9 - Campaigns in China, 1937–1945

Summary

In 1937, China and Japan began to fight each other, firmly convinced of the superiority of modern conventional warfare. Japan would win every battle, first at Shanghai, then at Xuzhou, and finally at Wuhan, deploying ever more troops. But it was unable to compel a Chinese surrender. This chapter on military campaigning in China during the Second World War uses the China theatre to examine this development. Japan's attempt to use force to create the conditions for a new political reality in China was an early illustration of a key problem faced by militaries in the age of nationalism and total warfare. For the Ichi-Go offensive, lasting from April 1944 to February 1945, the Japanese deployed 500,000 troops, 100,000 horses, 15,000 vehicles and 1,500 artillery pieces. Fighting took place along a 900-mile stretch of land from the Yellow River in Henan Province all the way to China's border with Indochina.