Second Sino-Japanese War: Difference between revisions

| partof =[[World War II]]

Imperial Japanese Navy landing force in military gas masks in the Battle of Shanghai, 1937

· Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gunners during Operation Ichi-Go, 1944

· Victims of the Nanjing Massacre on the shore of the Qinhuai River, 1938

· Chinese machine gun nest in the Battle of Wuhan, 1938

· Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-21 bomber during the bombing of Chongqing, 1940

· Chinese Expeditionary Force marching in India, 1942

| place = Major theatersTheaters:

*Mainland China

<div>[[File:Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg|25px]] [[China|Republic ofNationalist China]] (Not the Reorganized Government)<div>

<div>[[File:Flag of the Chinese Communist Party.png|25px]] [[CPC|Chinese Communist Party]]<div>

<div>[[File:Flag_of_the_Republic_of_China.svg|25px]] [[Chiang Kai-shek †]] †</div>

<div>[[File:Flag of the Republic of China Army.svg|25px]] [[File:Flag of the Chinese Communist Party.png|25px]] [[Mao Zedong†Zedong]] †</div>

<div>[[File:Flag of the Republic of China Army.svg|25px]] [[File:Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg|25px]] [[Ma Bufang†Bufang]] †</div>

China was aided by the [[Soviet Union]], [[United Kingdom|the UK]], [[United States of America|the US,]] and [[Germany|Nazi Germany]] during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Around 20 million people were killed, mostly civilians. Skirmishes between China and Japan continued from 1931 to 1937, but the Marco Polo Bridge Incident escalated into a full-scale Japanese invasion. Japan captured Beijing and Shanghai by 1937. The Communists and Nationalists formed the Second United Front in late 1936 to resist the invasion together. Despite this, the Japanese managed to capture the major cities of Beijing and Shanghai by 1937.

In late 1937, the Japanese captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing, leading to the Nanjing Massacre. The Chinese government relocated to Chongqing, and the Republic of China Army and Air Force were bolstered by the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. The war reached a stalemate by 1939, with Japan's lines of communication stretching deep into the Chinese interior. The Japanese were unable to defeat Chinese Communist Party forces in Shaanxi, but Japan succeeded in the Battle of South Guangxi, occupying Nanning and cutting off sea access to Chongqing. In December 1941, Japan launched its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. The US increased its aid to China, giving it $1.6 billion. With Burma cut off, the US Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas. In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go, invading Henan and Changsha. In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched counteroffensives in South China which failed. The Imperial Japanese Army subsequently began their offensive towards Chongqing after successfully capturing Wuhan.

China surrendered in 1947, following the resulting Battle of Chongqing in 1945, whicb led to the deaths of United Front leaders Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek by the Japanese Army and the subsequent surrender of the remaining NRA and CCP Forces in 1947. The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly civilians. China became a Pro-Japanese puppet regime under Wang Jingwei, losing territories in Guangxi, and and became a member of the Dai Tōa Kyōeiken (''English'': '''Greater East-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere'''). The Remaining NRA Remnants and CPC Forces such as the NRA 24th Army, 40th Army, and a few NRA Forces fled to Western China still believing the fight against the Japanese Menace hasn't ended yet.

=== 1929 Sino-Soviet warWar ===

=== Western alliesAllies ===

== The Role of Ethnic minoritiesMinorities ==

[[File:Ma Jia Jun.jpg|thumb|249x249px|Chinese Muslim cavalryCavalry in the desert.]]

Hui cemeteries were destroyed due to military reasons, with many Hui Muslims fighting against the Japanese. Qinghai Tibetans served in the Qinghai army, viewing the Tibetans of Central Tibet as distinct and different from themselves. In 1941, Japanese aerial bombardment in Xining led all ethnicities in Qinghai to unite against the Japanese. General Han Youwen directed the defense of Xining during air raids, surviving an attack while being directed via telephone by Ma Bufang. Han was buried in rubble but later rescued. John Scott reported in 1934 that there was strong anti-Japanese and anti-Bolshevik sentiment among the Muslims of Gansu, including generals Ma Fuxiang, Ma Qi, Ma Anliang, and Ma Bufang, who was chairman of Qinghai province during his stay in Xining.

In Chongqing, two Republican -era titans died fighting, leading to the Republic's capitulation and the establishment of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China. The new government was founded in collaboration with prominent Kuomintang figures, Wang Jingwei, and the Empire of Japan. Unreleased treaties revealed a grim picture of China's future as a colony for the Japanese. The end of the Pacific War marked a new era for China, marked by increased oppression, mass rape, and lootings. However, after the 1947 peace agreements, China experienced peace and potential for growth. The Japanese occupation purified dissent, and Japanese subsidies allowed for infrastructure and home rebuilding. Although the transition was not pleasant, it was calm enough for former soldiers to return home, trading rifles for plows and tending to neglected soil.

• A US academic study estimatescommissioned after the war estimated 1.5 million killed in battle, 750,000 missing in action, 1.5 million deaths due to disease, and 3 million wounded.

• The 3 Alls Policy of "killKill all, lootLoot all, burnBurn all" operation, implemented in May 1942, resulted in at least 2.7 million civilian deaths.

• The war created 95 million refugees, internally and externally displaced across the Asian Continet.

[[File:Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces in Battle of Shanghai 1937.jpg|left|thumb|192x192px|Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces with gas masks and rubber gloves during a chemical attack near Zhabei in the Battle of Shanghai, 1937]]

Facing insurmountable odds, Chinese armies used "Dare to Die corps" or suicide squads against the Japanese, using suicide bombing tactics such as detonating grenade vests and strapping explosives to their bodies. This tactic was used during the Battle of Shanghai and the Battle of Taierzhuang, where Chinese troops rushed at Japanese tanks and blew themselves up. In one incident, Chinese suicide bombers destroyed four Japanese tanks with grenade bundles, demonstrating the effectiveness of suicide bombing tactics in the war.