Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign

The Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign or the Chekiang–Kiangsi 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 (Japanese: せ号作戦), 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 Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi from mid May to early September 1942.

Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific Theater of World War II
A Japanese soldier with 50 mm heavy grenade discharger during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, 30 May 1942
Date (1942-05-15) (1942-09-04)May 15 – September 4, 1942 (3 months, 2 weeks and 6 days) Location Vicinity of Zhejiang, Jiangxi Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
China  United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Gu Zhutong Shangguan Yunxiang Tang Shih-Tsun Wang Jingjiu Li Jue Xue Yue Ou Zhen Shi Zhongcheng Wang Yaowu Xia Chuzhong Sun Du Feng Sheng-Fa Ding Zhipan Wang Tieh-Han Chang Wen-Ching Tao Kuang Liu Yu-Ching Fan Tse-Ying Mo Yu-Shuo	Shunroku Hata Shigeru Sawada Korechika Anami Sanji Ōkido Tetsuzo Ide Takayuki Uchida Toshijiro Takeuchi Johkichi Nanbu Haruo Yamamura Hachiro Tagami Tagaji Takahashi Shigeru Ōga Saburo Takehara Takejiro Imai Tokutaro Ide Giichi Hirano Naotsugu Sakai †
Units involved
Republic of China Army	Imperial Japanese Army Unit 731
Strength
300,000	180,000
Casualties and losses
70,000+ killed, wounded, or missing [1]	36,000[citation needed]
250,000 Chinese killed[2]

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

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 the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi or their 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".^[3]

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.^[4]

The main force of the regiment, Commander Anan Weiji of the 11th Army, commanded two divisions and four detachments, advancing from east to west from Hangzhou and Nanchang to attack in the direction of Shangrao, Jiangxi. On May 15, the main force of the Japanese 13th Army invaded westward along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and both sides from Fenghua, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Xiaoshan and other towns in Zhejiang. On August 15, the Japanese army was ordered to retreat, and the Chinese army followed and pursued them. By the end of September, except for Jinhua, Wuyi and the northeastern region, all along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway had been recovered.^[5]

Japanese troops 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.^[6] 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. The Japanese executed 250,000 civilians for helping the American fliers escape.^[3][6] The Imperial Japanese Army had also spread cholera, typhoid, plague-infected fleas and dysentery pathogens.^[7] 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.^[8] This attack took place at Jinhua in Zhejiang and the Japanese soldiers inadvertently advanced in the area they spread with biological weapons and got themselves infected,^{[9][10][11][12][13]} leading to over 1,700 dying and 10,000 getting sick.^[14][15][16]

Shunroku Hata, the commander of Japanese forces involved of the massacre of 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.^[17]

See also

• Order of Battle for Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign (1942)
• Flying Tigers
• Unit 731
• Japanese war crimes

References

Notes

1. 抗日戰史-浙贛會戰. 國防部史政局.
2. Carter, James (2022). "The Costs of Alliance: The Doolittle Raid and China." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society China, 82(1), 56-68.
3. Haymond, John A. (22 March 2023). "During WWII the Japanese Created A Law To Commit War Crimes". HistoryNet.
4. Schoppa, R. Keith (2011). In a Sea of Bitterness, Refugees during the Sino-Japanese War. Harvard University Press. p. 368. ISBN 9780674059887., p.28
5. 熊武一,周家法 总编;卓名信,厉新光,徐继昌等 主编.军事大辞海·下.北京：长城出版社.2000.第2550页
6. Scott, James M. "The Untold Story of the Vengeful Japanese Attack After the Doolittle Raid". Smithsonian Magazine.
7. Yuki Tanaka, Hidden Horrors, Westviewpres, 1996, p.138
8. Scott, James M., Target Tokyo, W. W. Norton & Co., 2015, p.387
9. Steiger, Brad; Steiger, Sherry Hansen; Hile, Kevin (2022). Conspiracies and Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier of Hidden Plots and Schemes (3 ed.). Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1578598038.
10. Tanaka, Yuki (2019). Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes In World War Ii (reprint ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0429720895.
11. Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2017). World Epidemics: A Cultural Chronology of Disease from Prehistory to the Era of Zika, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 243. ISBN 978-1476631066.
12. Byrne, Joseph P.; Hays, Jo N. (2021). Epidemics and Pandemics: From Ancient Plagues to Modern-Day Threats [2 volumes] (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 229. ISBN 978-1440863790.
13. Tsuneishi, Kei-ichi (2011). "13 Reasons for the Failure to Prosecute Unit 731 and its Significance". In Tanaka, Yuki; McCormack, Timothy L.H.; Simpson, Gerry (eds.). Beyond Victor's Justice? The Tokyo War Crimes Trial Revisited. Vol. 30 of International Humanitarian Law Series. BRILL. p. 186. ISBN 978-9004215917.
14. Mauroni, Albert J. (2007). Chemical and Biological Warfare: A Reference Handbook. Contemporary World Issues (revised ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 139-140. ISBN 978-1598840278.
15. Hatcher, Paul E.; Battey, Nick (2011). Biological Diversity: Exploiters and Exploited. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470979860.
16. Tóth, Tibor (2006). The Implementation of Legally Binding Measures to Strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, held in Budapest, Hungary, 2001. Vol. 150 of NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (illustrated ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. p. 19. ISBN 1402020988.
17. "The Tokyo War Crimes Trial:Field Marshal Shunroku Hata". Archived from the original on March 20, 2013.

Bibliography

• Chevrier, Marie Isabelle; Chomiczewski, Krzysztof; Garrigue, Henri, eds. (2004). The Implementation of Legally Binding Measures to Strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Held in Budapest, Hungary, 2001. Vol. 150 of NATO science series: Mathematics, physics, and chemistry (illustrated ed.). Springer. ISBN 140202097X. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
• Croddy, Eric A.; Wirtz, James J., eds. (2005). Weapons of Mass Destruction. Jeffrey A. Larsen, Managing Editor. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1851094903. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
• James M. Scott. The Untold Story of the Vengeful Japanese Attack After the Doolittle Raid