by Goldfish on 09 Jun 2004 06:50
By 1940, Japan had destroyed many of China's best divisions and secured control over China's economic heartland as well as most access to military aid. However, the Japanese lacked the numbers and logistics to fully occupy all of China despite the fact that they could still move at will within the country.
Japan then tried alternate methods to direct conquest of China. A puppet "Nationalist" regime was created in Nanjing and led by Wang Jingwei, one of Sun Yat-sen's closest followers and a rival of Chiang Kai-shek. This regime then tried to recruit the provincial "governors" (many of them warlords) with a combination of promises of autonomy and access to trade with Japanese-occupied territory and the rest of the world. The Japanese also maximized the existing rivalries within China to keep the Chinese from unifying against them. At the same time, the Japanese pressured foreign governments to cut ties with Chiang's regime and recognize their puppet regimes.
However, the Japanese continued launching low-intensity operations against Nationalist territory. They would regularly launch raids into southeast China to steal the rice crop following harvest. They also launched terror raids on China's major cities.
After Pearl Harbor, Japan tried to limit activity in China, hoping to win in China by winning elsewhere. However, American air units, first the American Volunteer Group and then regular USAAF units, limited Japanese air activity over China's major cities and were beginning to interfere with Japanese lines of communication. The entrance of America and Britain into the war also meant that the Chinese Army would now have access, through Burma, to new weapons, training, and other military aid.
Burma's loss and the subsequent squeeze on supplies caused major divisions among Allied commanders in the new CBI theater that bought the Japanese time. By the end of 1943, though, the Allied effort was making itself felt. The Chinese Army in India (CAI), well-trained and equipped, began pushing across North Burma, defeating the veteran Japanese 18th Division (the conquerors of Singapore). In China, the 14th Air Force was disrupting Japanese supply lines and attacking targets in Taiwan, Indo-China and the South China Sea. The most ominous threat, however, were the preparations for the new B-29's capable of reaching Japan from bases in China.
The Japanese had to react to these threats. In Burma, the Japanese would attack into India, cutting the "Hump" supply line to China and possibly knocking India out of the war. In China, they would overrun the American airfields in East China.
The Japanese offensive in India was disasterous and, coupled with the Allied offensive in North Burma, led to a widening of the supply lines to China. However, the offensive in China (codenamed ICHIGO), was an astonishing success and the last successful offensive the Japanese would launch. The Japanese overran the airfields and very nearly shattered the Nationalist control of China. It also sewed permanent distrust between Nationalist China and the US that carried on into the Civil War and beyond.
1945 would have been the turning point in China. The widening of China's supply lines through Burma caused training and supplying of the Chinese Army to increase rapidly. This, plus the return to China of the veteran divisions of the CAI and the withdrawal of veteran Japanese divisions to the Pacific, shifted the balance of power in China. Japanese puppet troops deserted, morale among Nationalist troops increased, and guerilla activity, Nationalist and Communist, grew rapidly. When Japanese troops launched diversionary attacks to support their withdrawal to North China and the lower Yangtze valley, the attacks were quickly contained and repulsed. Chinese armies were in the opening stages of an offensive towards Ft. Bayard (near Hainan) when the war ended.
The Japanese came closest to unseating Chiang during the ICHIGO offensive. This was primarily the result of Japanese Intelligence, not just military action. The Japanese convinced many of the warlord "governors" in the path of ICHIGO to move out of the way of their armies by telling them that their main objective was the American airfields, not their power bases. The Japanese then spread rumors that they had made the same deal with Chiang, leading to considerable American distrust and talk of attempts to overthrow Chiang's regimes by an alliance of southwestern warlords. These warlords then tried to get American support for their plan. The Japanese had also planted rumors in Chungking that the Americans, led by CBI commander Joseph Stilwell, planned to kill Chiang and take control of China. The combination of all this led to confusion and considerable mistrust and contributed greatly to the success of the Japanese offensive. However, cooler heads eventually prevailed. The Americans replaced the controversial Stilwell and reorganized the theater. Chiang was able to make peace with the warlords and was greatly aided in this by the Japanese defeats in Burma and a halt to Japanese operations as ICHIGO reached the limit of its supply line.
Yours Truly,
Goldfish
(if anybody is interested I can post a couple of maps)
