The Kuomintang (KMT) government of China refused to recognize Manchukuo but did agree to a truce with Japan in 1933. Subsequently, there were various ‘incidents’, or armed clashes of a limited nature, followed by a return to uneasy peace. The significance of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident is that following it, tensions did not subside again, instead, there was an escalation, with larger forces committed by both sides and fighting spreading to other parts of China. In hindsight, this small incident can, therefore, be regarded as the starting point of the major conflict. Under the terms of the Boxer Protocol of September 7, 1901, China had granted nations with legations in Beijing the right to station guards at twelve specific points along railways connecting Beijing with Tianjin. This was to ensure open communications between the capital and the port. By a supplementary agreement on July 15, 1902, these forces were allowed to conduct maneuvers without informing the authorities of other nations in China. By July 1937, Japan had expanded its forces in China to an estimated 7000 to 15.000 men, mostly along the railways. This number of men, and the amount of concomitant material, was several times the size of the detachments deployed by the European Powers, and greatly in excess of the limits set by the Boxer Protocol. By this time, the Imperial Japanese Army had already surrounded Beijing and Tianjin.

On the night of July 7, the Japanese units stationed at Fengtai crossed the border to conduct military exercises. Japanese and Chinese forces outside the town of Wanpin – a walled town about 10 miles southwest of Beijing – exchanged fire at approximately 2300. The exact cause of this incident remains unknown, but, when a Japanese soldier, Shimura Kikujiro, failed to return to his post, the Chinese regimental commander Ji Xingwen (219th Regiment, 37th Division, 29th Route Army) received a message from the Japanese demanding permission to enter Wanping to search for the missing soldier. The Chinese refused. And, although Shimura returned to his unit, by this point both sides were mobilizing, with the Japanese deploying reinforcements and surrounding Wanping. Later during the night, a unit of Japanese infantry attempted to breach Wanping‘s walled defenses and was repulsed. An ultimatum by the Japanese was issued two hours later. As a precautionary measure, Qin Dechen, the acting commander of the Chinese 29th Route Army, contacted the commander of the Chinese 37th Division, Gen Feng Zhian, ordering him to place his troops on heightened alert. At 0200, on the morning of July 8, Qin Dechun, executive officer and acting commander of the Chinese 29th Route Army, sent Wang Lengzhai, mayor of Wanping, alone to the Japanese camp to conduct negotiations. However, this proved to be fruitless, and the Japanese insisted that they are admitted into the town to investigate the cause of the incident. At around 0400, reinforcements from both sides began to arrive. The Chinese also rushed an extra division of troops to the area. About an hour or so later the Chinese Army opened fire on the Japanese Army and attacked them at the Marco Polo Bridge (690 feet west-southwest of Wanping), along with a modern railway bridge (1095 feet north of the bridge).

Chinese Troops

At 0445, Wang Lengzhai returned to Wanping, and on his way back he witnessed Japanese troops massing around the town. Within five minutes of Wang’s return, the Chinese Army fired shots, thus marking the commencement of the Battle of Beijing-Tianjin, and, by extension, the full-scale commencement of the Second Sino-Japanese War at 0450 on July 8, 1937. Col Ji Xingwen led the Chinese defenses with about 100 men, with orders to hold the bridge at all costs. The Chinese were able to hold the bridge with the help of reinforcements but suffered tremendous losses. At this point, the Japanese military and members of the Japanese Foreign Service began negotiations in Beijing with the Chinese Nationalist government. A verbal agreement with Chinese Gen Qin was reached, whereby an apology would be given by the Chinese to the Japanese; punishment would be dealt with those responsible; control of Wanping would be turned over to the Hopei Chinese civilian constabulary and not to the Chinese 219th Regiment, and the Chinese would attempt to better control ‘communists’ in the area. This was agreed upon, though the Japanese Garrison Infantry Brigade commander Gen Masakazu Kawabe initially rejected the truce and, against his superiors’ orders, continued to shell Wanping for the next three hours until prevailed to cease and move his forces to the northeast.

Chinese Army logistics soldiers assist wounded Chinese troops from the battlefield during the Third Battle of Changsha

(Above) The Third Battle of Changsha was fought from December 24, 1941, to January 15, 1942, and was the first major offensive in China by the Imperial Japanese Forces following the Japanese attack on the Western Allies. The offensive was originally intended to prevent Chinese forces from reinforcing the British Commonwealth forces engaged in battle with the Japanese in Hong Kong. However, with the successful capture of Hong Kong by the Imperial Japanese Forces on December 25, 1942, it was decided to continue the offensive in Changsha in order to maximize the blow against the Chinese government. The offensive resulted in the failure of the Japanese, as Chinese forces were able to lure them into a trap and encircle them. After suffering heavy casualties, the Japanese forces were forced to carry out a general retreat. (Changsha, Hunan, Republic of China January 1942.)

Little ground was given up by the Chinese during 1939, 1940, and 1941, but she still suffered losses. Her economic difficulties increased in scope as Japanese pressure tightened the blockade which limited China‘s contact with the outside world. This limited contact was further curtailed when the Japanese gained control of northern French Indo-China and the British, acting under Japanese pressure, closed the Burma Road.

URSSNazisWar between Russia and Germany in 1941, cut off the trickle of supplies coming in on the Trans-Siberian railway and the northwest Russian highway. The fall of Hong Kong in December 1941, eliminated the only air route between the Chinese coast and the interior. Though the Burma Road was reopened in October 1941, the Lend-Lease supplies that dribbled in, about 15.000 tons a month, were inadequate to materially affect the scale of China‘s war effort. At the end of 1941, the Chinese Army was stalemated along a broken 2000 miles (3200 KM) front, and forced to operate on very meager rations and extremely limited amounts of all types of supplies and equipment. Morale was at a low ebb. The Nationalist Government, established at Chungking, was rapidly losing prestige as her people were subjected to mounting economic hardships. Her air force was reduced to practically a paper air organization. The American Volunteer Group in China provided the only air defense available, but this small force was not adequate to drive the Japanese out of China.

A Man of Exception, Gen Claire Lee Chennault - Flying Tigers

AMERICAN INTEREST IN AND AID CHINA PRIOR WW2

The attitude of the USA towards Japan‘s aggression had been one of moral disapproval rather than overt opposition. As China‘s position became more critical, however, there was a growing tendency to stiffen those measures which implied a warning of more concrete action if Japan persisted in her course. Japan‘s blockade of China in 1938, crystallized the thinking of the United States and prompted the extension of aid to China. Credits first granted to China in 1933 and 1934 were renewed in 1938 for $25.000.000 and with additional loans, reached a total of $170.000.000 by the end of 1940. The economic support that the United States withdrew from Japan was extended on a growing scale to China. Small as this aid was it helped China to sustain its resistance to Japan. In August 1941, the United States sent a military mission to the aid of China. The mission included technicians to assist to improve the Burma Road and staff of military advisers. Lend-lease was extended to China in April 1941. Small initial shipments of Lend-Lease items arrived in China in the summer of that year. China‘s appeal for American engineers and pilots was answered by a number of United States citizens who volunteered their services in various categories. Among the latter was a retired US Army Air Force Officer named Claire Lee Chennault. Under his able leadership, the American Volunteer Group (AVG), known as the Flying Tigers, was formed in 1941 and provided China‘s first air defense against the Japanese since the loss of its own air force early in 1938.

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF CHINA AFTER HOSTILITIES WITH JAPAN OPENED

Chinese SoldiersThe importance of China in the conflict with Japan resolves itself into the following considerations:

(1) If China were to capitulate, her resources of men, materiel, and food, as well as her geographical location, would be of material assistance to Japan;
(2) If she remained free, her strategic location on the flank of Japan‘s extended line of communication would provide a base for air operations against the lifelines of the Japanese Empire;
(3) Similarly, if China remained in the war against Japan, a base was available for attrition operations against a considerable portion of the Japanese war machine;
(4) Loss of bases in the Pacific, early in the war, placed the United States in a position remote from Japan‘s home bases, thus creating a requirement for an operating base from which to strike at and cripple Japan‘s industrial potential. In brief, the United States was committed to keeping China fighting, depriving Japan of her assistance, and providing a base on the enemy’s flank from which to attack his war machine.

ALLIED PLAN FOR AIR OPERATIONS IN SUPPORT OF CHINA

Chinese TroopsTo strike at the Japanese homeland, on the ground or from the air, the USA required bases within aircraft operating ranges and additional bases from which to launch ground operations, concentrate supplies, and in general provide extensive logistic support for size-able operations. It appeared quite evident that a corridor into China from India and Burma must be kept open so that supply to bases in China would be insured. With the tempo of the Japanese air attacks on the Burma Road increasing, firm steps were taken to increase the air defense of the Burma Road and increase the air operations in support of China. With the ports of China under Japanese control, supplies would have to be brought in at the available ports on the Burma and Indian coasts. There is little about, either Burma or India to recommend them as theaters of operation. Their chief disadvantage is their great distance from the United States. No available sea route is less than 13.000 statute miles (20.000 KM). Available port facilities are limited. Transportation and communications facilities are inadequate. The railroad system, lacking sufficient rolling stock and complicated by the existence of various gauges, would prove of little usefulness. The climate subtracts from their desirability, running into excesses of temperature and humidity. Burma is the gateway to China‘s roads. Conquest of all of Burma would be most dangerous because of the threat to the land routes from India to China.

Gen Joseph Warren Stilwell aka Vinegar Joe, (Mar 19, 1883 – Oct 12, 1946) was a US Army officer who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War IIThe following considerations are of added significance in determining the importance of India and Burma to the overall operations in the theater:

(1) If India and Burma were overrun, their combined resources and potential would be made available to the Japanese and similarly denied to the allied war effort. The value of China as a base for air operations against Japan would be lessened to a great degree if not completely nullified while the ability of China to maintain sustained resistance against Japan‘s advances would be jeopardized. (2) If one or both remained free, allied operations could be conducted according to plan. It is therefore apparent that their geographical proximity to China and allied considerations, coupled with the tactical situation, declared India and Burma to be of vital importance to the Allied Nations.

The Jap advance towards the southern approaches of China and penetrating into Burma in the early months of 1942, threatened the lifeline of China. The loss of this road would not only be disastrous for China but would seriously hamper the entire allied effort against Japan. Plans were therefore made for creating the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, with Chinese, British, and American officials occupying command positions.

Gen Lewis Hyde Brereton (Jun 21, 1890 – Jul 20, 1967) was a US military aviation pioneer and one General in the USAAFIn February, Gen Stilwell was appointed Commander of US Forces in the new theater. At the same time, Japanese penetration into the Netherlands East Indies foretold the dissolution of the ABDA Command (American, British, Dutch, Australian) operating in that area. Faced with these expected losses and the growing seriousness in the CBI, plans were made to establish an air force in the India-Burma region and Australia. The India-Burma force would supplement the assistance China was now receiving from the AVG and the RAF operating in China. With the decision now made to establish an air force in the India-Burma region, Hqs USAAF India-Burma was established at Delhi in March 1942. This location was selected to effect better coordination with the British. A planning group, headed by Gen Brereton started making plans for increased, air operations in the theater. Their material assets consisted of $250.000 in American currency, one LB-30, and five war-weary B-17s. Their gigantic task was made bleaker by Japanese advances throughout southeast Asia, toward the subcontinent of India, where they could deliver a severe blow to the Allied cause in the Orient. Demands from other theaters and the policy of concentrating first on the elimination of Germany gave the CBI a low priority. This situation formed an obstacle in the obtaining desired personnel and equipment for the 10-AAF.

3rd Squadron - Hell's Angels, Flying Tigers over China, photographed in 1942 by American Volunteer Group's pilot Robert T. Smith

Though it was activated on February 12, 1942, at Patterson Field, Ohio, it was not until May 17, 1942, that the Hqs and Hqs Squadron arrived in India. In addition to defending India from the skies, the 10-AAF would also be required to provide an aerial supply line to China; assist the Stilwell’s forces in Burma; develop India, apart from its own defense, as a base for striking the Japanese wherever they may be within bomber range. With its force now consisting of six B-17s, two LB-30s, and ten P-40s, limited patrol and transport operations were undertaken without any appreciable delay. Extensive operations had to await the arrival of more planes, procurement of suitable types of aircraft, training of personnel, and provision of facilities.

Requests for badly needed P-38s equipped for photographic work were turned down. Lacking adequate fighter protection, bombing attacks had to be made at night under very unfavorable conditions. During this early period, organizational difficulties were corrected to the extent possible, with the major portion of the time spent on training, developing techniques, and preparing plans for subsequent operations. Most of the aircraft arriving from the US were in need of major repairs and, in some cases, complete overhauls before they could be put into combat. Many of the planes brought to Karachi in need of engine replacement had to wait for weeks before replacement spares arrived. The unsatisfactory climate, absence of recreational facilities, and sporadic delivery of mail from the US, all had an adverse effect on the morale of the personnel. The inactivity resulting from a lack of proper equipment for operational and training activities did little to bolster their spirits. The prospect of being overrun by the advancing Japanese further aggravated an undesirable situation.



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