Anti-Japanese volunteer armies

After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and until 1933, large volunteer armies waged war against Japanese and Manchukuo forces over much of Northeast China.

Due to Chiang Kai-Shek's policy of non-resistance, the Japanese were soon able to establish complete control. After the League of Nations refused to do more than voice its disapproval, the Manchurian Incident was perhaps over, for diplomats. Afterwards small guerrilla bands continued the fight.

The volunteer armies were eventually defeated, but only after their resistance had made support for them and the anti-Japanese cause popular throughout China during the early 1930s.

There were several of these armies:

Besides these armies there were other forces under leaders like Lao Pie-fang and others.

For the whole year of 1932 the Japanese had to occupy themselves with fighting these Chinese forces in various areas of Manchuria. General Ma Zhanshan, nominally in command of them all, had a total fighting force estimated by the Japanese of 300,000 men. Following the defeat of the large forces, many retreated into Jehol and other places in China. The remainder were forced to disperse their remnants into small units, often called shanlin. Ongoing Japanese "Anti-Bandit" campaigns and other "pacification" measures steadily reduced the number of insurgents. Their numbers declined from 120,000 in 1933, to 50,000 in 1934; 40,000 in 1935; 30,000 in 1936; and 20,000 in 1937. As of September 1938, the number of insurgents was estimated by the Japanese at 10,000 men.

From 1935 the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, absorbed many of these volunteer forces into its own ranks.

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See also