I have been fascinated with the history of WWII since I can remember however have always gravitated towards the European theater. Well now I've decided to make a deep dive specifically on the Pacific front of the war. I have written many times now about WWII, including a general study of the event; (Historical Look: World War II). However in that general study I only briefly mentioned the Pacific theater pertaining to the Japanese Aggression of Pearl Harbor and it's final demise with the notorious bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore I now intend to make a 2-part study on the historical timeline of the Pacific War. It began with the Second Sino-Japenese War of July 1937 and ended with the American nuclear bombings of Japan in August 1945.
I'm going to split up my study of the Pacific theater of WWII into two parts; the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. It's quite interesting how these conflicts overlapped with one another to be a part of the greater WWII. What began with a Japanese war against China in 1937 later became a two front war when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. (I will address the timeline of the United States engagement with Japan in my next post.)
For now, in this post I will focus primarily on the Japanese invasion of China known as the Second Sino-Japanese War. This large scale war cost nearly 25 million causalities, making it one of the deadliest wars in Asian history. It is often overlooked by the deadly western and eastern theaters in Europe however this battlefield in China was no doubt the holocaust of Asia. Below is some causalities comparisons To demonstrate where exactly these theaters fall among the major fronts of WWII. (these numbers are according to Wikipedia).
Major Theaters of WWII
The Japanese tension with China reached new heights during the Great Depression that sparked a sudden boom of Japanese nationalism. In an effort to re-exert their dominance in the region, Japan staged the Murken Incident in 1931 as a pretext of war (quite similar to the staged Reichstag Fire of 1933). The incident was a railway explosion in the contested region of Manchuria, staged by the Japanese to give blame to the Chinese. The Japanese used this incident as justification for their invasion of Manchuria in Sept 1931. By 1932 the Japan had succeeded in conquering the region and renamed it as Manchukuo. While this did not lead to immediate war with China it was certainly the tipping point. (Also of note China was still in the midst of a Civil War during this time from 1927 to 1936).
The beginning stages of the war took place with the invasion of Beijing and it's port city of Tainjin. This initial invasion by Imperial Japan was met with minimal resistance and the Chinese Revolutionary Army was forced to retreat from Beijing. The Chinese military forces did however manage to organize and establish a defense at the city of Shanghai. On August 13th 1937 the Battle of Shanghai became the bloodiest battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Chinese revolutionary armies had a well organized defense within the city however could not match their hand guns with the artillery of Japan's army. This resulted in another Japanese victory at the cost of 187,000 Chinese soldiers and 59,000 Japanese soldiers.
By early 1938 the Empire of Japan had intended to halt their aggression in China to strengthen their control of the eastern coast. However this message never made it to China, and Japanese commanders continued their invasion further westward. The Battle of Xuzhuo was waged in March of 1938 and was yet another victory for the imperial army. However shortly after their invasion was repelled at the Battle of Tai'erzhaung which marked the first victory for the Chinese army. In response to this defeat Japan intensified their engagement with a large scale bombardment of the central city of Wuhan. This marked yet another major defeat for the Chinese armies however they still refused to surrender.
Although China did not have the industrial modern capacity that Japan had they still were unwilling to surrender. In the spring of 1939 they achieved a string of victories in the eastern-central region beginning with the Battle of Suizao, Battle of Changsha, and the Battle of South Guangxi. Following these victories the Chinese armies launched their first counter-offensive in November of 1939. While the Chinese were able to recapture some of their territory they ultimately had to halt the offensive by March of 1940 due to inferior weapons. While the offensive was ultimately a failure it still demonstrated Chinese resilience amidst the Japanese occupation. Many of the occupied Chinese cities began to resist against their Japanese puppet governments.
The United States had supported China since the start of the war by sending the Chinese financial and military aid and warning Japan to leave. The Americans also provided volunteer soldiers and pilots known as the Flying Tigers that fought against the Japanese Air Force. However the final straw for Imperial Japan came in April of 1941 when the United States placed an oil embargo on them until they removed their armies from China. This ultimately led to the planning and execution of the Pearl Harbor bombings in December 7th of 1941. (I will write further on this historic attack in my next post pertaining to the Pacific War).
The Chinese armies began to acheive victories into the north-central occupied territories, such as at the Battle of West Hunan in April of 1945 and the Second Guangxi Campaign in August of 1945. By reclaiming the city of Guangdong the Chinese had finally established control of a port city by which they intended to march further north of. However by this point the Japanese were alone in their world war, and the Americans had control of most islands in the Pacific. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria in August of 1945 brought a swift end to the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as WWII. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur the Japanese formally surrendered to Chinese general Chiang Kai-shek.
For now, in this post I will focus primarily on the Japanese invasion of China known as the Second Sino-Japanese War. This large scale war cost nearly 25 million causalities, making it one of the deadliest wars in Asian history. It is often overlooked by the deadly western and eastern theaters in Europe however this battlefield in China was no doubt the holocaust of Asia. Below is some causalities comparisons To demonstrate where exactly these theaters fall among the major fronts of WWII. (these numbers are according to Wikipedia).
Major Theaters of WWII
- Eastern Front
- Soviet Casualties: 10 million
- Nazi Casualties: 5.1 million
- Second Sino-Japanese War
- Chinese Casualties: 10.6 million
- Japanese Casualties: 5 million
- Western Front:
- Allied Casualties: 3 million
- Nazi Casualties: 5.4 million
- Pacific Theatre
- Allied Casualties: 4 million
- Japanese Casualties: 2.5 million
- African Campaigns
- Allied Causalities: 238,500
- Italian/Nazi Casualties: 620,000
In assessing the death toll, the Second Sino-Japanese War was just about as deadly as the Eastern Front of WWII. It's quite interesting that both Germany and Japan decided to fight a 2 front war on their east and west. While the invasions of Russia and China were reasoned as aggressive expansionism, it was ultimately the downfall of both Axis Powers. I often wonder had Germany not invaded Russia or Japan not invaded China, how differently the war may have gone. Nonetheless it made for a vast global conflict on many fronts, hence why it is referred to today as a world war.
Second Sino-Japanese War
In my previous post regarding the history of the Empire of Japan, I discussed how Japan modernized their country in the 1870-1890's and became a world power at the turn of the 20th century. Around this time they began a series of military campaigns to exert their dominance in the eastern Asian region. This included the 1st Sino-Japanese War, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Russo-Japanese War all of which significantly extended Japanese territory by the end of 1904. These victories for Japan, led to internal conflict within their neighbors of China and Russia. The Russian and Chinese Revolutions followed shortly after which marked the sudden arrival of communism in the Eastern Asian region.
Invasion of Manchuria
The Japanese tension with China reached new heights during the Great Depression that sparked a sudden boom of Japanese nationalism. In an effort to re-exert their dominance in the region, Japan staged the Murken Incident in 1931 as a pretext of war (quite similar to the staged Reichstag Fire of 1933). The incident was a railway explosion in the contested region of Manchuria, staged by the Japanese to give blame to the Chinese. The Japanese used this incident as justification for their invasion of Manchuria in Sept 1931. By 1932 the Japan had succeeded in conquering the region and renamed it as Manchukuo. While this did not lead to immediate war with China it was certainly the tipping point. (Also of note China was still in the midst of a Civil War during this time from 1927 to 1936).
By the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1936 Mao Zedong had established a new communist Republic of China. The Empire of Japan considered communism a great threat and signed a new alliance with Nazi Germany in 1936 known as the Anti-Comintern Pact. The burning tensions between Japan and China finally gave way with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937. This minor dispute on the outskirts of Beijing quickly escalated into a full scale Japanese invasion of China. This marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War and is often considered as the start to WWII (rather than Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland).
Invasion of Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan
The beginning stages of the war took place with the invasion of Beijing and it's port city of Tainjin. This initial invasion by Imperial Japan was met with minimal resistance and the Chinese Revolutionary Army was forced to retreat from Beijing. The Chinese military forces did however manage to organize and establish a defense at the city of Shanghai. On August 13th 1937 the Battle of Shanghai became the bloodiest battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Chinese revolutionary armies had a well organized defense within the city however could not match their hand guns with the artillery of Japan's army. This resulted in another Japanese victory at the cost of 187,000 Chinese soldiers and 59,000 Japanese soldiers.
The Imperial army continued their march along the Chinese eastern coast towards their capital city of Nanjing. The Battle of Nanjing began in December of 1937 and was once again another pummeling of the Chinese forces at the hands of the Japanese army. The Japanese invasion of this city lead to the horrific Nanjing Massacre by which the Japanese army murdered nearly 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians. Despite the ease by which Japan had conquered the eastern coastline, China did not surrender and reorganized it's military further inland.
By early 1938 the Empire of Japan had intended to halt their aggression in China to strengthen their control of the eastern coast. However this message never made it to China, and Japanese commanders continued their invasion further westward. The Battle of Xuzhuo was waged in March of 1938 and was yet another victory for the imperial army. However shortly after their invasion was repelled at the Battle of Tai'erzhaung which marked the first victory for the Chinese army. In response to this defeat Japan intensified their engagement with a large scale bombardment of the central city of Wuhan. This marked yet another major defeat for the Chinese armies however they still refused to surrender.
The Chinese central command moved further inland to the city of Chongqing. In effort to slow the Japanese advance, various damns along the Yellow River were opened, which caused massive flooding in the Zhengzhou eastern-central region. This resulted in a terrible affliction upon the rural civilians causing nearly a million deaths related to drowning and approx 10 million refugees. To further worsen the situation Japan began aerial bombardments of many major Chinese cities such as their stronghold of Chongqing, which resulted in millions of civilian causalities.
Chinese Winter Offensive and Stalemate
Although China did not have the industrial modern capacity that Japan had they still were unwilling to surrender. In the spring of 1939 they achieved a string of victories in the eastern-central region beginning with the Battle of Suizao, Battle of Changsha, and the Battle of South Guangxi. Following these victories the Chinese armies launched their first counter-offensive in November of 1939. While the Chinese were able to recapture some of their territory they ultimately had to halt the offensive by March of 1940 due to inferior weapons. While the offensive was ultimately a failure it still demonstrated Chinese resilience amidst the Japanese occupation. Many of the occupied Chinese cities began to resist against their Japanese puppet governments.
By the spring of 1940 the war had reached a stalemate as Japanese strengthened their hold on the east, the Chinese built up their military arsenal. During this time the Chinese still waged various guerrilla and resistance attacks against the Japanese armies. In August of 1940 the Chinese launched another counteroffensive known as the Hundred Regiments Offensive. This time the campaign was successful in driving out the Japanese occupation from north central China. In response to this however the Japanese began committing further war crimes by enacting a new policy of "Three Alls Policy" which essentially meant to kill all, loot all, and burn all.
Entry of the United States
The United States had supported China since the start of the war by sending the Chinese financial and military aid and warning Japan to leave. The Americans also provided volunteer soldiers and pilots known as the Flying Tigers that fought against the Japanese Air Force. However the final straw for Imperial Japan came in April of 1941 when the United States placed an oil embargo on them until they removed their armies from China. This ultimately led to the planning and execution of the Pearl Harbor bombings in December 7th of 1941. (I will write further on this historic attack in my next post pertaining to the Pacific War).
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor the Americans finally officially declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy. This ultimately marked the turning point for the Chinese, who now were a part of the "Big Four Policemen" alliance including the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. China achieved another major victory in January of 1942 at the Battle of Changsha which impressed their new allies. Japan now found itself in the midst of a two front war in China and in the islands of the Pacific against the Americans.
Despite the onset of the Pacific War, Japan was more than prepared for this double operation, and by the spring of 1942 they had furthered their territorial control with the conquest of Burma (aided by Thailand). They also furthered the war crimes against Chinese civilians by spreading disease that lead to the Chinese Famine of 1942-1943. To make matters more difficult for the Chinese, their supposed ally, the Soviet Union, refused to allow the United States supply them in the northwestern regions of Kazakhstan and Xinjiang.
China-Burma-India Theater
By the fall of 1943 the allied forces began landing and organizing in South East Asia to initiate an offensive against the Japanese Armies. This new theater, known as the China-Burma-India Theatre now merged the conflict of WWII with the Second Sino-Japanese War. American General Joseph Stilwell intended to drive the Japanese occupation out of China, however he quickly came in conflict with other Chinese generals who did not want to attack yet rather wait-out the conflict. With the entry of the United States, Chinese leaders felt they had lost enough life and should rather sustain a defensive position. From this point on the Americans and the allied forces decided to revert their full offensive attention in the Pacific theater while defending against anymore Japanese aggression in China.
Things grew more complicated for Chinese relations with the allies, who felt they were be used simply as manpower in the Burma theater. In a major slap to their British allies, the Chinese government supported the new Indian Independence movement that had arisen under Mahatma Gandhi. By 1944 however Chinese and allied forces had begun to repel the Japanese armies from Burma. While Japan lost territory in the Pacific they embarked on their largest offensive yet in China, known as Operation Ichi-Go. During this campaign Japanese initiated heavy aerial bombardments of American bases in China and linked up their railway from Manchuria to Vietnam. The allied relations with China continued to deteriorate due to this defeat.
Chinese armies eventually focused the bulk of their offensive in the southern Burma theater while Japan strengthened their hold of the eastern coast and once again pushed further inland. The Defense of Hengyang in June of 1944 proved to be one of the Chinese army's more honorable stands as they withheld a siege for 48 days before they eventually capitulated. By late 1944 due to the consistent pressure from the Americans in the Pacific the Japanese armies had to cease their Operation Ichi-Go. This gave way for the final Chinese counter-offensive known as Operation White Tower. Chinese thus withdrew the bulk of their forces from Burma and began an offensive into the occupied regions of the northeast.
The Surrender of Japanese Forces
The Chinese armies began to acheive victories into the north-central occupied territories, such as at the Battle of West Hunan in April of 1945 and the Second Guangxi Campaign in August of 1945. By reclaiming the city of Guangdong the Chinese had finally established control of a port city by which they intended to march further north of. However by this point the Japanese were alone in their world war, and the Americans had control of most islands in the Pacific. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria in August of 1945 brought a swift end to the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as WWII. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur the Japanese formally surrendered to Chinese general Chiang Kai-shek.
In the aftermath of the war, China reclaimed it's territory that was invaded by Japan and returned to it's internal Civil War between the communists and the nationalists. The Chinese Civil War went on for another 4 years until the Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong were finally able to achieve victory in 1949. The nationalist leaders of China retreated to Taiwan, of which tension still remains to this day. The Chinese Civil War is yet another major historical event that I hope to someday dive further into. It's amazing all the overlapping historical events that occurred pertaining to WWII. However this concludes the general synopsis of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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