Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7, 1937, to September 2, 1945. It began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937 in which a dispute between Japanese and Chinese troops escalated into a battle; some sources in the modern People's Republic of China date the beginning of the war to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. China fought Japan with aid from the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged with other conflicts of World War II as a major sector known as the China Burma India Theater; some scholars consider the start of the full-scale 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, it accounted for the majority of civilian and military casualties in the Pacific War, with between 10 and 25 million Chinese civilians and over 4 million Chinese and Japanese military personnel dying from war-related violence and other causes.
The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to secure access to raw material reserves and labor. The period after World War I 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 Great 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; this faction was led at its height by the Hideki Tojo cabinet of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association under edict from Emperor Hirohito. In 1931, the Mukden Incident helped spark the Japanese invasion of Manchuria; the Chinese were defeated and Japan created a new puppet state, Manchukuo. This view has been adopted by the PRC government. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan continued to skirmish in small, localized engagements, so-called "incidents".
The Japanese scored major victories, capturing both Shanghai and the Chinese capital of Nanjing in 1937. After failing to stop the Japanese in the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. By 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate; the Japanese were unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, which waged a campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare against the invaders. While Japan ruled the large cities, they lacked sufficient manpower to control China's vast countryside. During this time, Chinese communist forces launched a counter offensive in Central China while Chinese nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the following day the United States declared war on Japan; the United States began to aid China by airlifting material over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road.
In 1944 Japan launched 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 West Hunan and Guangxi. Despite continuing to occupy part of China's territory, Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, to Allied forces following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria; 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. At the outcome of the Cairo Conference of November 22–26, 1943, the Allies of World War II decided to restrain and punish the aggression of Japan by restoring all the territories that Japan annexed from China, including Manchuria, Taiwan/Formosa, the Pescadores, to China, to expel Japan from the Korean Peninsula.
China was recognized as one of the Big Four of the Allies during the war and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. In China, the war is most known as the "War of Resistance against Japan", shortened to the "Resistance against Japan" or the "War of Resistance", it was called the "Eight Years' War of Resistance", but in 2017 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive stating that textbooks were to refer to the war as the "Fourteen Years' War of Resistance", reflecting a focus on the broader conflict with Japan going back to 1931. It is referred to as part of the "Global Anti-Fascist War", how World War II is perceived by the Communist Party of China and the PRC government. In Japan, the name "Japan–China War" is most used because of its perceived objectivity; when the invasion of China proper began in earnest in July 1937 near Beijing, the government of Japan used "The North China Incident", with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai the following month, it was changed to "The China Incident"
World War II
World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Finland and the Baltic states. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, the fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the long Battle of the Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history; this Eastern Front trapped most crucially the German Wehrmacht, into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States as well as European colonies in the Pacific. Following an immediate U. S. declaration of war against Japan, supported by one from Great Britain, the European Axis powers declared war on the U.
S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.
Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo
Type 26 revolver
The Type 26 or Model 26 "hammerless" revolver was the first modern revolver adopted by the Imperial Japanese Army. It was developed at the Koishikawa Arsenal and is named for its year of adoption in the Japanese dating system; the revolver saw action in conflicts including the Russo-Japanese War, World War I and World War II. It is an amalgamation of design features from other revolvers made during the time period; the revolver has a design flaw in that the cylinder freewheels when not engaged, so during movement it may rotate to an fired chamber. Five distinct phases of production have different markings depending on the time and individual Type 26 produced; the 9mm Japanese revolver ammunition used is unique to the weapon. The Type 26 is therefore difficult to aim accurately; the Type 26 was replaced by the Nambu pistol in the first half of the 20th century. Known as the Meiji 26 Nen Ken Ju, the Type 26 revolver was the first indigenous revolver adopted by the Japanese military; the Type 26 was produced to replace the aging Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3 and was adopted March 29, 1894.
The design is believed to be a mixture of features taken from other revolvers. The lock design is similar to Galand designs, the hinged frame is similar to Smith & Wesson designs, the hinged side plate covering the lock is similar to the Modèle 1892 revolver; the cartridge was loaded with black powder until 1900 when the cartridges began to be loaded with smokeless powder. The Type 26 is considered a remarkable leap in Japanese pistol development despite the international influence, with the matchlock being the most common domestic Japanese handgun 40 years earlier. Production stopped after 1923 when much of the Koishikawa Arsenal was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, with assembly continuing until the exhaustion of stockpiled parts. 59,000 Type 26 revolvers were produced and an additional 900 revolvers were made in pre-production. Restoration and re-issue of revolvers, removed from service because of damage or wear, was carried out on an as needed basis over a period of many years.
The original Type 26s are missing the external markings of produced revolvers and are identifiable by numbers stamped on internal parts. Type 26s were still being used in 1945 which, according to firearms expert and author Ian Hogg, is considered a testament to their original workmanship and a much more suitable combat weapon than Japanese produced pistols; the Type 26 revolver is 130 mm tall, weighing 880 g unloaded. It has an octagonal barrel, with the foresight blade being embedded directly into the barrel; the rear sight is incorporated into the top of the frame. A hinged sideplate allows access to the mechanism for servicing; the weapon was opened by lifting the top latch, after which the barrel was swung downward, activating the automatic ejector. The notch that allows access to the cylinder is at the top rear of the frame; the revolver is double-action only because of the absence of a cocking spur, intended to avoid snagging on clothing and firing accidentally. The lock was slow to respond.
The delay in response made accurate shooting impossible. The cylinder contains a serious design flaw, with it only notching; this allows the cylinder to revolve by being brushed against an object or the inertia from a sudden sideways motion. As the cylinder can move an empty or fired chamber can rotate into position instead of the next shot, a dangerous event for the user during combat. Type 26 Revolvers have grips with lateral serrations in place of an earlier knurled pattern as well as differences in external finish and look of die stamped markings; the bluing of the steel is excellent though the steel used is soft compared to Western standards. The 9mm Japanese revolver ammunition used by the Type 26 is unique to the weapon. Both the Type 26 Revolver and the ammunition used was replaced by semi-automatic pistols such as the Nambu in the beginning of the 20th century. Differences in markings and appearance across surviving Type 26 revolvers, has led to the categorization of production runs into five categories.
Early production Type 26s have no external markings. The revolvers have markings that indicate they were arsenal re-worked and believed to have been produced in late 1893 or early 1894 before official adoption, it is possible. No known examples of Type 26 revolvers have duplicate serial numbers. A small number of revolvers are known to have the external arsenal symbol stamped but without the external serial number stamped on the frame; the revolvers are interspersed among revolvers with standard production markings for unknown reasons. This production range has examples reported to chamber.38 S&W ammunition but this could be because of modification. All standard production Type 26s have checked pattern grip panels as well as original finished characteristics. Most standard production revolvers have a serial number, between 1,000 and 58,900. Many of the standard production models suffered from extreme wear because of the long military service the revolvers served; the final production revolvers were produced after the Great Kantō earthquake and only 325 of these revolvers were produced.
Known examples have serial numbers ranging from 58,903 and 59,227. Arsenal reworked Type 26s lack the bright charcoal blue finish or standard checked patterned grip panels. Serrated
Korean People's Army
The Korean People's Army is an institution of the Workers' Party of Korea, constitutes the de facto military forces of North Korea. Under the Songun policy, it is the central institution of North Korean community. Kim Jong-un is its Supreme Commander and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission; the KPA consists of five branches: Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Strategic Rocket Forces, the Special Operation Force. The KPA faces its primary adversaries, the South Korean military and United States Forces Korea, across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, as it has since the Armistice Agreement of July 1953; as of 2016, with 5,889,000 paramilitary personnel, it is the largest paramilitary organization on Earth. This number serves as 25% of the North Korean population. Kim Il-sung's anti-Japanese guerrilla army, the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army, was established on 25 April 1932; this revolutionary army was transformed into the regular army on 8 February 1948. Both these are celebrated as army days, with decennial anniversaries treated as major celebrations, except from 1978 to 2014 when only the 1932 anniversary was celebrated.
In 1939, the Korean Volunteer Army, was formed in Yan'an, China. The two individuals responsible for the army were Mu Chong. At the same time, a school was established near Yan'an for training military and political leaders for a future independent Korea. By 1945, the KVA had grown to 1,000 men Korean deserters from the Imperial Japanese Army. During this period, the KVA fought alongside the Chinese communist forces from which it drew its arms and ammunition. After the defeat of the Japanese, the KVA accompanied the Chinese communist forces into eastern Jilin, intending to gain recruits from ethnic Koreans in China from Yanbian, enter Korea. By September 1945, the KVA had a 2,500 strong force at its disposal. Just after World War II and during the Soviet Union's occupation of the part of Korea north of the 38th Parallel, the Soviet 25th Army headquarters in Pyongyang issued a statement ordering all armed resistance groups in the northern part of the peninsula to disband on 12 October 1945. Two thousand Koreans with previous experience in the Soviet army were sent to various locations around the country to organize constabulary forces with permission from Soviet military headquarters, the force was created on 21 October 1945.
The headquarters felt a need for a separate unit for security around railways, the formation of the unit was announced on 11 January 1946. That unit was activated on 15 August of the same year to supervise existing security forces and creation of the national armed forces. Military institutes such as the Pyongyang Academy and the Central Constabulary Academy soon followed for the education of political and military officers for the new armed forces. After the military was organized and facilities to educate its new recruits were constructed, the Constabulary Discipline Corps was reorganized into the Korean People's Army General Headquarters; the semi-official units became military regulars with the distribution of Soviet uniforms and weapons that followed the inception of the headquarters. The State Security Department, a forerunner to the Ministry of People's Defense, was created as part of the Interim People's Committee on 4 February 1948; the formal creation of the Korean People's Army was announced on four days on 8 February, the day after the Fourth Plenary Session of the People’s Assembly approved the plan to separate the roles of the military and those of the police, seven months before the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed on 9 September 1948.
In addition, the Ministry of State for the People's Armed Forces was established, which controlled a central guard battalion, two divisions, an independent mixed and combined arms brigade. Before the outbreak of the Korean War, Joseph Stalin equipped the KPA with modern tanks, trucks and small arms. During the opening phases of the Korean War in 1950, the KPA drove South Korean forces south and captured Seoul, only to lose 70,000 of their 100,000-strong army in the autumn after U. S. amphibious landings at a subsequent drive to the Yalu River. On 4 November, China staged a military intervention. On 7 December, Kim Il-sung was deprived of the right of command of KPA by China; the KPA subsequently played a secondary minor role to Chinese forces in the remainder of the conflict. By the time of the Armistice in 1953, the KPA had sustained 290,000 casualties and lost 90,000 men as POWs. In 1953, the Military Armistice Commission was able to oversee and enforce the terms of the armistice; the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, made up of delegations from Czechoslovakia, Poland and Switzerland, carried out inspections to ensure implementation of the terms of the Armistice that prevented reinforcements or new weapons being brought into Korea.
Soviet thinking on the strategic scale was replaced since December 1962 with a people's war concept. The Soviet idea of direct warfare was replaced with a Maoist war of attrition strategy. Along with the mechanization of some infantry units, more emphasis was put on light weapons, high-angle indirect fire, night fighting, sea denial; the primary path for command and control of the KPA extends through the State Affairs Commission, led by its chairman Kim Jong-il until 2011, to the Ministry of People's Armed Forces and its General Staff Department
Kokura
Kokura is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyushu, guarding the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshu and Kyushu with its suburb Moji. Kokura is the name of the penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen line, owned by JR West. Ferries connect Kokura with Matsuyama on Shikoku, Busan in South Korea; the Ogasawara and Hosokawa clans were daimyō at Kokura Castle during the Edo period. Miyamoto Musashi, samurai swordsman, author of The Book of Five Rings and founder of the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryū, famous for its use of two swords, lived in the Kokura castle under the patronage of the Ogasawara and Hosokawa clans during 1634. After the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Kokura was the seat of government for Kokura Prefecture; when the municipal system of cities and villages was introduced, Kokura Town was one of 25 towns in the prefecture, which merged with Fukuoka Prefecture. Kokura was upgraded to city status in 1900. Kokura was the backup target for the "Little Boy" bomb on August 6, 1945, so if Hiroshima had been clouded over, the first atomic bomb would have been dropped on Kokura.
Kokura was the primary target for the "Fat Man" bomb on August 9, 1945, but on the morning of the raid, the city was obscured by clouds and smoke from the firebombing of the neighboring city of Yahata the day before. Since the mission commander Major Charles Sweeney had orders to drop the bomb visually and not by radar, he diverted to the secondary target, Nagasaki; when the city of Kitakyushu was created in 1963, Kokura was divided into Kokura Kita ward in the north, Kokura Minami ward in the south. Matsumoto Seichō – writer Miyamoto Musashi – swordsman and rōnin Mori Ōgai – physician, translator and poet Tetsuya Theodore Fujita – Meteorologist Leiji Matsumoto Tsukasa Hojo The Gion Festival of Kokura is called the "Gion of Drums" and celebrates the life of local folk-hero Muhomatsu; the city is the site of the main dojo of Miyamoto Musashi's sword school, Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryū. Kokura Kita-ku Kokura Minami-ku Kokura Prefecture Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun or HMG is a class of machine gun implying greater characteristics than general purpose or medium machine guns. There are two recognized classes of weapons identified as heavy machine guns; the first are weapons from World War I identified as "heavy" due to the weight and encumberment of the weapons themselves. The second are large-caliber machine guns, pioneered by John Moses Browning with the M2 machine gun, designed to provide increased range and destructive power against vehicles, buildings and light fortifications beyond the standard rifle calibers used in medium or general-purpose machine guns, or the intermediate cartridges used in light machine guns; the term was used to refer to the generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I. These fired standard rifle cartridges such as the 7.92 Mauser.303 British or 7.62×54mmR, but featured heavy construction, elaborate mountings, water-cooling mechanisms that enabled long-range sustained automatic fire with excellent accuracy.
However, these advantages came at the cost of being too cumbersome to move as well as requiring a crew of several soldiers to operate them. Thus, in this sense, the "heavy" aspect of the weapon referred to the weapon's bulk and ability to sustain fire, not the cartridge caliber; this class of weapons was best exemplified by the Maxim gun, invented by the American inventor Hiram Maxim, who had traveled to England to market his design and became a British subject in 1900. The Maxim was the most ubiquitous machine gun of World War I, variants of which were fielded by three separate warring nations; the modern definition refers to a class of large-caliber machine guns, pioneered by John Moses Browning with the M2 machine gun. These weapons are designed to provide increased range and destructive power against vehicles, buildings and light fortifications beyond the standard rifle calibers used in medium or general-purpose machine gun, or the intermediate cartridges used in light machine guns. In this sense, the "heavy" aspect of the weapon refers to its superior power and range over light- and medium-caliber weapons, in addition to its weight.
This class of machine gun came into widespread use during World War II, when the M2 was used in fortifications, on vehicles and in aircraft by American forces. A similar HMG capacity was fielded by the Soviets in the form of Vasily Degtyaryov's DShK in 12.7×108mm. The ubiquitous German MG42 general-purpose machine gun, though well-suited against infantry, lacked the M2's anti-fortification and anti-vehicle capability, a fact, noted and lamented by the Germans; the continued need for a longer-range machine gun with anti-materiel capability to bridge the gap between anti-infantry weapons and anti-materiel weapons has led to the widespread adoption and modernization of the class, most nations' armed forces are equipped with some type of HMG. Machine guns with calibers smaller than 10mm are considered medium or light machine guns, while those larger than 15mm are classified as autocannons instead of heavy machine guns. In the late 19th century, Gatling guns and other externally powered types such as the Nordenfelt were made in a variety of calibers, such as 0.5-inch and 1-inch.
Due to their multiple barrels, overheating was not so much of an issue, but they were quite heavy. When Maxim developed his recoil-powered machine gun using a single barrel, his first main design weighed a modest 26 pounds and fired a.45-inch rifle-caliber bullet from a 24-inch barrel. A famous photo of Maxim showed him picking it up by its 15-pound tripod with one arm, it was similar to present-day medium machine guns, but it could not be fired for extended periods due to overheating. As a result, Maxim created a water jacket cooling system to enable it to fire for extended periods. However, this added significant weight. There were thus two main types of heavy, rapid-fire weapons: the manually powered, multiple-barrel machine guns and the single-barrel Maxim guns. By the end of the 19th century, many new designs such as the M1895 Colt–Browning and Hotchkiss were developed, powered by gas operation or recoil operation. Rather than the heavy water jacket, new designs introduced other types of barrel cooling, such as barrel replacement, metal fins, heat sinks or some combination of these.
Machine guns diverged into lighter designs. The model water-cooled Maxim guns and its derivatives the MG 08 and the Vickers, as well as the American M1917 Browning machine gun, were all substantial weapons. The.303 Vickers, for example, weighed 33 lb and was mounted on a tripod that brought the total weight to 50 lb. The heavier designs could, in some cases did, fire for days on end in fixed defensive positions to repel infantry attacks; these machine guns were mounted on tripods and were water-cooled, a well-trained crew could fire nonstop for hours, given sufficient ammunition, replacement barrels and cooling water. Positioned heavy machine guns could stop an attacking force before they reached their objectives. However, during the same period a number of lighter and more portable air-cooled designs were developed weighing less than 30 lbs. In World War I they were to be as important as the heavier designs, were used to support infantry on the attack, on aircraft, on many types of vehicles.
The lightest of the new designs were not capable of sustained automatic fire, as they did
Chile: Chile bought several hundred Type 3 machine guns in 7×57mm Mauser as Modelo 1920. Barrels were manufactured in France by Hotchkiss but most of the weapon was made at the Kokura arsenal.[3]
China: Purchased for Chang Tso-lin's Fengtian Army.[4] Later used by the Collaborationist Chinese Army[5]
Japan[6]
North Korea: It was used by the Korean People's Army during the Korean War.[7]
Manchukuo[8]
