Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign

The Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign (Japanese: 浙贛作戦, simplified Chinese: 浙赣战役; traditional Chinese: 浙赣戰役; pinyin: Zhè-Gàn Zhànyì), also known as Operation Sei-go, was a campaign by the China Expeditionary Army of the Imperial Japanese Army under Shunroku Hata and Chinese 3rd War Area forces under Gu Zhutong in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi from mid May to early September 1942.

Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II

A Japanese soldier with 50mm heavy grenade discharger during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, 30 May 1942
Date15 May – 4 September 1942
Location
Vicinity of Zhejiang, Jiangxi
Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
 China
 United States		  Japan
Commanders and leaders
Gu Zhutong
Huang Baitao		 Shunroku Hata
Naotsugu Sakai †
Units involved
 National Revolutionary Army  Imperial Japanese Army
Unit 731
Strength
300,000 180,000
Casualties and losses
70,000 36,000[1]
250,000 civilians[1]

The Japanese troops used biological weapons against Chinese soldiers and civilians alike. Japanese soldiers also committed massacres throughout the battle, resulting in over 300,000 Chinese deaths. Japanese commander Shunroku Hata later served six years in prison for his "failure to prevent atrocities".

Background

On April 18, 1942, the United States launched the Doolittle Raid, an attack by 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on Tokyo, Nagoya, and Yokohama. The original plan was for the aircraft to bomb Japan and land at airfields in unoccupied portion of China. Because the raid had to be launched earlier than planned, all but one of the aircraft (which against orders diverted to the Soviet Union) ran out of fuel and crashed in Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi or the offshore islands.

Sixty-four American airmen parachuted into the area around Zhejiang. Most were given shelter by Chinese civilians but eight Americans were captured by Japanese troops; three were shot after a show trial for "crimes against humanity".[2]

The campaign

Imperial General Headquarters was aware of possible air attacks from Chinese territory on Japan. Two days before the Doolittle Raid, Headquarters set up an operational plan with the goal of defeating Chinese forces and destroying air bases. The operation started on May 15, 1942, with 40 infantry battalions and 15-16 artillery battalions of the Imperial Japanese Army.[3]

The Japanese army conducted a massive search for American airmen and in the process whole towns and villages that were suspected of harboring the Americans were burned to the ground and many civilians executed.[2] The Japanese also wanted to occupy the area to prevent American air force from ever using airfields in China that could put the Japanese mainland within reach.

Aftermath

When Japanese troops moved out of the Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas in mid-August, they left behind a trail of devastation. Chinese estimates put the civilian death toll at 250,000.[2] The Imperial Japanese Army had also spread cholera, typhoid, plague-infected fleas and dysentery pathogens.[4] The Japanese biological warfare Unit 731 brought almost 300 pounds of paratyphoid and anthrax to be left in contaminated food and contaminated wells with the withdrawal of the army from areas around Yushan, Kinhwa and Futsin.[5] Around 1,700 Japanese troops died out of a total 10,000 Japanese soldiers who fell ill with disease when their biological weapons attack rebounded on their own forces.[6][7]

Shunroku Hata, the commander of Japanese forces involved of the massacre of the 250,000 Chinese civilians, was sentenced 1948 in part due to his "failure to prevent atrocities". He was given a life sentence but was paroled in 1954.[8]

See also

References

Notes
  1. "Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign".
  2. PBS Perilous Flight
  3. Schoppa, R. Keith (2011). In a Sea of Bitterness, Refugees during the Sino-Japanese War. Harvard University Press. p. 368. ISBN 9780674059887., p.28
  4. Yuki Tanaka, Hidden Horrors, Westviewpres, 1996, p.138
  5. Scott, James M., Target Tokyo, W. W. Norton & Co., 2015, p.387
  6. Chevrier & Chomiczewski & Garrigue 2004, p. 19.
  7. Croddy & Wirtz 2005, p. 171.
  8. "The Tokyo War Crimes Trial:Field Marshal Shunroku Hata". Archived from the original on March 20, 2013.

Bibliography

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