The Skies of China (Part 1): The Road to the Occupation of Manchuria
When an explosion shook Mukden on the night of September 18, 1931, few suspected that a new Asian war was beginning. Japanese forces swiftly paralyzed Chinese resistance and, for the first time, heavily deployed their army aviation in tactical operations. The first part of our five-part series takes you behind the scenes of political intrigue and the aerial beginnings of a conflict that changed the map of the Far East forever.
Introduction to the Situation in China and ManchuriaAt the beginning of the 20th century, the situation in China was not favorable for any military action. The reason was the fact that since the Boxer Rebellion, the entire country had essentially been in a state of civil war, which alternately broke out among individual local warlords. The Japanese tried to intervene in various ways. Their "dark horse" was the former Honghuzi (bandit), Marshal Zhang Zuolin, civilized by Japanese advisors. In 1929, he retreated to Manchuria, where Japanese units were concentrated, having lost everything he could in the Chinese war against Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang army. In Manchuria, a Japanese infantry company was garrisoned in Shandong province near the city of Jilin, tasked with protecting the rights of Japanese settlers and merchants. Based on a 1901 treaty, Japan was authorized to maintain military units the size of one infantry brigade in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Tianjin. Therefore, when Kuomintang units captured the port of Shanghai on March 27, 1927, the Japanese command sent an infantry company of the Japanese army to Shandong province without notifying anyone. Thus, when Kuomintang units penetrated into Jinan on May 1, 1927, they found that they were not facing the expected soldiers of Zhang Zuolin, but soldiers of Imperial Japan. The Chinese command reacted with an order to halt further advance to prevent a possible confrontation. At the same time, they asked the Japanese consul to explain the presence of Japanese units in Jinan and to ensure Japanese neutrality regarding Chinese affairs. He immediately agreed, and since he himself was not informed, he asked the local Japanese command to adhere to the conditions to which he had committed. Furthermore, he directly informed the Emperor about the situation and warned him of the danger that a potential conflict would pose to Japan. The local Japanese command formally ordered the evacuation of the Jinan positions, but simultaneously issued a secret order for Japanese units to expand the controlled territory. Therefore, when a Chinese officer unknowingly crossed the boundary set by the Japanese on May 3, 1927, the Japanese command qualified it as aggression and issued an order to immediately launch a counterattack. During this, the Japanese units pushed the surprised Chiang Kai-shek troops far beyond Jinan. At that time, the Japanese Prime Minister was Gen. Giichi Tanaka, former commander of the Japanese expeditionary corps in Siberia. He was an extreme right-wing, nationalist politician who was responsible for driving the Japanese Communist Party deep underground and eliminating anyone who dared to propagate socialist ideas. Therefore, he unhesitatingly issued an order to reinforce Japanese units in Shandong province so that "it would be possible to protect Japanese interests and settlers against the arbitrariness of the Chinese". By driving away the Kuomintang units, the Japanese freed their hands, but they did not let Zhang Zuolin rule there, as they assumed his Chinese origins made him prone to pragmatic betrayal, or at least intrigues. Since they did not want his wild army at their backs, they recommended that he retreat behind the Great Wall of China, where he could modernize his units' equipment along with improving their tactics. The Marshal realized the impending loss of influence, rejected the Japanese offer, and issued a declaration calling on the Chinese to unite and fight together against a common external enemy, which was clearly Japan. The Japanese command was stunned by this declaration and demanded the Marshal's explanation of who he meant by that enemy. Consequently, the Kwantung Army command received an order to enter and occupy Manchuria. Its commander, Lt. Gen. Chotaro Teraoka, relocated his headquarters from Port Arthur to Mukden, where Zhang Zuolin was immediately invited for talks on further cooperation. In Japan itself, there was clear opposition to Tanaka in diplomatic and government circles. Based on a forged memorandum attributed to him, a storm of resistance rose against him, taking the army down with him. Its operations in Manchuria were understood as the first step of the aggressive plan published in the memorandum. Tanaka was immediately recalled, and on May 25, 1927, the Emperor issued an order for Japanese units to immediately withdraw from Manchuria to their barracks. The command of the Kwantung Army never left Mukden and Manchuria. In 1928, the Chief of Staff was Maj. Gen. Kanji Ishihara, who closely monitored events in China and the USSR. On August 16, 1928, a serious military clash occurred between these two states. The reason was the military occupation of the Chinese Eastern Railway by Kuomintang units, who drove out the Soviet personnel. The USSR reacted to this fact very quickly and harshly. Within two months, from October 12, 1929, when its operations began, to December 22, 1929, when the peace treaty was signed, the entire Chinese military grouping was destroyed. It consisted of 400,000 men of the Mukden Army and the 1st White Guard Infantry Division, as well as the Sungari River Flotilla and fortified area units. This fact shook Ishihara, as he realized that the underestimated Red Army was capable of occupying Harbin within two days in the event of a conflict. Moreover, it was capable of deploying up to 72TB-3heavy bomber aircraft, possessing not only sufficient bomb capacity but also the range to strike Japan's northern islands. Based on these facts, Ishihara recommended focusing all attention on the USSR as Japan's future adversary, as he did not believe in its propagated peacefulness given its internal development at all. Pilots and front gunner in a TB-3After the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the recognition of Japanese claims to the southern half of Manchuria became part of the peace treaty. Thus, the foundation was laid for the South Manchuria Railway Company and an armed force to protect it against Honghuzi (bandits), as the treaty allowed the Japanese to maintain 17 soldiers per kilometer (0. 62 miles) of track – which meant the legal presence of 15,000 experienced and well-armed men – an elite corps called the Kanto Gun, which eventually became the core of the famous Kwantung Army. The protection units were called independent garrison battalions (dokuritsu shubitai) and gradually merged into brigades. The command of these six battalions (dokuritsu shubitai hombu) was located in Mukden. The region of northern China and Manchuria was full of unrest and opportunities. Armed provocations were a daily occurrence here. Bands of local warlords fought among themselves, a constant war of opium gangs raged, and in holy enthusiasm, Kuomintang bands exterminated communists and vice versa. Everyone fought everyone, and thanks to various clashes, the Kanto Gun units were full of battle-hardened veterans. The Kwantung Army entered military-political life on June 4, 1928, when at half past five in the morning, the saloon train carrying Marshal Zhang Zuolin was blown up about a kilometer (0. 62 miles) from Mukden. He was arriving in Mukden at the Japanese invitation to discuss issues concerning the modernization of his army's equipment, and also to explain his declaration that had so infuriated the Japanese. Although the assassination was labeled as the work of Chinese communist partisans, it was actually prepared by Kwantung Army officers Daisaku Kawamoto and Kenji Doihara with the permission of the commander, Lt. Gen. Teraoka. The action itself was carried out by members of the 2nd Engineer Company of the 20th Infantry Division of the Chosen Army under the command of Maj. Hirosaki. This was the end of cooperation with the former leader of the Honghuzi bandits, which had lasted since the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, when, according to Japanese demands, Zhang attacked the Russian rear and hospitals with his bands. In return for this activity, the Japanese provided him with ample financial resources, but primarily with weapons and ammunition. Later, they quickly supplied him with their advisors and ideologues, who supported his ambitions to become the supreme Chinese ruler. Zhang gave full authority to his Japanese advisors, who molded the bandits into a 100,000-strong army with relatively good equipment and military discipline. Under these conditions, Zhang quickly became the ruler of Manchuria and northern China. His self-conceit led him to the idea of occupying Beijing with his army, from which he hoped to gain control over all of China. However, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang army shattered these dreams in 1927, and Zhang was saved only by retreating under the protection of the Japanese. After that, however, he issued his nationalist proclamation and became inconvenient for the Japanese, so they decided to get rid of him. Zhang's death caused great outrage in China and a boycott of Japanese goods. Tokyo ordered an investigation, which ended inconclusively. Doihara was transferred, Kawamoto was discharged into civilian life at his own request, and Teraoka was retired. Tanaka, as Prime Minister, was forced to resign because the Emperor expressed distrust and displeasure with his actions. In 1930, Gen. Jiro Minami became the Minister of War. He had the trust and support of both political factions operating within the army. This allowed the Kwantung Army to implement its plan to occupy Manchuria, from which a military state fully subordinated to the Kwantung Army would gradually be created. The group that worked intensively on the preparations was headed by a very capable military theorist, Maj. Gen. Akira Muto. He was supported by a group of high-ranking officers who advocated the view that the constantly growing strength of the Red Army would make it difficult or even impossible for Japan to conquer Siberia and the Soviet Primorye, where there were extensive raw material resources that Japan needed. Gradually, officers of the ideological center joined this group of so-called younger officers following the Imperial Way, and lastly, the Kuhara and Ayukawa industrial conglomerates, which had extensive investments in Manchuria, also joined the group. Thus, the group gained important financial backing, and the plan to occupy Manchuria was approved. All that remained was to find a pretext for this invasion. For this, the Kwantung Army had a number of specialists from the ranks of intelligence officers. The most suitable one was Kenji Doihara, who thus became one of the main creators of the State ofManchukuoand the installation of EmperorPuyi. Despite the maximum secrecy of the preparations, the movements of Japanese troops aroused the suspicion of the Chinese command, so they turned to the Japanese consul in Manchuria with a request for an explanation. He investigated the matter personally and also informed his superior, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The latter personally visited the Minister of War regarding the matter, where he was promised that the issue would be investigated. He left reassured, and the Kwantung Army was warned of the real danger of intervention by government diplomats. Manchurian OperationOn September 18, 1931, at ten o'clock in the evening, an explosion under the wheels of an express train entering the Manchurian capital of Mukden unleashed a new conflict. Amidst the night noises, none of the local Chinese commanders paid attention to the small explosion, as they believed it was related to the frequent clashes between Japanese units and Honghuzi bandits. The express train arrived at the Mukden railway station. Most of the passengers had no idea what had happened on the tracks. Only a few witnesses swore that Chinese bandits had attacked the train. No one was bothered by the fact that there was not a single scratch on the train. The explosive charge must have detonated only after the express had passed the spot where it was planted. Shortly thereafter, a junior commander of a Japanese patrol reported to his superiors that his unit had experienced a bomb attack and had even been fired upon with infantry weapons. Meanwhile, a freight train quietly approached the barracks of the 7th Infantry Brigade, under the command of General Wang Yizhe. The Chinese guards paid no attention to it; in front of the barracks, the doors of the freight cars opened, revealing the barrels of Japanese cannons and machine guns aimed at the barracks. Four salvos from point-blank range and bursts of machine-gun fire followed, and then, with a cry of Banzai, the Japanese infantry launched an attack. Five hundred Japanese soldiers destroyed the core of the 10,000-strong Chinese garrison, whose commander narrowly escaped capture by chance. He arrived at the headquarters of the Governor of the Northern Provinces, Marshal Zhang Xueliang, disguised as a coolie on a requisitioned hay wagon several days later, without being able to give an acceptable report on the situation. Confusion also prevailed on the Japanese side. At a quarter to twelve, the Mukden Special Services Agency received information about the conflict. Instead of notifying Tokyo about the situation, they sent a statement to the local consulate that the Chinese side had unexpectedly attacked Japanese units deployed along the railway line, and the Kanto Gun reserved the right to take countermeasures; then they referred them to the army command. A consular official arrived for a personal meeting, but no one from the command could be found, and when he insisted on an amicable resolution of the conflict, he was thrown out the door. Bickering at the ministerial level between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and War ensued, but even the Prime Minister could not stop the army, so he ultimately capitulated, and on September 23, the cabinet voted for financial support for the Manchurian operation, thereby de facto approving the operation. The city police also succumbed to the attack in Mukden, and in the morning hours, the airfield fell as well, and the entire city thus fell into the hands of the Japanese. On September 18, the cities of Changchun, Siping, and Gongzhuling also fell into Japanese hands. By the evening of September 19, 1931, Japanese units had eliminated the garrisons of Zhang's army in Andong, Yingkou, and other cities. The commanding general of the Kanto Gun was an experienced soldier. He clearly realized that feelings of self-satisfaction lead to hasty conclusions, an overestimation of one's own capabilities, and thus a distorted assessment of the military situation. Selected detachments carried out the action without air support in an unusually short time only thanks to the indecisiveness of the Chinese command, which did not muster the slightest resistance, despite having considerable means for defense. Moreover, the operation was carried out only on a local scale with limited forces. Under these circumstances, the Kanto Gun could not even consider a successful defense of the seized territory, let alone consolidating conditions in the occupied territories according to their own ideas. The Chinese had an overwhelming superiority in the number of ground troops. A mass of 330,000 men could have thrown the handful of Japanese back in a single decisive moment. A defeat of the expansionist policy right at the beginning would certainly not have benefited the Tokyo radicals, especially when their influence and political position on the domestic front were only just forming. Therefore, General Honjo telephoned the commander of the Japanese armed forces in Korea, Lieutenant General Tetsujiro Hayashi, at half-past one in the morning on September 19, and asked him for support. Above all, he wanted air units. Marshal Zhang Xueliang's corps possessed a diverse mixture of aircraft, often in poor condition and unarmed. Besides a few isolated Dewoitine D 27 C-1 fighters, theBreguet Br. 14 A-2andB-2bombers had the greatest value. The remaining fleet consisted ofHandley Page O/400s, Caudron C 59s (25 units),Potez 25reconnaissance aircraft (25 units), Schreck F. B. A amphibians (12 units), and Junkers K 53 and A 35L (9 units), plus training and transport aircraft. A total of one hundred and forty aircraft of varying quality! Besides Chinese pilots, whose high level of skill could be debated, there were many former White Guards, Frenchmen, Britons, Americans, Germans, and even Greeks in the Northerners' aviation units, who could not be underestimated, as they were mostly veterans of the First World War. Breguet Br. 14 A-2Hayashi asked for time to think, but Honjo did not have to wait long, and before noon the command of the 6th Hiko Daitai based in Pyongyang received an order to detach one fighter Chutai withNakajima Type Ko 4(Nieuport 29 C-1) aircraft and one Chutai ofKawasaki Type Otsu 1(Salmson 2 A-2) reconnaissance aircraft to assist the attacking units. Two reconnaissance machines carried out the first operational flight of the campaign that same day. Nakajima Ko-4While Kanto Gun detachments occupied one city after another, Lt. Gen. Hayashi patiently waited for instructions from above, but his staff was not idle and prepared operational plans for all units in advance. The orders arrived on September 21, 1931, and shortly thereafter, in the morning hours, the 39th Infantry Brigade of the Chosen Army became the first to cross the Manchurian-Korean border, occupied the city of Jilin, and then continued combat operations along the southern border of Manchuria. Other units followed immediately. On October 8, Qiqihar fell; the only place where the Chinese 1st Division stood up to resist the Japanese was the ford across the Nonni River. Over the course of three days of very heavy fighting, the Chinese division was completely destroyed, but not before causing significant losses to the Japanese. They suffered 1,200 dead and wounded, which was nearly ten percent of their combat strength. With this victory, the path to the interior of Manchuria opened for the Japanese. Standing in their way were only the demoralized and half-scattered units of Zhang's army, which once again turned into bands of plundering Honghuzi murdering anyone who stood in their way. Thus, the Kwantung Army became a "liberator" army freeing the people from robbers. In October, upon further request, the 6th Hiko Daitai released a reinforcement in the form of one Chutai equipped with modernKawasaki Type 88reconnaissance aircraft. The army aviation did not encounter organized resistance in Manchuria. The Chinese pilots fled at the very first shots. Not only did they not attempt combat missions, but they even forgot to evacuate their machines to safety. They allowed them to fall into the hands of the enemy without the slightest damage. At Mukden's eastern Dongta airfield, the Japanese found severalDe Havilland DH 60 Mothreconnaissance aircraft and ten French-made Potez 25 light bombers, which they immediately put to their own use. At this stage of the conflict, the army aviation proceeded in close coordination with ground troops. It primarily focused on tactical operational activities – reconnaissance, disrupting enemy communication hubs, and strafing those retreating Chinese columns that maintained their organization and, according to Chiang Kai-shek's orders, were retreating south into the central regions of China. The Japanese dominated the skies primarily due to the total passivity of the opponent. The few retaliatory actions attempted by European crews hired on the Breguets were not worth mentioning compared to the activities of the Japanese. Air combat did not occur, and only rarely did Japanese pilots encounter isolated pockets of ground resistance. They then dealt with these very easily. Nevertheless, the Kanto Gun command concluded that the existing three Chutais did not provide a guarantee for the successful completion of the operation and requested additional aviation units. A new outflow of aircraft from the 6th Hiko Daitai was out of the question if the forces stationed in Korea were not to be weakened. The Rikugun Koku Hombu therefore tapped into the reserves deployed on the home islands. In November and December, one reconnaissance Chutai with Kawasaki Type 88 aircraft belonging to the 4th Hiko Daitai and two bomber Chutais with Kawasaki Type 87 heavy bombers (Dornier Do. N) andMitsubishi Type 87light bombers from the 7th Hiko Daitai arrived in Mukden. The Manchurian sky then completely belonged to the Japanese. The Chinese air forces in this region practically ceased to exist in February 1932. At the airfield in Tianjin, only three airworthy machines remained at that time, and their crews had fled. Mitsubishi 2MB1The numerical increase of the Japanese aviation in Manchuria forced certain organizational changes at the beginning of 1932, which culminated in the establishment of a new regional headquarters, the so-called Kanto Hikotai. This created optimal conditions for the establishment of three aviation regiments, Hiko Daitai, renamed Hiko Rentai in 1933:10th Hiko Daitai – three reconnaissance Chutais with Kawasaki Type 8811th Hiko Daitai – four fighter Chutais withNakajima Type 9112th Hiko Daitai – one heavy bomber Chutai with Kawasaki Type 87 and one light bomber Chutai with Mitsubishi Type 87The actions of the army aviation had a purely tactical character in the Manchurian campaign. The concept of conducting aerial combat by aviation units was based on the lessons of the First World War. Aircraft were assigned the role of the striking fist of the ground troops, clearing the area immediately in front of the advancing infantry. The structure of the air forces was subordinated to the needs of the ground units. Pilots conducted tactical reconnaissance over the battlefield or in its immediate vicinity, directed artillery fire, destroyed enemy trenches and fortifications on the front line, and provided courier service or the transport of senior staff officers. On the ground front, on December 5, 1931, two infantry regiments of the 20th Infantry Brigade and the entire 18th Infantry Brigade, as parts of the 8th Infantry Division, along with the 1st Cavalry Brigade from Tokyo, which was in Korea for exercises, entered Manchuria. This increased the strength of the Kwantung Army to 50,000 men with eighty tanks. This was already a sufficient force, which on January 2, 1932, captured the last Chinese stronghold in Manchuria, the city of Jinzhou. Thus, Manchuria fell into Japanese hands, and the Kwantung Army only had to eliminate isolated Chinese fighting squads and larger bands of Honghuzi. The final period to the three-month Manchurian combat was the capture of Harbin, which took place on February 5, 1932. Japan thus acquired a territory of one million square kilometers (approx. 386,000 square miles), with over 30 million inhabitants. Manchuria also brought Japanese industry over 37% of China's iron ore reserves, extensive and relatively modern metallurgical plants supplying Chinese industry with 40% of its produced pig iron and steel, vast coal basins, and several massive steam power plants producing 25% of China's electrical energy. Another significant aspect was extensive agricultural production. The price for this was the beginning of diplomatic isolation and the discussion of sanctions at the League of Nations. To prevent possible intervention by the League of Nations, which could dramatically complicate the situation, the creation of a puppet state entity – the Empire of Manchukuo, headed by Emperor Puyi – was accelerated. The army of the new state consisted of 80,000 Japanese with appropriate equipment, but in different uniforms. The ceremonial proclamation of the empire took place in the capital city of Xinjing on March 1, 1932. It was recognized only by the Axis powers, including Slovakia. However, this did not prevent the dispatch of an international commission. Its conclusions at the session on September 2, 1932, were that this was not an independent state entity, but a Japanese colony ruled by the Kwantung Army, and they recommended not recognizing it. These conclusions infuriated the Japanese leadership to such an extent that it initiated steps leading to Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations. While the diplomats negotiated, the Kwantung Army waged war. At the beginning of July 1932, under the pretext that a Japanese officer had been kidnapped near the city of Beipiao, the 8th Infantry Division attacked the province of Rehe (Jehol). This was the last Manchurian province that the Japanese had not yet occupied. The Chinese army only managed to stop the rapid advance of the Japanese units at the city of Songfeng. Here, after two days of fighting, the front stabilized. To avoid diplomatic negotiations, which would certainly have turned out unfavorably for Japan, the Kwantung Army staged an explosion near the city of Shanhaiguan, which it used as a pretext to occupy the city. Thereafter, the units of Manchukuo and the Kwantung Army quickly occupied the rest of the province. However, the primary task of the Kwantung Army command was to evaluate the Soviet offensive that eliminated the Chinese-White Guard Mukden Army. The defeat of this army was so crushing that it took the breath away from Japanese military experts. Above all, they were surprised by the amount of combat equipment deployed, particularly artillery and aircraft. For the Japanese command, this resulted in the necessity to reinforce units with larger caliber artillery, increase the numbers of machine guns, mortars, and bomber aircraft. The engineer detachments of the Kanto Gun launched a massive construction of military facilities, fortified zones, bases, and airfields right in the immediate vicinity of the borders with China and the USSR. Another component that received attention was the founding of the Concordia Association (Kyowakai), in Mongolian Xiehehui. Its main goal was to elevate the cultural and moral level of the population and to cultivate in it respect and loyalty to the Japanese Emperor. Thanks to intensive care, the activities of this organization grew, so that it was eventually able to create its own combat unit, the Seppodan, helping to spread its ideas. Furthermore, there were detachments of former White Guards, headed by Ataman Semyonov living in Manchuria. A strike detachment named Asano was formed from young White Guards, having several strike groups that, in the event of combat operations, were to advance ahead of Japanese units and facilitate their path with their diversionary actions. To ensure police tasks, the 203rd Independent Police Battalion was formed under the command of Col. Yamamoto, whose main task was the elimination of Red Commissars and other representatives of Soviet power – it was composed of White Guards who mortally hated the Soviet regime. The Kwantung Army began preparing for a fight with the USSR very thoroughly. In May, a Soviet delegation visited Manchukuo and offered to sell the Soviet share of the Chinese Eastern Railway for a sum of 250 million gold rubles. However, Manchukuo could only offer 50 million gold rubles, so the negotiations ended in a deadlock. Since most members of the delegation were military specialists who reported appropriately on their trip – Soviet measures preparing for war soon became apparent in the construction boom on the other side of the border. Sources:Josef Novotný, Kantó Gun (History of the Kwantung Army)Henry Sakaida, Aces of the Rising Sun 1937-1945Robert B. Edgerton, Warriors of the Rising SunLubomír Vejřík, Rise and Fall of the Eagles of Nippon 1931-1941