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Ishii Shiro

Ishii Shiro

Shiro Ishii (石井四郎 Ishii Shirō, June 25, 1892-1959) was the Lieutenant General of Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Sino-Japanese War. He was born in Chiyoda. Although he was considered a selfish and pushy and sometimes disturbed individual, nonethless he excelled at Kyoto Imperial University in the field of medicine assigned to the 1st Army Hospital and Army Medical School in Tokyo in 1922. There his work impressed his superiors enough to gain him post-graduate medical schooling back at the Kyoto Imperial University, two years later. Ishii took a two-year tour of the West starting in 1928. In his travels Ishii did extensive research on the effects of biological warfare and chemical warfare developments from World War I onwards. It was a highly successful mission and helped win him the patronage of Minister of Army Sadao Araki. In 1932 he began his preliminary experiments. In 1936, Unit 731, a biological-warfare unit disguised as a water-purification unit, was formed. Ishii built a huge compound -- more than 150 buildings over six square kilometers -- outside the city of Harbin, China. In 1942, Ishii began field tests of germ warfare and weapons (firearms, bombs etc.) on Chinese soldiers and civilians. Tens of thousands died of bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax and other diseases. His unit also conducted physiological experiments such as live vivisections, abortions and simulated strokes and heart attacks all in the name of science. In 1945, Japanese troops blew up the headquarters of Unit 731 in the final days of the Pacific War. Ishii ordered 150 remaining subjects killed to cover up their experimentation. Between 3,000 and 10,000 test subjects, which Ishii and his peers called "logs," eventually died at the hands of Unit 731. In 1946 the U.S. cover-up of a secret deal with Ishii and Unit 731 leaders -- germ warfare data based on human experimentation would be offered in exchange for immunity from war-crimes prosecution -- began in earnest. The deal was concluded two years later. Shiro, Ishii Shiro, Ishii Ishii, Shiro

External Links


- [http://www.ww2pacific.com/unit731.html Unit 731]. 2001-01-21.
- [http://www.cnd.org/njmassacre/recent-news2.html Germ warfare]. No date. ja:石井四郎

June 25

June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining.

Events


- 841 - Battle of Fontenay
- 1530 - The Augsburg Confession is presented at the Diet of Augsburg to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and Electors of Germany.
- 1788 - Virginia ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 10th state of the United States.
- 1876 - Battle of the Little Big Horn and the death of Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
- 1938 - Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.
- 1945 - Seán T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland.
- 1950 - The beginning of the Korean War.
- 1959 - Eamon de Valera is elected the third President of Ireland.
- 1967 - First global satellite television programme – "Our World"
- 1973 - Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland.
- 1975 - State of Emergency in India declared.
  - Mozambique achieved independence.
- 1982 - Greece abolishes headshaving of the recruits in the military.
- 1983 - India wins the Cricket World Cup.
- 1991 - Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
- 1993 - David Letterman airs his last episode of Late_Night_with_David_Letterman.
  - Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
- 1996 - The Khobar Towers bombing leaves 19 U.S. servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia.
- 1997 - An unmanned Progress spacecraft collided with the Russian Space station, Mir.
- 1998 - Microsoft Windows 98 is released.
  - In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
- 1999 - The American soap opera Another World airs its 8891st and final episode.

Births

1328 to 1899


- 1328 - William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English military leader (d. 1397)
- 1560 - Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (d. 1634)
- 1612 - John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (d. 1634)
- 1715 - Joseph-François Foulon, French politician (d. 1789)
- 1852 - Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect (d. 1926)
- 1858 - Georges Courteline, French dramatist (d. 1929)
- 1864 - Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- 1865 - Robert Henri, American painter (d. 1929)
- 1884 - Henry Kahnweiler, German art promoter (d. 1979)
- 1887 - George Abbott, American playwright, screenwriter, producer, director, and actor (d. 1995)
- 1894 - Hermann Oberth, German physicist (d. 1989)

1900 to 1999


- 1900 - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Viceroy of India (d. 1979)
- 1903 - George Orwell, British writer (d. 1950)
- 1907 - J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1911 - William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- 1912 - William T. Cahill, Governor of New Jersey (d. 1996)
- 1913 - Cyril Fletcher, British comedian (d. 2005)
- 1921 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer
- 1923 - Nicholas Mosley, British writer
- 1924 - Sidney Lumet, American actor and director
- 1925 - June Lockhart, American actress
- 1926 - Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (d. 1973)
- 1928 - Alexei Abrikosov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1929 - Eric Carle, American children's author
- 1930 - Mary Beth Peil, American opera singer and actress
- 1932 - Peter Blake, English artist
- 1933 - James Meredith, American civil rights activist
  - Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect
- 1940 - A.J. Quinnell, English thriller and mystery writer (d. 2005)
- 1945 - Carly Simon, American singer
- 1955 - Terry Chimes, British musician
- 1956 - Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
- 1957 - John Porcerelli, Former Professional Boxer, Preeminent Psychologist and Doctor
- 1963 - George Michael, English singer
  - Yann Martel, Canadian author
- 1966 - Dikembe Mutombo, Congan basketball player
- 1969 - Matt Gallant, U.S. television host
- 1970 - Lucy Benjamin, British actress
  - Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete, Olympian
- 1972 - Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- 1974 - Karisma Kapoor, Indian actress
- 1975 - Linda Cardellini, American actress
  - Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player
  - Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
- 1981 - Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
- 1982 - Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player
- 1983 - Nargis Farahmand, Afghani poet
- 1986 - Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
- 1990 - Sabrina Maria Magdalena Preiner, Austrian princess of Winden

Deaths

1134 to 1899


- 1134 - King Nicholas of Denmark
- 1218 - Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French crusader (b. 1160)
- 1483 - Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English writer
- 1522 - Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer (b. 1451)
- 1533 - Mary Tudor, queen of Louis XII of France (b. 1496)
- 1579 - Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1541)
- 1593 - Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (b. 1541)
- 1634 - John Marston, English playwright (b. 1576)
- 1638 - Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish writer (b. 1602)
- 1665 - Archduke Sigismund Francis of Austria (b. 1630)
- 1669 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (b. 1616)
- 1671 - Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian astronomer (b. 1598)
- 1767 - Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (b. 1681)
- 1798 - Thomas Sandby, English cartographer and architect (b. 1721)
- 1822 - E.T.A. Hoffmann, German writer, composer, and painter (b. 1776)
- 1861 - Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)
- 1868 - Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist (b. 1811)
- 1875 - Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
- 1876 - George Armstrong Custer, U.S. Army officer (killed in battle) (b. 1839)
- 1882 - François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806)
- 1884 - Hans Rott, Austrian composer (b. 1858)

1900 to 1999


- 1916 - Thomas Eakins, American artist (b. 1844)
- 1937 - Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900)
- 1948 - William C. Lee, U.S. general (b. 1895)
- 1960 - Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (b. 1869)
- 1971 - John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)
- 1976 - Johnny Mercer, American songwriter (b. 1909)
- 1983 - Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)
- 1988 - Hillel Slovak, Israeli-born guitarist (b. 1962)
- 1995 - Warren Burger, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1907)
  - Ernest Walton, Irish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1997 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French explorer, scientist, and inventor (b. 1910)

2000 onwards


- 2003 - Lester Maddox, Governor of Georgia (b. 1915)

Holidays and Observances


- Statehood Day in Slovenia and Croatia
- Antichristmas celebrated by some Satanists (see also Midsummer)
- National Catfish Day
- Spain – Fiesta of Santa Orosia
- Mozambique – Independence Day
- Abyssinian Coptic Orthodox Church – Feast of Saint Pontius Pilate

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/25 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 24 - June 26 - May 25 - July 25 – listing of all days ko:6월 25일 ms:25 Jun ja:6月25日 simple:June 25 th:25 มิถุนายน

1892

1892 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar).

Events

January-June


- January 1 - Ellis Island begins accepting immigrants to the United States.
- January 14 - Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Next in line is his younger brother Prince George of Wales.
- January 15 - James Naismith publishes the rules for basketball.
- January 20 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
- February 12 - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national holiday in the United States.
- March 1 - Theodoros Deligiannis ends his term as Prime Minister of Greece and Konstantinos Konstantopoulos takes office
- March 13 - Ernest Louis, a grandson of Queen Victoria becomes Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine on the death of his father, Grand Duke Louis IV.
- March 15 - Liverpool Football Club founded by John Houlding, the owner of Anfield. Houlding decided to form his own team after Everton left Anfield in an argument over rent.
- March 31 - The world's first fingerprinting bureau formally opened by the Buenos Aires Chief of Police; it had been operating unofficially since the previous year.
- April - Johnson County War in Wyoming
- April 15 - The General Electric Company is established through the merger of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company.
- May 7 - The Cook Islands issue their first postage stamps.
- May 19 - British troops defeat Ijebu infantry at the battle of Yemoja river, in modern-day Nigeria, using a maxim gun
- May 22 - British conquest of Ijebu-Ode marks major extension of colonial power into Nigerian interior.
- May 24 - Prince George of Wales becomes Duke of York.
- May 28 - In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
- June 11 - The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.

July-December


- July 4-18 British general election: Unionist government loses its majority.
- July 6 - Dr. Jose Rizal, a Filipino writer, Philosopher, and political activist arrested by Spainish authorities in connection with La Liga Filipina.
- July 6 - Homestead Strike - the arrival of a force of 300 hundred Pinkerton detectives from New York and Chicago resulted in a fight in which about 10 men were killed
- July 12 - A hidden lake bursts out of a glacier on the side of Mont Blanc, flooding the valley below and killing around 200 villagers and holidaymakers in [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Saint Gervais]
- August 4 - The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
- August 9 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
- August 18 - William Ewart Gladstone assumes British premiership at head of Liberal government with Irish Nationalist Party support.
- September 15 - Sergei Witte replaces Ivan Vishnegradksy as Russian finance minister.
- October 5 - Master criminal Adam Worth is captured in Liege, Belgium during an attempted robbery of a money delivery cart.
- October 12 - To mark 400 anniversary Columbus Day holiday, the "Pledge of Allegiance" was first recited in unison by students in US public schools.
- October 31 - Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1892: Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.
- November 8 - Anarchist bomb kills six in police station in Avenue de l'Opera, Paris
- November 17 - French troops occupy Abomey, capital of kingdom of Dahomey.
- December 5 - John Thompson becomes Canada's fourth prime minister.

Unknown dates


- Last open land rush is held in Oklahoma.
- The Stanley Cup is donated by Sir Frederick Arthur.
- Pennsauken is incorporated.
- Rudolf Diesel patents the diesel engine.
- Oil fire rages in Oil City, Pennsylvania: 130 dead.
- Cholera in Hamburg, Germany
- Tortoise called Timothy is brought to the estate of Powderham Castle in England (allegedly alive as of 2001 - at least 148 years old).
- Abu Dhabi becomes a British protectorate.
- The Cadet Band (current day Highty-Tighties) of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanicla College (current day Virginia Tech) is established in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets
- Abercrombie and Fitch, a now popular clothing brand, is established as an outdoor and sporting supply store.

Births

January-March


- January 1 - Artur Rodzinski, Croatian conductor (d. 1958)
- January 3 - J. R. R. Tolkien, South African-born author (d. 1973)
- January 14 - Hal Roach, American film and television producer (d. 1992)
- January 18 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
- January 18 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
- January 28 - Ernst Lubitsch, German-born film director (d. 1947)
- January 31 - Eddie Cantor, American actor, singer (d. 1964)
- February 6 - William Parry Murphy, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1987)
- February 13 - Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)
- February 15 - James Forrestal, first United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1949)
- February 18 - Wendell Wilkie, U.S. Presidential candidate (d. 1944)
- February 22 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, American writer (d. 1950)
- February 27 - William Demarest, American actor (d. 1983)
- March 10 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (d. 1955)
- March 10 - Gregory La Cava, American director, producer, and writer (d. 1952)
- March 28 - Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- March 30 - Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (d. 1945)

April-September


- April 6 - Donald Wills Douglas, American industrialist (d. 1981)
- April 6 - Lowell Thomas, American journalist (d. 1981)
- April 8 - Mary Pickford, American actress and studio founder (d. 1979)
- April 12 - Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinettist (d. 1940)
- April 19 - Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (d. 1983)
- May 2 - Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), German figher pilot (d. 1918)
- May 3 - George Paget Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- May 7 - Archibald MacLeish, American poet (d. 1982)
- May 7 - Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
- May 9 - Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)
- May 11 - Margaret Rutherford, English actress (d. 1972)
- May 12 - Fritz Kortner, Austrian-born director (d. 1970)
- May 18 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (d. 1957)
- May 31 - Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (d. 1968)
- June 21 - Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologist (d. 1971)
- June 26 - Pearl S. Buck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- July 8 - Richard Aldington, English poet (d. 1962)
- July 12 - Bruno Schulz, Polish writer and painter (d. 1942)
- July 23 - Haile Selassie I, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1975)
- July 26 - Sad Sam Jones, baseball player (d. 1966)
- August 2 - Jack Warner, Canadian film producer (d. 1978)
- August 8 - Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Spanish footballer (d. 1922)
- August 15 - Louis, 7th duc de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- September 4 - Darius Milhaud, French composer (d. 1974)
- September 5 - Joseph Szigeti, Hungarian violinist (d. 1973)
- September 6 - Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- September 10 - Arthur Compton, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)
- September 12 - Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher (d. 1984)

October-December


- October 9 - Ivo Andrić, Serbo-Croatian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d.1975)
- October 9 - Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (d. 1941)
- October 23 - Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
- October 28 - Dink Johnson, American jazz musician (d. 1954)
- October 31 - Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess champion (d. 1946)
- November 5 - J. B. S. Haldane, British geneticist (d. 1964)
- November 12 - Guo Moruo, Chinese author,poet (d. 1978)
- December 2 - Leo Ornstein, Russian-born composer and pianist (d. 2002)
- December 4 - Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator (d. 1975)
- December 6 - Osbert Sitwell, English writer (d. 1969)
- December 8 - Bert Hinkler, Australian pioneer aviator (d. 1933)
- December 12 - Herman Potočnik Noordung, Slovenian rocket engineer (d. 1929)

Deaths


- January 14 - Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line for the throne of the United Kingdom (b. 1864)
- January 21 - John Couch Adams, English astronomer (b. 1819)
- January 31 - Charles Spurgeon, English preacher (b. 1834)
- March 13 - Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
- March 26 - Walt Whitman, American poet (b. 1819)
- April 22 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (b. 1823)
- April 25 - William Backhouse Astor, Jr., American businessman (b. 1830)
- April 26 - Sir Provo William Perry Wallis, British admiral and naval hero
- May 29 - Bahá'u'lláh, Persian founder of the Bahá'í Faith (b. 1817)
- June 9 - William Stairs, Canadian explorer (b. 1863)
- October 12 - Ernest Renan, French philologist and historian (b. 1823)
- October 23 - Emin Pasha, German doctor and Governor of Equatoria (b. 1840)
- December 2 - Jay Gould, American financier (b. 1836)
- December 6 - Werner von Siemens, German inventor and industrialist (b. 1816)

Marriages


- January 10 - John C. Porter & Mattie Lee
- January 19 - Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu & Dagmar Therese Louise Lerche
- April 27 - Elinor Glyn & Clayton Glyn
- May 2 - Gustaf Mannerheim & Anastasia Mannerheim
- June 10 - Jean Sibelius & Aino Sibelius
- July 16 - Claude Monet & Alice Hoschedé
- September 8 - Minna Gale & Archibald Cushman Haynes
- November 6 - Joseph Stringer & Lucy Ann MacKinnon
- November 8 - Cy Young & Robba Miller
- December 2 - Grace Lutz & Rev. T. G. F. Hill Category:1892 ko:1892년 ms:1892 simple:1892 th:พ.ศ. 2435

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in almost every country in the world. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, normally subordinate to a Captain General. In most nations, a Lieutenant General ranks immediately below a General and above a Major General. The oddity in precedence, where a Lieutenant General outranks a Major General whereas a Major would normally outrank a Lieutenant, is caused by the rank of Major General previously having been known as Sergeant Major General, which was in turn was subordinate to Lieutenant General.

France

The equivalent in the French Army and French Air Force is Général de corps d'armée ("general of army corps"), who wears four stars.

Germany

The Bundeswehr refers to the rank as Generalleutnant. Before 1950, when Germany introduced the rank of Brigadegeneral, however, Generalleutnant was considered to be more equivalent to Major General and General to Lieutenant General.

Israel

In the Israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant General (Rav Aluf) is the highest rank, and is therefore sometimes considered equivalent to a full General.

Korea

Israel Defense Forces The rank of Lieutenant General is known in South Korea as Chungjang. The rank is also held by Korean Vice Admirals and uses three stars as its badge of rank, much like the United States version. In North Korea, a Lieutenant General is known as a Jungjang and outranks a Sojang. Although translatable as "Lieutenant General", a North Korean Jungjang is actually more of a Major General, since North Korea does not maintain a rank of Brigadier General. The real equivalent to Lieutenant General is Sangjang, translated as Colonel General.

United Kingdom

In the British Army and Royal Marines, a Lieutenant-General wears a crown over a crossed sword and baton. A Lieutenant-General is equivalent to a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy. Its equivalent rank in the Royal Air Force and air forces of many Commonwealth countries is Air Marshal.

Canada

Air Marshal In the Canadian Armed Forces, a Lieutenant General is either an officer of the Army or the Air Force. The officer wears three maple leaves on his shoulders, surmounted by a baton and the sword, surmounted by the St-Edward's Crown. A LGen is equivalent to the Canadian Naval rank of Vice Admiral.

United States

Vice Admiral In three branches of the United States Army, United States Marine Corps and United States Air Force, a Lieutenant General is also called a three-star general, named for the three stars worn on the uniform. For most of the first half of the 19th Century this rank, like that of full General, existed only on paper. Until the American Civil War, only one officer was ever promoted to this rank, Winfield Scott, an honorary, or brevet, promotion in 1855. George Washington was listed as a Lieutenant General on the Continental Army rolls after his death since he wore three stars, but his actual military title was General and Commander In Chief. The first full promotion to Lieutenant General did not take place until Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to that rank and elevated to Commanding General of the United States Army in 1864. An Army or Marine Corps Lieutenant General typically commands a corps-sized unit (20,000 to 45,000 soldiers).

See also


- Comparative military ranks Category:Military ranks ja:中将

Imperial Japanese Army

The Imperial Japanese Army (大日本帝國陸軍 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun) was the official armed force of Japan from 1867 to 1945. It was controlled from the Imperial General Headquarters and the Ministry of War of Japan.

History

The Imperial Japanese Army was created to replace the traditional Japanese samurai with a modern European-style conscript army during the chain of events, known as Meiji Restoration, that led to the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate (bakufu) and the restoring of Imperial rule in Japan. It was originally known simply as the Army (rikugun) but after 1928, as part of the Army's turn toward romantic nationalisim (and also in the service of its political ambitions) it retitled itself the Imperial Army (kōgun). Tokugawa Shogunate The Imperial Japanese Army was initially developed with the assistance of American (post Civil War), then French and finally by German advisors (post Franco-Prussian War); eventually it had grown to become the most modern army in Asia, well-trained, well equipped and high in morale. However, it was at times relatively deficient in artillery, tanks and other armoured vehicles when compared with its European contemporaries. Since Japan had no independent air force, the Imperial Japanese Army also developed a potent air arm, the Army Air Service equipped with modern locally-built aircraft with the primary mission of tactically supporting the ground operations. The Imperial Japanese Army saw combat during the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the occupation of Formosa in 1895 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1905; during the occupation of Korea in 1910; at the seizing of the German territory at Qingdao during World War I; at the occupation of Manchukuo in 1931; and throughout the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). From December 1941 the Imperial Japanese Army served as the main instrument in the Japanese Empire's aggressive expansion across East Asia during World War II. It was finally dissolved in September 1945 by the Allied forces, and later replaced by Japan Self-Defense Forces. Throughout the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II the Imperial Japanese Army had gained a reputation both for its fanaticism and for its brutality against POWs and civilians alike. After Japan surrendered in the summer of 1945 many Imperial Japanese Army officers and enlisted men were tried and punished for committing numerous atrocities and war crimes.

Ideology

Japanese nationalism meant that the military was built around a concept of the time period: a Rich Country has a Strong Military. Japan as a land was sacred, and its people were special due a combination of Zen and other forms of Japanese Buddhism with Shinto. Service in the Japanese military was seen as service to the Emperor. Each soldier in theory believed it was a great honor to die for the Emperor as the samurai concept "to serve" was deeply ingrained in all the soldiers culture. The concept of Yamato Damashi gave each soldier the concept, no capture, never break down, never surrender. To be a coward, or captured was a disgrace to the family, to the community and to the country. Each soldier was brought up to fight to the death and was expected to die before dishonor. Often imperial soldiers would shout "Banzai" before they fight or charge, so they would die with honor. This unique code forbid each soldier from ever becoming a prisoner of war or P.O.W. captive. Every soldier accepted this as part of their bushido code, death before dishonor. Sadao Araki, Army theorist, also devised the contemporary adaptation to bushido code in for of Seishin Kyoiku (spiritual training) doctrine for the army indoctrination and operative training. Each soldier culturally leaves everything at nothing, need nothing but honor. Name, and face meaning everything to these soldiers. Thus Yamato Damashi is an old Nippon spirit self pride in persistence in the face of grave danger, as to personally never give up. The Emperor was a concept of investiture of power by the state in a figurehead. In effect the power of the Emperor was in name only, as the real power was held by the bureaucrats underneath him. While the Emperor was in theory the commander in chief, the Emperor usually went along with whatever the government "asked" him to do. The IJA had only two Emperor commander in chiefs, Taishō and Shōwa. The Emperor wore a command in chief uniform, and was saluted to by the Imperial Forces, at all ceremonial functions involving the IJA forces. The government at the time period could only mobilize the military if all the cabinet ministers in the government came to a unanimous consensus on the order. To which the Emperor gives his blessing to execute and bind the order of the imperial Japanese government. Since the Emperor must be present at all imperial government official minister government meetings for their decision to be binding, The Emperor silently must observe all the official arguments made by the ministers, to which as the symbol of Japan itself, accepts the ministers request. At which point the requests of the ministers becomes the order of the Emperor, and is enforceable onto the people of Japan.

Special reserved ability of the Emperor

Only in rare moments of Imperial council, where the government ministers are completely unable to agree, and where the votes of all the government ministers tallies as even, does the government ministers asks for the Emperor's opinion. In those moments the Emperor acted as a tie breaker in giving an opinion, on decisions only within the choices presented him by the government ministers. In World War 2, the Imperial Japanese government used this special ability of the Emperor Hirohito to decide to end the war. In 1945, executing the will of the Imperial government, Emperor Hirohito for the first and last time directly ordered via recorded radio broadcast to all of Japan, as his last role as commander in chief, the surrender to American forces.

Strength


- 1870, consisted of 12,000 men.
- 1885, consisted of seven divisions including the Imperial Guard Division.
- In the early 1900's, the IJA consisted of 12 divisions and numerous other units. These contained the following:
  - 380,000 active duty and 1st Reserve personnel - former Class A and B(1) conscripts after 2 year active tour with 17 and 1/2 year commitment
  - 50,000 Second line Reserve - Same as above but former Class B(2) conscripts
  - 220,000 National Army
    - 1st National Army - 37 to 40 year old men from end of 1st Reserve to 40 years old.
    - 2nd National Army - untrained 20 year olds and over 40 year old trained reserves.
  - 4,250,000 males available for service and mobilization.
- 1934 - army increased to 17 Divisions
- 1940 - 376,000 active with 2 million reserves in 31 divisions
  - 2 Divisions in Japan (Imperial Guard plus one other)
  - 2 Divisions in Korea
  - 27 Divisions in China and Manchuria
- In late 1941 - 460,000 active in 41 divisions
  - 2 divisions in Japan and Korea
  - 12 divisions in Manchuria
  - 27 divisions in China
- 1945 - 145 Divisions (includes 3 Imperial Guard), plus numerous individual units, with over 5 million men (includes Imperial Japanese Army Air Service).
- Japan Defense Army in 1945 had 55 divisions with 2 million men.

Arsenals

Additionally Japanese Army managed various Arsenals:
- Japanese Army Sagami Arsenal - with Mitsubishi, developed and manufactured tanks
- Japanese Army Sasebo Arsenal - with Mitsubishi, manufactured tanks
- Japanese Army Heijo Arsenal - with Nambu, manufactured hand and long infantry weapons
- Japanese Army Mukden Arsenal - with Nambu, manufactured infantry weapons
- Japanese Army Tachikawa Arsenal - dedicated to develop and manufacture aircrafts for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service

Casualties

1.7 million killed, wounded, missing and captured.

See also


- List of Armies of the Japanese Army
- Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
- Imperial Japanese Navy
- Comfort women
- Greater East Asia War
- Kempeitai
- Kokuryu-kai
- Rape of Nanjing
- Sook Ching Massacre
- Strike North Group
- "Strike South" Group
- "Othsu or B" Operation
- Japanese nationalism
- Kantogun
- Nobuaki "Warren" Iwatake
- Baron Gichi Tanaka
- Masutatsu Oyama
- Shinozuka Yoshio
- Sadao Araki
- Hideki Tojo
- Double Leaf Society
- Koda-Ha
- Tosei-Ha
- Imperial Way Faction
- Imperial Japanese Army Uniforms
- Japanese military ranks
- List of Japanese WW2 Weapons
- List of Japanese tanks and armoured vehicles of the WWII period
- List of Japanese Armored Divisions
- Imperial Japanese Army (tank warfare)
- Imperial Japanese rations
- List of Radars in use by Imperial Japanese Army
- List of Bombs in use by Imperial Japanese Army
- List of Special Weapons of Japanese Army
- Japanese Army and Navy Strategies for South Seas areas(1942)

External links


- [http://www3.plala.or.jp/takihome/ Overview of Imperial Japanese Army weapons and armaments in World War II]
- [http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/japan/warposters/JapaneseWarposters.html Japanese war posters]
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pacific/index.html The PBS program "Victory in the Pacific."] Category:Imperial Japanese Army Category:Military of Japan ja:大日本帝国陸軍

Sino Japanese War (1937-1945)

The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, preceding and during World War II. It ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. In Chinese, the war is most commonly known as the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance (), but also known as the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War of Resistance (中國人民抗日戰爭/中国人民抗日战争), War of Resistance (抗戰), or Eight Years' War of Resistance (八年抗戰). The war is mostly known in Japan today as the Japanese-Chinese War (日中戦争, Nitchū Sensō). During the war, it was known as HEI, the "C" Operation, The Chinese Invasion, or The China Incident (日華事變 [Nikka Jihen], 日支事變 [Nisshi Jihen], or 支那事變, [Shina Jihen, a derogatory name used in the war museum at Japan's controversial Yasukuni Shrine]). The invasion was a strategic plan made by the Imperial Japanese Army as part of their large-scale plans to control the Asian mainland. The early manifestations of this plan were commonly known as "China Incidents", and were referred to as "incidents" provoked by China in order to downplay Japan's illegality. The 1931 invasion of Manchuria by Japan is referred to as the Mukden Incident. The last of these was the Lugou Bridge Incident of 1937, marking the beginning of official full-out war.

Invasion of China

Most historians place the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War on the Battle of Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge Incident) on July 7, 1937. Some Chinese historians, however place the starting point at the Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931. Following the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Guandong Army occupied Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo in February 1932. Japan pressured China into recognising the independence of Manchukuo. Following the Battle of Lugou Bridge in 1937, the Japanese occupied Shanghai, Nanjing and Southern Shanxi as part of campaigns involving approximately 200,000 Japanese soldiers, and considerably more Chinese soldiers. Chinese historians estimate as many as 300,000 people perished in the Nanjing Massacre, after the fall of Nanjing. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident not only marked the beginning of an open, undeclared, war between China and Japan, but also hastened the formation of the second Kuomintang-Communist Party of China (CCP) United Front. The collaboration took place with salutary effects for the beleaguered CCP. The distrust between the two antagonists was scarcely veiled. Their alliance was forged literally at gun point when Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped in the Xian incident and forced to ally with the CCP. The uneasy alliance began breaking down by late 1938, despite Japan's steady territorial gains in northern China, the coastal regions, and the rich Yangtze River Valley in central China. After 1940, conflict between the Nationalists and Communists became more frequent in the areas outside Japanese control. The Communists expanded their influence wherever opportunities were presented, through mass organizations, administrative reforms, land and tax reform measures favoring peasants -- and the Nationalists attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence. The Japanese had neither the intention nor the capability of directly administering China. Their goal was to set up friendly puppet governments favorable to Japanese interests. However, the atrocities of the Japanese army made the governments that were set up very unpopular, and the Japanese refused to negotiate with either the Kuomintang or the Communist Party of China, which could have brought them popularity. The Japanese then forced the Chinese people to change their money into military banknotes. The Japanese government still refuses to exchange these military banknotes today.

Chinese Strategy

Communist Party of China Compared to Japan, China was unprepared for war and had little military industrial strength, few mechanized divisions, and virtually no armor support. Up until the mid 1930s China had hoped that the League of Nations would provide countermeasures to Japan's aggression. In addition, the Kuomintang government was mired in an internal war against the Communists. Chiang famously quoted "the Japanese are a disease of skin, the Communists are a disease of the heart". Though the communists formed the New Fourth Army and the 8th Route Army which were nominally under the command of the National Revolutionary Army, the Unified Front was never truly unified, as each side was preparing for a showdown with the other once the Japanese were driven out. All these disadvantages forced China to adopt a strategy whose first goal was to preserve its army strength, whereas a full frontal assault on the enemy would often prove to be suicidal. Also, pockets of resistance were to be continued in occupied areas to pester the enemy and make their administration over the vast lands of China difficult. As a result the Japanese really only controlled the cities and railroads, while the countrysides were almost always hotbeds of partisan activity. However, Chiang realized that in order to win the support from the United States or other foreign nations, China must prove that it was indeed capable of fighting. A fast retreat would discourage foreign aid so Chiang decided to make the Battle of Shanghai his grand stage. Chiang sent his elite German trained army to defend China's largest and most commercialized city from the Japanese. The battle saw heavy casualties on both sides and ended with a Chinese retreat. While the battle was a military defeat for the Chinese, it proved that China was not willing to be defeated and showcased the Chinese determination to the world. The battle lasted over three months and proved to be an enormous morale booster as it ended the Japanese taunt of conquering Shanghai in three days and China in three months. While this direct army to army fighting lasted during the early phases of the war, large numbers of Chinese defeats compared to few victories eventually led to the strategy of stalling the war. Large areas of China were conquered during the early stages of the war but the Japanese advancements began to stall. The Chinese strategy at this point was to prolong the war until it had sufficient foreign aid to defeat the Japanese. Chinese troops engaged in a practice of scorched earth in an attempt to slow down the Japanese. Dams and levees were sabotaged which led to the 1938 Huang He flood. By 1940, the war had reached a stalemate with both sides making minimal gains. The Chinese had successfully defended their land from oncoming Japanese on several occasions while strong resistance in areas occupied by the Japanese made a victory seem impossible to the Japanese. This frustrated the Japanese and led them to employ the "Three Alls Policy" (kill all, loot all, burn all) (Sankō Seisaku, 三光政策). It was during this time period that a bulk of Japanese atrocities were committed. 1938 Huang He flood] In 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor which brought the United States into the war. China officially declared war on Japan on 8 December. It refused to declare war earlier because receiving military aid while officially at war would break the neutrality of the donor nation. At this point, the strategy changed from survival to minimizing warfare. Chiang realized that the Americans would do a bulk of the fighting and were better equipped to fight the Japanese so he decided to curtail the activities of his army and focus on the potential civil war after the war. By 1945, it was obvious that the Japanese would soon be defeated so small advances were made by the Chinese army. The basis of Chinese strategy during the war, which can be divided into three periods:
- First Period: 7 July 1937 (Battle of Lugou Bridge) - 25 October 1938 (Fall of Hankou).
  - In this period, one key concept is the trading of "space for time" (Chinese: 以空間換取時間). The Chinese army would put up token fights to delay Japanese advance to northeastern cities, to allow the home front, along with its professionals and key industries, to retreat further west into Chongqing to build up military strength.
- Second Period: 25 October 1938 (Fall of Hankou) - July, 1944
  - During the second period, the Chinese army adopted the concept of "magnetic warfare" to attract advancing Japanese troops to definite points where they were subjected to ambush, flanking attacks, and encirclements in major engagements. The most prominent example of this tactic is the successful defense of Changsha numerous times.
- Third Period: July 1944 - 15 August 1945
  - This period employs general full frontal counter-offensive. The three periods are each divided into finer phases.

Chinese and Japanese equipment

:Main article: National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army possessed 80 Army infantry divisions with approximately 8,000 men each, nine independent brigades, nine cavalry divisions, two artillery brigades, 16 artillery regiments and one or two armored divisions. The Chinese Navy displaced only 59,000 tonnes and the Chinese Air Force comprised only 600 aircraft. Chinese weapons were mainly produced in the Hanyang and Guangdong Arsenals. However, for most of the German-trained divisions, the standard firearms were German-made 7.92 mm Gewehr 98 and Karabiner 98k. The standard light machine gun was a local copy of the Czech 7.92 mm Brno ZB26. There were also Belgian and French LMGs. Surprisingly, the NRA did not purchase any of the infamous Maschinengewehr 34s from Germany, but did produce their own copies of them. On average in these divisions, there was 1 machine gun set for each platoon. Heavy machine guns were mainly locally-made 1924 water-cooled Maxim guns, from German blueprints. On average every battalion would get one heavy machine gun (about half of what actual German divisions got during the war). The standard sidearm was the 7.63 mm Mauser M1932 semi-automatic pistol, also known as C96. Some divisions were equipped with 37mm PaK 35/36 anti-tank guns, and/or mortars from Oerlikon, Madsen, and Solothurn. Each infantry division had 6 French Brandt 81mm mortars and 6 Solothurn 20mm autocannons. Some independent brigades and artillery regiments were equipped with Bofors 72mm L/14, or Krupp 72mm L/29 mountain guns. They were 24 Rheinmetall 150mm L/32 sFH 18 howitzers (bought in 1934) and 24 Rheinmetall 150mm L/30 sFH 18 howitzers (bought in 1936). Infantry uniforms were basically redesigned Zhongshan suits. Leg wrappings are standard for soldiers and officers alike since the primary mode of movement for NRA troops was by foot. The helmets were the most distinguishing characteristic of these divisions. From the moment German M35 helmets (standard issue for the Wehrmacht until late in the European theatre) rolled off the production lines in 1935, and until 1936, the NRA imported 315,000 of these helmets, each with the 12-star emblem of the ROC on the sides. Other equipment included cloth shoes for soldiers, leather shoes for officers and leather boots for high-ranking officers. Every soldier is issued ammunition, ammunition pouch/harness, a water flask, combat knives, food bag, and a gas mask. :Main article: Imperial Japanese Army Although Japan possessed significant mobile operational capacity it did not possess capability for maintaining a long sustained war. At the commencement of the Chinese-Japanese War the Japanese Army comprised 17 divisions, each composed of approximately 22,000 men, 5,800 horses, 9,500 rifles and sub machine guns, 600 heavy machine guns of assorted types, 108 artillery pieces, and 24 tanks. Special forces were also available. The Japanese Navy displaced a total of 1,900,000 tonnes, ranking third in the world, and possessed 2,700 aircraft at the time. Each Japanese division was the equivalent in fighting strength of three Chinese regular divisions. See Also:
- Japanese Infantry weapons in Chinese-Japanese conflict
- List of Armours in use for Japanese Army in Chinese-Japanese conflict
- List of Japanese Aircraft during Chinese-Japanese conflict

Stalemate and foreign aid

By 1940, the fighting had reached a stalemate. While Japan held most of the eastern coastal areas of China, guerrilla fighting continued in the conquered areas. The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek struggled on from a provisional capital at the city of Chongqing; however, realizing that he also faced a threat from communist forces of Mao Zedong, he mostly tried to preserve the remaining strength of his army and avoid heavy battle with the Japanese in the hopes of defeating the Communists once the Japanese left. China, with its low industrial capacities and limited experience in modern warfare, could not launch any decisive counter-offensive against Japan. Chiang could not risk an all-out campaign given the poorly-trained, under-equipped, and unorganized state of his armies and opposition to his leadership both within Kuomintang and in China at large. He had lost a substantial portion of his best trained and equiped army defending Shanghai and the remaining troops were used to preserve his army. On the other hand, Japan has suffered tremendous casualties from unexpectedly stubborn resistance from China and already developed problems in administering and garrisioning fallen territories. Neither side can make any swift progress in a manner resembling the fall of France and Western Europe to Nazi Germany. Most military analysts predicted that the Kuomintang could not continue fighting with most of the war factories located in the prosperous areas under or near Japanese control. Other global powers were reluctant to provide any support — unless supporting an ulterior motive — because in their opinion the Chinese would eventually lose the war, and did not wish to antagonize the Japanese who might, in turn, eye their colonial posessions in the region. They expected any support given to Kuomintang might worsen their own relationship with the Japanese, who taunted the Kuomintang with the prospect of conquest within 3 months. Germany and the Soviet Union did provide support to the Chinese before the war escalated to the Asian theatre of World War II. The Soviet Union was exploiting the Kuomintang government to hinder the Japanese from invading Siberia, thus saving itself from a two-front war. Furthermore, the Soviets expected any major conflict between the Japanese and the Chinese to hamper any Kuomintang effort to remove the Communist Party of China (CCP) opposition or, in the best case, hoped to install a Comintern ally surreptitiously after the dwindling of Kuomintang authority. Soviet technicians upgraded and handled some of the Chinese war-supply transport. Military supplies and advisors arrived, including future Soviet war hero Georgy Zhukov, who witnessed the Battle of Halhin Gol. It also supported the Communists, at least until war with Germany forced her into conserving everything for her own forces. Because of Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communist nationalist policies and hopes of defeating the CCP, Germany provided the largest proportion of Kuomintang arms imports. German military advisors modernized and trained the Kuomintang armies; Kuomintang officers (including Chiang's second son) were educated in and served in the German army prior to World War II. Approximately more than half of the German arms exports during its rearmament period were to China. Nevertheless the proposed 30 new divisions equipped with all German arms did not materialize as the Germans sided with the Japanese later in World War II. Other prominent powers, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and France, only officially assisted in war supply contracts up to the attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, when a major influx of trained military personnel and supplies significantly boosted the Kuomintang chance of maintaining the fight. Unofficially, public opinion in the United States was becoming favorable to the Kuomintang. At the start of the 1930's, public opinion in the United States had tended to support the Japanese. However, reports of Japanese brutality added to Japanese actions such as the attack on the U.S.S. Panay swung public opinion sharply against Japan. By the start of 1941, the United States had begun to sponsor the American Volunteer Group otherwise known as the Flying Tigers to boost Chinese air defenses. In addition, the United States began an oil and steel embargo which made it impossible for Japan to continue operations in China without another source of oil from Southeast Asia. This set the stage for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

The Pacific War

Within a few days of the attack on Pearl Harbor, both the United States and China officially declared war against Japan. Chiang Kai-shek then received great quantities of supplies from the United States, as the Chinese conflict was merged into the Asian theatre of World War II. Chiang was appointed Allied Commander-in-Chief in the China theater in 1942. General Joseph Stilwell served for a time as Chiang's chief of staff, while commanding US forces in the China Burma India Theater. However, relations between Stilwell and Chiang soon broke down, due largely to the corruption and inefficiency of the Chinese government. Despite massive amounts of American lend-lease aid (over US$5 billion from 1941 through 1945), the Nationalist Chinese Army frequently avoided major engagements with the Japanese and was seen as preferring to stockpile material for a later struggle with the communists. Stilwell criticised the Chinese government's conduct of the war in the American media, and to President Franklin Roosevelt. Chiang was hesitant to deploy more Chinese troops because China already suffered tens of milions of war casualties, and believed that Japan would eventually capitulate to America's overwhelming industrial output and manpower. The Allies thus lost confidence in the Chinese ability to conduct offensive operations from the Asian mainland , and instead concentrated their efforts against the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean Areas and South West Pacific Area, employing island hopping strategy. Chiang and his associates also distrusted the intentions of United Kingdom and Stilwell. Winston Churchill's "Europe First" policy obviously did not sit well with Chiang. Furthermore, the British insistence that China devote more and more troops into Indochina in the Burma Campaign, was regarded as an attempt by Great Britain to use Chinese manpower to secure Britain's foothold in India from Japan. Chiang voiced his support of Indian Independence in a meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in 1942, which further soured the relationship between China and the United Kingdom. The United States saw the Chinese theater as a means to tie up a large number of Japanese troops, as well as being a possible location for American airbases. In 1944, as the Japanese position in the Pacific was deteriorating fast, they launched Operation Ichigo to attack the airbases which had begun to operate. This brought the Hubei, Henan, and Guangxi provinces under Japanese administration. Nevertheless the Japanese prospect of transferring their troops to fight the Americans was in vain and they only committed the Guandong Army from Manchuria in their "Sho plan", which later facilitated the Soviet advancement after the Soviet war declaration on August 8 1945.

Number of troops involved

National Revolutionary Army

:Main article: National Revolutionary Army National Revolutionary Army The NRA had approximately 4,300,000 regulars, in 370 Standard Divisions (正式師), 46 New Divisions (新編師), 12 Cavalry Divisions (騎兵師), 8 New Cavalry Divisions (新編騎兵師), 66 Temporary Divisions (暫編師), and 13 Reserve Divisions (預備師), for a grand total of 515 divisions. However, many divisions were formed from 2 or more other divisions, and not were active at the same time. Therefore the number of divisions in active service at any given time is much smaller than this. The average NRA division had 8,000-9,000 troops. :Main article: Chinese Red Army Although during the war the Chinese Communist forces fought as a nominal part of the NRA, the number of those on the CCP side, due to their guerilla status, is difficult to say, though estimates place the total number of the Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army, and irregulars in the Communist armies at 1,300,000. For more information of combat effectiveness of communist armies and other units of Chinese forces see Chinese armies in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Japanese side

Chinese armies in the Second Sino-Japanese War
- The IJA had 2,000,000 regulars. More Japanese troops were quagmired in China than deployed anywhere else, such as the Pacific Theater, during the war.
- The Collaborationist Chinese Army (:zh:僞軍) formed approximate 2,100,000, the only collaborationist army in WW2 which outnumbered the invading army. Almost all of them belonged to the regional puppet governments such as Manchukuo and collaborationist political leaders such as Wang Jingwei. The collaborationists were mainly assigned to garrison and logistics duties in areas held by the puppet governments and in occupied territories. They were rarely fielded in combat because of low morale and distrust by the Japanese, and fared poorly in skirmishes against real Chinese forces, whether the KMT or the CCP .

Casualties assessment

Wang Jingwei The conflict lasted for 97 months and 3 days (measured from 1937 to 1945).

Chinese Casualties


- The Kuomintang fought in 22 major engagements, most of which involved more than 100,000 troops on both sides, 1171 minor engagements most of which involved more than 50,000 troops on both sides, and 38931 skirmishes.
- The CCP mostly fought guerilla attacks in rural area in North China. It would later give them credence to win them support in the Chinese Civil War.
- The Chinese lost approximately 3.22 million soldiers. 9.13 million civilians died in crossfire, and another 8.4 million as non-military casualties.
- Property loss of the Chinese valued up to 383,301.3 million US dollars according to the currency exchange rate in July 1937, roughly 50 times of the GDP of Japan at that time (7,700 million US dollars).
- In addition, the war created ninety-five million refugees.

Japanese Casualties

The Japanese recorded around 1.1 million military casualties, killed, wounded and missing.

Aftermath

GDP As of mid 1945, all sides expected the war to continue for at least another year. However it was suddenly ended after the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan capitulated to the allies on August 14, 1945. The Japanese troops in China formally surrendered on September 9, 1945 and by the provisions of the Cairo Conference of 1943 the lands of Manchuria, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands reverted to China. However, the Ryukyu islands were maintained as Japanese territory. Ryukyu In 1945 China emerged from the war nominally a great military power but actually a nation economically prostrate and on the verge of all-out civil war. The economy deteriorated, sapped by the military demands of foreign war and internal strife, by spiraling inflation, and by Nationalist profiteering, speculation, and hoarding. Starvation came in the wake of the war, and millions were rendered homeless by floods and the unsettled conditions in many parts of the country. The situation was further complicated by an Allied agreement at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 that brought Soviet troops into Manchuria to hasten the termination of war against Japan (Operation August Storm). Although the Chinese had not been present at Yalta, they had been consulted; they had agreed to have the Soviets enter the war in the belief that the Soviet Union would deal only with the Nationalist government. After the war, the Soviet Union, as part of the Yalta agreement's allowing a Soviet sphere of influence in Manchuria, dismantled and removed more than half the industrial equipment left there by the Japanese. The Soviet presence in northeast China enabled the Communists to move in long enough to arm themselves with the equipment surrendered by the withdrawing Japanese army. The problems of rehabilitating the formerly Japanese-occupied areas and of reconstructing the nation from the ravages of a protracted war were staggering, to say the least. Operation August Storm] The war left the Nationalists severely weakened and their policies left them unpopular. Meanwhile the war strengthened the Communists, both in popularity and as a viable fighting force. At Yan'an and elsewhere in the "liberated areas," Mao was able to adapt Marxism-Leninism to Chinese conditions. He taught party cadres to lead the masses by living and working with them, eating their food, and thinking their thoughts. When this failed, however, more repressive forms of coercion, indoctrination and ostracization were also employed. The Red Army fostered an image of conducting guerrilla warfare in defense of the people. In addition, the CCP was effectively split into "Red" (cadres working in the "liberated" areas) and "White" (cadres working underground in enemy-occupied territory) spheres, a split that would later sow future factionalism within the CCP. Communist troops adapted to changing wartime conditions and became a seasoned fighting force. Mao also began preparing for the establishment of a new China, well away from the front at his base in Yan'an. In 1940 he outlined the program of the Chinese Communists for an eventual seizure of power and began his final push for consolidation of CCP power under his authority. His teachings became the central tenets of the CCP doctrine that came to be formalized as Mao Zedong Thought. With skillful organizational and propaganda work, the Communists increased party membership from 100,000 in 1937 to 1.2 million by 1945. Soon, all out war broke out between the KMT and CPC, a war that would leave the Nationalists banished to Taiwan and the Communists victorious on the mainland.

Legacy

mainland To this day the war is a major point of contention between (both People's Republic and Republic of) China and Japan. A small but vocal group of Japanese nationalists and/or right-wingers deny a variety of crimes attributed to Japan. The Japanese invasion of its neighbours is often glorified or whitewashed, and wartime atrocities, most notably the Nanjing Massacre, comfort women, and Unit 731, are frequently denied by such individuals. The Japanese government has also been accused of historical revisionism by allowing the approval of school textbooks omitting or glossing over Japan's militant past. In the PRC, citizens are frequently reminded of the exploits of the heroes of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance. In its response to global criticism of Japanese textbook revisionism, the PRC government has been accused of using this incident to stir up already growing anti-Japanese feelings to whip up nationalistic sentiments and divert its citizens' minds from internal matters. On the other hand, the PRC government has also been accused by many in Hong Kong and Taiwan for greatly exaggerating the CCP role in fighting the Japanese. One such notable individual is KMT General Hau Pei-tsun, who refused to attend a joint celebration in China marking the fiftieth anniversary of the end of war in 2005, claiming that the PRC continues to distort history. The legacy of the war is more complicated in the ROC. Traditionally, the government has held celebrations marking the Victory Day on September 9 (now known as Armed Forces Day), and Taiwan's Retrocession Day on October 25. However, with the power transfer from KMT to the more pro-Taiwanese independence pan-green coalition and the rise of desinicization, events commemorating the war has become less commonplace. Many supporters of Taiwanese independence see no relevance in preserving the memory of the war of resistance that happened primarily on mainland China. Still, commemorations are still held in regions where politics is dominated by the pan-blue coalition. Many pan-blue supporters, particularly veterans who retreated with the government in 1949, still have fond interests in the war. For example, in celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the end of war in 2005, the cultural bureau of pan-blue stronghold Taipei held a series of talks in the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall regarding the war and post-war developments, while the KMT held its own exhibit in the the KMT headquarters. But political issue or not, the war remains a major roadblock for Sino-Japanese relations today, and many people, particularly in China, harbour grudges over the war and related issues.

Who really fought the Sino-Japanese War?

The question as to which political group directed the Chinese war effort and exerted most of the effort to resist the Japanese still remains a controversial issue. In the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War of Resistance Memorial near the Marco Polo Bridge, the People’s Republic of China emphasizes that it was the Communist Party that directed Chinese efforts in the war and did everything to resist the Japanese invasion. Recently, however, with a change in the political climate, the CCP has admitted that certain Nationalist generals made important contributions in resisting the Japanese. The official consensus in mainland China is that the KMT fought a bloody, yet indecisive, frontal war against Japan, while it was the CCP that engaged the Japanese forces in far greater numbers behind enemy lines. This emphasis on the CCP's central role is partially reflected by the PRC’s labeling of the war as the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War of Resistance rather than merely the War of Resistance. According to the PRC official point of view, the Nationalists/Kuomintang mostly avoided fighting the Japanese in order to preserve its strength for a final showdown with the Communists. Leaving aside Nationalists sources, scholars researching third party Japanese and Soviet sources have documented quite a different view. Such studies claim that the Communists actually played a miniscule involvement in the war against the Japanese compared to the Nationalists and used guerilla warfare as well as opium sales to preserve its strength for a final showdown with the Kuomintang. The Communists were not the main participants in any of the 22 major battles, most involving more than 100,000 troops on both sides, between China and Japan. Soviet liaison to the Chinese Communists Peter Vladimirov documented that he never once found the Chinese Communists and Japanese engaged in battle during the period from 1942 to 1945. He also expressed frustration at not being allowed by the Chinese Communists to visit the frontline, although as a foreign diplomat Vladimirov may have been overly optimistic to expect to be allowed to join Chinese guerrilla sorties. The Communists usually avoided open warfare (the Hundred Regiments Campaign and the Battle of Pingxingguan are notable exceptions), preferring to fight in small squads to harass the Japanese supply lines. As a result, their contributions cannot be measured the same way the Nationalists' can. In comparison, the Nationalists committed their best troops (including the 36th, 83rd, 88th divisions, the crème de la crème and Chiang's personal elite troops) to defend Shanghai from the Japanese, a third of whom were killed or wounded. The Japanese considered the Kuomintang rather than the Communists as their main enemy and bombed the Nationalist wartime capital of Chongqing to the point that it is the most heavily bombed city in the world to date. Also, the main bulk of Japanese forces were fighting mainly in Central and Southern China, away from any major communist strongholds such as those in Shaanxi. A third perspective advocated by some historians is that the warlords actually did most of the fighting with the Japanese, considering that a large part the National Revolutionary Army was actually composed of troops from different factions (including the communists). While the Communists and Nationalists tried to preserve their troop strengths for a final showdown with each other and therefore fail