, on March 21, the Japanese took Yiyuankou Pass, the KMT 29th Corps evacuated from Xifengkou Pass on April 8. On April 11, Japanese troops retook Lengkou Pass after dozens of seesaw fights over the pass defenses, beaten back by overwhelming Japanese firepower, on May 20, the Chinese army retreated from their remaining positions on the Great Wall. On May 22,1933, Chinese and Japanese representatives met at Tanggu, Tianjin, furthermore, the Chinese government was forced to acknowledge the de facto independence of Manchukuo and the loss of Rehe. Order of battle Operation Jehol Order of battle Defense of the Great Wall Baimaguan Fort Books Guo, japans Total Empire, Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism
21.
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
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The Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also known by several other names, was a battle between the Republic of Chinas National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. It is often used as the marker for the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, in English, the battle is usually known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The Marco Polo Bridge is an eleven-arch granite bridge, a significant structure first erected under the Jin. It gained its Western name from its appearance in Marco Polos record of his travels, the name is less often expressed as the Battle of Marco Polo Bridge. It is also known as the Lukouchiao, Lugouqiao, or Lugou Bridge Incident from the name of the bridge. This is the name for the event in Japanese and is an alternate name for it in Chinese. The same name is also expressed or translated as the Battle of Lugou Bridge, Lugouqiao, in China and Korea, it is more often known as the July 7th Incident or as the July 7th Lugou Bridge Incident. Although the Kuomintang government of China refused to recognize Manchukuo, a truce between Japan and Republican China had been negotiated in 1931, however, at the end of 1932 the Japanese Army invaded Rehe Province. This was annexed into Manchukuo in 1933 and this was to ensure open communications between the capital and the port. By a supplementary agreement on 15 July 1902, these forces were allowed to conduct maneuvers without informing the authorities of other nations in China. By July 1937, Japan had expanded its forces in China to an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 men, mostly along the railways. This number of men, and amount of concomitant matériel, was several times the size of those deployed by the European powers. By this time, the Imperial Japanese Army had already surrounded Beijing, on the night of 7 July, the Japanese units stationed at Fengtai crossed the border to conduct military exercises. Japanese and Chinese forces outside the town of Wanping—a walled town 10.2 miles southwest of Beijing—exchanged fire at approximately 23,00, the exact cause of this incident still remains a mystery. And, although Private Shimura returned to his unit, by this point both sides were mobilising, with the Japanese deploying reinforcements and surrounding Wanping, later in the night, a unit of Japanese infantry attempted to breach Wanpings walled defences and were repulsed. An ultimatum by the Japanese was issued two hours later, however, this proved to be fruitless, and the Japanese insisted that they be admitted into the town to investigate the cause of the incident. At around 04,00, reinforcements of both began to arrive. The Chinese also rushed an extra division of troops to the area, about an hour or so later the Japanese Army opened fire and attacked the Marco Polo Bridge, along with a modern railway bridge
22.
Battle of Shanghai
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It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the entire war, described by Peter Harmsen as Stalingrad on the Yangtze. Since 1931, China and Japan had been embroiled in incessant, smaller conflicts, often known as incidents, the term incident was used by the Japanese Imperial High Command to play down the Japanese invasions of China. The Chinese soldiers had to rely primarily on weapons in their defense of Shanghai, against an overwhelming Japanese onslaught of air, naval. In the end, Shanghai fell, and China lost a significant portion of its best troops, the resistance of Chinese forces, however, shocked the Japanese, who had been indoctrinated with notions of cultural and martial superiority, and dramatically demoralized the Japanese army. The battle can be divided into three stages, and eventually involved nearly one million troops, the first stage lasted from August 13 to August 22,1937, during which the NRA attempted to eradicate Japanese troop presence in downtown Shanghai. In Chinese, the Battle of Shanghai is known as the Battle of Songhu, song is short for Wusong, a strategic town in the northern suburbs of Shanghai, where the Huangpu River flows into the Yangtze. Hu is the abbreviation for Shanghai, in Chinese literature, the battle is also referred to as 813, denoting August 13, the date when battle began. Several Japanese sources refer to the battle as the Second Shanghai Incident, however, the 1937 Battle of Shanghai was a full-scale battle signifying the beginning of an all-out war between the two countries. There were several underlying causes for this, since the outbreak of the war on July 7,1937, most combat had occurred in and around North China in operations collectively known as the Battle of Beiping-Tientsin. Originally, neither China nor Japan wanted the skirmishing to escalate into full-scale war and he decided to pursue full-scale war with Japan. The Japanese north-to-south advance meant that the Chinese army had to defend along a horizontal axis, in addition, most of the more robust Chinese defense works were not in North China, but in East China, along the lower Yangtze Delta. Importantly, Japanese troops were reinforced from Japan, through Korea and Manchukuo and on to North China, by way of efficient naval. Chinese troop movement was severely handicapped by lack of motorized vehicles, the vast majority of Chinese troops had reached the front line simply by marching. It took considerably longer for Chinese reinforcements from South China to reach North China than it did for the Japanese to reinforce from their home islands and this meant transferring the Chinese army to fight a war in North China was impractical. The Imperial Japanese Navy had total supremacy in Chinese seas and the retreating Chinese forces would have been annihilated, therefore, Chiang decided to establish a second front in Shanghai, with the intention of drawing enemy troops to the East and Central China Theater. His plan was to force the Japanese to change the direction of advance into east-to-west. This way, Chinese troops would have room in the southwest to retreat and regroup should Shanghai, Nanjing, the Chinese plan was to fight to delay the Japanese advance, as much as possible, gaining time to move the government and vital industries into the Chinese interior. This was the basis of the strategy of trading space for time, public opinion and patriotism were strong factors in Chiangs decision to pursue full-scale war with Japan
23.
Defense of Sihang Warehouse
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Defenders of the warehouse held out against numerous waves of Japanese forces and covered Chinese forces retreating west during the Battle of Shanghai. The successful defense of the warehouse provided a morale-lifting consolation to the Chinese army, the warehouses location just across the Suzhou Creek from the foreign concessions in Shanghai meant the battle took place in full view of the western powers. Moreover, the Japanese dared not use mustard gas here as they did elsewhere in Shanghai and this proximity drew the attention, if only briefly, of the international community to Chiang Kai-sheks bid for worldwide support against Japanese aggression. Using the Marco Polo Bridge Incident as a pretext, Japan launched an invasion of China on 7 July 1937, as the Imperial Japanese Army swept down from the north, fighting between Chinese and Japanese forces started in Shanghai on 13 August. Despite having logistical problems, inferior training, and a lack of air and artillery support, however, the Japanese did not attack the foreign concessions in the city and remained on peaceable terms with the foreign powers, though tensions were high. They did not occupy the concessions until four years later, following Japans decision to go to war with the Allies, by 26 October 1937, Chinese resistance in the district of Zhabei was faltering. Gu was personally attached to the 88th and unwilling to leave the division behind, as he used to be the officer of the 2nd Division. Neither Gu, Sun nor Zhang were about to disobey Chiangs orders, in his words, How many people we sacrifice would not make a difference, it would achieve the same purpose. He proposed that a regiment from the division be left behind to defend one or two fortified positions, and Gu approved this plan. Zhang returned to the 88ths divisional headquarters at Sihang Warehouse, back at the headquarters, Sun decided that even a regiment would be a terrible waste of lives and decided on a single over-strength battalion instead. Xie Jinyuan, a new commander in the 88th Division. At 10 p. m. on 26 October, the 524th Regiment, based at the Shanghai North Railway Station, the warehouse, used as the divisional headquarters of the 88th Division prior to this battle, was stocked with food, first aid equipment, shells and ammunition. Most of the men were from the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of the Hubei Provincial Garrison, Hubei did not want to send its best troops, trained over a decade to fight against the Chinese Communists, to Shanghai. Thus, many of the soldiers sent as reinforcements to Shanghai were green recruits, eventually the 1st Battalion came to be equated with the 524th Regiment, even within official documents of the period. The regiment was assigned used equipment from the troops of the 88th. There was a total of 27 light machine guns, mostly Czech ZB vz.26, Japanese infantry used the Arisaka Type 38 Rifle. The various companies of the battalion were spread out across the front lines that night, Yang Ruifu sent the 1st Company to Sihang Warehouse and personally led the 2nd Company. The 3rd Company, Machine Gun Company and part of the 1st Company could not be contacted and that these men essentially volunteered for this suicidal mission was later noted by Chiang Kai-shek as exemplary soldierly conduct
24.
Battle of Pingxingguan
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The battle resulted in the loss of 500 to 600 soldiers on either side, but the Chinese captured 100 trucks full of supplies. The victory gave the Communists a tremendous propaganda boost and it was the only division-size battle fought by the Chinese Communists during the entire war. After the capture of Beiping at the end of July, Japanese forces advanced along the Beijing–Baotou Railway to Inner Mongolia, having anticipated the move, Chiang Kai-shek had appointed the Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan as Pacification Director of Taiyuan. In reality these forces operated independently from Yans provincial army, Japanese forces, mainly the 5th Division and 11th Independent Mixed Brigade, moved out from Beiping and advanced on Huailai County in Chahar. A Japanese column advanced quickly into Shanxi, making use of the railway which the Chinese did not attempt to destroy, the Chinese abandoned Datong on September 13, falling back to a line from Yanmenguan on the Great Wall east to the mountain pass of Pingxingguan. Yan Xishans troops became more demoralised as the Japanese exerted their air supremacy, the main body of the Japanese 5th Division, under the command of Itagaki Seishiro, advanced from Huaili to invade northeastern Shanxi. Although it had a transport column, its rate of advance was limited by the poor roads. By the time reached the Shanxi border, Lin Biaos 115th Division. The pass of Pingxingguan was a narrow defile worn through the loess, lins division were able to ambush two columns of mainly transportation and supply units and virtually annihilate the trapped Japanese forces. On September 25, the 21st brigade of the Japanese 5th Division stationed at Lingqiu received a request from the 21st Regiment that they urgently needed supplies due to falling temperature. The supply troops of the 21st Regiment set out with 70 horse-drawn vehicles with 50 horses, filled with clothes, food, ammunition and proceeded westwards towards Pingxingguan. Around 10,00, the column passed into a defile with the two sides rising up more than 10 meters, they were heading towards Caijiayu about 3 km away. At the same time, a column of Japanese supply troops in about 80 trucks left Guangou. Both of these non-combat formations entered into the set by the 115th division after 10 a. m. on the 25th and were largely wiped out. A relief force consisting of the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Regiment was rebuffed by Chinese troops, Lin Biaos troops eventually withdrew from the battlefield, allowing the Japanese to finally reach the site of the ambush on September 28. The total, the Japanese casualties in the battle have been estimated at 400 to 500 and the Chinese at about 400. The Chinese forces destroyed about 70 trucks and an number of horse-drawn carts and captured 100 rifles,10 light machine guns,1 gun,2000 shells as well as some clothing. The Kuomintang official history of the Second Sino-Japanese War deals with it in a sentence, communist accounts, on the other hand, describe Pingxingguan as a typical example of Red guerrilla tactics, inspired by Mao Zedongs conceptualization of Peoples war
25.
Battle of Xinkou
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After battles at Nankou, the Chahar Expeditionary Force of the Japanese Kwangtung Army occupied Datong in Shanxi province, and began their assault on the Yenbei area. The Japanese Fifth Division started their attack from Hebei marching westwards and taking the towns of Guanglin, Linchou, the Commander of the 2nd War Zone, Yan Xishan, ordered Chinese troops to retreat and set up a defense line in Niangziguan and Pingxingguan. On October 1, Japanese central command ordered Itagaki Seishiro to lead the Fifth Division, on the same day, the military commission of the Chinese Nationalist government ordered the 14th Group Army to fight the Japanese at Xinkou. The 34th and 35th Armies were in reserve, commanded by Fu Zuoyi, to control the Dingxiang, the 15th brigade from the Chahar Expeditionary Force marched around Gouxian and attacked Yuanping, and engaged the 34th Army’s 196 brigade, led by Jiang Yuzhen. After intense close-quarter combat, the defending Chinese soldiers were wiped out, by this time, the invading forces were ready to make their move on Xinkou. Due to the developments on the battlefields, Chinese commander Wei Lihuang had to re-organize the defense line on October 2. Finally, the 33rd, 17th and 15th Armies formed the right flank, on October 13, Itagaki Seishiro led 50,000 Japanese troops on a major assault against Xinkou. The Xinkou battles rages on for days, with the Nanhuahua position changing hands many times. Despite his death, the 61st Army commander Chen Zhangjie and subsequently the 19th Army commander Wang Jingguo continued to lead the defense of Xinkou and successfully held their defensive positions. During this time, the Communists’ Eighth Route Army executed several guerrilla attacks in the Japanese troops rear at Lingqiu, Guangling, Weixian, Pingxingguan, Ningwu and Yanmenguan. On the evening of October 19, the 769 Regiment of the 120th Division attacked Yangmingbao airbase, By this time the Japanese had suffered close to 20,000 casualties without making much progress on their assault of Xinkou. Therefore, the Japanese Northern China Area Army had to add three additional regiments on October 22,27 and 29, to assist in the attack of Nanhauhua. However, the Japanese troops still could not take this important position and had to re-direct their attack to Dabaishui, the Chinese commander for this operation was assigned to Huang Shaohong, the deputy commander of the 2nd War Zone. On October 11, the 20th division of the Japanese army captured Jingxing, the Japanese only used some troops to attack Niangziguan, while their main force marched around and captured Jiuguan. On October 21, the 20th division was reinforced by the 109th division and continued their attack on Niangziguan from the south, on October 26, four Japanese commando battalions were able to break through the Chinese 3rd Army defense at Ceyuzhen, and breach the Niangziguan defense line. The Chinese forces were forced to retreat to Taiyuan, and were chased by the Japanese attackers along the Shijiazhuang – Taiyuan railways, on November 11, the Japanese troops captured Shouyang after repelling an ambush by the 41st Army. By this time, all Chinese troops at Xinkou were ordered to retreat to Taiyuan to avoid being encircled by the enemy, the battle of Xinkou marked the first large-scale cooperation between the provincial army, Chinese Communists, and Chiang Kai-shek’s Central Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Although the Chinese defenders fought bravely on a front against the enemy during this campaign, they had a large shortage of firepower. In conclusion, the Chinese forces ultimately lost the battle, paying the price of 100,000 troops dead, injured or missing, hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed.1971
26.
Battle of Nanking
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Following the outbreak of war between Japan and China in July 1937 the Japanese government at first attempting to contain the fighting and sought a negotiated settlement to the war. However, after victory in the Battle of Shanghai expansionists prevailed within the Japanese military, Japanese soldiers marched from Shanghai to Nanking at a breakneck pace, rapidly defeating pockets of Chinese resistance. By December 9 they had reached the last line of defense, on December 10 Matsui ordered an all-out attack on Nanking, and after less than two days of intense fighting Chiang decided to abandon the city. Before fleeing, Tang ordered his men to launch a concerted breakout of the Japanese siege, most of Tangs units simply collapsed, their soldiers often casting off their weapons and uniforms in the streets in the hopes of hiding among the citys civilian population. Following the capture of the city Japanese soldiers massacred Chinese prisoners of war, murdered civilians, though Japans military victory excited and emboldened them, the subsequent massacre tarnished their reputation in the eyes of the world. Contrary to Matsuis expectations, China did not surrender and the Second Sino-Japanese War continued for eight years. China, however, wanted to avoid a confrontation in the north. The Japanese responded by dispatching the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, commanded by General Iwane Matsui, the city of Nanking is 300 kilometers west of Shanghai. Matsui made clear to his superiors even before he left for Shanghai that he wanted to march on Nanking, Yanagawa was likewise eager to conquer Nanking and both men chafed under the operation restriction line that had been imposed on them by the Army General Staff. On November 19 Yanagawa ordered his 10th Army to pursue retreating Chinese forces across the operation restriction line to Nanking, when Tada discovered this the next day he ordered Yanagawa to stop immediately, but was ignored. Matsui made some effort to restrain Yanagawa, but also told him that he could send some advance units beyond the line. Meanwhile, as more and more Japanese units continued to slip past the operation restriction line, Tada flew to Shanghai in person on December 1 to deliver the order, though by then his own armies in the field were already well on their way to Nanking. Here Chiang insisted fervently on mounting a defense of Nanking. He also noted that holding onto Nanking would strengthen Chinas hand in peace talks which he wanted the German ambassador Oskar Trautmann to mediate and they argued that the Chinese Army needed more time to recover from its losses at Shanghai, and pointed out that Nanking was highly indefensible topographically. The mostly gently sloping terrain in front of Nanking would make it easy for the attackers to advance on the city, while the Yangtze River behind Nanking would cut off the defenders retreat. Chiang, however, had become increasingly agitated over the course of the Battle of Shanghai, even declaring that he would stay behind in Nanking alone. Seizing the opportunity Tang had given him, Chiang responded by organizing the Nanking Garrison Force on November 20, the orders Tang received from Chiang on November 30 were to defend the established defense lines at any cost and destroy the enemy’s besieging force. Though both men declared that they would defend Nanking to the last man, they were aware of their precarious situation
27.
Battle of Xuzhou
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The Battle of Xuzhou was fought between Japanese and Chinese forces in May 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In contemporary accounts in English, the event was referred to as the Battle of Hsuchow. In 1937, the North China Area Army had chased Song Zheyuans 29th Army to the south along the Jinpu Railway after his defeat in the Battle of Lugou Bridge, most mechanized and air forces in Eastern China were wiped out in the Battle of Shanghai in 1937. Although new equipment was purchased, it had yet to be shipped, han Fuqu, the chairman of the Shandong province, rejected orders from Chiang Kai-shek and kept retreating to preserve his force. After Qingdao was occupied in January 1938, his policy was denounced, in March 1938 Japanese forces occupied the north of Shandong, including the capital city Jinan. The defense line along the Yellow River was torn apart, due to pressure from Japanese forces,64 Chinese divisions gathered around Xuzhou in Jiangsu, the headquarters of 5th Military Region of the National Revolutionary Army. Without surrounding it, General Itagaki Seishiro moved south first to attack Taierzhuang, following this defeat, Japan intended an encirclement against Xuzhou and deployed the North China Area Army to the north and the Central China Expeditionary Army to the south. The North China Area Army had four divisions and two infantry brigades drawn from the Kwantung Army, the 5th Tank Battalion was used to support the 3rd Infantry Division advancing north along the railway to Xuzhou. Additional troops were deployed in the Battle of Northern and Eastern Henan by the North China Area Army to stop Chinese reinforcements from the west, a Chinese counterattack here resulted in the Battle of Lanfeng. However, with the approach of the Central China Expeditionary Army from the south, the situation was grim. The Japanese army won the battle and ultimately captured Xuzhou. Most of the Chinese soldiers broke through the encirclement through gaps in the Japanese lines to the west or dispersed into the countryside as guerrillas, the many Chinese troops who broke through the encirclement would play a major role in later battles. Order of battle, Battle of Xuzhou Huaihai Campaign of 1948-49, also involving a Battle of Xuzhou Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, translated by Wen Ha-hsiung, Chung Wu Publishing,33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China
28.
Battle of Taierzhuang
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The Battle of Taierzhuang was a battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, between the armies of the Republic of China and Japan. The battle was the first major Chinese victory of the war and it humiliated the Japanese military and its reputation as an invincible force, while for the Chinese it represented a tremendous morale boost. Taierzhuang is located on the bank of the Grand Canal of China and was a frontier garrison northeast of Xuzhou. It was also the terminus of a branch railway from Lincheng. Xuzhou itself was the junction of the Jinpu Railway and the Longhai Railway and these provinces were the area of operations of the KMT 5th War Area. The Japanese planned to fight through the Jinpu Railway from the north and south, from there, they would attack Wuhan and force the KMT into surrender. At this time, the Japanese armies were very powerful, so this operation should have been done with relative ease, as a result, the commanders did not deploy their full forces to complete the task. Eventually, KMT general Liao Leis forces arrived, and the battle became tightly entangled. The Japanese were forced onto the bank of the Huai River. As a result, it was unable to launch the planned attack on Xuzhou with the Isogai division. In the northeast, the Itagaki division was advancing towards Xuzhou. However, it was halted at Linyi by KMT generals Pang Bingxun and Zhang Zizhong, although insufficiently trained and not very well equipped, the Chinese troops inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese, who retreated. This engagement not only broke the myth of Imperial Japanese invincibility, even the Tokyo headquarters were shocked. Although the 5th division picked itself back up and tried again, as a result, the Chinese victory at Linyi would later have a big impact on the actual battle in Taierzhuang. Of the three Japanese divisions driving into the 5th War Area, the Isogai division was the most successful and this division came from Hebei, crossing the Yellow River and moving southwards along the Jinpu Railway. Because of KMT general Han Fujus desertion, the division occupied Zhoucun, from there, they arrived at Taian. Here, they were faced with resistance from the forces of KMT generals Sun Tongxuan. Although the Japanese did suffer losses, the Chinese were very poorly equipped, as a result, the Chinese soldiers could only form line after line of defence in a desperate attempt to fight off the Japanese, who were backed up by planes, tanks and heavy artillery
29.
Bombing of Chongqing
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A total of 268 air raids were conducted against Chongqing, with more than 11,500, mainly incendiary, bombs dropped. The targets were usually residential areas, business areas, schools, hospitals and these bombings were probably aimed at cowing the Chinese government, or as part of the planned Sichuan invasion. In the first two days of the campaign, the raids of May 1939 killed more than five thousand Chinese civilians, on 5 June 1941, the Japanese flew more than 20 sorties, bombing the city for three hours. About 4,000 residents who hid in a tunnel were asphyxiated, the majority of the air raids conducted against Chongqing were made with squadrons of medium-heavy bombers composed of Mitsubishi G3Ms, known as Nells, Ki-21s Sallys, Fiat BR. The introduction of the Zero-sen fighter plane in 1940, the most advanced fighter aircraft at the time. The last recorded air raid of the campaign took place on 19 December 1944, three-thousand tons of bombs were dropped on the city between 1939 and 1942. A total of 268 air raids were conducted against Chongqing, in March 2006,40 Chinese who were wounded or lost family members during the bombings sued the Japanese government demanding 10,000,000 yen each and asked for apologies. By filing a lawsuit, we want the Japanese people to know about Chongqing bombings, memorial site Bombing of Chongqing, Nippon News, No.2. in the official website of NHK
30.
Battle of Wuhan
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The Battle of Wuhan, popularly known to the Chinese as the Defense of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan, was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. More than one million National Revolutionary Army troops were gathered, with Chiang Kai-shek personally in command, engagements were in both the northern and southern shores of the Yangtze River, spreading across vast areas of the Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces. On 7 July 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army launched an invasion of China. With the onset of the war, Beijing and Tianjin fell to the Japanese in less one month. On 12 November, the Japanese Army captured Shanghai, Nanjing was at risk of being besieged, and the Chinese government was forced to transfer its capital to Chongqing. However, the Chinese government did not transfer its elite troops, assistance from the USSR provided additional military and technical resources, including a small band of Soviet Air Force volunteers. Wuhan, located halfway up the Yangtze River, was the second largest city at the time with a population of two million, the city was divided by the Yangtze River and Hanshui into three regions, Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang. Wuchang was the center, Hankou was a commercial district while Hanyang was the industrial estate. After the completion of the Yuehan Railway, the importance of Wuhan as a transportation hub in inland China was further established. When Japan captured Nanjing on 13 December, the Chinese shifted structures and industries to Wuhan, the Chinese war effort was focused on protecting Wuhan from being occupied by the Japanese. The Japanese government and the headquarters of the China Expeditionary Force thereby expected that the fall of Wuhan would lead to the end of Chinese resistance, the Battle of Wuhan was preceded by a Japanese air strike on 28 February 1938. It was known as the 2.28 Air battle and the Chinese were able to repel the attack, on 24 March, the Diet of Japan passed the National Mobilization Law that authorized unlimited funding of war. As part of the law, the National Service Draft Ordinance also allowed the conscription of civilians, on 29 April, the Japanese air force launched major air strikes on Wuhan to celebrate Emperor Hirohitos birthday. The Chinese, knowing this beforehand, were well prepared and this battle was known as the 4.29 Air battle, one of the most intense air battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The ROCAF shot down 21 Japanese planes at a loss of 12, after the fall of Xuzhou in May 1938, the Japanese planned an extensive invasion of Hankou and the takeover of Wuhan, intending to destroy the main force of the National Revolutionary Army. The Chinese, on the hand, were preparing for the defense of Wuhan. They managed to gather up more than one million troops, around 300 planes and 50 naval ships. In an attempt to buy time for the preparation of the defense of Wuhan
31.
Battle of Wanjialing
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The two and a half month battle resulted in heavy losses of the Japanese 101st and 106th Divisions. The chief commander in the frontline was the commander of the 9th Group Army Wu Qiwei and they were under the overall command of the supreme commander of the 9th Military Region Xue Yue. The Japanese side consisted of the 106th Division, led by Lieutenant-General Junrokurō Matsuura, under the 106th Division, there were the 111th Infantry Brigade and 136th Brigade, as well as regiments of cavalry, artillery, engineers and transport. During the battle, the 101st Division was also deployed, later during the battle, the would also be deployed. Under the orders of Yasuji Okamura, the Japanese 106th Division intended to cross the Wanjialing Region in hopes of cutting off the connection between the Chinese Army in Nanxun and Wuning Railway. The plan was discovered by Xue Yue, and the Chinese Army managed to surround the 106th Division with 16 divisions at Lushan, unable to break through the Chinese lines, Japanese deployed poison gas. Although the Chinese had a shortage of protective equipment against chemical weapons. At the beginning of September, Okamura ordered the 9th and 27th Divisions to relieve the 106th division, desperate to break open a safe path for their trapped ground forces, the Japanese Air Force began heavy bombing on Chinese positions with incendiary bombs, resulting in many Chinese deaths. On October 7, the Chinese suddenly launched fierce counter-attacks, combat ended on October 10, which was coincidentally the Chinese National Celebration Day. On October 13, the Chinese forces withdrew from the battlefield, the two and a half month battle resulted in tremendous casualties for the Japanese army, the failed offensive resulting in the crippling of the Japanese 101st and 106th divisions. These two divisions initially had a strength of over 47,000 troops, and lost about 30,000 men in battle. Archives reveal Chinas key victory against Japanese aggressors Battle of Wuhan Battle of Wuhan, Smash the Japanese Ambition
32.
Hainan Island Operation
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Hainan Island lies midway between French Indochina and Hong Kong, occupying a position south of the Leizhou Peninsula across the Strait of Hainan. It is also near Kwangchowan, a French-leased territory on the southern coast of China, the 33,920 km2 Hainan Island had a population of 2,200,000 at the time. The island was guarded by the 152nd Division, approximately 25,000 strong, under the command of Yu Hanmou, the Japanese Navy, after the capture of Canton the previous year, had maintained a formidable blockade all along the coast of south, central and north China. However, loopholes were found in the end of the blockade line. These included the route to Chiang Kai-shek with Hong Kong and Northern French Indo-China as relay points. The Central Authorities of the Navy advocated this move, operations were carried out by the Special Naval Landing Forces with Army elements supporting them. In addition, Navy land combat units effected a landing at Haikou at 1200 on 10 February, thereafter, the Army and Navy forces acted in concert to mop up the northern zone. On 11 February the land combat units landed at Samah at the extremity of Hainan Island and occupied the key positions of Yulin. Thereafter, the units engaged in the occupation and subjugation of the entire island, later, Hainan Island became a naval administrative district with Hainan Guard District Headquarters established at Samah. Strategically, the island was built as a air base as well as an advance base for blockading Chiang. At the same time, the iron and copper resources of the island were exploited, the Occupation of Hainan lasted until the Surrender of Japan in September 1945. Order of Battle, Hainan Island Operation Japanese Monograph No, the Japanese Occupation of Hainan, Modern Asian Studies, Vol.14, No. 1, pp. 93–109, Hainan Lawyers group to help women, China Daily, 2006-03-23
33.
Battle of Nanchang
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The Battle of Nanchang was a major battle between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Japanese Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was the first major conflict to occur following the Battle of Wuhan, after the Battle of Wuhan, Wuhan was the base of the 11th Army of the Imperial Japanese Army, and was surrounded by the 5th and 9th Military Regions of the National Revolutionary Army. Nanchang was a center and the western terminus of the Chekiang-Hunan Railway. Due to these connections, Nanchang was a supply line between the 3rd and 9th Military Regions, and site of the airbase threatening Japanese shipping in Yangtze River. In addition, its proximity to the center of the Shanghai-Wuhan strip controlled by Japan was a strategic threat, the 9th Military Region was reshuffled, with Chen Cheng staying as the supreme commander in name and Xue Yue becoming the commander in actuality. 200,000 troops in 52 divisions were gathered near Nanchang, however, lacking vehicles, the reorganization took a long time and the planned attack was delayed. In July 1938, Japanese troops had tried to approach Nanchang during the Battle of Wuhan, despite having gathered a strong force from their base at the Yangtze port 80 miles to the North, the Chinese force of 200,000 troops were well entrenched. These strong opposition measures, combined with weather conditions, halted the Japanese advance to Nanchang in 1938. The Japanese troops waited for reinforcements, and come spring they began an invasion with their new force of 120,000 troops. In March 1939, the Japanese troops commanded by Yasuji Okamura began their advance, the defensive positions of the Chinese troops proved difficult to break through, and for four days the Japanese remained held down. To end the standoff and counter the Chinese defense, the Japanese deployed 130 tanks and artillery, along with traditional artillery shells, the bombardment also included the use of toxic gas chemical weapons which had also been deployed elsewhere in China during the war. After several days of bombardment, having met no resistance, the Japanese ceased their fire, starting at 07,00 on 21 March, they advanced 2 km, and began to build bridges. On 23 March, Wucheng where the Xiushui River enters Poyang Hu was devastated by sustained naval bombardment and airstrikes followed by a landing by Naval Landing forces. By 26 March, Japanese troops supported by tanks had broken out of their Xiushui River bridgehead, Yasuji Okamura’s troops were joined by another Japanese regiment coming down from north at Nanchang and together they surrounded the city and laid siege. On 27 March, Nanchang had fallen to the siege, following the successful capture of the city, other defensive outposts in the surrounding countryside were also taken throughout March and April. This was the end of the first phase of the battle, however, the battle was not over. During a period lasting until the end of April some Japanese forces were moved to support operations in other areas, the Chinese Nationalists saw an opportunity in this weakening of available Japanese manpower, and planned a counterattack to retake the city. Their directive was to cut off the Japanese contact and disrupt the enemy from the rear, on 21 April, a surprise attack by the forces of the 3rd and 9th Military Regions began from the north, west, and south of Nanchang
