Chinese armies in the Second Sino-Japanese War

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The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Chinese and Japanese armies, mostly on Chinese soil, during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Western historians generally view the Second Sino-Japanese War as a theater of World War II. During this war, the Chinese Army had two severe handicaps. First, the Chinese army was ill-equipped, with significantly less advanced military technology than the Japanese and its allies. Second, the Chinese army lacked political unity. Because the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party had not reconciled before 1937, when Japanese troops invaded Chinese territory, these two groups were forced to paper over important differences for the duration of the war, occasionally leading them to destructively hinder each other's efforts to defeat the Japanese.

Contents

[edit] Degree of success

[edit] Early stages of the war

Despite these handicaps, the Chinese Army were moderately successful in the early stages of the war. They repulsed the Japanese army's tentative offensive in Shandong, Hebei and Shanghai, causing Japanese forces heavy losses. The second battle of Shanghai almost ended similarly, but Japanese reinforcements arrived. While defending Nanjing, Chinese infantry forces with very little equipment destroyed the notorious Japanese Army Special Forces units "Shikaya" and "Kisarazu". During the battle of Suzhou, the Japanese 2nd Corps suffered some 30,000 casualties.[citation needed] Finally, in the battle of Wuhan, 100 Japanese aircraft were shot down, many Japanese patrol boats were sunk, and Japanese land forces suffered further casualties.[citation needed]

[edit] After the outbreak of World War II

General Chu Teh, Commander-in-Chief of the Communist Army, published a message to his nation on July 7, 1942. In this message, he noted that the 8th Route Army had not received money or munitions from the government in three years. Between 1941 and 1942, the 8th Route and New 4th Route Armies had to combat more than 24 Japanese divisions, comprising 44% of the total Japanese Armed forces dispatched in China. During the same period, the 8th Route Army suffered heavy casualties, including 65 high-ranking officers. In total, 23,034 soldiers died and 10,856 were wounded.[citation needed]

General Chu estimated that the number of casualties inflicted by the Chinese Communist armies was more than 24,000[citation needed]; this number includes both the Japanese soldiers and their Chinese collaborators. The Chinese armies captured a total of 38,985 prisoners, together with a great quantity of war equipment.[citation needed] The New 4th had captured 15,721 rifles, 301 machine guns (light and heavy) and many other articles, including clothing, food, and medicine.[citation needed]

Other testimonies reported the New 4th Route Communist Army "had withstood 231 battles, captured 1,539 rifles, 32 light machine guns, 4 heavy machine guns, 48 sub-machine guns, 50,000 munitions for light weapons, 22,738 occupation Yen money in Japanese bank notes, radios, horses, mules, flags, 200 trucks and railway wagons, 20 km of rail lines, 7 km of roads, 95 bridges, 20 km of electric lines and captured others, 38 Japanese officers and 613 collaborationist soldiers and wounded 3,253 of the enemy".[citation needed]

[edit] General Chung Yee

On May 9, 1940, several Chinese units under the command of Chinese General Chung Yee fought to the death against a well-equipped Japanese armored division. All the Chinese soldiers who entered battle were killed, but Chung Yee, with two members of his personal escort, retreated to the forest and searched for reinforcements. To his misfortune, a second Japanese force outside the village of T suan Tai Chen had killed potential reinforcements.

On May 18, General Chung Yee, his second-in-command General Fang Chih-an, and the units they controlled fought the Japanese Army in the Tsaoyang area. General Chang's two regiments were surrounded by 6,000 enemy cavalry and infantry units in the Fengjiang area.[citation needed] The ensuing battle lasted eight hours causing terrible losses to the defenders; Chung Yee was wounded in the right arm. Chinese officers petitioned for a strategic retreat, but Commander Yee overruled them, ordering a last stand to defend the land. He saw this as a debt owed to his country, and a dishonour if left unpaid before his death. The enemy advanced with reinforcements. During the battle, a round of machine gun fire reached the party of General Chang and wounded one of his officers.

Only a few hours later, General Fang Chih-an encountered the same Japanese force, and his army defeated it. Among the corpses, he found the enemy commander . Subsequent Japanese radio broadcasts glorified the late Japanese commander and stated his remains would be sent to Shantung.

The Chinese left the remains of the enemy commander, as well as the corpse of Major General Chung Yee, and conducted funerals in Peipei, 50 km from the Capital. When news of this reached the Japanese, they dispatched bombers to strike the area.[citation needed] The funerals continued even as these attacks occurred, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek conferred high honours upon the dead chiefs. Honours were bestowed upon the General Chung Yee for his role as Chinese supreme commander.

[edit] Other Chinese engagements

Chinese General Chang Yun-ee, chief of the Fourth Detachment, was killed in combat during the spring of 1942. There were approximately 500,000 soldiers left in the Chinese army.

In the Second Changsha battle, Chinese forces destroyed advancing Japanese forces. During the ensuing Japanese retreat, the Chinese pursued and destroyed the remaining Japanese groups who fled the battle.

A Chinese expeditionary force annihilated the entire Japanese 33rd Division in the Battle of Yenangyaung, of the first Burma campaign. They liberated around 7,000 British prisoners, took roughly 1,000 horses, and freed 500 other prisoners, which included American journalists and missionaries captured by the Japanese forces.

After the Battle of Kweshan, Chinese forces captured 10 soldiers of the Manchukuo Imperial Forces, two 9.3 cm pieces of heavy artillery, and a plaque which read "Manufactured in Tokyo, 1940". In Juikwotan, Chinese forces confiscated two American trucks from the Japanese, one of which was full of packages of hand grenades. The Chinese general headquarters was filled by Japanese flags, parts for trucks and cars, tools, rifles, pistols, revolvers, munitions, mortars with munitions, covers, and raincoats. One secret peasant society, "Hwang Shih Hwei", helped capture Japanese troops and the aforementioned equipment during combat.

The Chinese mourned the loss of the young officer Loh Hun-ping, in the battle near the enemy position of Miaoerpu, who had led one offensive unit against the enemy.

In the Chekiang-Kiangsi skirmish, Chinese forces rescued members of the American Doolittle Raid. When they arrived at Chekiang, they encountered Japanese and collaborationist armies. During intense skirmishes, the Chinese forces killed approximately 17,000 of the enemy forces.[citation needed]

After these skirmishes, Chinese forces engaged in guerrilla combat, impeding Japan's first attempt to organize the large number of Japanese units needed for a pincer attack, which the Japanese planned to use during their invasion of Sichuan province. The Chinese were aided by the U.S. Navy, which defeated the Japanese Navy in the Midway, and by the U.S. Army, which defeated the Japanese Army in the Solomon Islands campaigns; these defeats prevented the Japanese forces from sending adequate reinforcements to the Chinese mainland for their previously planned invasion of Sichuan, and also deprived the Japanese of control over important sea routes. Finally, Chinese forces joining the Anglo-American "Flying Tigers" destroyed the new Japanese divisions slated to invade Sichuan during the Battle of Hubei.

In the Battle of Changteh, the Japanese were defeated by the New Fourth Chinese forces, even when the Japanese used chemical warfare against the population and the Chinese forces.[citation needed]

[edit] End of the war

During the last offensive, Japanese forces were again defeated in North Hupei, West Hunan, Hsihsiaoko, Laohoku, Ninhsiang, Yiyang, Wuyang, Liuchow-Kweilin, Nanning, Kwangsi, and Yuehcheng Shan.

On May 22, 1945, Chinese forces took prisoner "17 Japanese officers, 230 soldiers and captured 347 horses, 24 cannons of various caliber, 100 light and heavy machine guns, 1,333 rifles, and 20 tonnes of assorted equipment".[citation needed]

Chinese forces launched a fierce counter-offensive against the last Japanese positions in Canton and Kwangsi. They also took part in other counter-offensives with the Allied Forces in the South China area against the remaining Japanese forces in the area.

[edit] Armoured vehicles

[citation needed]

[edit] American

[edit] British

[edit] French

[edit] German

  • Gerat 80 Light Armored Car Leichter Panzerspahwagen (MG) Sd Kfz 221
  • Gerat 81 Light Armored Car Leichter Panzerspahwagen (2 cm) Sd Kfz 222
  • Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf A Sd kfz 101 (10 or 15)

[edit] Italian

  • CV.33 (20 or 100)

[edit] Japanese (captured)

[edit] Local warlord armored car design

  • GMC 1931 truck with a 37mm gun and 2 machine guns in a crude turret (possibly 7000)[1]

[edit] Polish

  • FT-17 (30-45 units)

[edit] Soviet

  • BA-3
  • BA-6
  • BA-20
  • BA-27
  • IS-2
  • SU-76
  • SU-122 (1148)
  • T-26b (87 or 88)
  • T-27b Mod.1933
  • T-34
  • T-63

[edit] Chinese Air Force

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[edit] Campaigns and battles

One Chinese pilot in an American Boeing P-12F (model 218) shot down a Japanese fighter over Shanghai; it was the first ever American aircraft to do so. The Chinese Air Force used the Boeing P-26 against Japanese aircraft during aerial engagements over Nanking and Shanghai. They succeeded in shooting down several Japanese bombers.

Between 1937 and 1941, Curtiss Hawk 75 Marks I, II, and III (export versions) fighters in Chinese hands engaged Japanese fighters over Peking and Shanghai. On September 4, 1937, a group of Mark IIs and IIIs met two Mitsubishi A5M2s of the 13th Air Corps, led by Lieutenant Tadashi Nakajima and from the Japanese Navy Carrier Kaga, encountered over Dahu Lake. The Japanese pilots shot down three Chinese planes and returned to the carrier. On September 19, all 12 A5Ms of the Japanese 13th Air Corps, led by Lieutenant Sichio Yamashita, were escorting 17 Nakajima B5N2 bombers on a mission to Nanking, when they encountered 20 Chinese Hawk IIs and Boeing 248s. After an intense 15-minute dogfight, the Chinese lost 11 fighters (the Japanese claimed fifteen) and claimed one Japanese.

Some Aichi D1A2 dive bombers sunk the American river-patrol ship USS Panay in the Yangtze River during the Nanking evacuation on December 12, 1937. This nearly provoked war between the United States and Japan and became known as the Panay incident.

After January 1937, the Chinese used Curtiss A-12 Shrike attack bombers against Japanese forces. At the same time, they used the Heinkel He 50A in similar missions. Chinese units later replaced these with Petlyakov Pe-2s, Ilyushin Il-2m3s, and Ilyushin Il-10s Russian in the last phases of the conflict. The Chinese used the Dewoitine D.501C in aerial combat between 1937–1941.

Chinese Hawk 75Ms took part in aerial operations from 1937–1938. Other fighters in combat in the same sector were the Gloster Gladiator Mk. I.

Chinese units also used Armstrong Whitworth Atlas I in ground attack missions against the Japanese during the conflict. Other British planes in use were the transports Airspeed A.S. Envoy III and Avro 626 in Kwangsi. 32 CW-21 Demons were built in China by CAMCO (Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company) and used in the Central Chinese front. This company also armed the Curtiss P-40 for use by the Flying Tigers. Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek had one Boeing C-73 (Model 237Y), a specially-modified personal plane. This plane was destroyed during a combat. It was replaced by a Curtiss-Wright BT-32 Condor II as personal transport.

The Martin 139 WH-2 bomber took part in the Taihoku Air Strike, which began the Chinese bombing campaign of Japan and was intended to cause terror on the Japanese homeland. The Chinese also bombed Japanese forces and Chinese collaborationists in Japanese-occupied China.

In defense of Shanghai, Chinese units were dispatched with Fiat CR.30 and Fiat CR.32 bis. Other units used the P-36 and Hawk 75M.

Chinese airplanes came from various sources. CAMCO was a private Chinese company dedicated to making aircraft from pieces of U.S. or foreign origin; they were operated as a repair shop. The installations of this company at Loiwing were the object of air strikes by Japanese bombers. CAMCO installations manufactured 74 Vultee V-12-C/D land-strike bombers during the conflict. They were later manufactured in the Indian HAL factory after the Japanese attacked the CAMCO facilities. Additional Chinese Air units against Japanese forces were the Polikarpov I-15, Polikarpov I-153 and Polikarpov I-16.

During their bombing campaigns, the Chinese Bomber Force utilized the Tupolev SB-2/2bis together with the Heinkel He 111 and some Martin 139 WH-2 bombers. During the conflict, these were replaced with the Lockheed A-29 Hudson, North American B-25 Mitchell and the Tupolev Tu-2S. Chinese units in reconnaissance missions used the F-5, the reconnaissance version of the Lockheed P-38G Lightning and Focke-Wulf Fw 44C Stieglitz. Chinese Republic P-43A-1 Lancer fighters opposed the Japanese during 1942–1943. Chinese Vultee P-66 and Curtiss P-40E fought against the Japanese from 1943.

Chinese forces captured one Mitsubishi A6M2 and sent it to the U.S.[citation needed] for evaluation. They also used Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar and Nakajima Ki-27 units. Some Vultee V-1A were also used as transports/couriers during the Chinese-Japanese conflict.

The Japanese Navy launched a convoy of six A6Ms from the Yokosuka Air detachment and Naval Base to Wuhan airfield in Chinese-conttrolle territory on July 21, 1940, two days before the fighter was officially accepted into service. Those, and nine more that soon followed, were assigned to the evaluation operative unit 12th Kokutai (Air Corps), under the command of Captain Kiichi Hasegawa. The first operational mission was on August 19, 1940, when Lieutenant Tamotsu Yokoyama led 12 A6Ms in escort of 54 Mitsubishi G3M2s on a 1,150 mile (1,850 km) round trip to bomb Chungking. The Japanese encountered no aerial opposition on this or the following day in the area.

On September 13, 1940], during the Hankow air battle, 13 A6Ms of 12h Air Corps led by Japanese Navy Lieutenant Saburo Shindo escorted 27 Mitsubishi G4M1 bombers and Mitsubishi C5M1 reconnaissance planes over the perimeter of the city, where they encountered 28 Polikarpov I-153 and 9 Polikarpov I-16 of 4th Chinese Fighter Group, led by Colonel Cheng Shao-yu. The Japanese claimed 27 victories; the Chinese admitted only 13 losses, plus 11 others returning severely damaged. 10 Chinese pilots were killed and 8 wounded, including their leader, Colonel Cheng.

The Japanese Air Force suffered the shotdown of two Japanese Navy elite pilots of the 12th Air Corps on May 20, 1941, when Petty Officer 1st Class Eichi Kimura was killed by Chinese anti-aircraft fire in the Chinese Central Front, and a further loss on June 23, 1941, when Petty Officer 1st Class Kiichiro Kobayashi suffered a similar fate over Lanchow. Colonel Lee Chennault examined the remains of downed A6Ms prepared a report on the fighter's capabilities and sent it to Washington, D.C..

The Chinese Air Force assisted the Doolittle raid with some hidden airfields in the Chekiang area.

The Chinese modernized their fighter force with Curtiss P40Ns, North American P-51Bs, Cs, and Ds, Republic P-47s, and some Yakovlev Yak-9s. These units formed the new backbone force among their fighter planes.

Some types of the planes previously mentioned were dispatched in the defense of Hankow, Wuchang and Chungking against Japanese Army and Navy Air forces.

The Chinese bombing campaign continued with air cover from Flying Tigers fighters against enemy occupied territories. The USAAF lent aid together with modern medium Chinese bombers in the China mainland for advanced to American B-24]] and B-29 bombers, which took off from southern Chinese air fields (built as par of Operation Matterhorn_ against Japanese territory, their exterior provinces, their controlled lands, and Manchukuo.

[edit] Aircraft

[citation needed]:

[edit] Fighters

  • American Boeing P-12 F (model 218) (1)
  • American Boeing P-26 A "Peashooter" (Model 281) (11)
  • American Curtiss Hawk I, II, III (270)
  • American Curtiss Hawk 75H-M (113)
  • American Curtiss Hawk 75Q (2)
  • American Curtiss 68C Hawk III (102)
  • American Curtiss P-36 A
  • American Curtiss P-40 B "Tomahawk" (36)
  • American Curtiss P-40 N-20 "Warhawk" (377)
  • American Curtiss-Wright CW-21 "Demon" (32)
  • American North American P-51 B, C, D "Mustang" (about 50 D models)
  • American Northrop P-61 Black Widow
  • American Republic P-43 A "Lancer" (108)
  • American Republic P-47B "Thunderbolt"
  • American Vultee P-66 "Vanguard" (129)
  • British Armstrong Whitworth A.W.16/35 "Scimitar" (13 or 17)
  • British Gloster Gladiator Mk. I (36)
  • French Bregeut Bre.19 (74)
  • French Dewoitine D.510c (24)
  • Italian Fiat CR.30 (2)
  • Italian Fiat CR.32bis (24)
  • Italian Breda Ba.27 "Metallico" (11)
  • Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 (model 11) Reisen "Zero" (captured)
  • Japanese Nakajima Ki-27b "Nate" (captured)
  • Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 Ia Hayabusa "Oscar" (captured)
  • Russian Polikarpov I-15bis "Tchaika" (I-152) (185, plus 4 Soviet squadrons)
  • Russian Polikarpov I-153 (93)
  • Russian Polikarpov I-16 Type 6 (250, plus 2 Soviet squadrons)
  • Russian Polikarpov UTI-4 (fighter training)
  • Russian Yakovlev Yak-9

[edit] Bombers

  • American Boeing B-17F "Flying Fortress"
  • American Lockheed B-14L "Hudson"
  • American Lockheed A-29 "Hudson" (3)
  • American Martin 139 WH-2 (Model 139) (9)
  • American Martin B-10B (9)
  • American North American B-25H, G and J "Mitchell" (131)
  • American Northrop Gamma 2B (24 imported and 25 assembled in China)
  • American Consolidated PB4Y Privateer
  • German Heinkel He 111 A-0 (11)
  • Russian Tupolev SB-2/SB-2bis (200)
  • Russian Tupolev Tu-2S
  • Russian Ilyushin DB-3B
  • Russian Tupolev TB-3

[edit] Ground Attack

  • American Bellanca
  • American Curtiss A-12 Shrike (20)
  • American Curtiss Wright CW-19R (20)
  • American Northrop Gamma 2E (49)
  • American Vought V-65/92C Corsair (64)
  • American Vultee V-11G (30)
  • American Vultee V-12-C/D (78)
  • British Armstrong Withworth Atlas Mk. I (16)
  • British Westland Wapiti Mk. III (4)
  • French Breguet Bre. XIX B2
  • German Heinkel He 50 Ach (12)
  • German Heinkel He 61 Ch (export version of Heinkel He 45C)
  • Russian Ilyushin Il-2m3
  • Russian Ilyushin Il-10
  • Russian Petlyakov Pe-2

[edit] Reconnaissance

  • American Republic RP-43 Lancer
  • American P-38G (F-5 Recon. type) Lightning
  • German Focke-Wulf Fw-44 Stieglitz
  • Italian Caproni Ca.111

[edit] Transport

  • American Beech C-45 Expediter
  • American Boeing 247D (C-73) Model 237Y (Chiang Kai Shek's personal transport)
  • American Curtiss-Wright BT-32 "Condor" II (Chiang Kai Shek's personal transport)
  • American Curtiss Wright C-46 Commando
  • American Douglas C-47 Dakota
  • British Airspeed A.S. 6 Envoy (Kwangsi Type) (2)
  • British Avro 626 (model 637) (Kwangsi Type) (8)
  • British Avro Tutor Mk. I (5)
  • German Focke-Wulf Fw-58 Weie
  • Italian Savoia-Marchetti S.M.74 (20)
  • Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-57 "Topsy" (captured)

[edit] Trainer

  • American Fleet 10C, D and licensed assembly (56)
  • American North American AT-6 Havard (85)
  • British Avro 621 Tutor (5)
  • British Avro 626 Prefect (9)
  • Italian Breda Ba.28 (18)

[edit] General use

  • American Ryan STM-S2

[edit] "Flying Tigers" (American Volunteer Group) aircraft

  • American Curtiss Hawk 75M (Gen. Claire Chennault's personal aircraft)
  • American Curtiss P-40 IIB "Tomahawk" (90)
  • American Curtiss P-40 E "Kittyhawk" IA (30)
  • American Curtiss-Wright CW-21B "Demon" (3)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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