Sometime after completing the Ichigo Offensive, IJA began to retreat from South and Central China. (My choice of words my offend, which I do not mean to do). Nanning is abandoned on May 26 and rather surprisingly to me Xiamen(Amoy) on July 1st. In July the Chinese troops reoccuppied Weizhou Island. Were other coastal enclaves or islands evacuated? Matsu? Shantou? Leizhou Peninsula? How quickly did the Chinese capitalize on these withdrawals. Does anyone have more complete details.
As always I am intrested in the numerous barges, ships, small craft brought to China by the IJN or IJA, which as yet have not shown up in English.
Collapse/Retreat of IJA South and Central China 1945
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Jerry Asher
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It does not seem that the Chinese moved in too quickly. For instance in Xiamen,forces under the local Nationalist army and the navy both tried to take over the city, and it wasn't until Sep 28 that a formal surrender ceremony was arranged after the two forces came to some kind of arrangement.
It was said that about 1400 vessels (about 54000 tons) in China were turned over to the Nationalist navy, but most were small crafts there were either damaged or in very poor condition. The ones in the best shape were the 7 small destroyers (6 of which were sea-worthy); there were also 3 torpedo boats and 200 small gunboats.
A partial list of the vessels (86 vessels totaling 7072 tons) in the Shanghai naval base can be found in pp 447-448 of Zhonghua Minguo hai jun tong shi (A History of the Navy of the Republic of China, 1993). The larger ones includes the gunboats 宇治, 隅田, 鳴海;the surveying boat 鄱陽 and transport 早瀨.
安宅, the flagship of the IJN Yangtze Fleet tried to slip out of Shanghai but was intercepted by the US 7th Fleet and escorted back to China.
It was said that about 1400 vessels (about 54000 tons) in China were turned over to the Nationalist navy, but most were small crafts there were either damaged or in very poor condition. The ones in the best shape were the 7 small destroyers (6 of which were sea-worthy); there were also 3 torpedo boats and 200 small gunboats.
A partial list of the vessels (86 vessels totaling 7072 tons) in the Shanghai naval base can be found in pp 447-448 of Zhonghua Minguo hai jun tong shi (A History of the Navy of the Republic of China, 1993). The larger ones includes the gunboats 宇治, 隅田, 鳴海;the surveying boat 鄱陽 and transport 早瀨.
安宅, the flagship of the IJN Yangtze Fleet tried to slip out of Shanghai but was intercepted by the US 7th Fleet and escorted back to China.