Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
The Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Manchuria, a Chinese province, using as a pretext a faked incident on the main railroad (1931). Japan then decalared "Manchukuo" an independent state, setting up Pu Yi, the last Manchu Emperor of China as puppet Emperor (1932). Anti-Japanese disturbances broke out in Shanghai. The Japanese bombed the unprotected city to quell the disturbances. There was no effort to hit military targets. This was the first of many Japanese terror bombings of civilian populations. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations as a resulted of the criticism of her military operations in Manchuria and China (1933). The Japanese encouraged Japanese "colonizers" to emmigrate to Manchukuo, but few responded to the propaganda films depicting an Asian paradise. For the Chinese in Manchukuo, life became increasingly difficult.
The Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Manchuria, a Chinese province, using as a pretext a faked incident on the main railroad (1931). The occupation was conducted by Japanese generals without the approval of the Japanese government. No Japanese officer was, however, punished for these actions. The occupation violated a non-aggression treaty that Japan had signed with China. Chiang Nationalist Army was unable or unwilling to offer any effective opposition to the Japanese conquest. The Japanese by 1932 cut off Manchuria from China. [Ienaga, pp. 60-64.] China appealed to the The League of Nations. The League supported China, but was ineffectual. The League demanded that Japan withdraw from Manchuria. The vote was 13 to 1 against Japan. A second resolution passed in February, 1933, formally objected to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. It was approved 42 to 1. Even in the face of such overwealing world criticism, Japan refused to withdraw. Japan in March formally withdrew from the League of Nations as a resulted of these criticism of her military operations and occupation of Manchuria and China (1933). [Ienaga, p. 66.]
one of the most important Nationalist general was the stridently anti-Communist warlord Chang Hsueh-liang. He was referred to as the “Young Marshall”. Chang’s power base was Manchuria. This was also the territory Japan's Kwantung Amy coveted. When the Japanese invaded, Chiang refused to come to Chang's assistance. It is not entoirelu clear why. Chiang probably feared that if he fought the Japanese in Manchuria, he would be weakened in his fight with the Communists. He may have just conclude he could not prevail in a war with Japan. Or he might have seen Chang as a potential rval. Chang had criticised him for failing to confront the Japanese. Perhaps a combinzation of these factors. Chang did resist the Japanese. His Tungpei Army was basly mauled ny the Japanese. Accounts of the fighting suggest that the Tungpei fought, but did not have the modern equipment needed to resist the Japanese. The depleted Tungpei Army eventually had to withdraw from Manchuria (1935). It then defeated in an engagement with the Communists. The defeated Chang was shoccked when the victorious Communists did not massacre him and his men. This was the standard Nationalist practice with captured Communists. Rather the Comminists gave te surviving soldiers of the Tungpei Army lectures on the need to fight the Japanese. The formerly intensly anti-Communist Chang was impressed with the Communists discipline and organization and commitment gto fighting the Japanese. He flew to Yenan and signed a secret truce with the Communists. Chiang not aware of this flew to Sian to lectured Chang's men about disobeying his orders. Chang consulted with Nationalist commanders in northern China. He managed to convinc them that Chiang should be arrested and compeled to fight the Japanese. Chang’s bodyguards proceeded to do just this. When news of this spread., many Natuonalist commanders backed Chang and the mutineers.
Chiang assumed he would be killed. This is not, however, what Chang had in mind. His priority was fighting the Japanese. Chang sent his personal Boeing trabsport to bring a Communist delegation from Yenan as well as Nationalist commanders from different areas of China. The Coomunists made only minimal requests. They demanded a cessation of hostilities and a joint war on Japan. The Communists ebdorsed Chang's intenbtions to release Chiang. Some Nationalist commanders were nervous about this, fearing reprisals. Chang realeased Chiang Kai-shek. Later when Chang flew to Nanking and surrendered to Chiang as a kind of apology, Chiang arrested him. Chang spebnt the entire War in prison and Chiang eve took him to Taiwan after beding driven frim the Mailand. Chang remained in prison even after Chiang's death.
Japan then decalared "Manchukuo" an independent state, setting up Pu Yi, the last Manchu Emperor of China as puppet Emperor (1932). Only a few countries like NAZI Germany and Fascist Italy recognized Manchukuo.
Anti-Japanese disturbances broke out in China, especially Shanghai. The Japanese bombed the unprotected city to quell the disturbances. There was no effort to hit military targets. This was the first of many Japanese terror bombings of civilian populations. It preceeded even the NAZI and Fascist terror bombings of Republican cities in Spaon.
The Japanese encoyraged Japanese "colonizers" to emmigrate to Manchukuo, but few responded to the propaganda films depicting an Asian paradise.
in For the Chinese in Manchukuo, life became increasingly difficult. The best jobs and food were reserved for the Japanese. Rice was reserved for the Japanese. The Chinese were expected to subsist on millet. This allowed more of the rice grown in Manchuria to be exported to Japan. Chinese found eating rice could be shot for "economic sabotage". Life became a daily stryggle. Adults on the street would bow to the Japanese of all ages for fear of reprisals. The schools were all run by the Japanese. Chinese children went to inferior schools, where their teachers, all Japanese, stressed what an earthly paradise Manchukuo was. [Chang]
Japan used Mamchuria as a a base for invading China. Japanese Imperial Army in Manchuria invaded China proper in July 1937, launching the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese Kwantung Army turned a small incident into a full scale war. The well equipped Japanese forces rapidly occupied almost the entire Chinese coast of China and then moved up rivers and railroad lines into the interior.
Large scale clashes occurred between Japanese and Soviet forces occurred along the border of Manchuria in 1939. The Japanese released photographs of captured Soviet soldiers (Huly 1939). The conflict was little reported in the West. An offensive planned and executed by Marshall Zukov convinced the Japanese to seek an armistace (September 1939). The clash was, however, of imense strategic significance. It was undoubtedly a factor encouraging Stalin to respond favorably to NAZI initiatives for a Non-Aggression Pact (August 1939) to ensure that the Soviet Union would not face a two-front war. Hitler ignored the Soviet performance
and instread saw the inept Red Army offensive in Finland as ecidence that the Soviets couls be easily defeated. The Japanese Army concluded that further attacks on the Soviets were unwise. This was an important facyor in attacking south in 1941 at America rather than north at the Soviet Union. It was also a major factor in refusing entrities from Hitler in 1942 to attack the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union, honoring its Yalta commitments, declared war on Japan in August 1945 and invaded Manchuria. The rapid disintegration og the Japanese Army in Manchuria was an important factor in addition to the dropping of the two atomic bombs by the United States in convincing the Japanese to surrender in September 1945.
Mao's Communist Red army conquered Mukden, Manchuria on November 1, 1948.
Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Harper Collins: London, 1991).
Ienaga, Saburo. The Pacific War, 1931-1945 (New York: Random House, 1987).
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