Part I
On the 7th of July 1936, an incident, later called the Marco polo bridge incident took place in northern China. Forces from the Empire of Japan clashed with Chinese troops over something that later would be forgotten, what would be remembered was the conflict it started that would determine the faith of two great powers in Asia. The Marco Polo bridge incident would be the catalyst that would start the Second Sino – Japanese war.
Japanese troops during the initial fighting after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
In the north, Japan with the support of their Manchurian puppet invaded and encircled 22 Chinese divisions in Beijing. Heavy fighting in the mountainsides lasted for a month and the Japanese invasion was halted, with severe casualties on both sides. In the autumn Japan tried to land in Guangzhou, a important industrial and seaside city in southern China. The naval invasion was supported by the entire Imperial Japanese Navy (the IJN) but the 12 divisions was repulsed by at least 25 quickly mobilized Chinese militia and infantry divisions. The Japanese losses was calculated to be 20.000.
As the northern front was breached by newly arrived marine divisions and heavy bombardment by several hundred Japanese aircraft later in the autumn, the Empire strike back again with a new naval invasion in Shanghai. It was a success and with the help of quick marines and engineers the landing force could create a front line that encircled a quarter of a million Chinese troops in north-east China.
Marines embarked on landing vessels outside Shanghai and an IJN ship supporting the landings
At the start of the war the Japanese army consisted of roughly 45 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions, supported by 30 Machukuoan militia divisions . The Chinese on the other hand could deploy over 130 divisions, although with lesser training and outdated equipment. The morale was low in the Chinese ranks and the doctrine favored by their commanders was simply the one of mass charges and the utmost sacrifices. In the Imperial Japanese Army (the IJA) sacrifice was not unheard of either. Retreat was not an option, being captured was not an option. Being captured would disgrace the Empire, the family, the whole home village and even the Japanese race itself. Honor was the primary code of the IJA and the IJN and honor was often found to be a deadly goal. Even so, the average soldier understood that their lives was not worth much, if their sacrifice could raise and preserve the honor of the Empire, so be it.
As the war went on, it was clear that the inferior Chinese troops was no match for the highly trained and equipped Japanese counterparts. The Chinese leadership, under General Chiang Kai-shek decided that attrition warfare was their best move to gain an upper hand in the conflict, as the Chinese had massive manpower reserves at their disposals in eastern China in contrast to the Japanese that had limited reserves on their home islands.
The silent Chinese countryside was ravaged by both sides. After the 1 year anniversary of the war, the Japanese held little more than a quarter of the Chinese lands. During the entire year of 1938 and the first half of 1939 the Chinese troops retreated to the east, it was a slow retreat and the army left hundreds of bodies in their tracks. The IJA suffered heavy casualties as their enemy had reinforced their numerous divisions with more modern equipment. In July 1939 a little more than half of China was occupied. The price that had been payed was roughly 350.000 Japanese lives, although they had sold their lives at a high price and taken 1.500.000 Chinese soldiers with them the reserves was drained. In August, Emperor Hirohito ordered a partial mobilization, which crippled the industry as many able bodied men was conscripted to military service. The Japanese leadership estimated that the Chinese could muster up to 15 million more men than them. Something had to be done.
As war once again engulfed Europe with the German and Soviet aggressions against Poland, Japan, on the same day as Germany, now a trusted semi – ally, against the western allies, launched the Imperial Offensive. Huge holes would b carved through the Chinese front lines, medical treatment of casualties was scrapped, the troops would march and fight, nothing else.
IJA infantry charging the front
As the offensive went on, the determination of the IJA proved to overwhelm the Chinese opposition as Chengquing, the Chinese capital in the west fell in late 1940. Pocket after pocket of Chinese resistance was cleared, 80 divisions perished in a matter of days, millions of Chinese troops was captured and detained, or killed. The communist warlords in the north was captured and disposed of. Chiang Kai-shek had to flee even further west, he knew the war was lost. In a coup he was killed and the Chinese officials left sued for peace with the Japanese Empire, a peace that would cripple the Chinese nation for generations. Natural resources would be sent to Japan, everything they wanted. The restored Chinese army would be controlled by Japanese officers and their foreign policy would be firmly controlled from Tokyo.
The war was won, the Japanese had won, at a great cost. Of the 1 million men conscripted during the partial mobilization, 90% had died, but it was a honorable death. The Empire was greater than ever and the honor was still intact. One month after the victory, Japan mobilized again, this time 5.5 million men. The Emperor had new goals in sight, goals that would create a Empire that the world had yet to see. The year was 1941.
Japanese victory parade
In Europe, the Germans had first cut Poland in half, and shared the eastern bit with the Soviet Union. Later, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands was occupied in a month as the German armored spearheads swept away all resistance in the Ardennes, Paris soon fell. In the vacuum of the French surrender, Japan captured French Indochina, and seized power in Siam, thus widening their empire and quietly wishing for a German victory.
After the fall of France, Italy joined sides with Germany, soon followed by every state in eastern Europe. Italy felt confident with the German victories and attacked the British forces in Egypt, only to be swept away from the African continent by the superior British. Mussolini, the ruler of Italy abandoned the idea of an African empire and turned the eye on Spain. Spain, ruled by the republicans, just victorious in a civil war managed to hold back the Italian invasion attempt, but was no match for the German tanks and paratroopers that swept down from the Pyrenees and soon occupied Madrid.
German paratroopers preparing for their drop over Spain
As the Japanese war in china became more and more brutal, the USA, defender of democracy, the arsenal of democracy, as they called themselves demanded a Japanese retreat and an end to the war. Japan refused, seeing an end to the war with a favorable outcome. The US responded by an embargo that crippled the Japanese war machine. As the war ended, embargoed resources was no longer a problem with a friendly government in China, sending whatever the Japanese want directly to the steel mills without charge. But the US offense would not be forgotten.
As the Japanese final push towards victory in China came to and end, Germany surprised the world when they began the largest invasion in history, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Japanese diplomats in Berlin, that closely watched the German preparations, reported back to Tokyo that Hitler was very confident, and that he was sure that the war would be over before the winter, as the Soviet army and it's tactics was outdated.
He proved to be right.
In September, just before the snow began to fall in the vast soviet empire, the German army occupied Moscow, Leningrad, Archangels, Stalingrad and Baku, triggering a coup in the Soviet cabinet, more and more disappointed by their leader, Stalin. Stalin was sent to Siberia, his faith is unknown. Peace was made with Germany and someone called Lenin took over as the Soviet leader, someone very much alike the dead Vladimir Lenin, an imposer, using the fame of the revolutionary leader as a mean to gain control over the civil war that raged in the eastern part of the nation.
Germany celebrates their victory over the Soviet Union with a parade in Berlin
Germany soon established marionette regimes in western Russia, in the same manners as the Japanese did in China. The United Kingdom and it's allies now stood alone against the German war machine, now having no distractions from invading their home islands. Troops from all around their colonial empire was withdrawn back home, leaving many overseas possessions unprotected, something that the Japanese leaders would not be late to take advantage of.
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