Sino-Japanese War. Memorial Museum of the Chinese People's War against Japan The 1937 China-Japan War

Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Plan

Introduction

.Causes of the war, forces and plans of the parties

2.First period of the war (July 1937-October 1938)

.Second period of the war (November 1938-December 1941)

.Third period of the war (December 1941-August 1945)

.Fourth period of the war (August 1945-September 1945)

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

This is a war between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan that began before and continued through World War II.

Although both states had engaged in periodic hostilities since 1931, full-scale war broke out in 1937 and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. The war was a consequence of Japan's decades-long imperialist policy of political and military dominance in China in order to seize huge raw material reserves and other resources. At the same time, growing Chinese nationalism and increasingly widespread ideas of self-determination (both Chinese and other peoples of the former Qing Empire) made a military clash inevitable. Until 1937, the sides clashed in sporadic fighting, so-called "incidents", as both sides, for many reasons, refrained from starting an all-out war. In 1931, the invasion of Manchuria (also known as the Mukden Incident) occurred. The last such incident was the Lugouqiao incident, the Japanese shelling of the Marco Polo Bridge on July 7, 1937, which marked the official start of a full-scale war between the two countries.

From 1937 to 1941, China fought with the help of the United States and the USSR, who were interested in dragging Japan into the “swamp” of the war in China. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Second Sino-Japanese War became part of World War II.

1. Causes of the war, forces and plans of the parties

Each of the states involved in the war had its own motives, goals and reasons for participating in it. To understand the objective causes of the conflict, it is important to consider all participants separately.

Empire of Japan: Imperialist Japan went to war in an attempt to destroy the Chinese Kuomintang central government and install puppet regimes following Japanese interests. However, Japan's failure to bring the war in China to its desired end, coupled with increasingly unfavorable Western trade restrictions in response to ongoing actions in China, resulted in Japan's greater need for natural resources that were available in British-controlled Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. , the Netherlands and the USA respectively. The Japanese strategy of acquiring these forbidden resources led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the opening of the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Republic of China (under Kuomintang): Before full-scale hostilities began, Nationalist China focused on modernizing its military and building a viable defense industry to increase its combat power as a counterweight to Japan. Since China was united under the rule of the Kuomintang only formally, it was in a constant state of struggle with the communists and various militaristic associations. However, since war with Japan became inevitable, there was nowhere to retreat, even despite China's complete unpreparedness to fight a vastly superior opponent. In general, China pursued the following goals: to resist Japanese aggression, to unite China under the central government, to free the country from foreign imperialism, to achieve victory over communism and to be reborn as a strong state. Essentially, this war looked like a war for the revival of the nation. In modern Taiwanese military historical studies, there is a tendency to overestimate the role of the NRA in this war. Although in general the level of combat effectiveness of the National Revolutionary Army was quite low.

China (under Chinese Communist Party): The Chinese Communists feared a large-scale war against the Japanese, leading guerrilla movements and political activity in the occupied territories to expand their controlled lands. The Communist Party avoided direct combat against the Japanese, while competing with the Nationalists for influence with the goal of remaining the main political force in the country after the conflict was resolved.

Soviet Union: The USSR, due to the aggravation of the situation in the West, was interested in peace with Japan in the east in order to avoid being drawn into a war on two fronts in the event of a possible conflict. In this regard, China seemed to be a good buffer zone between the spheres of interest of the USSR and Japan. It was beneficial for the USSR to support any central government in China so that it would organize a rebuff to Japanese intervention as effectively as possible, diverting Japanese aggression from Soviet territory.

UK: During the 1920s and 1930s, the British position towards Japan was peaceful. Thus, both states were part of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Many in the British community in China supported Japan's actions to weaken the Nationalist Chinese government. This was due to the Chinese Nationalists canceling most foreign concessions and restoring the right to set their own taxes and tariffs, without British influence. All this had a negative impact on British economic interests. With the outbreak of World War II, Great Britain fought Germany in Europe, hoping at the same time that the situation on the Sino-Japanese front would be in a stalemate. This would buy time for the return of the Pacific colonies in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Burma and Singapore. Most of the British armed forces were occupied with the war in Europe and could devote only very little attention to the war in the Pacific theater.

USA: The USA maintained a policy of isolationism until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but helped China through volunteers and diplomatic measures. The United States also imposed an embargo on oil and steel trade against Japan, demanding the withdrawal of its troops from China. With the US being drawn into World War II, particularly the war against Japan, China became a natural ally for the United States. There was American assistance to this country in its fight against Japan.

In general, all allies of Nationalist China had their own goals and objectives, often very different from the Chinese. This must be taken into account when considering the reasons for certain actions of different states.

The Japanese army, allocated for combat operations in China, had 12 divisions, numbering 240-300 thousand soldiers and officers, 700 aircraft, about 450 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 1.5 thousand artillery pieces. The operational reserve consisted of units of the Kwantung Army and 7 divisions stationed in the metropolis. In addition, there were about 150 thousand Manchu and Mongol soldiers serving under Japanese officers. Significant naval forces were allocated to support the actions of the ground forces from the sea. The Japanese troops were well trained and equipped.

By the beginning of the conflict, China had 1,900 thousand soldiers and officers, 500 aircraft (according to other sources, in the summer of 1937, the Chinese Air Force had about 600 combat aircraft, of which 305 were fighters, but no more than half were combat-ready), 70 tanks, 1,000 artillery pieces . At the same time, only 300 thousand were directly subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the NRA, Chiang Kai-shek, and in total there were approximately 1 million people under the control of the Nanjing government, while the rest of the troops represented the forces of local militarists. Additionally, the fight against the Japanese was nominally supported by the Communists, who had a guerrilla army of approximately 150,000 men in northwestern China. The Kuomintang formed the 8th Army from 45 thousand of these partisans under the command of Zhu De. Chinese aviation consisted of outdated aircraft with inexperienced Chinese or hired foreign crews. There were no trained reserves. Chinese industry was not prepared to fight a major war.

In general, the Chinese armed forces were superior in numbers to the Japanese, but were significantly inferior in technical equipment, training, morale, and most importantly, in their organization.

The Japanese Empire aimed to retain Chinese territory by creating various structures in the rear that made it possible to control the occupied lands as effectively as possible. The army had to act with the support of the fleet. Naval landings were actively used to quickly capture populated areas without the need for a frontal attack on distant approaches. In general, the army enjoyed advantages in weapons, organization and mobility, superiority in the air and at sea.

China had a poorly armed and poorly organized army. Thus, many troops had absolutely no operational mobility, being tied to their places of deployment. In this regard, China's defensive strategy was based on tough defense, local offensive counter-operations, and the deployment of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The nature of military operations was influenced by the political disunity of the country. The communists and nationalists, while nominally presenting a united front in the fight against the Japanese, poorly coordinated their actions and often found themselves embroiled in internecine strife. Having a very small air force with poorly trained crews and outdated equipment, China resorted to assistance from the USSR (at an early stage) and the United States, which was expressed in the supply of aircraft equipment and materials, sending volunteer specialists to participate in military operations and training Chinese pilots.

In general, both nationalists and communists planned to provide only passive resistance to Japanese aggression (especially after the United States and Great Britain entered the war against Japan), hoping for the defeat of the Japanese by the Allied forces and making efforts to create and strengthen the basis for a future war for power among themselves (creation of combat-ready troops and underground, strengthening control over unoccupied areas of the country, propaganda, etc.).

Most historians date the start of the Sino-Japanese War to the Lugouqiao Bridge (aka Marco Polo Bridge) incident on July 7, 1937, but some Chinese historians place the starting point of the war at September 18, 1931, when the Mukden Incident occurred, during which The Kwantung Army, under the pretext of protecting the railway connecting Port Arthur with Mukden from possible sabotage actions of the Chinese during “night exercises,” captured the Mukden arsenal and nearby towns. Chinese forces were forced to retreat, and continued aggression left all of Manchuria in Japanese hands by February 1932. After this, until the official start of the Sino-Japanese War, there were constant Japanese seizures of territories in Northern China and battles of varying scale with the Chinese army. On the other hand, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek carried out a number of operations to combat separatist militarists and communists.

On July 1937, Japanese troops clashed with Chinese troops at the Lugouqiao Bridge near Beijing. A Japanese soldier disappeared during a “night exercise.” The Japanese issued an ultimatum demanding that the Chinese hand over the soldier or open the gates of the fortified city of Wanping to search for him. The refusal of the Chinese authorities led to a shootout between the Japanese company and the Chinese infantry regiment. It came to the use of not only small arms, but also artillery. This served as a pretext for a full-scale invasion of China. In Japanese historiography, this war is traditionally called the “Chinese incident”, because Initially, the Japanese did not plan large-scale military operations with China, preparing for a big war with the USSR.

After a series of unsuccessful negotiations between the Chinese and Japanese sides on a peaceful resolution of the conflict, on July 26, 1937, Japan switched to full-scale military operations north of the Yellow River with the forces of 3 divisions and 2 brigades (about 40 thousand people with 120 guns, 150 tanks and armored vehicles, 6 armored trains and support for up to 150 aircraft). Japanese troops quickly captured Beijing (Beiping) (July 28) and Tianjin (July 30). Over the next few months, the Japanese advanced south and west against little resistance, capturing Chahar Province and part of Suiyuan Province, reaching the upper bend of the Yellow River at Baoding. But by September, due to the increased combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, the growth of the partisan movement and supply problems, the offensive slowed down, and in order to expand the scale of the offensive, by September the Japanese were forced to transfer up to 300 thousand soldiers and officers to Northern China.

August-November 8, the Second Battle of Shanghai unfolded, during which numerous Japanese landings as part of Matsui's 3rd Expeditionary Force, with intensive support from the sea and air, managed to capture the city of Shanghai, despite strong resistance from the Chinese; A pro-Japanese puppet government was formed in Shanghai. At this time, the Japanese 5th Itagaki Division was ambushed and defeated in the north of Shanxi by the 115th Division (under the command of Nie Rongzhen) from the 8th Army. The Japanese lost 3 thousand people and their main weapons. The Battle of Pingxinguan had great propaganda significance in China and became the largest battle between the communist army and the Japanese during the entire course of the war.

In November-December 1937, the Japanese army launched an attack on Nanjing along the Yangtze River without encountering strong resistance. On December 12, 1937, Japanese aircraft carried out an unprovoked raid on British and American ships stationed near Nanjing. As a result, the gunboat Panay was sunk. However, the conflict was avoided through diplomatic measures. On December 13, Nanjing fell and the government evacuated to the city of Hankou. The Japanese army carried out a bloody massacre of civilians in the city for 5 days, as a result of which 200 thousand people died. As a result of the battles for Nanjing, the Chinese army lost all tanks, artillery, aviation and navy. On December 14, 1937, the creation of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, controlled by the Japanese, was proclaimed in Beijing.

In January-April 1938, the Japanese offensive in the north resumed. In January the conquest of Shandong was completed. Japanese troops faced a strong guerrilla movement and were unable to effectively control the captured territory. In March-April 1938, the Battle of Taierzhuang unfolded, during which a 200,000-strong group of regular troops and partisans under the overall command of General Li Zongren cut off and surrounded a 60,000-strong group of Japanese, who ultimately managed to break out of the ring, losing 20,000 people killed and a large amount of military equipment. On March 28, 1938, in the occupied territory of central China, the Japanese proclaimed in Nanjing the creation of the so-called. "Reformed Government of the Republic of China"

In May-June 1938, the Japanese regrouped, concentrating more than 200 thousand soldiers and officers and about 400 tanks against 400 thousand poorly armed Chinese, practically devoid of military equipment, and continued the offensive, as a result of which Xuzhou (May 20) and Kaifeng (June 6) were taken ). In these battles, the Japanese used chemical and bacteriological weapons.

In May 1938, the New 4th Army was created under the command of Ye Ting, formed from communists and stationed mainly in the Japanese rear south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze.

In June-July 1938, the Chinese stopped the Japanese strategic offensive on Hankou through Zhengzhou by destroying the dams that prevented the Yellow River from overflowing and flooding the surrounding area. At the same time, many Japanese soldiers died, a large number of tanks, trucks and guns ended up under water or stuck in the mud.

Changing the direction of attack to a more southern one, the Japanese captured Hankow (October 25) during long, grueling battles. Chiang Kai-shek decided to leave the Wuhan Tricity and moved his capital to Chongqing.

October 1938, a Japanese naval landing force, delivered on 12 transport ships under the cover of 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 2 gunboats and 3 minesweepers, landed on both sides of the Humen Strait and stormed the Chinese forts guarding the passage to Canton. On the same day, Chinese units of the 12th Army left the city without a fight. Japanese troops of the 21st Army entered the city, seizing warehouses with weapons, ammunition, equipment and food.

In general, during the first period of the war, the Japanese army, despite partial successes, was unable to achieve the main strategic goal - the destruction of the Chinese army. At the same time, the stretch of the front, the isolation of troops from supply bases and the growing Chinese partisan movement worsened the position of the Japanese.

Japan decided to change the strategy of active struggle to a strategy of attrition. Japan is limited to only local operations at the front and is moving on to intensifying political struggle. This was caused by excessive tension and problems of control over the hostile population of the occupied territories. With most of the ports captured by the Japanese army, China was left with only three routes to obtain aid from the Allies - the narrow gauge road to Kunming from Haiphong in French Indochina; the winding Burma Road, which ran to Kunming through British Burma and, finally, the Xinjiang Highway, which ran from the Soviet-Chinese border through Xinjiang and Gansu Province.

November 1938 Chiang Kai-shek appealed to the Chinese people to continue the war of resistance against Japan to a victorious end. The Chinese Communist Party approved the speech during a meeting of Chongqing youth organizations. In the same month, Japanese troops managed to take the cities of Fuxin and Fuzhou with the help of amphibious assaults.

Japan makes peace proposals to the Kuomintang government on some terms favorable to Japan. This strengthens the internal party contradictions of the Chinese nationalists. As a consequence of this, there followed the betrayal of Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Jingwei, who fled to Shanghai captured by the Japanese.

In February 1939, during the Hainan landing operation, the Japanese army, under the cover of ships of the Japanese 2nd Fleet, captured the cities of Junzhou and Haikou, losing two transport ships and a barge with troops.

From March 13 to April 3, 1939, the Nanchang Operation unfolded, during which Japanese troops consisting of the 101st and 106th Infantry Divisions, with the support of a Marine landing and the massive use of aviation and gunboats, managed to occupy the city of Nanchang and a number of other cities. At the end of April, the Chinese launched a successful counterattack on Nanchang and liberated the city of Hoan. However, then Japanese troops launched a local attack in the direction of the city of Ichang. Japanese troops entered Nanchang again on August 29.

In June 1939, the Chinese cities of Shantou (June 21) and Fuzhou (June 27) were taken by amphibious assault.

In September 1939, Chinese troops managed to stop the Japanese offensive 18 km north of the city of Changsha. On October 10, they launched a successful counteroffensive against units of the 11th Army in the direction of Nanchang, which they managed to occupy on October 10. During the operation, the Japanese lost up to 25 thousand people and more than 20 landing craft.

From November 14 to 25, the Japanese launched a landing of a 12,000-strong military group in the Pan Khoi area. During the Pankhoi landing operation and the subsequent offensive, the Japanese managed to capture the cities of Pankhoi, Qinzhou, Dantong and, finally, on November 24, after fierce fighting, Nanying. However, the advance on Lanzhou was stopped by a counterattack by General Bai Chongxi's 24th Army, and Japanese aircraft began bombing the city. On December 8, Chinese troops, with the assistance of the Zhongjin air group of Soviet Major S. Suprun, stopped the Japanese offensive from the Nanying area at the Kunlunguang line, after which (December 16, 1939) with the forces of the 86th and 10th armies, the Chinese began an offensive with the aim of encircling the Wuhan group of Japanese troops. The operation was supported from the flanks by the 21st and 50th armies. On the first day of the operation, the Japanese defense was broken through, but the further course of events led to a halt in the offensive, a retreat to their original positions and a transition to defensive actions. The Wuhan operation failed due to shortcomings in the Chinese army's command and control system.

In March 1940, Japan formed a puppet government in Nanjing in order to obtain political and military support in the fight against partisans in the rear. It was headed by former Vice-Premier of China Wang Jingwei, who defected to the Japanese.

In June-July, the successes of Japanese diplomacy in negotiations with Great Britain and France led to the cessation of military supplies to China through Burma and Indochina. On June 20, an Anglo-Japanese agreement was concluded on joint actions against violators of the order and security of Japanese military forces in China, according to which, in particular, Chinese silver worth $40 million, stored in the English and French missions in Tianjin, was transferred to Japan.

In August 1940, a joint large-scale (up to 400 thousand people participated) offensive of the Chinese 4th, 8th Army (formed from communists) and partisan detachments of the Communist Party of China began against Japanese troops in the provinces of Shanxi, Chahar, Hubei and Henan, known as the “Battle of one hundred regiments." In Jiangsu province, there were a number of clashes between communist army units and the Kuomintang partisan detachments of Governor H. Deqin, as a result of which the latter were defeated. The result of the Chinese offensive was the liberation of a territory with a population of more than 5 million people and 73 large settlements. The personnel losses on both sides were approximately equal (about 20 thousand people on each side).

On October 1940, Winston Churchill decided to reopen the Burma Road. This was done with the approval of the United States, which intended to carry out military supplies to China under Lend-Lease.

During 1940, Japanese troops limited themselves to only one offensive operation in the lower Hanshui River basin and successfully carried it out, capturing the city of Yichang.

In January 1941, in Anhui province, Kuomintang military formations attacked units of the 4th Army of the Communist Party. Its commander Ye Ting, who arrived at the headquarters of the Kuomintang troops for negotiations, was arrested by deception. This was caused by Ye Ting's disregard of Chiang Kai-shek's orders to attack the Japanese, which resulted in the latter being court-martialed. Relations between communists and nationalists deteriorated. Meanwhile, the 50,000-strong Japanese army carried out an unsuccessful offensive in the provinces of Hubei and Henan in order to connect the Central and Northern fronts.

By March 1941, two large operational groups of the Kuomintang government were concentrated against areas controlled by the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as the CCP): in the northwest, the 34th Army Group of General Hu Zongnan (16 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions) and in the provinces Anhui and Jiangsu - General Liu Pingxiang's 21st Army Group and General Tang Enbo's 31st Army Group (15 infantry and 2 cavalry divisions). On March 2, the CCP put forward a new "Twelve Demands" to the Chinese government to reach an agreement between the Communists and the Nationalists.

In April, the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Treaty was signed, guaranteeing the USSR not to enter Japan into the war in the Soviet Far East if Germany did start a war with Russia.

A series of offensives undertaken by the Japanese army during 1941 (the Yichang Operation, the Fujian Landing Operation, the offensive in Shanxi Province, the Yichang Operation and the Second Changshai Operation) and the air offensive on Chongqing, the capital of Kuomintang China, did not produce any particular results and did not lead to a change in the balance of forces. in China.

china japanese war ally

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, which changed the balance of opposing forces in the Asia-Pacific region. Already on December 8, the Japanese began bombing British Hong Kong and advancing with the 38th Infantry Division.

On December 10, Chiang Kai-shek's government declared war on Germany and Italy, and on December 10 on Japan (the war had gone on without a formal declaration until that time).

December, the Japanese launched their third counter-offensive of the war on Changsha, and on the 25th, units of the 38th Infantry Division took Hong Kong, forcing the remnants of the British garrison to surrender (12 thousand people). The Japanese lost 3 thousand people during the battles for the island. The Third Changshai Operation was not successful and ended on January 15, 1942 with the withdrawal of Japanese units of the 11th Army to their original positions.

December, an agreement on a military alliance was concluded between China, Great Britain and the United States. A coalition command was also created to coordinate the military actions of the allies, who opposed the Japanese as a united front. So, in March 1942, Chinese troops in the 5th and 6th armies under the overall command of the American General Stilwell (Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army Chiang Kai-shek) arrived from China to British Burma along the Burma Road to fight the Japanese invasion.

In May-June, the Japanese carried out the Zhejiang-Jiangxi offensive operation, taking several cities, the Lishui air force base and the Zhejiang-Hunan railway. Several Chinese units were surrounded (units of the 88th and 9th armies).

Throughout the entire period 1941-1943. The Japanese also carried out punitive operations against communist forces. This was caused by the need to combat the ever-increasing partisan movement. Thus, within a year (from the summer of 1941 to the summer of 1942), as a result of the punitive operations of the Japanese troops, the territory of the partisan regions of the CPC was halved. During this time, units of the 8th Army and the New 4th Army of the CPC lost up to 150 thousand soldiers in battles with the Japanese.

In July-December 1942, local battles took place, as well as several local offensives by both Chinese and Japanese troops, which did not particularly affect the overall course of military operations.

In 1943, China, which found itself in practical isolation, was very weakened. Japan, on the other hand, used the tactics of small local operations, the so-called “rice offensives,” aimed at exhausting the Chinese army, seizing provisions in the newly occupied territories and depriving their already starving enemy. During this period, the Chinese air group of Brigadier General Claire Chennault, formed from the Flying Tigers volunteer group, which had been operating in China since 1941, was active.

On January 1943, the Nanjing puppet government in China declared war on Great Britain and the United States.

The beginning of the year was characterized by local battles between the Japanese and Chinese armies. In March, the Japanese unsuccessfully tried to encircle the Chinese group in the Huaiyin-Yancheng region in Jiangsu province (Huayin-Yangcheng operation).

March Chiang Kai-shek issued a decree on the mobilization of women aged 18 to 45 years into the army.

In May-June, the Japanese 11th Army went on the offensive from a bridgehead on the Yichang River in the direction of the Chinese capital, Chongqing, but was counterattacked by Chinese units and retreated to their original positions (Chongqing Operation).

At the end of 1943, the Chinese army successfully repelled one of the Japanese “rice offensives” in Hunan Province, winning the Battle of Changde (November 23-December 10).

In 1944-1945, a de facto truce was established between the Japanese and Chinese communists. The Japanese completely stopped punitive raids against the communists. This was beneficial to both sides - the Communists were able to consolidate control over Northwestern China, and the Japanese freed up forces for the war in the south.

The beginning of 1944 was characterized by offensive operations of a local nature.

April 1944, units of the 12th Japanese Army of the Northern Front went on the offensive against the Chinese troops of the 1st Military Region (VR) in the direction of the city. Zhengzhou, Queshan, breaking through Chinese defenses with armored vehicles. This marked the beginning of the Beijing-Hankous operation; a day later, units of the 11th Army of the Central Front moved towards them from the Xinyang area, going on the offensive against the 5th Chinese VR with the aim of encircling the Chinese group in the valley of the river. Huaihe. 148 thousand Japanese soldiers and officers were involved in this operation in the main directions. The offensive was successfully completed by May 9. Units of both armies united in the area of the city of Queshan. During the operation, the Japanese captured the strategically important city of Zhengzhou (April 19), as well as Luoyang (May 25). Most of the territory of Henan Province and the entire railway line from Beijing to Hankou were in the hands of the Japanese.

A further development of active offensive combat operations of the Japanese army was the Hunan-Guilin operation of the 23rd Army against the Chinese troops of the 4th VR in the direction of Liuzhou.

In May-September 1944, the Japanese continued to conduct offensive operations in a southern direction. Japanese activity led to the fall of Changsha and Henyang. The Chinese fought stubbornly for Hengyang and counterattacked the enemy in a number of places, while Changsha was left without a fight.

At the same time, the Chinese launched an offensive in Yunnan Province with Group Y forces. The troops advanced in two columns, crossing the Salween River. The southern column encircled the Japanese at Longlin, but was driven back after a series of Japanese counterattacks. The northern column advanced more successfully, capturing the city of Tengchong with the support of the American 14th Air Force.

October, the city of Fuzhou was captured by a Japanese landing from the sea. In the same place, the evacuation of troops of the 4th VR of China from the cities of Guilin, Liuzhou and Nanying begins; on November 10, the 31st Army of this VR was forced to capitulate to the 11th Army of Japan in the city of Guilin. On December 20, Japanese troops advancing from the north, from the Guangzhou area and from Indochina, united in the city of Nanlu, establishing a through railway connection across all of China from Korea to Indochina.

At the end of the year, American aircraft transferred two Chinese divisions from Burma to China.

The year was also characterized by successful operations of the American submarine fleet off the Chinese coast.

On January 1945, parts of a group of troops of General Wei Lihuang liberated the city of Wanting and crossed the Chinese-Burmese border, entering the territory of Burma, and on the 11th, troops of the 6th Front of the Japanese went on the offensive against the Chinese 9th BP in the direction of the cities of Ganzhou and Yizhang , Shaoguan.

In January - February, the Japanese army resumed its offensive in Southeast China, occupying vast territories in the coastal provinces - between Wuhan and the border of French Indochina. Three more air bases of the American 14th Air Force Chennault were captured.

In March 1945, the Japanese launched another offensive to seize crops in Central China. The forces of the 39th Infantry Division of the 11th Army struck in the direction of the city of Gucheng (Henan-Hubei operation). In March - April, the Japanese also managed to take two American air bases in China - Laohotou and Laohekou.

On April 1, the USSR unilaterally denounced the neutrality pact with Japan in connection with the commitments of the Soviet leadership, given at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, to enter the war against Japan three months after the victory over Germany, which at the moment was already close.

Realizing that his forces were too stretched, General Yasuji Okamura, in an effort to strengthen the Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria, which was threatened by the entry of the USSR into the war, began to transfer troops to the north.

As a result of the Chinese counteroffensive, by May 30, the corridor leading to Indochina was cut. By July 1, the 100,000-strong Japanese group was surrounded in Canton, and about 100,000 more returned to Northern China under the attacks of the American 10th and 14th Air Armies. On July 27, they abandoned one of the previously captured American air bases in Guilin.

In May, Chinese troops of the 3rd VR attacked Fuzhou and managed to liberate the city from the Japanese. Active Japanese operations both here and in other areas were generally curtailed, and the army went on the defensive.

In June and July, the Japanese and Chinese nationalists carried out a series of punitive operations against the communist Special Region and parts of the CCP.

On August 8, 1945, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR officially joined the Potsdam Declaration of the USA, Great Britain and China and declared war on Japan. By this time, Japan was already drained of blood and its ability to continue the war was minimal.

Soviet troops, taking advantage of the quantitative and qualitative superiority of troops, launched a decisive offensive in Northeast China and quickly crushed the Japanese defenses. (See: Soviet-Japanese War).

At the same time, a struggle developed between the Chinese nationalists and communists for political influence. On August 10, the commander-in-chief of the CPC troops, Zhu De, gave the order for the communist troops to go on the offensive against the Japanese along the entire front, and on August 11, Chiang Kai-shek gave a similar order for all Chinese troops to go on the offensive, but it was specifically stipulated that the communists should not take part in this. -I and 8th armies. Despite this, the communists went on the offensive. Both communists and nationalists were now primarily concerned with establishing their power in the country after the victory over Japan, which was rapidly losing to its allies. At the same time, the USSR secretly supported primarily the communists, and the USA - the nationalists.

The entry of the USSR into the war and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki accelerated the final defeat and defeat of Japan.

August, when it became clear that the Kwantung Army had suffered a crushing defeat, the Japanese Emperor announced Japan's surrender.

On August 15, a ceasefire was declared. But despite this decision, individual Japanese units continued desperate resistance throughout the entire theater of operations until September 7-8, 1945.

September 1945 in Tokyo Bay, on board the American battleship Missouri, representatives of the USA, Great Britain, the USSR, France and Japan signed the act of surrender of the Japanese armed forces. On September 9, 1945, He Yingqin, representing both the government of the Republic of China and the Allied Command in Southeast Asia, accepted the surrender from the commander of Japanese forces in China, General Okamura Yasuji. Thus ended the Second World War in Asia.

In the 1930s, the USSR systematically pursued a course of political support for China as a victim of Japanese aggression. Thanks to close contacts with the Communist Party of China and the difficult situation in which Chiang Kai-shek was placed by the rapid military actions of Japanese troops, the USSR became an active diplomatic force in rallying the forces of the Kuomintang government and the Communist Party of China.

In August 1937, a non-aggression pact was signed between China and the USSR, and the Nanjing government turned to the latter with a request for material assistance.

China's almost complete loss of opportunities for constant relations with the outside world has given the province of Xinjiang paramount importance as one of the country's most important land connections with the USSR and Europe. Therefore, in 1937, the Chinese government turned to the USSR with a request to provide assistance in creating the Sary-Ozek - Urumqi - Lanzhou highway for the delivery of weapons, aircraft, ammunition, etc. to China from the USSR. The Soviet government agreed.

From 1937 to 1941, the USSR regularly supplied weapons, ammunition, etc. to China by sea and through the province of Xinjiang, while the second route was a priority due to the naval blockade of the Chinese coast. The USSR concluded several loan agreements and contracts with China for the supply of Soviet weapons. On June 16, 1939, the Soviet-Chinese trade agreement was signed, concerning the trading activities of both states. In 1937-1940, over 300 Soviet military advisers worked in China. In total, over 5 thousand Soviet citizens worked there during these years, including A. Vlasov. Among them were volunteer pilots, teachers and instructors, aircraft and tank assembly workers, aviation specialists, road and bridge specialists, transport workers, doctors and, finally, military advisers.

By the beginning of 1939, thanks to the efforts of military specialists from the USSR, losses in the Chinese army dropped sharply. If in the first years of the war the Chinese losses in killed and wounded were 800 thousand people (5:1 to the losses of the Japanese), then in the second year they were equal to the Japanese (300 thousand).

On September 1940, the first stage of a new aircraft assembly plant built by Soviet specialists was launched in Urumqi.

In total, during the period 1937-1941, the USSR supplied China with: 1285 aircraft (of which 777 fighters, 408 bombers, 100 training aircraft), 1600 guns of various calibers, 82 medium tanks, 14 thousand heavy and light machine guns. , cars and tractors - 1850.

The Chinese Air Force had about 100 aircraft. Japan had a tenfold superiority in aviation. One of the largest Japanese air bases was located in Taiwan, near Taipei.

By the beginning of 1938, a batch of new SB bombers arrived from the USSR to China as part of Operation Zet. Chief military adviser for the Air Force, brigade commander P.V. Rychagov and air attaché P.F. Zhigarev (the future commander-in-chief of the USSR Air Force) developed a bold operation. 12 SB bombers under the command of Colonel F.P. were to take part in it. Polynina. The raid took place on February 23, 1938. The target was successfully hit, and all bombers returned to base.

Later, a group of twelve SBs under the command of T.T. Khryukin sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Yamato-maru.

The German attack on the Soviet Union and the deployment of allied military operations in the Pacific theater led to a deterioration in Soviet-Chinese relations, since the Chinese leadership did not believe in the victory of the USSR over Germany and, on the other hand, reoriented its policy towards rapprochement with the West. In 1942-1943, economic ties between both states weakened sharply.

In March 1942, the USSR was forced to begin recalling its military advisers due to anti-Soviet sentiment in the Chinese provinces.

In May 1943, the Soviet government was forced, after declaring a strong protest in connection with the excesses of the Xinjiang Kuomintang authorities, to close all trade organizations and recall its trade representatives and specialists.

From December 1937, a series of events, such as the attack on the US gunboat Panay and the Nanjing massacre, turned public opinion in the United States, France, and Great Britain against Japan and aroused certain fears of Japanese expansion. This prompted the governments of these countries to begin providing the Kuomintang with loans for military needs. In addition, Australia did not allow a Japanese company to acquire an iron ore mine on its territory, and also banned the export of iron ore in 1938. Japan responded by invading Indochina in 1940, cutting the Sino-Vietnamese Railway, through which it imported weapons, fuel, and also 10,000 tons of materials from the Western allies every month.

In mid-1941, the US government funded the creation of the American Volunteer Group, led by Claire Lee Chennault, to replace Soviet aircraft and volunteers who had left China. The successful combat operations of this group caused a wide public outcry against the backdrop of the difficult situation on other fronts, and the combat experience acquired by the pilots was useful in all theaters of military operations.

To put pressure on the Japanese and the army in China, the US, UK and the Netherlands established an embargo on oil and/or steel trade with Japan. The loss of oil imports made it impossible for Japan to continue the war in China. This pushed Japan to forcefully resolve the supply issue, which was marked by the attack of the Imperial Japanese Navy on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

In the pre-war period, Germany and China cooperated closely in the economic and military spheres. Germany helped China modernize its industry and army in exchange for supplies of Chinese raw materials. More than half of German exports of military equipment and materials during the German rearmament period in the 1930s went to China. However, the 30 new Chinese divisions that were planned to be equipped and trained with German help were never created due to Adolf Hitler's refusal to further support China in 1938; these plans were never implemented. This decision was largely due to the reorientation of German policy towards concluding an alliance with Japan. German policy especially shifted towards cooperation with Japan after the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact.

Conclusion

The main reason for Japan's defeat in World War II were the victories of the American and British armed forces at sea and in the air, and the defeat of the largest Japanese land army, the Kwantung Army, by Soviet troops in August-September 1945, which allowed the liberation of Chinese territory.

Despite the numerical superiority over the Japanese, the effectiveness and combat effectiveness of the Chinese troops was very low, the Chinese army suffered 8.4 times more casualties than the Japanese.

The actions of the armed forces of the Western Allies, as well as the armed forces of the USSR, saved China from complete defeat.

Japanese troops in China formally surrendered on September 9, 1945. The Sino-Japanese War, like the Second World War in Asia, ended due to the complete surrender of Japan to the Allies.

According to the decisions of the Cairo Conference (1943), the territories of Manchuria, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands were transferred to China. The Ryukyu Islands were recognized as Japanese territory.

Causes of the war, forces and plans of the parties

In general, the Chinese armed forces were superior in numbers to the Japanese, but were significantly inferior in technical equipment, training, morale, and most importantly, in their organization.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese troops clashed with Chinese troops at the Lugouqiao Bridge near Beijing. A Japanese soldier disappeared during a “night exercise.” The Japanese issued an ultimatum demanding that the Chinese hand over the soldier or open the gates of the fortified city of Wanping to search for him. The refusal of the Chinese authorities led to a shootout between the Japanese company and the Chinese infantry regiment. It came to the use of not only small arms, but also artillery. This served as a pretext for a full-scale invasion of China. In Japanese historiography, this war is traditionally called the “Chinese incident”, because Initially, the Japanese did not plan large-scale military operations with China, preparing for a big war with the USSR.

On August 8-November 8, the Second Battle of Shanghai unfolded, during which numerous Japanese landings as part of Matsui's 3rd Expeditionary Force, with intensive support from the sea and air, managed to capture the city of Shanghai, despite strong resistance from the Chinese; A pro-Japanese puppet government was formed in Shanghai. At this time, the Japanese 5th Itagaki Division was ambushed and defeated in the north of Shanxi by the 115th Division (under the command of Nie Rongzhen) from the 8th Army. The Japanese lost 3 thousand people and their main weapons. The Battle of Pingxinguan had great propaganda significance in China and became the largest battle between the communist army and the Japanese during the entire course of the war.

In May 1938, the New 4th Army was created under the command of Ye Ting, formed from communists and stationed mainly in the Japanese rear south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze.

On October 22, 1938, a Japanese naval landing force, delivered on 12 transport ships under the cover of 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 2 gunboats and 3 minesweepers, landed on both sides of the Humen Strait and stormed the Chinese forts guarding the passage to Canton. On the same day, Chinese units of the 12th Army left the city without a fight. Japanese troops of the 21st Army entered the city, seizing warehouses with weapons, ammunition, equipment and food.

On November 1, 1938, Chiang Kai-shek appealed to the Chinese people to continue the war of resistance against Japan to a victorious end. The Chinese Communist Party approved the speech during a meeting of Chongqing youth organizations. In the same month, Japanese troops managed to take the cities of Fuxin and Fuzhou with the help of amphibious assaults.

In June 1939, the Chinese cities of Shantou (June 21) and Fuzhou (June 27) were taken by amphibious assault.

On August 20, 1940, a joint large-scale (up to 400 thousand people participated) offensive of the Chinese 4th, 8th Army (formed from communists) and partisan detachments of the Communist Party of China began against Japanese troops in the provinces of Shanxi, Chahar, Hubei and Henan, known as “ Battle of a Hundred Regiments. In Jiangsu province, there were a number of clashes between communist army units and the Kuomintang partisan detachments of Governor H. Deqin, as a result of which the latter were defeated. The result of the Chinese offensive was the liberation of a territory with a population of more than 5 million people and 73 large settlements. The personnel losses on both sides were approximately equal (about 20 thousand people on each side).

On October 18, 1940, Winston Churchill decided to reopen the Burma Road. This was done with the approval of the United States, which intended to carry out military supplies to China under Lend-Lease.

During 1940, Japanese troops limited themselves to only one offensive operation in the lower Hanshui River basin and successfully carried it out, capturing the city of Yichang.

On April 13, the Soviet-Japanese Treaty of Neutrality was signed, guaranteeing the USSR that Japan would not enter the war in the Soviet Far East if Germany did start a war with Russia.

On December 9, Chiang Kai-shek's government declared war on Germany and Italy, and on December 10, on Japan (the war had gone on without a formal declaration until that time).

On December 24, the Japanese launched their third counteroffensive of the war on Changsha, and on the 25th, units of the 38th Infantry Division took Hong Kong, forcing the remnants of the British garrison to surrender (12 thousand people). The Japanese lost 3 thousand people during the battles for the island. The Third Changshai Operation was not successful and ended on January 15, 1942 with the withdrawal of Japanese units of the 11th Army to their original positions.

On December 26, an agreement on a military alliance was concluded between China, Great Britain and the United States. A coalition command was also created to coordinate the military actions of the allies, who opposed the Japanese as a united front. So, in March 1942, Chinese troops in the 5th and 6th armies under the overall command of the American General Stilwell (Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army Chiang Kai-shek) arrived from China to British Burma along the Burma Road to fight the Japanese invasion.

In July-December 1942, local battles took place, as well as several local offensives by both Chinese and Japanese troops, which did not particularly affect the overall course of military operations.

Due to the Japanese capture of Burma, supplies of goods to China were reduced even more, and the shortage of weapons and ammunition in the units was very obvious. The Allies began building the Ledo Road from the Indian city of Assam to the Burma Road.

On January 9, 1943, the Nanjing puppet government in China declared war on Great Britain and the United States.

At the end of 1943, the Chinese army successfully repelled one of the Japanese “rice offensives” in Hunan Province, winning the Battle of Changde (November 23-December 10).

The beginning of 1944 was characterized by offensive operations of a local nature.

On April 14, 1944, units of the 12th Japanese Army of the Northern Front went on the offensive against the Chinese troops of the 1st Military Region (VR) in the direction of the city. Zhengzhou, Queshan, breaking through Chinese defenses with armored vehicles. This marked the beginning of the Beijing-Hankous operation; a day later, units of the 11th Army of the Central Front moved towards them from the Xinyang area, going on the offensive against the 5th Chinese VR with the aim of encircling the Chinese group in the valley of the river. Huaihe. 148 thousand Japanese soldiers and officers were involved in this operation in the main directions. The offensive was successfully completed by May 9. Units of both armies united in the area of the city of Queshan. During the operation, the Japanese captured the strategically important city of Zhengzhou (April 19), as well as Luoyang (May 25). Most of the territory of Henan Province and the entire railway line from Beijing to Hankou were in the hands of the Japanese.

A further development of active offensive combat operations of the Japanese army was the Hunan-Guilin operation of the 23rd Army against the Chinese troops of the 4th VR in the direction of Liuzhou.

On October 4, the city of Fuzhou was captured by a Japanese landing force from the sea. In the same place, the evacuation of troops of the 4th VR of China from the cities of Guilin, Liuzhou and Nanying begins; on November 10, the 31st Army of this VR was forced to capitulate to the 11th Army of Japan in the city of Guilin. On December 20, Japanese troops advancing from the north, from the Guangzhou area and from Indochina, united in the city of Nanlu, establishing a through railway connection across all of China from Korea to Indochina.

At the end of the year, American aircraft transferred two Chinese divisions from Burma to China.

The year 1944 was also characterized by successful operations of the American submarine fleet off the Chinese coast.

On January 10, 1945, parts of a group of troops of General Wei Lihuang liberated the city of Wanting and crossed the Chinese-Burmese border, entering the territory of Burma, and on the 11th, troops of the 6th Front of the Japanese went on the offensive against the Chinese 9th BP in the direction of the cities of Ganzhou, Yizhang, Shaoguan.

On April 5, the USSR unilaterally denounced the neutrality pact with Japan in connection with the commitments of the Soviet leadership, given at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, to enter the war against Japan three months after the victory over Germany, which at the moment was already close.

In June and July, the Japanese and Chinese nationalists carried out a series of punitive operations against the communist Special Region and parts of the CCP.

The entry of the USSR into the war and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki accelerated the final defeat and defeat of Japan.

On August 14, when it became clear that the Kwantung Army had suffered a crushing defeat, the Japanese Emperor announced Japan's surrender.

On August 14-15, a ceasefire was declared. But despite this decision, individual Japanese units continued desperate resistance throughout the entire theater of operations until September 7-8, 1945.

On September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, on board the American battleship Missouri, representatives of the United States, Great Britain, the USSR, France and Japan signed the act of surrender of the Japanese armed forces. On September 9, 1945, He Yingqin, representing both the government of the Republic of China and the Allied Command in Southeast Asia, accepted the surrender from the commander of Japanese forces in China, General Okamura Yasuji. Thus ended the Second World War in Asia.

In August 1937, a non-aggression pact was signed between China and the USSR, and the Nanjing government turned to the latter with a request for material assistance.

On September 1, 1940, the first stage of a new aircraft assembly plant built by Soviet specialists was launched in Urumqi.

The Chinese Air Force had about 100 aircraft. Japan had a tenfold superiority in aviation. One of the largest Japanese air bases was located in Taiwan, near Taipei.

By the beginning of 1938, a batch of new SB bombers arrived from the USSR to China as part of Operation Zet. The chief military adviser for the Air Force, brigade commander P.V. Rychagov and air attache P.F. Zhigarev (future commander-in-chief of the USSR Air Force) developed a bold operation. 12 SB bombers under the command of Colonel F.P. Polynin were to take part in it. The raid took place on February 23, 1938. The target was successfully hit, and all bombers returned to base.

Later, a group of twelve SB under the command of T. T. Khryukin sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Yamato-maru.

In March 1942, the USSR was forced to begin recalling its military advisers due to anti-Soviet sentiment in the Chinese provinces.

Midway Aleutian Islands Andaman Islands Gilbert and Marshall Islands Burma Philippines (1944–1945) Mariana Islands Borneo Ryukyu Manchuria

Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
Background to the conflict Manchuria (1931-1932) (Mukden - Battle on the Nunjiang River - Qiqihar - Jinzhou - Harbin)- Shanghai (1932) - Manchukuo - Zhehe - Wall - Inner Mongolia - (Suiyuan) Lugouqiao Bridge - Beijing-Tianjin - Chahar - Shanghai (1937) (Sykhan Warehouses)- Beiping-Hankou Railway - Tianjin-Pukou Railway - Taiyuan - Pingxinguan - Xinkou- Nanjing - Xuzhou- Taierzhuang - North-East Henan - (Langfeng) - Amoy - Chongqing - Wuhan- (Wanjialin) - Canton Second period of the war (October 1938 - December 1941) (Hainan) - Nanchang- (Shushui River) - Suizhou- (Shantou) - Changsha (1939) - Yu Guangxi - (Kunlun Gorge)- Winter Offensive - (Wuyuan) - Zaoyang and Yichang - Battle of a Hundred Regiments- S. Vietnam - C. Hubei - Yu Henan- Z. Hubei (1941) - Shangao - South Shanxi - Changsha (1941) Third period of the war (December 1941 - August 1945) Changsha (1942)- Burma Road - (Taungoo) - (Yenangyaung) - Zhejiang-Jiangxi- Chongqing Campaign - Z. Hubei (1943)- S.Burma-W.Yunnan - Changde - "Ichi-Go"- C. Henan - Changsha (1944) - Guilin-Liuzhou - Henan-Hubei - Z.Henan- Guangxi (1945) Soviet-Japanese War

Sino-Japanese War(July 7 - September 9) - the war between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, which began in the period before World War II and continued during it.

Although both states had been engaged in periodic hostilities since 1931, full-scale war broke out in 1937 and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1937. The war was a consequence of Japan's imperialist course of political and military dominance in China for several decades in order to seize huge reserves of raw materials and other resources. At the same time, growing Chinese nationalism and increasingly widespread ideas of self-determination made a military response inevitable. Until 1937, the sides clashed in sporadic fighting, so-called "incidents", as both sides, for many reasons, refrained from starting an all-out war. In 1931, the invasion of Manchuria (also known as the Mukden Incident) occurred. The last such incident was the Lugouqiao incident, the Japanese shelling of the Marco Polo Bridge on July 7, 1937, which marked the official start of a full-scale war between the two countries.

Name options

The Qing dynasty was on the verge of collapse due to internal revolutionary uprisings and the expansion of foreign imperialism, while Japan became a great power thanks to effective measures in the course of modernization. The Republic of China was proclaimed in 1912 as a result of the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty. However, the nascent republic was even weaker than before - this dates back to the period of militaristic wars. The prospects for uniting the nation and repelling the imperialist threat looked very remote. Some military leaders even teamed up with various foreign forces in attempts at mutual destruction. For example, the ruler of Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin, adhered to military and economic cooperation with the Japanese. Thus, Japan posed the main foreign threat to China during the early Republic.

The Mukden Incident was followed by ongoing conflicts. In 1932, Chinese and Japanese soldiers fought a short war called the January 28 Incident. This war led to the demilitarization of Shanghai, in which the Chinese were prohibited from stationing their armed forces. In Manchukuo there was a long campaign to combat the anti-Japanese volunteer armies, which arose out of popular disappointment in the policy of non-resistance to the Japanese. In 1933, the Japanese attacked the Great Wall of China area, leading to an armistice that gave the Japanese control of Rehe Province and created a demilitarized zone between the Great Wall and the Beijing–Tianjin area. The Japanese goal was to create another buffer zone, this time between Manchukuo and the Chinese Nationalist government, whose capital was Nanjing.

On top of this, Japan continued to exploit internal conflicts between Chinese political factions to reduce their power. This confronted the Nanjing government with a fact - for several years after the Northern Expedition, the political power of the Nationalist government extended only to the areas around the Yangtze River Delta, while other regions of China were essentially held in the hands of regional authorities. Thus, Japan often paid off or created special ties with these regional powers to undermine the central Nationalist government's efforts to unify China. To accomplish this, Japan sought out various Chinese traitors to interact with and assist these people heading some Japanese-friendly "autonomous" governments. This policy was called the "specialization" of North China and was also known as the "North China Autonomy Movement." Specialization affected the northern provinces of Chahar, Suiyuan, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong.

Vichy France: The main supply routes for American military aid ran through the Chinese province of Yunnan and Tonkin, the northern region of French Indochina, so Japan wanted to block the Sino-Indochinese border. After France's defeat in the European War and the establishment of the Vichy puppet regime, Japan invaded Indochina. In March 1945, the Japanese finally ousted the French from Indochina, proclaiming their own colonies there.

Free France: In December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the leader of the Free French movement, Charles de Gaulle, declared war on Japan. The French acted on the basis of all-Allied interests, as well as in order to keep the Asian colonies of France under their control.

Strengths of the parties

Empire of Japan

Republic of China

By the beginning of the conflict, China had 1,900 thousand soldiers and officers, 500 aircraft (according to other sources, in the summer of 1937, the Chinese Air Force had about 600 combat aircraft, of which 305 were fighters, but no more than half were combat-ready), 70 tanks, 1,000 artillery pieces . At the same time, only 300 thousand were directly subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the NRA, Chiang Kai-shek, and in total there were approximately 1 million people under the control of the Nanjing government, while the rest of the troops represented the forces of local militarists. Additionally, the fight against the Japanese was nominally supported by the Communists, who had a guerrilla army of approximately 150,000 men in northwestern China. The Kuomintang formed the 8th March Army from 45 thousand of these partisans under the command of Zhu De. Chinese aviation consisted of outdated aircraft with inexperienced Chinese or hired foreign crews. There were no trained reserves. Chinese industry was not prepared to fight a major war.

In general, the Chinese armed forces were superior in numbers to the Japanese, but were significantly inferior in technical equipment, training, morale, and most importantly, in their organization.

The Chinese fleet consisted of 10 cruisers, 15 patrol and torpedo boats.

Plans of the parties

Empire of Japan

Republic of China

Start of the war

Most historians date the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War to the incident on the Lugouqiao Bridge (otherwise known as the Marco Polo Bridge), which occurred on July 7, but some Chinese historians set the starting point of the war at September 18, when the Mukden Incident occurred, during which the Kwantung Army under the pretext of protecting the railway connecting Port Arthur with Mukden from possible sabotage actions of the Chinese during “night exercises”, it captured the Mukden arsenal and nearby towns. Chinese forces were forced to retreat, and continued aggression left all of Manchuria in Japanese hands by February 1932. After this, until the official start of the Sino-Japanese War, there were constant Japanese seizures of territories in Northern China and battles of varying scale with the Chinese army. On the other hand, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek carried out a number of operations to combat separatist militarists and communists.

First period of the war (July 1937 - October 1938)

On August 8 - November 8, the Second Battle of Shanghai unfolded, during which numerous Japanese landings as part of Matsui's 3rd Expeditionary Force, with intensive support from the sea and air, managed to capture the city, despite strong resistance from the Chinese. At this time, the Japanese 5th Itagaki Division was ambushed and defeated in the north of Shanxi by the 115th Division (under the command of Nie Rongzhen) from the 8th March Army. The Japanese lost 3 thousand people and their main weapons. The Battle of Pingxinguan had great propaganda significance in China and became the largest battle between the communist army and the Japanese during the entire course of the war.

In January - April 1938, the Japanese offensive in the north resumed. In January the conquest of Shandong was completed. Japanese troops faced a strong guerrilla movement and were unable to effectively control the captured territory. In March - April 1938, the Battle of Taierzhuang unfolded, during which a 200,000-strong group of regular troops and partisans under the overall command of General Li Zongren cut off and surrounded a 60,000-strong group of Japanese, who ultimately managed to break out of the ring, losing 20,000 people killed and a large amount of military equipment.

In May - June 1939, the Japanese regrouped, concentrating more than 200 thousand soldiers and officers and about 400 tanks against 400 thousand poorly armed Chinese, practically devoid of military equipment, and continued the offensive, as a result of which Xuzhou (May 20) and Kaifeng (June 6) were taken ). In these battles, the Japanese used chemical and bacteriological weapons.

Second period of the war (November 1938 - December 1941)

Japan decided to change the strategy of active struggle to a strategy of attrition. Japan is limited to only local operations at the front and is moving on to intensifying political struggle. This was caused by excessive tension and problems of control over the hostile population of the occupied territories. With most of the ports captured by the Japanese army, China was left with only three routes to obtain aid from the Allies - the narrow gauge road to Kunming from Haiphong in French Indochina; the winding Burma Road, which ran to Kunming through British Burma, and finally the Xinjiang Highway, which ran from the Sino-Soviet border through Xinjiang and Gansu Province.

Japan makes peace proposals to the Kuomintang government on some terms favorable to Japan. This strengthens the internal party contradictions of the Chinese nationalists. As a consequence of this, there followed the betrayal of Chinese Vice Premier Wang Jingwei, who fled to Shanghai captured by the Japanese.

In June 1939, the Chinese cities of Shantou (June 21) and Fuzhou (June 27) were taken by amphibious assault.

Japanese occupation of China

On August 20, 1940, a joint large-scale (up to 400 thousand people participated) offensive of the 4th, 8th Chinese Army (formed from communists) and guerrilla detachments of the Communist Party of China began against Japanese troops in the provinces of Shanxi, Chahar, Hubei and Henan, known as “ Battle of a Hundred Regiments. In Jiangsu province, there were a number of clashes between communist army units and the Kuomintang partisan detachments of Governor H. Deqin, as a result of which the latter were defeated. The result of the Chinese offensive was the liberation of a territory with a population of more than 5 million people and 73 large settlements. The personnel losses of the parties were approximately equal (about 20 thousand people on each side).

During 1940, Japanese troops limited themselves to only one offensive operation in the lower Hanshui River basin and successfully carried it out, capturing the city of Yichang.

The beginning of 1944 was characterized by offensive operations of a local nature.

In May - September 1944, the Japanese continued to conduct offensive operations in a southern direction. Japanese activity led to the fall of Changsha and Henyang. The Chinese fought stubbornly for Hengyang and counterattacked the enemy in a number of places, while Changsha was left without a fight.

On October 4, the city of Fuzhou was captured by a Japanese naval landing. In the same place, the evacuation of troops of the 4th VR of China from the cities of Guilin, Liuzhou and Nanying begins; on November 10, the 31st Army of this VR was forced to capitulate to the 11th Army of Japan in the city of Guilin.

On December 20, Japanese troops advancing from the north, from the Guangzhou area and from Indochina, united in the city of Nanlu, establishing a through railway connection across all of China from Korea to Indochina.

At the end of the year, American aircraft transferred two Chinese divisions from Burma to China.

The year 1944 was also characterized by successful operations of the American submarine fleet off the Chinese coast.

In June and July, the Japanese and Chinese nationalists carried out a series of punitive operations against the communist Special Region and parts of the CCP.

Fourth period of the war (August 1945 - September 1945)

On September 2, in Tokyo Bay, on board the American battleship Missouri, representatives of the USA, Great Britain, the USSR, France and Japan signed the act of surrender of the Japanese armed forces. Thus ended the Second World War in Asia.

Military, diplomatic and economic assistance from the USSR to China

In August 1937, a non-aggression pact was signed between China and the USSR, and the Nanjing government turned to the latter with a request for material assistance.

From 1937 to 1941, the USSR regularly supplied weapons, ammunition, etc. to China by sea and through the province of Xinjiang, while the second route was a priority due to the naval blockade of the Chinese coast. The USSR concluded several loan agreements and contracts with China for the supply of Soviet weapons. On June 16, 1939, the Soviet-Chinese trade agreement was signed, concerning the trading activities of both states. In 1937-1940, over 300 Soviet military advisers worked in China. In total, over 5 thousand Soviet citizens worked there during these years. Among them were volunteer pilots, teachers and instructors, aircraft and tank assembly workers, aviation specialists, road and bridge specialists, transport workers, doctors and, finally, military advisers.

By the beginning of 1939, thanks to the efforts of military specialists from the USSR, losses in the Chinese army dropped sharply. If in the first years of the war the Chinese losses in killed and wounded were 800 thousand people (5:1 to the Japanese losses), then in the second year they were equal to the Japanese (300 thousand).

Japanese offensive and Chinese defense organization

July 7, 1937, after the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing
Japan begins a full-scale war against China.

The CPC and the Kuomintang exchanged statements of determination to jointly fight aggression. Potentially, China had powerful military resources and a ground army with a total strength of 2 million people, but due to poor equipment with modern weapons, its combat effectiveness was extremely low. The outdated artillery had shells stuck for a maximum of two months, and only 20 aircraft and 75 tanks were in good condition.

Poor training of all levels of military personnel, the lack of trained reserves and a system for registering conscripts did not allow for a quick increase in the size of the army, despite China's huge population.

By going to war, Japan challenged the world powers by declaring its intention to create a “Co-Prosperity Sphere” in East Asia. But there was no one to take on the challenge. European countries were unable to resist Japanese aggression, and isolationist sentiments prevailed in the United States. Therefore, the West limited itself to expressing formal protest, providing China only with moral support.

The USSR provided real support by signing a non-aggression pact with China on August 21, 1937. Already in September of the same year, negotiations began in Moscow with the Chinese delegation on military supplies.

In October, first aid began to arrive in China: tanks, planes, artillery, and equipment. The supplies were made against three loans, totaling $250 million. Large groups of military specialists and advisers were sent to China, who were directly involved in the fighting of the Chinese army. In 1939, there were 3.5 thousand Soviet military personnel there, including pilots and artillerymen, many of them distinguished themselves in battles on the fronts of China.

The Japanese offensive initially developed rapidly: by the end of July, Beijing and Tianjin had fallen. On August 13, the Japanese landed in Shanghai, opening a front in Central China and beginning to advance up the river. Yangtze. In November 1937, Shanghai fell, and in December the capital Nanjing was stormed (during the assault, the Japanese committed mass atrocities, killing several hundred thousand civilians). The government moved first to Wuhan, then further to Chongqing, the capital of Sichuan province. Chiang Kai-shek's headquarters was located there throughout the war.

The Japanese clearly did not expect a long war, hoping to complete the entire campaign in three months. But even after the fall of Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek continued to resist. In May 1938, Japanese troops advancing from the north united at Xuzhou with troops advancing from the river basin. Yangtze. The Chinese armies were surrounded, losing almost all their artillery and armored units. After such severe defeats, the battles for Wuhan began in July 1938.

Soviet assistance was already beginning to be felt here: many advisers directly participated in the battles, pilots shot down Japanese planes, and according to the plans of the Soviet staff, Chinese troops successfully launched counterattacks. The fighting dragged on until October 1938. Japanese losses also increased in other directions, although by October 1938 they managed to take the main port of southern China - Guangzhou.

Nevertheless, the pace of Japanese advance in 1938 slowed down by 3-4 times. In November 1938, the Japanese launched an attack on Changsha, but in December the Chinese launched a counteroffensive and drove back the Japanese units. A partisan movement began in the rear of the Japanese troops, and “liberated areas” were created.

For example, in Northern China, Wu 5, part of the Japanese troops were busy guarding communications and fighting partisans. At the beginning of 1939, the Japanese decided to deliver a crushing blow to the partisan bases, but this was prevented by the upcoming offensive of the Chinese army - they had to withdraw troops and transfer them to the front. In the spring of 1939, stubborn fighting ensued. The Japanese army suffered heavy losses (they were equal to the Chinese, and in the guerrilla war the Japanese losses were 3 times greater).

By the summer of 1939, the Japanese offensive was suspended, and there was a lull on the fronts.

Changing Japan's Tactics Toward China

For Chiang Kai-shek, the results of the first two years of the war were depressing: all ports and the most important railway communications were lost, densely populated areas were abandoned. The government itself was forced to move to the West, to Chongqing. But the resistance continued.

After the incident at Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia, where Soviet troops defeated an invading group of Japanese troops, the USSR increased military assistance to China. When World War II began in Europe on September 1, 1939, a delegation was sent from China to the United States to negotiate American assistance to China. In total, until 1941, the United States provided assistance to China in the amount of $120 million.

Meanwhile, the Japanese, having ceased active operations in China, began to strengthen their positions in the occupied areas. On March 30, 1940, in Nanjing, they created a puppet government headed by Wang Jingwei. He was tasked with creating an army of 800,000 to fight partisans and protect communications behind Japanese lines.

In the summer of the same 1940, the militant Japanese government decided to take control of French Indochina, taking advantage of France's surrender to Hitler. This was already fraught with a big war, and Japan began to mobilize resources in advance. On September 27, 1940, the famous tripartite pact was signed: Japan-Germany-Italy.

Negotiations between the Soviet leadership and Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka began. They led in April 1941 to the signing of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality treaty. The meaning of this agreement was that the USSR should stop military assistance to the Chinese government.

However, Chiang Kai-shek's government quickly reoriented itself towards the United States. Contacts began back in January 1941, when the first American planes and pilots arrived in China. And on May 6, 1941, the US Congress extended the Lend-Lease Act to China.

Having signed an agreement on unity of action, both parties - the CCP and the Kuomintang - maintained a suspicious attitude towards each other, both counting on the weakening of the neighboring side during the war with Japan. Mao Zedong instructed the armed forces to avoid major clashes with the Japanese and to disarm, if necessary, scattered units of the retreating Kuomintang army. At the same time, the instruction was given: “Beat the landowners under the guise of traitors.” This meant redistributing land in areas that came under communist control; the population there reached several tens of millions.

In 1939, relations between the CPC and the Kuomintang became strained. Chiang Kai-shek gave instructions to stop supplying the 8th and 4th armies and rejected the Communist proposal to join the Kuomintang, making it a condition for their withdrawal from the Communist Party. In an interview with American journalist Edgar Snow in October 1939, Mao Zedong spoke of administrative independence for the Communists and threatened to “destroy the Kuomintang dictatorship.” It came to open military clashes and a blockade of the “Special Administrative Region” at the end of 1939.

It should be admitted that the communists practically did not conduct active operations during this period. The only combat episode was the so-called “Battle of a Hundred Regiments.” In August 1940, communist troops launched a series of attacks on Japanese communications. (This was the only active operation of the CPC during the entire war.) But by November of the same 1940, Japanese troops, having carried out a counteroffensive, restored the situation and intensified punitive operations against the “liberated areas.”

Relations between the Kuomintang and the CPC became clearly hostile. In January 1941, things came to an open conflict - it was associated with an obscure incident around the 4th Army. According to the communists, the Kuomintang struck an unexpected blow, disarmed the communist army, and took the officers led by Commander E. Ting prisoner. According to another version, the command of the 4th Army itself provoked the Kuomintang units by refusing to carry out Chiang Kai-shek’s order to relocate to the other side of the Yangtze. One way or another, the threat of renewed civil war once again loomed in China. But in fact it never stopped.

II. China at the height of World War II (1942-1944)

US assistance in re-equipping the Chinese army

After the cessation of Soviet military assistance, in accordance with the Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Treaty (April 13, 1941), Japan increased diplomatic and political pressure on the Chiang Kai-shek government. He was asked to end the war and even enter into an alliance with Japan and Manchukuo based on the so-called “three principles of Hirota.” It was envisaged, among other things, the recognition of the autonomy of the “Northern Regions” and the severance of China’s bilateral relations with other countries. Chiang Kai-shek rejected these proposals, carried out a purge in the Kuomintang, expelling supporters of the Japanophile faction from the party, and invited American advisers to Chongqing.

The United States saw in China a potentially very important ally and hastened to provide it with all possible assistance. Just before the beginning of 1942, China received loans worth $600 million from the United States, and after December 1941 (the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), the United States intensified its assistance. The 14th Air Corps was transferred to China, which covered Chiang Kai-shek's army, American General Joseph Stilwell was appointed chief of the general staff of the Chinese armed forces; The complete rearmament and retraining of the Chinese army began.

American aid came to China through Burma, initially through the port of Rangoon, but the Japanese soon captured Rangoon and cut off Chiang Kai-shek's supply routes. However, new communications were hastily built in Burma and supplies to the Chinese army continued throughout the war. At the same time, Chinese troops were retrained with the help of American military advisers.

However, the US efforts undertaken to increase the combat capability of the Chinese army did not bring the expected results - corruption and localism nullified them. General Stilwell was perplexed when the plans developed at his headquarters were in vain ignored: the generals often refused to carry out the orders of their supreme commander, Chiang Kai-shek.

For Japan, which launched its offensive in the Pacific and Southeast Asia in December 1941, China became an important source of raw materials, a communications zone, and a fleet repair base. One-fifth of all cargo ships were repaired at shipyards in China. Military operations in China itself were carried out sporadically.

In the spring of 1942, the Japanese launched an offensive in Fujian province and in the area of Nanchang. In the province of Fujian they were successful - they managed to bring the entire coast under their control. And in the Nan-chan area they were defeated: Chinese troops carried out a successful counter-offensive and in July 1942 drove back the Japanese.

Since the summer of 1942, the situation began to change. After the failure at Midway (June 1942), Japan was unable to conduct strategic offensive operations. In the summer of 1943, the Japanese made an unsuccessful attempt to launch an offensive on the Yangtze. Operations against partisan bases were also unsuccessful - the Japanese sought not to use their troops in such operations, but to push the forces of Wang Jingwei against the partisans. At the same time, they did not give up attempts to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to peace.

There have also been significant changes in their policy towards China. The Japanese began to flirt with national entrepreneurs, abandoned food requisitions, transferred all foreign concessions (even Japanese ones) to the Wang Jingwei government, and liquidated settlements.

A very remarkable situation developed in the “liberated areas” that were under communist control: after 1940, military operations there practically ceased. Even after June 1941, calculations were based on the USSR entering the war with Japan. The armed forces were given the following instruction: “Win time, accumulate strength.” Meanwhile, the Japanese successfully carried out punitive operations, built communications, and strengthened the rear. Gradually, the territories of the “liberated areas” narrowed, the number of armed forces of the Communist Party was reduced by 150 thousand people.

Since the autumn of 1941, so-called “zhengfeng” (style correction) campaigns began to be practiced in communist areas. They were carried out in the form of repentance and self-criticism of the leaders of the CPC - in Chinese conditions this meant “losing face”, after which the leader could no longer count on his former authority in the party. Many prominent figures at that time were subjected to “processing” and were removed from their posts. An illusion was created that the new authorities listened to the opinions of ordinary people, mercilessly removing leaders from work, regardless of their previous merits and family ties. This was sharply different from what China had long been accustomed to, when clannishness, nepotism, and fellow countrymen of officials made them practically invulnerable.

In the summer of 1943, the Japanese launched a decisive attack on the “Special Administrative Region”; as a result of their actions, the territory of the region was halved. Many local CCP organizations were demoralized, which was also affected by the unexpected dissolution of the Comintern in May 1943. The area was completely blocked.

Military-political crisis in China in 1944

In 1944, no one expected any activity from the Japanese in the theater of war. Nevertheless, in March 1944, Japanese troops began an offensive in Henan Province, in May in Hunan Province, and in December in Guangxi and Guizhou. As a result of these unexpected actions, the Kuomintang army was completely demoralized: it lost over 1 million soldiers and left a huge territory with a population of about 60 million people. Large cities such as Changsha and Guilin came under Japanese control, and a serious threat arose to Chongqing itself.

In a number of areas they managed to break through to the borders of Burma and Vietnam. The prestige of the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek personally fell in the eyes of the United States; Chiang Kai-shek himself was also demoralized and depressed by the low combat effectiveness of his troops. American General J. Stilwell could not hide his disappointment: his critical remarks against the Kuomintang were so harsh that in October 1944, at the insistence of Chiang Kai-shek's friends, he was recalled from China.

High-ranking American emissaries frequented Chongqing to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to continue the war. China was promised enormous military and economic assistance and all kinds of support. The United States believed that China should ensure sovereignty to all its territories, including Manchuria, as well as those seized by Japan at the end of the 19th century. Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands. China was assigned a place as a permanent member of the Security Council in the UN, an international organization created in 1944-1945.

Back in August 1944, the personal representative of President F. Roosevelt, General Patrick Harley, arrived in Chongqing. He became the main conductor of American policy in China, tried to restore the coalition of the Kuomintang and the CPC, and reconcile the two parties. During the Japanese offensive, the blockade of the liberated areas was weakened, and the communists managed to somewhat expand the territory under their control.

In the fall of 1944, P. Harley personally arrived in Yan'an and entered into negotiations with the leaders of the Communist Party, including Mao Zedong, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the size of the Chinese Red Army grew to 900 thousand people, the communists controlled a vast territory and represented an impressive force.

The unpunished seizure of Ethiopia and the deployment of the Italo-German intervention in Spain were inspiring examples for Japan in expanding its expansion in the Far East. Having gained a foothold in Manchuria, the Japanese military increased its provocations on the borders of the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic.

Preparing a broad aggression against the USSR, the Japanese militarists tried to provide their country with the industrial and agricultural raw materials necessary for the war, regardless of imports, and also to create an important strategic bridgehead on the Asian continent. They hoped to solve this problem by capturing Northern China.

In this part of the country, about 35 percent of China's coal and 80 percent of iron ore reserves were concentrated, there were deposits of gold, sulfur, asbestos, and manganese ores, cotton, wheat, barley, beans, tobacco and other crops were grown, and leather and wool were produced. Northern China, with its 76 million population, could become a market for the goods of Japanese monopolies. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the Japanese government, in the program for the conquest of Northern China, adopted by the Council of Five Ministers on August 11, 1936, stipulated that “in this area it is necessary to create an anti-communist, pro-Japanese, pro-Manchu zone, strive to acquire strategic resources and expand transport facilities...” (89) .

Trying for a number of years to tear away Northern China through an inspired movement for its autonomy and using corrupt Chinese generals and politicians to do this, the Japanese militarists were never successful. Then the Japanese government put forward a course of new open armed conquests in Asia. In Manchuria, military factories and arsenals, airfields and barracks were built at an accelerated pace, and strategic communications were laid. Already by 1937, the total length of railways here was 8.5 thousand km, and new roads were laid mainly to the Soviet border. The number of airfields increased to 43, and landing sites - to 100. The armed forces were also increased. By 1937, the Kwantung Army had six divisions, over 400 tanks, about 1,200 guns and up to 500 aircraft. Over the course of six years, 2.5 million Japanese soldiers visited Manchuria (90).

Japan's ruling circles viewed the war with China as an integral element of preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union. Since the occupation of Manchuria in 1931 - 1932. Japanese militarists began to call Northeast China the “life line” of Japan, that is, the line of further attack on the Asian continent. Their strategic plan included the preparation and deployment of a major war, primarily against the USSR. The seizure of its Far Eastern territories was assessed by the ruling circles of Japan as the main condition for the establishment of Japanese rule over all of Asia.

The leading role in developing aggressive plans to create a “great Japan before Baikal and Tibet” was played by Okada, Tojo, the father of Japanese fascism Hiranuma, one of the prominent leaders of the “young officers” Itagaki and other leaders of militarism. These instigators of an openly aggressive policy preached the idea of a widespread “use of force”, which would represent the development of the “imperial way” (“kodo”) and would lead “to the liberation of the peoples of Asia.”

A year before the attack on China, on August 7, 1936, Prime Minister Hirota, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Ministers of War and Navy, and the Minister of Finance developed a policy declaration on the basic principles of national policy. It provided for the introduction of the Japanese Empire into East Asia, as well as expansion into the South Seas region through active diplomatic activity and military efforts on land and sea (91).

The Japanese imperialists understood that alone they would not be able to implement their plans in the Far East. The powerful ally they needed was found in Hitler's Germany, which was no less concerned about finding a reliable partner.

The rapprochement of the two imperialist predators took place under the banner of anti-communism. Both sides hoped to gain important political benefits from this alliance. Germany hoped, with the help of Japan, to complicate the situation in the regions of East and Southeast Asia and thereby draw the forces of the Soviet Union to the Far East, and England, France and the United States to the Pacific theater, which, according to the fascist leaders, was supposed to strengthen Germany’s position in Europe, on the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Seas. And Japan expected support from Germany in its aggressive policy against the Soviet Union and China.

Having agreed, Germany and Japan signed the “Anti-Comintern Pact” on November 25, 1936. A month later, Japan, meeting the wishes of Germany and Italy, recognized the Franco regime.

As the first practical steps to implement the secret articles of the concluded treaty, the Japanese militarists planned to “destroy the Russian threat in the north” under the pretext of “creating a strong defense of Japan in Manchuria.” It was noted that military forces must be ready to deliver a crushing blow to the most powerful army that the USSR could deploy along its eastern borders. Based on this, military and “self-reliance” plans were drawn up in 1937 “to be prepared for the historical stage in the development of Japan's destiny, which must be achieved regardless of any difficulties” (92).

The plan to seize China was most clearly expressed in the recommendations of the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, Tojo, sent on June 9, 1937 to the General Staff and the War Ministry. They stated that it was advisable to carry out an attack on China in order to secure the rear of the Kwantung Army before the deployment of actions against the USSR (93).

In 1933 - 1937 Japan, using the capitulatory policy of the Kuomintang government, managed to gain a foothold not only in Manchuria, but also in the provinces of Hebei, Chahar, and partly in Suiyuan and Zhehe.

The open expansion of Japanese imperialism found moral, diplomatic and material support from the USA, England and France. Intending to strangle the national liberation movement in China at the hands of the Japanese military, they sought to use Japan as a striking force against the Soviet Union. Under the guise of traditional isolationism, a policy of “non-intervention” and “neutrality”, the United States significantly increased the supply of scrap metal, fuel and other strategic materials to Japan. During the first half of 1937, preceding the outbreak of war in China, exports of goods to Japan increased by 83 percent. In 1938, Morgan and other financial monopoly tycoons provided Japanese firms with a loan in the amount of $125 million.

England defended Japan in the League of Nations. Its press wrote a lot about the military weakness of China and the power of Japan, about the latter’s ability to quickly conquer its neighbor, which, in essence, was provoking Japan’s aggressive actions. The British government, not interested in the defeat of China, nevertheless wanted its maximum weakening, as it feared that a single independent Chinese state would arise next to India and Burma (at that time British colonial possessions). In addition, England believed that a strong Japan could serve not only as a weapon in the fight against the USSR, but also as a counterweight to the United States in the Far East.

In the summer of 1937, Japan began implementing a plan to conquer all of China. On July 7, units of General Kawabe's 5th Mixed Brigade attacked a Chinese garrison located 12 km southwest of Beiping (Beijing), in the area of the Lugouqiao Bridge. The garrison personnel offered heroic resistance to the enemy (94). The incident provoked by the Japanese served as the reason for the start of the next stage of the war in China, a war on a wider scale.

By forcing military events in the summer of 1937, the Japanese militarists wanted to prevent the beginning of the process of creating an anti-Japanese front in China, to induce the Kuomintang government to return to the fratricidal civil war, and to demonstrate their “military power” to the fascist partner in the “Anti-Comintern Pact.” By this time, a favorable situation had been created for an invasion of China: England and France showed complete reluctance to interfere with the Italian-German intervention in Spain, and the United States of America did not want to get involved in the fight with Japan because of China.

Japan's ruling circles also hoped that China's military-technical backwardness and the weakness of its central government, to which local generals often did not obey, would ensure victory in two or three months.

By July 1937, the Japanese allocated 12 infantry divisions (240 - 300 thousand soldiers and officers), 1200 - 1300 aircraft, about 1000 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 1.5 thousand guns for operations in China. The operational reserve consisted of part of the forces of the Kwantung Army and 7 divisions stationed in the metropolis. Large naval forces were allocated to support the actions of ground forces from the sea (95).

For two weeks, the Japanese command assembled the necessary forces in Northern China. By July 25, the 2.4, 20th infantry divisions, 5th and 11th mixed brigades were concentrated here - in total more than 40 thousand people, approximately 100 - 120 guns, about 150 tanks and armored vehicles, 6 armored trains, up to 150 airplanes. From isolated battles and skirmishes, Japanese troops soon moved on to conducting operations in the directions of Peiping and Tianjin.

After capturing these largest cities and strategic points in China, the general staff planned to capture the most important communications: Beiping - Puzhou, Beiping - Hankou, Tianygzin - Pukou and the Longhai Railway. On August 31, after heavy fighting, Japanese formations occupied fortifications in the Nankou area and then captured the city of Zhangjiakou (Kalgan).

The Japanese command, continuously bringing up reserves, expanded the offensive. By the end of September, more than 300 thousand soldiers and officers were operating in Northern China (96). The 2nd Expeditionary Force, advancing along the Beiping-Hankou railway, occupied the city of Baoding in September 1937, Zhengding and the junction station of Shijiazhuang on October 11, and the large city and industrial center of Taiyuan fell on November 8. The Kuomintang armies, suffering heavy losses, retreated to the Longhai Railway.

Simultaneously with the offensive in the north, the Japanese launched military operations in Central China. On August 13, their troops numbering 7-8 thousand people, with the support of the fleet, began fighting on the approaches to Shanghai, the area of which was defended by about 10 thousand Kuomintang troops. Fierce fighting continued for three months. During this time, the strength of Matsui's 3rd Expeditionary Force increased to 115 thousand people. It received 400 guns, 100 tanks, and 140 aircraft (97). Using an encirclement maneuver and using toxic substances, the Japanese captured Shanghai on November 12 and created a real threat to the Kuomintang capital, Nanjing (98). Japanese aircraft bombed Shantou (Swatou), Guangzhou (Canton), and Hainan Island, preparing the conditions for the landing of their forces in the most important points of Southeast and Eastern China.

Using the success achieved, Japanese troops in the second half of November 1937 launched an offensive along the Shanghai-Nanjing railway and the Hangzhou-Nanjing highway. By the end of November they managed to cover Nanjing from three sides. On December 7, 90 planes subjected the city to a barbaric bombardment. On December 12, the Japanese burst into the capital and carried out a bloody massacre of the civilian population for five days, as a result of which about 50 thousand people died (99).

With the capture of Shanghai and Nanjing, the Japanese formed two isolated fronts: northern and central. Over the next five months, there was a fierce struggle for the city of Xuzhou, where the Japanese invaders used toxic substances and tried to use bacteriological weapons. After two “general offensives,” the Japanese managed to unite these fronts and capture the entire Tianjin-Pukou railway.

The results of the battles showed that, despite the poor technical equipment of the Chinese army and the lack of a navy, the Japanese were unable to implement the idea of a one-act war. The ruling circles of Japan had to reckon with both the growing discontent of the people and the anti-war sentiments in the army. The Japanese government decided to overcome enormous economic and internal political difficulties through “extraordinary measures”: establishing complete military control over the economy, eliminating all democratic freedoms and organizations, and introducing a system of fascist terror against the working people.

The Konoe cabinet, which was an organ of the dictatorship of the reactionary military and monopoly capital, intended to defuse the internal political situation in the country by unleashing military operations on the Soviet border. Undertaking the occupation of Manchuria, the command of the Kwantung Army developed operational plans: “Hei” - against China and “Otsu” - against the USSR. The latter provided for the occupation of Soviet Primorye. Subsequently, this plan was repeatedly revised and refined. The concentration of the main Japanese forces in Eastern Manchuria was planned for 1938-1939. At the first stage of hostilities against the USSR, it was planned to capture Nikolsk-Ussuriysk, Vladivostok, Iman, and then Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and Kuibyshevka-Vostochnaya (100). At the same time, an invasion of the Mongolian People's Republic was planned.

Taking advantage of the tense situation in Europe in connection with Nazi Germany’s preparations for the seizure of Czechoslovakia, Japan decided to accelerate the attack on the Mongolian People’s Republic and the Soviet Union. In July 1938, she accused the USSR of violating the borders with Manchukuo and launched a wide propaganda and diplomatic campaign around this. At the same time, the militarists were preparing an open armed provocation in the area of Lake Khasan, not far from the junction of the borders of Manchukuo, Korea and Soviet Primorye.

Back in 1933, the Kwantung Army, preparing for an attack on the USSR, conducted a topographical study of the area, the boundaries of which run along the Tumen-Ula River and the heights west of Lake Khasan, from where the area is clearly visible. The enemy decided to capture these heights, since they dominated communications leading to Vladivostok and other cities of Primorye. At the same time, he intended to test the strength of the Soviet Army in this area and test his operational plan in practice.

On July 15, 1938, Japanese diplomats presented to the Soviet government a demand to withdraw border troops from the Zaozernaya and Bezymyannaya heights, allegedly belonging to Manchukuo. They refused to take into account the text of the Hunchun Protocol, signed by China in 1886, presented by the Soviet side, with maps from which it was clear that the Japanese side’s claims were illegal.

By July 29, the Japanese had brought several infantry and cavalry formations, three machine-gun battalions, separate tank, heavy artillery and anti-aircraft units, as well as armored trains and 70 aircraft to the border. This group consisted of more than 38 thousand people. But after two weeks of fierce fighting, the Japanese troops were completely defeated and driven back beyond the Soviet border.

The fighting at Lake Khasan cannot be considered a border incident. Planned by the General Staff, they were sanctioned by five ministers and the Emperor of Japan. The attack represented an aggressive action against the USSR. The victory of Soviet weapons inspired Chinese patriots, morally supported the fighters of the Chinese armed forces and was a deterrent in Japan's outbreak of war in the Far East.

In the fall of 1938, Japan shifted its strategic efforts to southern China. On October 22, 1938, the Japanese army captured Guangzhou with a naval attack (101). With the loss of this port, China became isolated from the outside world. Five days later, a 240,000-strong Japanese force advancing from Nanjing up the Yangtze, supported by 180 tanks and 150 aircraft, captured the Wuhan tricity and cut the only railway crossing China from north to south from Beiping to Guangzhou. Communication between the military regions of the Kuomintang army was interrupted. The Kuomintang government evacuated to Chongqing (Sichuan Province), where it remained until the end of the war. By the end of October 1938, the Japanese managed to capture a vast territory of China with the main industrial centers and the country's most important railways. The first stage of the Sino-Japanese War, when the Japanese launched an offensive along the entire front, has ended.

The new stage of aggression was characterized by the political and economic offensive of Japanese imperialism. Military actions were carried out for limited purposes. Thus, on February 10, 1939, Japanese landing forces captured Hainan Island, and in March Nanwei (Spratlys). The Japanese later carried out an offensive operation south of the Yangtze, which resulted in the occupation of Nanchang on April 3; in May Chongqing was subjected to fierce bombardment, and in June the port city of Shantou was occupied. However, these operations were not of great strategic importance: the front line remained more or less stable for several years. The Japanese did not dare to throw well-knit, technically equipped units concentrated on the borders with the USSR against the Chinese armed forces. This greatly alleviated the situation of the Republic of China.

Having captured the most economically and strategically important areas of China and taking into account the great influence of pro-Japanese elements in the Chinese government, the inability, and sometimes unwillingness of the Kuomintang command to wage an active war, the Japanese command hoped to achieve the capitulation of the Kuomintang leadership through political rather than military means.

However, the Chinese people did not stop fighting against the aggressor. By the end of 1938, Chinese partisan detachments began active operations in the territory occupied by Japanese troops, and especially in their too extended communications. To destroy partisan detachments and their bases located in Northern and Central China, as well as on Hainan Island, the Japanese command organized several “destructive” campaigns. However, he failed to put an end to the partisan movement.

Intensively exploiting the country's economic resources, the Japanese monopolists tried to create an extensive military-industrial base in the occupied territory. By this time, large concerns and their branches were operating in Manchuria, which had already been turned into the main military-economic and strategic springboard of Japanese imperialism (the South Manchurian Railway Company, the Manchurian Heavy Industry Development Company "Mange" and others). Throughout China, old concerns were revived and new concerns were created (Northern China Development Company, Central China Revival Company). The main attention was paid to the development of heavy industry, primarily metallurgy, energy, oil, as well as the production of weapons and ammunition. The construction of military factories and arsenals, ports and airfields continued, and the number of military settlements grew. Strategic railways and highways were brought to the borders of the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic from Northeast and Northern China at an accelerated pace, for the construction of which the forced labor of millions of Chinese workers and peasants was used.

The aggressive actions of the Japanese imperialists caused serious damage to the interests of the monopoly circles of the USA, England and France, which had large investments in China. Since August 25, 1937, the Japanese navy and army blockaded the coast of China and closed the mouth of the Yangtze to ships of all states, aircraft bombed foreign ships, concessions and various American and British missions. By preventing the activities of foreign entrepreneurs, the Japanese administration established control over currency and customs in the occupied areas.

Having captured the island of Hainan, the Japanese reached the approaches to English and French possessions. However, the ruling circles of the imperialist powers, hoping for a clash between Japan and the USSR, did not take effective measures against it and limited themselves to only diplomatic gestures. In the summer of 1939, the US Congress, again considering the issue of “neutrality,” decided to keep the laws of 1935 - 1937 in force. President Roosevelt, in his message to Congress on January 4, 1939, acknowledged that the Neutrality Act did not advance the cause of peace. By this, he confirmed that the policy of the US ruling circles objectively contributed to the outbreak of a world war by the aggressor countries, and the victims of the attack could not count on purchasing military materials from the United States of America.

Despite the fact that American interests were infringed on in the Far East more than in Europe, the United States during the first two years of the war, the most difficult for China, did not provide it with significant assistance in the fight against the Japanese aggressors (102). At the same time, American monopolies supplied Japan with everything necessary to carry out this aggression, and therefore to prepare for the “big war” against the USSR. In 1937 alone, the United States exported more than 5.5 million tons of oil and more than 150 million yen worth of machine tools to Japan. In 1937 - 1939 they provided Japan with $511 million worth of war materials and strategic raw materials, representing nearly 70 percent of all American exports to that country (103). No less than 17 percent of strategic materials went to Japan from England.

The expansion of Japanese aggression in China was also facilitated by the policy of the imperialist powers in the League of Nations. Thus, on October 6, 1937, the League limited itself to only a resolution on “moral support” for China. The 19-nation conference in Brussels rejected the Soviet proposal to impose sanctions against Japan.

Nazi Germany counted on a quick victory for Japan. In this case, the forces of the Japanese army would be freed up to attack the USSR from the east. The Nazis also hoped that after the defeat the Chiang Kai-shek government would enter into the “anti-Comintern Pact.”

Germany and Italy, despite the differences between them, continued to supply their eastern ally with weapons and kept technical specialists and aviation instructors in the Japanese army, many of whom were directly involved in air raids on Chinese cities (104).

The Japanese militarists understood that without isolating the Soviet state, no military effort could lead them to victory in China, and therefore showed great interest in a German attack on the Soviet Union. Advertising their commitment to the spirit of the “anti-Comintern Pact,” they assured the Nazi leadership that Japan would join Germany and Italy in the event of a war against the USSR. On April 15 and June 24, 1939, the Soviet military intelligence officer R. Sorge, based on data from the German ambassador to Japan Ott, reported to the General Staff of the Red Army that if Germany and Italy started a war with the USSR, Japan would join them at any time, not setting no conditions (105). A detailed assessment of Japan's policy towards the USSR was given by the naval attache of Italy in Mussolini's report on May 27, 1939: “... if for Japan the government of Chiang Kai-shek is an open enemy, then enemy No. 1, an enemy with which it can never there will be no truce, no compromise, is Russia for her... The victory over Chiang Kai-shek would not have had any meaning if Japan had been unable to block Russia’s path, throw it back, and cleanse the Far East once and for all of Bolshevik influence . Communist ideology, naturally, is outlawed in Japan; the best army of Japan - the Kwantung Army - stands on the continent guarding the coastal province. Manchukuo was organized as a starting base for an attack on Russia" (106).

Having stabilized the front in China, the Japanese military, despite the defeat in the Lake Khasan area, again turned its predatory gaze to the north. In the fall of 1938, the General Staff of the Japanese Army began to develop a plan for war against the USSR, which received the code name “Operation Plan No. 8.” As part of this plan, two options were developed: option “A” provided for delivering the main blow in the direction of Soviet Primorye, “B” - in the direction of Transbaikalia. The War Ministry insisted on carrying out Plan A, the General Staff, together with the command of the Kwantung Army, insisted on Plan B. During the discussion, the second point of view won, and from the spring of 1939, active preparations began for the implementation of aggression against the MPR and the USSR according to Plan “B” (107). By the summer of 1939, the number of Japanese troops in Manchuria reached 350 thousand people, armed with 1052 guns, 385 tanks and 355 aircraft; in Korea there were 60 thousand soldiers and officers, 264 guns, 34 tanks and 90 aircraft (108).

By implementing their plans, the Japanese militarists hoped to bring closer the conclusion of a military alliance with Germany and Italy, to cast doubt on the ability of the USSR to fulfill its obligations of mutual assistance and thereby contribute to the failure of negotiations between the Soviet Union and England and France.

The Mongolian People's Republic has long been attracted to Japan. The capture of this country would give it major strategic benefits, which the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army Itagaki clearly spoke about in a conversation with the Japanese Ambassador to China Arita in 1936. He stated that the MPR “is very important from the point of view of the Japanese-Manchu influence of today, for it is the flank of the defense of the Siberian Railway, connecting Soviet territories in the Far East and Europe. If Outer Mongolia (MPR - Ed.) is united with Japan and Manchukuo, then the Soviet territories in the Far East will find themselves in a very difficult situation and it will be possible to destroy the influence of the Soviet Union in the Far East without military action. Therefore, the goal of the army should be to extend Japanese-Manchu rule over Outer Mongolia by any means at its disposal" (109).

The Soviet government knew about Japan's aggressive plans for the Mongolian People's Republic. True to its allied and international duty, it declared in February 1936 that in the event of a Japanese attack on the Mongolian People's Republic, the Soviet Union would help Mongolia defend its independence. On March 12, 1936, the Soviet-Mongolian protocol on mutual assistance against aggression was signed.

In an effort to justify their aggressive actions, the Japanese resorted to forgery. On their topographic maps they marked the border of Manchukuo along the Khalkhin Gol River, which actually ran to the east. This, in their opinion, should have created a “legal basis” for the attack.

At the beginning of 1939, the Soviet government officially declared that “the border of the Mongolian People's Republic, by virtue of the mutual assistance agreement concluded between us, we will defend as resolutely as our own” (110).

However, the militarists did not heed this warning and secretly brought a large group of troops to the borders of the MPR. They not only conducted intensive reconnaissance, but also repeatedly violated borders. The most serious incident occurred on May 11. The next day, the Japanese brought an infantry regiment into battle, supported by aviation, and, pushing back the border outposts of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, reached the Khalkhin Gol River. Thus began an undeclared war against the MPR, which lasted more than four months.

The fighting on the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic coincided with negotiations between Japanese Foreign Minister Arita and the British Ambassador in Tokyo, Craigie. In July 1939, an agreement was concluded between England and Japan, according to which England recognized the Japanese seizures in China. Thus, the British government provided diplomatic support for Japanese aggression against the MPR and its ally, the USSR.

The United States also took advantage of the situation on the borders of the Mongolian People's Republic. Encouraging Japan to go to war in every possible way, the American government first extended the previously canceled trade agreement with Japan for six months, and then completely restored it. Transatlantic monopolies had the opportunity to pocket large profits. In 1939, Japan purchased ten times more iron and steel scrap from the United States than in 1938. The US monopolists sold Japan $3 million of the latest machine tools for aircraft factories. In 1937 - 1939 In return, the United States received $581 million worth of gold from Japan (111). “If anyone follows the Japanese armies in China and ascertains how much American equipment they have, he has the right to think that he is following the American army” (112), wrote the US trade attaché in China. In addition, financial assistance was provided to Japan.

The provocative attacks of the Japanese at Lake Khasan and on the Khalkhin Gol River were nothing more than the “anti-Comintern Pact” in action. However, the aggressors' expectation that they would be supported by Hitler's Germany did not materialize. It was also not possible to achieve any concessions from the USSR and the MPR. The aggressive plans of the Japanese militarists collapsed.

The defeat of the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol, their strategic failures in China, and the crisis in relations with Germany caused by the conclusion of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact were deterrents that temporarily separated the forces of the aggressors.

The enslavement of Ethiopia, the seizure of the Rhineland, the strangulation of the Spanish Republic, and the outbreak of war in China were links in one chain of imperialist policy in the late thirties. The aggressive states - Germany, Italy and Japan - with the direct support of the USA, England and France, sought to fan the flames of a world war through local wars and military conflicts as soon as possible. The intense rivalry between the imperialist powers was entering a new phase. The usual forms of struggle - competition in markets, trade and currency wars, dumping - have long been recognized as insufficient. The talk was now about a new redistribution of the world, spheres of influence, colonies through open armed violence.