Indochina Expedition
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| Indochina Expedition | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Imperial Japanese Army, Japan | French Army, Vichy France | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Lt. Gen. Akihito Nakamura, Major Gen. Takuma Nishimura | Lt. Gen. Maurice Martin | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 34,000 men | ? | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| ? | ? | ||||||
| Second Sino-Japanese War |
|---|
| Major engagements in bold Mukden - Invasion of Manchuria -(Jiangqiao - Nenjiang Bridge - Chinchow - Harbin) - Shanghai (1932) - Operation Nekka - ( Rehe - Great Wall) - Suiyuan - Marco Polo Bridge - Beiping-Tianjin - Chahar - Shanghai (1937) (Sihang Warehouse) - Beiping-Hankou Railway - Tianjin-Pukou Railway - Taiyuan - (Pingxingguan) - Xinkou - Nanjing - Xuzhou- Taierzhuang - N.-E.Henan - (Lanfeng) - (Amoy) - Wuhan - Canton - (Hainan) - (Xiushui River) - Nanchang - Suixian-Zaoyang - (Swatow) - 1st Changsha - S.Guangxi- (Kunlun Pass) - Winter Offensive -(Wuyuan) - Zaoyang-Yichang - Hundred Regiments - Indochina Expedition - C. Hopei - S.Henan - W. Hopei - Shanggao - S.Shanxi - 2nd Changsha - 3rd Changsha - Yunnan-Burma Road-(Yenangyaung)- Zhejiang-Jiangxi - W.Hubei - N.Burma-W.Yunnan - Changde - C.Henan - 4th Changsha - Guilin-Liuzhou - W.Henan-N.Hubei - W.Hunan- 2nd Guangxi edit |
The Indochina Expedition was part of a campaign by Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to blockade China to prevent it from communicating with the outside world and importing needed arms and materials. Control of Indochina would make the blockade of China more effective and made continuation of the drawn out Battle of South Guangxi province unnecessary.
Indochina Expedition
While the Japanese operation to seize Longzhou was going on in Guangxi, France had signed an armistice with Germany on June 22, 1940, leading to the establishment of the French Vichy government in the unoccupied part of France. Vichy France also controlled most of French overseas possessions including Indochina, one of the last access points for China to the outside world. With the capture of Lanzhow the highway was now closed but a rail line still permitted shipment of material from Haiphong to Yunnan. Dispite bombing by the Japanese the Yunnan railway remained open.
Japan began pressuring the Vichy government to close the railway and on September 5th, South China Front Army organized the amphibious Indochina Expeditionary Army under its command to be the Japanese garrison in Indochina. Lead by Major Gen. Takuma Nishimura, it was supported by a flotilla of ships and naval aircraft from carriers and air bases on Hainan Island.
On September 22nd Japan and Vichy Indochina signed an accord which granted basing and transit rights, but limited to 6000 the number of Japanese troops which could be stationed in Indo-China, and set an overall cap of 25,000 on the total number of troops that could be in the colony at any given time. In addition, the final article of the agreement barred all Japanese land, air, and naval forces from Indo-Chinese territory except as authorized in the accord.
Within a few hours columns from the 5th Division under Lt. General Akihito Nakamura moved over the border at three places and closed in on the railhead at Lang Son. This contravened the new agreement and fighting ensued with a brigade of French Indochinese Colonial troops and Foreign Legionaries that lasted until the 25th when Lang Son was captured. This opened the way to Hanoi. Still Vichy had defenders in the north, south, and fresh battalions barring the route from Lang Son to Hanoi were in position.
Meanwhile Japanese aircraft began flights for reconnaissance and intimidation from the Japanese task force offshore from Haiphong in the Gulf of Tonkin on the morning of September 24th. A Vichy envoy came to negotiate, but meantime shore defenses remained under orders to open fire against any attempt to force a landing.
On September 26th Japanese forces came ashore at Dong Tac, south of Haiphong, and began moving on the port. A second landing put tanks ashore and Haiphong was bombed, causing some casualties. By early afternoon the Japanese force of some 4500 troops and a dozen tanks was outside Haiphong.
Meanwhile on September 23rd Vichy had approached the government in Tokyo to protest breach of the agreements by the South China Front Army forces. On September 25th Emperor Hirohito ordered an end to hostilities, and by the evening of September 26th fighting had died down. Japan took possession of the airfield at Gia Lam outside Hanoi, rail marshalling yard on the Yunnan border at Lao Kay, and Phu Lang Thuong athwart the railway from Hanoi to Lang Son near the border of Guangxi province, and stationed 900 troops in the port of Haiphong and a further 600 in Hanoi. These positions effectively completed the blockade of China except through the route from Burma.
Order of Battle for Indochina Expedition
See Also
- Battle of Lang Son
Sources:
- [1] Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China. Pg. 317
