The Skies of China (Part 3): Escalation on the Northern Front (1933–1937)
Japan utilized the period of instability following the Tanggu Truce to reorganize its army aviation and pursue further territorial expansion. The outbreak of full-scale war in July 1937 led to extensive aerial clashes on the northern front, where Chinese fighter units were significantly reinforced by Soviet and American aircraft deliveries for the first time.
Events in China up to 1937In 1933, relations between Japan and Manchukuo were established on a new level, and the army embarked on a plan for the development of its air forces. The plan envisioned that within two years the air forces would reach a total strength of 36 Chutais, which was to comprise 14 fighter, 12 reconnaissance, 6 light bomber, and 4 heavy bomber Chutais. In 1935, however, the program was changed in connection with the preparation of operations against central China. The required total strength thus increased to 53 Chutais divided into 16 Hiko Rentais. The nearly twofold increase in forces led to a change in the organizational structure of the army aviation. The most significant of these was the release from subordination to the ground army divisions and the establishment of the Koku Heidan (Air Corps Command) branch and the organizational structure of the Hikodan aviation division. The exception was the air command of theKanto Gun, still consisting of joint aviation regiments grouped under the Dokuritsu Hiko Shudan (Independent Air Corps). The new organizational structure (seetable) of the army aviation and new modern aircraft in the ranks of both the army and the navy, along with the incorporated lessons learned from the previous battles forManchuriaandShanghai, gave the Japanese air force a new and more devastating striking power. Chiang Kai-shek's army had also grown to thirty well-equipped and German-trained divisions, and the communist forces in the north were gaining strength. The Chinese command was of poor quality, and Chiang Kai-shek's tactic was rather to conserve forces for the upcoming clash with the communists, so he preferred to avoid skirmishes with the Japanese. Roughly around the time when the General Assembly of the League of Nations approved the final report of the commission investigating the Manchurian occupation, the Kwantung Army went on the march again. On February 21, 1933, the attack on Jehol province began. The Kwantung Army struck the borders of the territory that had served as the last refuge for the remnants of Marshal Zhang Xueliang's troops. Within ten days of armed action, all strategically important points fell into Japanese hands, not excluding the provincial capital of Tongliao. During the spring months, the pacification of the local population took place and military installations were built, while diplomats prepared a new "autonomous regime". On May 31, 1933, Chiang Kai-shek signed the humiliating peace terms dictated by General Okamura. With this act, he relinquished claims to the entire Jehol region and agreed to the declaration of a demilitarized zone south of the Great Wall, on the line connecting the cities of Shanhaiguan, Beijing, and Tianjin, forming the border zone of Hebei province. The signing of the so-called Tanggu Truce brought the Chinese territory a four-year period of dangerous peace with the Japanese. While the communists and Kuomintang settled scores in China, the Japanese worked feverishly on preparations. The interest of staff officers was drawn to Inner Mongolia, consisting of the Chahar, Hebei, Suiyuan, and Ningxia regions, and the strategically important point of Kalgan. If they could gain control of the entire area, and the terms from Tanggu directly encouraged such a course of action, then they would achieve the main goal of the Kwantung Army command, namely the construction of a cordon sanitaire along the borders with the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. To fulfill this plan, the Japanese utilized all available means, starting with provocations and ending with forgotten political documents. Penetration into the demilitarized zone was enabled by dusted-off materials of the so-called Boxer Protocol from 1901, which allowed the Japanese to station military garrisons in certain selected cities, some of which lay in the area of interest. Political intrigues to support "autonomous movements" sparked an uprising by the pro-Japanese Mongolian Prince De Wang in Chahar province, which culminated in 1936 with the ceremonial proclamation of the "Military Government of Mongolia". Japanese pressure on the Kuomintang to cede all territory of northern China steadily escalated from 1935 onwards. Along with armed interventions, extensive campaigns of economic sabotage came into play. Smuggled cheap goods flooded the markets of northern Chinese cities, agents carried out systematic confiscations of silver, and the Japanese concession in Tianjin controlled the production and distribution of narcotics and opium. And the Chinese retreated and succumbed to Japanese pressure. Chiang Kai-shek dispersed anti-Japanese demonstrations and soon recognized the Hebei Autonomous Government and the Chahar Autonomous Council, and even agreed to the establishment of a "special regime area in northern China". The domestic political scene inside Japan was also changing, where assassinations of more moderate or opposition political leaders or representatives of influential political-economic circles became commonplace, committed with the tolerance of the police. Various conspiracies by secret organizations were the order of the day, and the influence of the "Imperial Way" faction continued to rise. The birth of a more serious coup attempt on May 15, 1932, involved Yamamoto's followers from the Kasumigaura naval aviation academy. Fortunately, the plot's execution played out like a bad farce. After a series of downright ridiculous actions, during which the putschists attacked with unloaded weapons, went through embarrassing explanations to the victims as to why they had to be killed, and ended with the assassins leaving the crime scene in taxis, the operation collapsed. The actors ended up in a cushy prison, and the instigators obtained lucrative sinecures. The violence continued unabated. In the following months, gunshots ended the lives of several politicians; others abdicated themselves in fear of death. The young officers' mutiny of February 26, 1936, had much more serious consequences. Supported by troops, the mutineers marched into the streets of Tokyo, surrounded strategic buildings, and death squads wreaked havoc in the private residences of old generals, admirals, and high government officials. Firefights broke out in the city between the rebels and units sent to restore order. Barricades went up on the approaches to the Imperial Palace. Street fighting lasted for three days, during which aircraft dropped leaflets promising a general pardon to the rank-and-file soldiers if they laid down their arms immediately. By Friday, February 28, it was clear that the coup attempt had failed. This time, despite all pleas, the Emperor signed 18 death warrants. As a result of the February rebellion, unprecedented purges occurred in the army's command corps, and 2,000 out of 8,000 officers were discharged into the reserves. The idea of the Imperial Way nevertheless triumphed, as it triggered the mechanism of the Japanese war machine. The instrument of the anti-Soviet campaign was the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact in November 1936. Open attacks directed at the USSR did not cease and eventually conflicted with the interests of the Empire. The Konoe cabinet accused the "Northerners" of the Kanto Gun of sabotaging the August theses and recommended that they carefully study the passages regulating relations with China. "Given the current state of Japanese-Soviet relations, basic attention must be paid during the implementation of the northern policy to ensuring that northern China is rapidly transformed into an anti-communist and pro-Japanese-Manchurian zone, and also that all of China becomes anti-Soviet and pro-Japanese. "The Initial Phase of the 1937 ConflictThe new conflict flared up on July 7, 1937, when a clash occurred on the outskirts of Beiping at the Lugouqiao bridge (Marco Polo Bridge), 20 kilometers (12. 4 miles) from Beijing. For unknown reasons, during the Star Festival, nighttime shots were fired at a Japanese patrol operating there under the Boxer Protocol. The detachment commander concluded that Chinese communists had attacked the soldiers. Upon inquiring about the extent of casualties, he received the reply that one man was missing. This finding was enough for the officer to storm the fortified positions of the Kuomintang in retaliation. Thus, a small handful of armed men pulled down the avalanche of the Kanto Gun, and a local skirmish escalated into a conflict of immense proportions, which, at the cost of millions of dead, was ended by the glare of atomic explosions eight years later. The Japanese army aviation commenced operational activities in the first hours of the conflict and systematically proceeded according to a pre-prepared concept, the main points of which were the total elimination of the enemy air weapon, the disruption of the communication system, and the crippling of the maneuvering capabilities of the opposing troops, subsequently causing chaos in the rear areas. On July 11, the army aviation concentrated the following units in Tianjin:12th Hiko Rentai (2 heavy bomber Chutais withMitsubishi Ki-1 Type 93)15th Hiko Rentai (2 reconnaissance Chutais withNakajima Ki-4 Type 94)16th Hiko Rentai (2 fighter Chutais withKawasaki Ki-10 Type 95)Nakajima Ki-4 Type 94It did not take long, and another 23 Chutais were released from the home islands, Formosa, and Korea. The arrival of reinforcements forced a new organizational arrangement, and the aviation units here formed the Independent Air Corps, China Area Command (Shina Dokuritsu Hiko Shudan) consisting of: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 14th Hiko Rentais. A total of 200 modern machines with trained crews. The main activities were in executing tactical frontline tasks, reconnaissance, and liaison activities as requested by the ground troops. Losses in the initial phase of the campaign remained at a negligible level, mainly due to the minimal resistance of the Kuomintang pilots, who focused primarily on the defense of the cities between Shanghai and Nanking. After the first battles in 1932, the Central Nanking Government's air force was left with broken combat morale and approximately 70 combat aircraft assigned to seven squadron-sized units. The high command remained at the central aviation academy in Hangzhou. Later, the Commission for Aeronautical Affairs in Nanchang took control of all units, only to hand it over to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek shortly afterwards. Following renewed negotiations, a new American mission arrived under the command of Colonel John H. Jouett. The Americans brought with them 38 Vought V-65C dive bomber biplanes. A generous training program aimed at rebuilding the military air force was restarted, the core of which was formed by the elite academics from Hangzhou and veterans of the CNAC transport airline. In 1933, theCurtiss-Wright Corporationdelivered fiftyCurtiss Hawk IIfighter biplanes. And in collaboration withDouglasandUnited Vought, it built a joint factory with an annual capacity of sixty machines under the name CAMCO. By the time of the events at the Marco Polo Bridge, it had managed to assemble 71Curtiss Hawk IIIfighters. The aircraft fleet was enriched by the purchase of twenty Fiat Br. 3 bombers and the licensed production ofFiat CR. 30andCR. 32fighters, Breda Ba 27s,Caproni Ca 311, andSavoia Marchetti SM 72bombers. The aircraft collection was rounded out by a smaller number of Breda Ba 25 trainers. Along with this arrived the mission of General Lordi. In 1936, Madame Chiang Kai-shek offered the lucrative position of chief aviation advisor to MajorClaire Lee Chennault, an internationally recognized aerobatic pilot. Caproni Ca 311Chennault arrived in Shanghai in May 1937 and immediately set to work. With the rank of a Chinese colonel, he inspected all Kuomintang air bases and familiarized himself with the production capacity of CAMCO and the complex in Nanchang. The colonel utilized his popularity and contacts with representatives of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, forcing Washington into the sale of the latest Vultee V. 11 attack aircraft, Martin 139W bombers,P-26Afighters, Douglas O-38 reconnaissance aircraft, and Fleet 5 trainers. He then focused on building a functioning defense system for important political-economic centers and strong units of attack bombers for counter-strikes. His presence attracted other American aviation volunteers, who later formed the core of the 14th Fighter Squadron, the "Flying Tigers". Chennault created an air defense methodology against bombers, consisting of a staggered deployment of fighters at several flight levels on the approaches to strategically important targets, and he personally participated in the initial military operations with his private machine to practically verify the effectiveness of the aforementioned tactics. Just before the Kwantung Army's penetration into Chahar province, the Kuomintang's diverse fleet was enriched by ten GermanHeinkel He 111 A-0bombers, thirty-six BritishGloster Gladiator Mk Ifighters, and Vespa VI reconnaissance bombers. In June 1936, the previously rebellious military regimes of the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces submitted to the Nanking government, employing about a hundred aircraft of varying quality, starting with theWestland Wapitiand moving through theAvro 621and 626 up to theAirspeed Envoytrainers. On August 21, 1937, a non-aggression pact was signed for a period of five years between China and the USSR, which was followed by the signing of two trade agreements. The first of these allowed the purchase on credit of 297 aircraft, 82 tanks, 425 guns, 1,825 machine guns, 400 cars, 360,000 artillery shells, 10 million rifle cartridges, and other auxiliary military equipment. The second agreement brought 180 aircraft, 300 guns, 1,500 light and 500 heavy machine guns, 300 trucks, aircraft engines, spare parts, ammunition, and medical supplies. With the material arrived the first group of military advisors and 3,665 military volunteers. An aviation school was established under Soviet patronage in Yining, Xinjiang province, which trained a number of Chinese pilots capable of defying the Japanese superiority. From November 1937, Soviet crews also joined the fighting. They flew alongside newly trained pilots inI-15bisandI-16Polikarpov fighters andTupolev SB-2andSB-2 bisbombers. In the first period of the conflict, they inflicted significant losses on the Japanese aviation, river navigation, and ground troops, but with the arrival of modern Japanese designs, they began to shift to the defensive. Simultaneous with the signing of the treaty, a truce occurred in the civil fighting, and the Chinese Red Army was placed under unified command as the 8th Route Army (National Revolutionary Army). Along with it, Chiang Kai-shek gained substantial reinforcement in the form of SovietPolikarpov R-Zreconnaissance bombers. Polikarpov R-ZAt the outbreak of the conflict, the Republic of China had 1. 9 million men in arms, 70 tanks, 1,000 guns of various calibers, 10 cruisers, 15 patrol and torpedo boats, and 650-750 frontline aircraft. State of the Chinese Air Force in July 1937. The onslaught of the Kanto Gun was directed against Beiping, Datong, Baoding, and the railway junction of Shijiazhuang. The defenders hastily evacuated Beiping, and by July 28, the Japanese had already occupied the city. At the same time, the Kwantung Army already held all the railway junctions and was building staging areas for future conquests into the Lake Baikal region, as well as against Outer Mongolia. The Kuomintang divisions retreated to the southwest in haste and without any interest in closer contact with the enemy. The only actions of a limited offensive character were undertaken by the Chinese air force. At dawn on July 29, its bombers attacked the Shina Dokuritsu Hiko Shudan air bases around Tianjin without significant success. The rainy season began in early August. The Hai River broke its banks, and the Tokikyoku airfield, the base of the 2nd Hiko Daitai (later the 5th Hiko Rentai), disappeared underwater. All attempts to stop the flood failed, and therefore the army aviation began evacuating the unit to drier areas. Despite the unfavorable weather, bitter aerial dogfights took place over Shanxi province. The Japanese opponents were machines of Russian origin, but who sat behind the control sticks in the cockpits remains unknown. During a routine patrol flight, the 2nd Hiko Daitai encountered a formation of agile I-15bis aircraft, preceded by their good reputation from the Spanish skies, 180 kilometers (111. 8 miles) southeast of the city of Yuncheng. Pilot Ryotaro Jobo, a participant in the engagement, described the event with these words: "On August 3, 1937, at an altitude of 15,000 feet over the Haruha River, my unit intercepted a group of thirty I-15 and I-16 fighters. One I-16 tried to evade my commander's fire by diving out of the engagement area. As the wingman of the command flight, I followed the descending aircraft. I closed in to effective range and opened fire on the monoplane, which was immediately engulfed in flames. The rest of the enemy aircraft left the area using evasive maneuvers, and the battle ended as suddenly as it had begun. The enemy used simple hit-and-run tactics, making them very difficult for us to engage. Until August 13, we destroyed only four Chinese machines, and even then only in close combat. I quickly realized that success in combat is dictated exclusively by short-range firing. "The following day, the 2nd Hiko Daitai accepted the challenge of seventy-five I-16s. A large number of aircraft engaged in dogfights in a small airspace at an altitude of 5,200 meters (17,060 feet). Japanese and Chinese planes individually left the battlefield to gain the most advantageous position for another attack. Ryotaro Jobo shot down one I-16 and, after becoming the target of two other Chinese fighters, cleared the battlefield upon exhausting his ammunition. The Kwantung Army, with the immediate support of light bomber formations, rapidly penetrated inland. The cities of Zhangjiakou and Taiyuan capitulated, and in many other places, the Chinese retreated so precipitously that they lost contact with the enemy's vanguard units. The army aviation achieved absolute air superiority; nevertheless, the Kuomintang pilots did not surrender, and the dominance was thus bought with considerable losses. In September, the 2nd Hiko Daitai covered ground troops advancing toward Tamasku. Over eighty I-15bis and I-16 fighters stood in resistance. In a concentrated attack, they brought down several bombers that were bombing the defenders' frontline trenches, but then the escorting Kawasaki Ki-10 Type 95s intervened, and the situation reversed. The Japanese fighter pilots claimed seven victories, suffering the loss of two of their own pilots. With autumn approaching, the resistance of the Chinese garrisons weakened, and the Japanese pilots increasingly carried out missions providing direct support to the advancing ground troops. Furthermore, the Chinese expeditionary corps shifted the core of its air operations to the central regions of the country, to the Shanghai-Nanking line. The army relocated a portion of its units against the capital and prepared for a massive bombing offensive initiated by the naval aviation. The pilots of the 2nd Hiko Daitai recorded only three aerial victories during this period, but they certainly did not suffer from a lack of work. On Saturday, September 18, the commander of the 2nd Chutai, Captain Kazue Sato, together with First Lieutenant Hatanaka, conducted several ground-attack strikes against the remnants of the Kuomintang defensive positions in Shanxi province; the captain fell in action after anti-aircraft fire struck his oil cooler. On Tuesday, October 5, a group of Curtiss Shrikes bombed Baoding, the new base of the 2nd Hiko Daitai, just as Lieutenant Sawada's Shotai was making its landing approach. The fighters aborted their approach and engaged the attackers, shooting down one of them. In mid-October, a dense fog blanketed the northern Chinese battlefield, reducing aerial activity to a minimum. It was not until October 25 that a Chinese Vought Corsair attacked an unarmed Japanese courier plane, which was saved at the last moment by a flight of Ki-10 fighters that shot down the attacker. December brought a pause in the combat operations of the army aviation on the northern front. Since August, events had also moved on the front in central China, where, under the patronage of the navy,Shanghaiwas attacked again. Sources:Josef Novotný, Kanto 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 1931-1941Georgy Zakharov, I Am a Fighter Pilot