Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
WORLD WAR II IN CHINA
Europeans usually date the beginning of World War II to 1939 and
AdolfHitler's invasion of Poland. Americans oftendate it toDecember 7,
1941, and the infamous Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. For
the Chinese, it began with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in
September 1931 and did not end until Japan's defeat by the United States
in August 1945.
World War II in China was at times a complicated three-way war,
with the Chinese Communists and Nationalists sometimes fighting
each other as well as the Japanese. Each side accused the other of
secretly collaborating with the Japanese and waging half-hearted war
against them. The truth is that, after the American entry into the war
in late December 1941, both sides became convinced that the United
States would eventually prevail against Japan, and they decided to
retain their best forces in reserve for the civil war and final showdown
they knew would follow Japan's surrender. Some U.S. forces
were committed to the war effort in China. General Joseph Stilwell
commanded American army units in southern China and found
Chiang Kai-shek's refusal to wage an all-out war against the Japanese
supremely frustrating, and rogue fighter pilots under Claire Chennault
of American Flying Tigers fame shot down many Japanese aircraft
for Chiang Kai-shek in the early months of America's involvement
in World War II. (Chiang reportedly paid $500 for each Japanese
plane shot down.) In the end, however, American forces in China
did not play a decisive role in defeating the Japanese. The major
actions of the United States against the Japanese empire occurred in
the Pacific War.
World War II in China proved to be the Chinese Communists' salva-
tion. The power vacuum created in China by the Japanese invasion
and the Second United Front gave them the opportunity to recover
and consolidate their hold over vast areas of Chinese territory. Without
theJapaneseinvasiontheChineseCommunistswouldneverhave
come to power; Mao directly admitted as much to Tanaka Kakuei,
the prime minister of Japan during the early 1970s (Li 1994, 567-68).
During the war Mao apportioned his efforts as follows: 70 percent to
Communist expansion, 20 percent to cooperation with the KMT, and
10 percent to fighting the Japanese invaders (Hs¨ 1990, 589).
Unnerved by the Second United Front and the prospect of fighting a
China united against them, in July 1937 Japanese militarists unleashed
a full-scale invasion of China. They soon occupied several major
Chinese cities, and by December they had captured Nanjing, then
