Second Sino-Japanese War: Difference between revisions

| conflict = Second Sino-Japanese War

| partof = the [[interwar period]] and the [[Pacific War|Pacific theatre]] of [[World War II]]

| image1 = Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces in Battle of Shanghai 1937.jpg

| image2 = Eighth Route Army fighting on Futuyu Great Wall, 1938.jpg

| image3 = US equipped Chinese Army in India marching.jpg

| image4 = Nanking bodies 1937.jpg

| image5 = 轟炸重慶.jpg

| image6 = Wuhan 1938.jpg

}}'''Clockwise from top left:''' {{flatlist|

* [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] landing force in [[military gas mask]]s in the [[Battle of Shanghai]]

| date = 7 July 1937{{snd}}2 September 1945

| place = {{flatlist|

| result = Chinese victory

| combatant1 = {{flagicon|Nationalist government|size=25px}} [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]]

* {{Flagicon|Manchukuo}} [[Manchukuo]]

* {{Flagicon|Mengjiang}} [[Mengjiang]]

| commander1 = {{plainlist|

* {{Flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)|size=25px}} '''[[Chiang Kai-shek]]'''

** 640,000 (1937)<ref name="China's Bitter Victory">{{cite book | author = Hsiung | title = China's Bitter Victory | date = 1992 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 978-1-563-24246-5 | page = 79 }}</ref>

** 166,700 (1938)<ref name="八路军·表册">{{cite book | publisher = 中国人民解放军历史资料丛书编审委员会 | script-title=zh:八路军·表册 | date = 1994 | isbn = 978-7-506-52290-8 | pages = 第3页 | language = zh }}</ref>

** 1,200,000 (1945)<ref name="Hsiung">{{cite book |title = China's Bitter Victory: The War With Japan, 1937–1945 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yt6TTRdUzwC |publisher = M. E. Sharpe publishing |author = Hsiung, James C. |year = 1992 |location = New York |isbn = 1-56324-246-X |access-date = 5 October 2015 |archive-date = 12 October 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221012012542/https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yt6TTRdUzwC |url-status = live }}</ref>}}

| strength2 = {{Flagdeco|Empire of Japan|size=25px}} 4,100,000 total{{Sfn|Hsu|page=535}}

** 1,015,000 (1939)<ref name="RKKA General Staff">[http://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/fond/issues-doc/1001032 RKKA General Staff, 1939] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425061436/http://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/fond/issues-doc/1001032 |date=25 April 2016 }}. Retrieved 17 April 2016</ref>

** 1,124,900 (1945)<ref>[http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/AJRP2.nsf/530e35f7e2ae7707ca2571e3001a112d/e7daa03b9084ad56ca257209000a85f7?OpenDocument Ministry of Health and Welfare, 1964] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311073745/http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/AJRP2.nsf/530e35f7e2ae7707ca2571e3001a112d/e7daa03b9084ad56ca257209000a85f7?OpenDocument |date=11 March 2016 }} Retrieved 11 March 2016</ref> (excluding Manchuria and [[Burma campaign]])

| casualties1 = {{plainlist|

* {{Flagicon image|Naval_Jack_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg}} '''[[Kuomintang|Chinese Nationalists]]''':

* {{Flagdeco|Empire of Japan|army}} '''[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]]''':

** ''Japanese medical data'':

*** 1,934,820 wounded and missing<ref>He Yingqin, "Eight Year Sino-Japanese War"</ref>

*** 22,293+ captured{{efn|Excluding more than 1 million who were disarmed following the surrender of Japan}}

*** '''Total:''' 2,500,000+ military casualties (1937 to 1945 excluding Manchuria and [[Burma campaign]])

** 288,140–574,560 dead

** 742,000 wounded

| t = 抗日戰爭

| p=kàng rì zhàn zhēng

| altname = Alternative name

| s2 = 抗战

| t2 = 抗戰

| s3 = 八年抗战

| t3 = 八年抗戰

| s4 = 十四年抗战

| t4 = 十四年抗戰

| t5 = 第二次中日戰爭

| s5 = 第二次中日战争

| p5=dì èr cì zhōng rì zhàn zhēng

| kanji = {{unbulleted list|支那事変|日支戦争|日中戦争}}

| kunrei = {{unbulleted list|Sina zihen|Nissi sensou|Nittyuu sensou}}

}}

 

 

 

The full-scale war began on 7 July 1937 with the [[Marco Polo Bridge incident]] near [[Beijing]], which prompted a full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. The Japanese captured the capital of [[Battle of Nanking|Nanjing]] in 1937 and perpetrated the [[Nanjing Massacre]]. After failing to stop the Japanese capture of [[Battle of Wuhan|Wuhan]] in 1938, then China's de facto capital at the time, the [[Nationalist government]] relocated to [[Chongqing]] in the Chinese interior. After the [[Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact]], Soviet aid bolstered the [[Republic of China Army]] and [[Republic of China Air Force|Air Force]]. By 1939, after Chinese victories at [[Battle of Changsha (1939)|Changsha]] and [[Battle of South Guangxi|Guangxi]], and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat [[Chinese Communist Party]] forces in [[Shaanxi]], who waged a campaign of sabotage and [[guerrilla warfare]]. In November 1939, Chinese nationalist forces [[1939–1940 Winter Offensive|launched a large scale winter offensive]], and in August 1940, communist forces launched the [[Hundred Regiments Offensive]] in central China.

In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] and declared war on the United States. The US increased its aid to China under the [[Lend-Lease Act]], becoming its main financial and military supporter. With [[Japanese occupation of Burma|Burma]] cut off, the [[United States Army Air Forces]] airlifted material over [[the Hump|the Himalayas]]. In 1944, Japan launched [[Operation Ichi-Go]], the invasion of [[Henan]] and [[Changsha]]. In 1945, the [[Chinese Expeditionary Force]] resumed [[Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan|its advance in Burma]] and completed the [[Ledo Road]] linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China and repulsed a [[Battle of West Hunan|failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan]] and [[Second Guangxi campaign|recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi]].

 

 

==Names==

{{Main|1911 Revolution|Warlord Era}}

 

 

 

===Twenty-One Demands===

On 13 August 1937, Kuomintang soldiers attacked [[Imperial Japanese Navy Land Forces|Japanese Marine]] positions in Shanghai, with Japanese army troops and marines in turn crossing into the city with naval gunfire support at [[Zhabei]], leading to the Battle of Shanghai. On 14 August, Chinese forces under the command of [[Zhang Zhizhong]] were ordered to capture or destroy the Japanese strongholds in Shanghai, leading to bitter street fighting. In an attack on the Japanese cruiser ''[[Japanese cruiser Izumo|Izumo]]'', Kuomintang planes accidentally bombed the [[Shanghai International Settlement]], which led to more than 3,000 civilian deaths.<ref name="Wakeman280281">{{cite book | author = Frederic E. Wakeman | pages = 280–281 | title = Policing Shanghai, 1927–1937 | publisher = University of California Press | year=1996 | isbn = 0-520-20761-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vT5GrHv4VcMC&q=August%2014%2C%201937%20Shanghai&pg=PA281 | access-date = 2011-10-20 | archive-date = 12 October 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221012012459/https://books.google.com/books?id=vT5GrHv4VcMC&q=August%2014%2C%201937%20Shanghai&pg=PA281 | url-status = live }}</ref>

 

 

The skies of China had become a testing zone for advanced [[biplane]] and new-generation [[monoplane]] combat-aircraft designs. The introduction of the advanced [[Mitsubishi A5M|A5M]] "Claude" fighters into the Shanghai-Nanjing theater of operations, beginning on 18 September 1937, helped the Japanese achieve a certain level of [[Air superiority fighter|air superiority]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail-page-2.asp?aircraft_id=619|title=Mitsubishi A5M (Claude) – Development and Operational History, Performance Specifications and Picture Gallery|work=militaryfactory.com|access-date=13 August 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225928/http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail-page-2.asp?aircraft_id=619|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Januszewski|first=Tadeusz|title=Mitsubishi A5M Claude (Yellow Series)|year=2013|publisher= Stratus |location=Sandomierz, Poland|isbn= 978-83-61421-99-3}}</ref> However the few experienced Chinese veteran pilots, as well as several Chinese-American volunteer fighter pilots, including Maj. [[Art Chin]], Maj. [[John Wong Pan-yang]], and Capt. Chan Kee-Wong, even in their older and slower biplanes, proved more than able to hold their own against the sleek A5Ms in [[dogfight]]s, and it also proved to be a [[Attrition warfare|battle of attrition]] against the Chinese Air Force. At the start of the battle, the local strength of the NRA was around five divisions, or about 70,000 troops, while local Japanese forces comprised about 6,300 marines. On 23 August, the Chinese Air Force attacked Japanese troop landings at Wusongkou in northern Shanghai with Hawk III fighter-attack planes and P-26/281 fighter escorts, and the Japanese intercepted most of the attack with [[Nakajima A2N|A2N]] and [[Nakajima A4N|A4N]] fighters from the aircraft carriers ''[[Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō|Hosho]]'' and ''[[Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō|Ryujo]]'', shooting down several of the Chinese planes while losing a single A4N in the dogfight with Lt. [[John Huang Xinrui|Huang Xinrui]] in his P-26/281; the Japanese Army reinforcements succeeded in landing in northern Shanghai.<ref>{{cite web|title=Martyr Qin Jia-zhu|url=https://air.mnd.gov.tw/EN/PastCurrent/PastCurrent_Detail.aspx?FID=28&CID=176&ID=1327|access-date=2020-11-08|website=air.mnd.gov.tw|language=en|archive-date=5 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105082630/https://air.mnd.gov.tw/EN/PastCurrent/PastCurrent_Detail.aspx?FID=28&CID=176&ID=1327|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) ultimately committed over 300,000 troops, along with numerous naval vessels and aircraft, to capture the city. After more than three months of intense fighting, their casualties far exceeded initial expectations.<ref>Fu Jing-hui, An Introduction of Chinese and Foreign History of War, 2003, pp. 109–111</ref> On 26 October, the IJA captured Dachang, a key strong-point within Shanghai, and on 5 November, additional reinforcements from Japan landed in Hangzhou Bay. Finally, on 9 November, the NRA began a general retreat.

[[File:Taierzhuang.jpg|thumb|Chinese soldiers in [[Urban warfare|house-to-house]] fighting in the [[Battle of Taierzhuang]], March–April 1938]]

 

 

The Japanese were then decisively defeated at the [[Battle of Taierzhuang]] (March–April 1938), where the Chinese used night attacks and [[Close-quarters combat|close quarters combat]] to overcome Japanese advantages in firepower. The Chinese also severed Japanese supply lines from the rear, forcing the Japanese to retreat in the first Chinese victory of the war.{{sfn|Mitter|2013|pp=149–150}}

 

====United Kingdom====

After the Tanggu Truce of 1933, Chiang Kai-Shek and the British government would have more friendly relations but were uneasy due to British foreign concessions there. During the Second Sino-Japanese War the British government would initially have an impartial viewpoint toward the conflict urging both to reach an agreement and prevent war. British public opinion would swing in favor of the Chinese after [[Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen]]'s car which had Union Jacks on it was attacked by Japanese aircraft with Hugessen being temporarily paralyzed with outrage against the attack from the public and government. The British public were largely supportive of the Chinese and many relief efforts were untaken to help China. Britain at this time was beginning the process of rearmament and the sale of military surplus was banned but there was never an embargo on private companies shipping arms. A number of unassembled [[Gloster Gladiator]] fighters were imported to China via Hong Kong for the Chinese Air Force. Between July 1937 and November 1938 on average 60,000 tons of munitions were shipped from Britain to China via Hong Kong. Attempts by the United Kingdom and the United States to do a joint intervention were unsuccessful as both countries had rocky relations in the interwar era.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perry |first=J. K. J. |date=7 September 2011 |title=Powerless and Frustrated: Britain's Relationship With China During the Opening Years of the Second Sino–Japanese War, 1937–1939 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592296.2011.599641 |journal=Diplomacy & Statecraft |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=408–430 |doi=10.1080/09592296.2011.599641 |s2cid=153517917 |access-date=23 October 2023 |via=Taylor & Francis Online}}</ref>

 

In February 1941 a Sino-British agreement was forged whereby British troops would assist the Chinese "Surprise Troops" units of guerrillas already operating in China, and China would assist Britain in Burma.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kirby|first=Major General Woodburn, S|title=The War against Japan, Vol 2: India's Most Dangerous Hour|location=London|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office|year=1958}}</ref>

 

 

 

 

{{See also|Japanese invasion of French Indochina|Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina}}

[[File:French retreat to China.jpg|thumb|[[Troupes coloniales|French colonial troops]] retreating to the Chinese border after the Japanese coup d'état in March 1945]]

* The official account of the war published in Taiwan reported that the Nationalist Chinese Army lost 3,238,000 men (1,797,000 wounded, 1,320,000 killed, and 120,000 missing) and 5,787,352 civilians casualties putting the total number of casualties at 9,025,352. The [[Kuomintang|Nationalists]] fought in 22 major engagements, most of which involved more than 100,000 troops on both sides, 1,171 minor engagements most of which involved more than 50,000 troops on both sides, and 38,931 skirmishes.<ref name=Hsu/> The Chinese reported their yearly total battle casualties as 367,362 for 1937, 735,017 for 1938, 346,543 for 1939, and 299,483 for 1941.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clodfelter |first=Michael |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland & Company |edition=4th |pages=393}}</ref>

* An academic study published in the United States in 1959 estimates military casualties: 1.5&nbsp;million killed in battle, 750,000 missing in action, 1.5&nbsp;million deaths due to disease and 3&nbsp;million wounded; civilian casualties: due to military activity, killed 1,073,496 and 237,319 wounded; 335,934 killed and 426,249 wounded in Japanese air attacks.<ref>Ho Ping-ti. Studies on the Population of China, 1368–1953. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959.</ref>

* The property loss suffered by the Chinese was valued at 383&nbsp;billion US&nbsp;dollars according to the currency exchange rate in July 1937, roughly 50 times the [[gross domestic product]] of Japan at that time (US$7.7&nbsp;billion).<ref>[[Ho Ying-chin]], Who Actually Fought the Sino-Japanese War 1937–1945? 1978</ref>

* In addition, the war created 95&nbsp;million [[refugee]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=War, nation, memory : international perspectives on World War II in school history textbooks|last1=Crawford|first1=Keith A.|last2=Foster|first2=Stuart J.|publisher=Information Age|year=2007|isbn=9781607526599|location=Charlotte, NC|page=90|oclc=294758908}}</ref>

{{Commons category}}

* ''[https://bdoc.enpchina.eu/ Biographical Dictionary of Occupied China]''

* "CBI Theater of Operations" – [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/CBI/index.html IBIBLIO World War II: China Burma India] Links to selected documents, photos, maps, and books.

* {{cite web|url=http://warmuseum.ca/cwm/newspapers/operations/china_e.html |title=World War II Newspaper Archives&nbsp;– War in China, 1937–1945 |access-date=2004-08-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031129080955/http://warmuseum.ca/cwm/newspapers/operations/china_e.html |archive-date=29 November 2003 |df=mdy }}