1930-1937
As the year 1930 dawned, China completed its conversion from a clique system of regional warlord states into a unified but fragile state, that of Nationalist China.
With social upheaval at home, the persistent effects of the Great Depression, and opposed only by a unified but still weak Chinese state, late in September 1931 the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) seized opportunity to expand the empire. Enlistment centers were swamped with applicants.
The Mukden battle plan projected a thrust of IJA Cavalry units along the western rim of the Liaodong Peninsula. This action was intended to drive a wedge between Nationalist forces in Manchuria and China proper. Acting in concert with forces staged along the Changbai mountain chain, the IJA sought to envelop the resident Nationalist forces in Manchuria prior to allowing any defensive response.
The key to achieve and retain momentum would be through use of the recently formed IJA Air Force (IJAAF) stationed at newly constructed airbases in Qingdao and Pyeongyang. For the first time, air forces would play a vital and direct role in achieving success on the battlefield.
Hostilities opened as planned. Superior training and equipment showed immediate results in the first victory of the war.
Nationalist forces staged their first reinforcement in the mountainous province of Fushun. Field Marshal Oku coordinated an escalation to break the Chinese resistance.
IJA Cavalry, having broken out into the Manchurian plain, attempted an early closure of the developing South Manchurian pocket. The front shifted with Nationalists scrambling to maintain supply lines. General Osako’s lone Cavalry division faced them head on (with friendly support).
A week later, the South Manchurian pocket was sealed by General Tanaka’s 2nd Mountaineer Corp (Harbin province) and General Kigoshi’s 3rd Cavalry Corp (Baicheng province).
The Nationalists, who had been consolidating in Shenyang, faced a coordinated assault by General Nagaoka. Chinese resistance soon shattered.
Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek participated in the action, but eluded capture. It’s been rumored that he posed as a Japanese Infantryman to slip through the lines.
Army commanders urged a widening of the conflict against China but civilian politicians in Tokyo settled on restraint. The Nationalists sued for peace shortly after the Shenyang offensive and once the smoke cleared, a new vassal state was founded.
Early in 1932, the empire finally emerged from the shadow of the Great Depression. Although the economy began to mend, new challenges emerged.
Following Mukden, military leaders commenced an escalation of military funding. But by 1933, the limits of expansion were again reached as the wartime manpower boon had faded.
Traditionally a guiding influence on national policy matters, after Manchukuo's formation Japan’s military leaders began taking more direct control of state policy by filling Cabinet positions and senior government positions.
When the time came to revisit military force limits or to re-negotiate naval treaty limits with foreign powers, the Japanese increasingly bowed out.
With a policy of independence from foreign entanglement becoming the norm, the Empire withdrew from the League of Nations in 1934 and commenced unrestricted naval rearmament.
