DEVOTED ALLY

By+Yin+Pumin

On September 3， 1945， people around the nation of China poured onto the streets to celebrate， and with good reason. The day before， Japan had signed its formal surrender to the Allies， including China， on board the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay， finally bringing to an end what had been a harrowing non-stop war.

According to experts， foreign and domestic， the Chinese Peoples War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression played an important role in World War II （WWII）. Though the war of resistance lasted eight years， it had its roots in events taking place six years prior. In his book Forgotten Ally： Chinas World War II， 1937-1945， Rana Mitter， a professor of history at Oxford University， said that the marathon struggle that China waged was not just for its own dignity and survival， but for the good of all the Allies.

On July 14 this year， China released the official record of its loss of life and property in the war， another move designed to stress the countrys important contribution toward preserving peace. According to the data， China suffered over 35 million casualties during the war， with military casualties reaching more than 3.8 million.

Great contributions

“With these sacrifices， the country held back most of Japans troops while coordinating with the Alliesoperations in the West，” said Wang Jianliang， Director of the Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The data show that the Japanese army deployed 1.86 million troops in China， accounting for more than 50 percent of the total of 3.58 million Japanese combatants sent overseas. Chinese forces killed， wounded and captured more than 1.5 million Japanese soldiers from 1931-45， accounting for 70 percent of casualties suffered by Japanese forces.

Hu Dekun， a historian with Wuhan University in central Chinas Hubei Province， said that by drawing a large number of Japanese military resources to their land， the Chinese resistance thwarted Japans wartime strategy. According to him， as Japan had to gradually commit more troops to China， 32 of the 34 divisions of the Japanese army—comprising 94 percent of its entire forces—as well as some navy forces had found their way to the China battlefield by 1938.

As the war continued， the regular army and militia led by the Communist Party of China（CPC） grew to surpass 3.1 million people and became the main force to finally turn the tables in 1945. “In particular the guerrilla bases led by the CPC behind the frontlines disrupted the Japanese armys operations，” Hu said. According to him， by mobilizing the public behind enemy lines， the CPC-led army and civilian groups killed a total of 1.7 million Japanese and puppet re- gime troops during the war.

Wang agreed that Chinas perseverance greatly impeded the progress of the Japanese aggressors， forcing them to give up their northward invasion targeting the Soviet Union and retarding their southward invasion which aimed for U.S. and British bases in Southeast Asia. Because of this， the Soviet Union did not have to fight enemies on both eastern and western fronts， and the Allied powers like the United States and Britain also gained more time to execute their strategies.

Weighed down by Chinas resistance， Japan had to say no to Germanys request for reinforcement in the Battle of Stalingrad with the Soviet Union in 1942， freeing the Soviet Union from the worry of being outflanked. According to Wang， China helped stall and resist some 80 percent of the total Japanese army forces. He claimed that even after the Pacific War broke out in December 1941， China remained the main Far East battlefield in WWII.

In 1942， the Japanese navy mapped out a scheme to invade Australia so as to prevent the United States from using the country as a base to launch counterattacks， but with its forces preoccupied in China， the Japanese army rejected the plan. According to Hu， Japanese troops in China still far outnumbered those in the Pacific battlefield by the end of the Pacific War.

As part of the Allies plan， Chinese troops also did battle in Myanmar， then known as Burma， between 1943 and 1945 and liberated the countrys north as well as the border area of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province after suffering severe casualties. The road linking Yunnan and Burma secured by Chinese troops would later greatly facilitate the Allies counterattacks in Burma.

China also provided airfields from which Allied air forces could launch raids on Japanese targets. Some U.S. bombers running low on fuel also landed in China， like those involved in James Doolittles famous 1942 raid on Tokyo.

According to Hu， Chinas wartime diplomacy also played a vital role in WWII. “By bringing together the Soviet Union， the United States and Britain， China was able to emerge victorious from the war，” Hu said.

The role that China played in WWII made it one of the “four major powers，” together with the Soviet Union， the United States and Britain， granting China a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

A major battlefield

Early in 1931， the Japanese， eager to grasp control of Chinas vast natural resources and taking note of the countrys defensive weaknesses， plotted to conquer its northeast provinces of Heilongjiang， Jilin and Liaoning. On September 18 that year， a group of Japanese officers incited the September 18 Incident， which led to Japans total occupation of the area—known to the West as Manchuria—within five months.

Encouraged by the conquest of northeast China， the Japanese there built up a continental base for its further territorial encroachment on the Asian continent.

In January 1933， the Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Shanhaiguan Pass， the gateway to north China， and initiated a campaign in then Jehol Province， which was soon incorporated into Manchukuo， a puppet regime established by Japan in Chinas northeast provinces.

In the same year， Japanese troops also moved into Hebei Province， launching two attacks there. In May that year， the Japanese army signed the Tanggu Truce with the Chinese authorities， thus gaining it a foothold in the northern Chinese province.

Facing the national crisis， the CPC proposed a united front between political parties， civil organizations and armies in 1935. In December 1936， Chiang Kai-shek （1887-1975）， then Chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China （1912-49）， recognized the united front and from thereon in， the Chinese people rallied around the Kuomintang （KMT） and the CPC.

Six months later， Japanese officers manufactured an incident at the Lugou Bridge， better known as the Marco Polo Bridge， near Beijing on July 7， 1937. The Japanese army bombarded nearby Wanping County， close to Beijing， inciting full-scale war in China.

On August 13， the Japanese opened a second front in Shanghai， the financial center of the nation， aiming to cripple Chinas economy. Chiang committed some of his best Germantrained troops there， who succeeded in stalling the enemys advance for a period of three months.

Citing Japanese battle logs describing the bloody Songhu Battle in Shanghai， Hu said Chinese soldiers and civilians put up a “very tough” resistance， enduring a siege during which Japan suffered more than 40，000 casualties. The Japanese tactic of outflanking the defender ultimately worked， however， causing a rapid disintegration of Chinese defenses. The road to Nanjing was left wide open， and the enemy swiftly advanced to the gates of the Chinese capital.

Chiang then moved his capital to Chongqing in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwest China. The southwest became a new base of resistance， dashing Japanese hopes for a swift occupation of the whole of China.

In October 1938， Japanese army units landed in south China and occupied Guangzhou in Guangdong Province. Other Japanese troops in central China attacked and seized the city of Wuhan along the Yangtze River. The fall of Wuhan marked the end of the first phase of the war， which lasted 16 months. During this period， the Chinese ceded space in return for time， enticing the enemy deep into their countrys hinterland. Although the Japanese quickly captured all key Chinese ports and industrial centers， including capital Nanjing and Shanghai， the KMT and CPC forces continued to resist.

During the brutal conflict， the Japanese forces committed many massacres and atrocities. The most infamous came after the fall of Nanjing in December 1937， when Japanese troops slaughtered an estimated 300，000 civilians and raped 80，000 women. Moreover， many thousands of Chinese were killed in the indiscriminate bombing of cities by the Japanese air force.

Savage reprisals were also carried out against Chinese farmers， in retaliation for attacks by partisans waging a guerrilla war against the invader by ambushing supply columns and attacking isolated units. By the wars end， this had led to an estimated 10-20 million Chinese civilian deaths.

By the end of 1938， the war had descended into stalemate. The Japanese seemed unable to force victory， nor the Chinese to evict the invaders from occupied territory.

Around this period， Mao Zedong （1893-1976） wrote his famous On Protracted War，systematically analyzing the war situation and pointing out potential routes to triumph. In the article， Mao favored small assaults on Japanese supply lines over large-scale confrontations.

Accordingly， the CPC-led forces created a coherent theory of guerrilla warfare. The foundation of this strategy was the creation of base areas within enemy-occupied territory， where guerrillas could return for rest and replenishment and where recruits and material support could be assembled.

The CPC-led troops surprise attacks and constant harassment of supply convoys and road and rail links put the Japanese army on the defensive for much of 1938. By August of that year， guerrillas had occupied nine of the 22 districts in the east of Hebei.

While the KMT troops were holding a large consignment of Japanese troops in central China at bay， the CPC troops launched the Hundred Regiments Campaign in August 1940， during which Chinese troops fought a total of 1，824 battles large and small， inflicted some 20，645 casualties on Japanese forces， destroyed major railways and many highways， uprooted some 2，993 Japanese and puppet regime strongholds， and recovered between 40 and 50 counties from Japanese occupation.

Final victory

The outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 changed the course of the Chinese struggle. The Allied powers established a China-BurmaIndia theater， with Chiang acting as supreme commander of the China Theater， consisting of China proper， as well as Viet Nam， Thailand and Burma， effective from January 5， 1942.

Foreigners also played their part. Joseph Stilwell （1883-1946）， a former language officer in Beiping， now Beijing， was appointed the chief of staff of the Chinese army. A group of American volunteer pilots， the Flying Tigers， who had been operating in Kunming in Yunnan since August 1941， were incorporated into the U.S. 14th Air Force on July 4， 1942， with Claire Chennault （1893-1958） acting as commander.

During the early phases of the Pacific War， the Allied performance was poor in con- trast with the longfought Chinese resistance， which had garnered the latter respect in the West， convincing the U.S. President F r a n k l i n D . Roosevelt to enlist Chinas aid.

At that time， the Chinese battlefield continued to occupy most of the Japanese army， greatly helping other Allied powers in their war against Japan， while providing strategic re-enforcement to efforts being made elsewhere around the world.

On November 1， 1943， the United States， Britain and the Soviet Union accepted China as one of the cosigners of the Moscow Declaration， in which the four nations pledged to prosecute the war unceasingly until victory was theirs.

On December 1， 1943， China， Britain and the United States jointly issued the Cairo Declaration， which formulated the general principles of resistance against Japanese imperialism.

The Potsdam Proclamation was jointly issued by China， the United States and Britain on July 26， 1945， and won support worldwide. It sounded the death knell for the Axis powers， while at the same time representing an official denunciation of Japans actions.

On August 15， 1945， the war ended with the Japanese declaring an unconditional surrender. The Chinese people had finally achieved their first anti-imperialist victory， a century after the Opium War which lasted from 1840-42， helping to overcome the humiliations they had experienced in the past. Moreover， they had won the respect of the international community.