There would be a further twenty five thousand dollar bonus if the communist leaders, or their heads, were delivered to him.
Von Luck listened to this then shook his head in amazement. I can’t wait to tell Rommel this one!
Sato bid him goodbye after informing him that the next morning the Japanese forces would be retiring back into Manchuria.
Von Luck went in search of General Cheng.
NANKING
The Chinese Nationalist army was twenty kilometres south of the city. The Japanese General had just received orders to hold the city at all costs. Reinforcements would be sent to the city, but these should not be expected for three days.
The reports he had received from Wuhan and Canton indicated that the Chinese, with help of the foreign barbarians, had forged a formidable fighting force. He expected them to attack the next day. He had precious few tanks and his ammunition reserves had been depleted over previous months and never replaced. His troops only numbered thirty five thousand. How was he hold Nanking when he was outnumbered more than fifteen to one!
Chiang caught the Japanese off guard. He did not wait until the next day. Using their now familiar blitzkrieg tactics, units of his army penetrated the city’s defence perimeter at several points before the evening drew to a close. This was the signal for a general uprising of the population in the city. With all their pent up hatred the people of Nanking fell upon the outward facing Japanese from behind. Ordinary Chinese citizens took great risks just for the chance of killing one Japanese soldier. Consequently their casualties were high. But this did not deter them. One man, saw his chance of revenge for the killing of his entire family during the Nanking incident. He strapped explosives to his chest and threw himself under a Japanese tank. The tank was blown to pieces. Suicide bombers were everywhere. They became known as the ‘Dare to Die Corps’.
The Japanese were now facing the Nationalist army in front, and a huge mob of insurgents behind. With grim determination they fought on.
The Chinese forces had the city surrounded. In view of the significance of Nanking as the site of unparalleled atrocities, Chiang had no option but to crush the enemy. The would be no offer of surrender terms. No allowing of a strategic retreat. Complete and unconditional surrender was all he would accept.
It took another eight days before resistance ceased, except for few isolated pockets. Of the total of thirty five thousand Japanese troops that had defended Nanking, fewer than five thousand were taken prisoner. The majority of these prisoners were wounded. No reinforcements had been sent. Neither had any air support been received.
It had been a savage battle. The cost in Chinese lives was high. But the ‘Rape of Nanking’ had been avenged.
The world took note.
SOUTH EAST CHINA
They had left canton nine days ago. General Yue’s army now surrounded the port of Shantou. If intelligence was to be believed they were probably facing fewer than ten thousand Japanese troops.
Yue had fallen behind schedule. His army was still over twelve hundred kilometres from Shanghai. He decided to speed things up. He would leave Sieckenius with forty thousand troops and twenty tanks, to deal with Shantou. Yue would hurry on to the next sizeable town, Xiamen, a further two hundred and fifty kilometres away.
A reconnaissance in force was despatched towards Xiamen. Yue followed behind with the larger portion of his army. Three days later his forward reconnaissance troops reported to him that the town was free of enemy troops. The Japanese, now aware of the potency of their Chinese enemy, had evacuated their forces, assessed at twenty thousand or less, to the offshore island of Kinmen.
That same day Sieckenius arrived from Shantou. There, the Japanese had done the same. They had transported their entire force to Nanao Island, about eight kilometres offshore. Sieckenius had left ten thousand of his troops as garrison of Shantou, and hurried to join Yue.
Yue and Sieckenius pondered on the enemy tactics. The enemy withdrawals were a positive development for the southern Nationalist army in that their advance towards Shanghai had not been held up, and losses of troops and equipment were minimal. On the other hand sizeable numbers of Japanese troops were left on islands close to the coast and, in effect, behind the Nationalist line of advance.
In the end they both agreed that there was little they could do other than leave some of their own troops behind to guard against the enemy attempting to land and recapture territories.
That same day they heard of the liberation of Nanking, and the decimation of the Japanese defenders. Everywhere there were smiles on the faces of the Chinese troops. Their morale soared!
The southern army had covered a distance of more than one thousand kilometres since launching their coastal campaign. However they were still almost another one thousand kilometres from Shanghai. Generalissimo Chiang’s army was only three hundred kilometres from Shanghai. There was no way they could join forces in time for the battle for the city.
NORTH EAST AND CENTRAL CHINA
General Cheng’s force, now that their primary mission of eliminating the communists was accomplished, had made their way south into central China. The scattered Japanese strongholds they encountered were subdued one by one as they continued at an almost leisurely advance. Their main purpose was to tie up the Japanese forces in the north and central China by posing a threat across a wide area.
Requests from local Japanese commanders for reinforcements from Manchukuo were turned down by the army Commander-in-Chief of that state, General Umezu, the same general who had helped Chiang crush the communists. Umezu had concluded a second secret deal with Chiang. The Chinese would leave Manchukuo alone if Umezu kept his troops there at home.
Von Luck thought that all things considered, the northern army was having a rather enjoyable war!
BERLIN
Everything was proceeding according to plan in China. Now that the Nationalist forces were threatening the important city of Shanghai, the Governing Council had activated the second part of their plan. This was to induce the Americans to coerce the Japanese into entering peace negotiations.
Japan imported eighty percent of its oil from the United States. Germany, backed by Britain and France, had been quietly canvassing the Americans to threaten Japan with comprehensive sanctions, including oil, unless they entered into serious peace negotiations with the Chinese. This was something the United States had already looked at, so it was no great leap for them to actually implement it.
Now that the Chinese had demonstrated their newfound strength, and ended their long civil war with the defeat of the communist insurgents, it was hoped the Japanese would face reality.
The Americans had agreed! President Roosevelt publicly called for China and Japan to stop fighting and start talking. Behind the scenes he let the Japanese know in no uncertain terms, that he was ready to act decisively with sanctions against them unless they came to the negotiating table. He was also willing to offer them favourable trading and other concessions if they curtailed their expansionist policies. Roosevelt, like the Germans, was anxious to maintain friendly relations with Japan, as they were a bastion of anti-communism in the Far East.
In Japan, economic and political turmoil in the 1920’s had led to the rise of militarism, and subsequently to Japanese expansionism. In effect, the state became to a large degree, the servant of the army. By 1940 the country had a totalitarian form of government.
At the beginning of 1940 a new Prime Minister was appointed, Mitsumasa Yonai. He was pro-British and pro-American. He strongly opposed any pact with Nazi Germany. Because of this, the Imperial Japanese Army was dissatisfied with Yonai. The army was preparing to act to force Yonai to resign, when Germany, triumphant in Europe, lost Hitler and renounced Nazism.
All parties in Japan soon detected the new and distinctly cooler attitude towards their country on the part of Germany. The German Foreign Minister had already advised them of German concerns about the continuing Sino-Japanese War.
This streng
thened Prime Minister Yonai’s hand and he had been able to retain his position, at least for the time being.
That was one year ago.
The Japanese Army and its supporters continued to undermine Yonai at every opportunity, but now, one year later, August 1941, the tide had turned against them. The stalemate that had previously existed in the war with China had seriously deteriorated. The Chinese Nationalist army had unexpectedly displayed amazing resilience. They had not only defeated their communist rivals, they had recaptured Nanking and other areas along the south east coast that Japan had previously occupied. They had Shanghai surrounded.
The American approach with a request that they talk peace with China was received by Prime Minister Yonai with great personal pleasure. In agreeing to the request after heated discussions with all factions within the government, he had had to overcome intense opposition from the army and its supporters, and in fact would probably have failed if he had not received the personal endorsement of The Emperor.
Initial talks were scheduled for 10 September in Honolulu. The Americans were doing everything they could to be helpful.
In the meantime Generalissimo Chiang had agreed not to attack Japanese positions in China. However, he did not let this agreement stop him from consolidating his forces around Shanghai and his other identified objectives. The ceasefire also gave the technicians and engineers time to repair and service all their equipment. His three armies were also re-supplied and rested.
Japan undertook not to send any further troops from Japan to China until the peace conference ended.
The first meeting between the Chinese and Japanese produced nothing more than both sides setting out their respective positions. China wanted Japan to withdraw from all Chinese territories including Manchukuo, Taiwan and Korea. The Japanese insisted the latter three were officially Japanese possessions. They also claimed the island of Hainan on the south east China coast.
The United States, Britain, Germany, France and Holland had observer status at the conference. The scene was set for much ‘behind the scenes’ manoeuvring.
After four days of claims, counter-claims, accusations and counter-accusations, neither side had moved in the slightest from their first negotiating position. The conference adjourned for few days.
The whole world knew that Japan was the aggressor. The USA gently reminded the Japanese Government of US intentions.
In Japan the squabbling between the militarists and the anti-war factions was violent at times and led to several assassinations and at least one suicide. Prime Minister Yonai had to be guarded at all times as he received constant threats to his life.
The peace delegates returned to Japan for further instructions.
To break the impasse there was a dramatic intervention by a section of Japan’s armed forces. Admiral Isoroko Yamamoto, the highly regarded Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy, had always opposed the invasion of China. He had serious reservations about any action that could bring about war with the USA and European powers. He also had close relations with the Imperial Royal family.
Yamamoto now threw his weight behind the Yonai and the peace faction. He used his influence at court to press the Emperor to indicate that he favoured peace.
Yonai kept his nerve and sent the peace conference delegates back to Honolulu to continue the search for peace.
In Tokyo the inflexible and west-hating General Hideki Tojo of the Imperial Japanese Army, had finalised his plans two weeks earlier. He saw no room for compromise.
He had been the War Minister in the Japanese Government for over a year and was without doubt, Japan’s strongman. A militarist and totalitarian. He had always a great supporter of ties with Nazi Germany. He was virulently opposed to yielding his country’s Chinese acquisitions. His attitude was that they would be Japanese territory for ever! He favoured war with the United States if they imposed their threatened sanctions.
He had influenced a group of young Imperial Japanese Army officers to launch a coup with a view to purging the government and military leadership of all anti-war elements. This was now about to happen.
They achieved complete surprise as they launched their action. Previously targeted leading government officials were assassinated, and the government centre in Tokyo was occupied by them before any of their perceived opposition had any idea what was happening. Chaos and fear spread through the city.
A satisfied General Tojo prepared himself for his appointment as Japan’s new Prime Minister. His first act would be to recall the delegates from the peace conference. His second act would be to order the finalising of the plans to annihilate the US fleet at Pearl Harbour in a surprise attack without a declaration of war. The Imperial Japanese Navy would then be the masters of the Pacific.
He carried on making his plans.
One of the leaders of the young officers came to see him. Tojo was consumed with anger when he was told that they had failed to assassinate the Prime Minister. Neither had they been able to secure control of the Imperial Palace. These two objectives had been considered vital to the success of the coup. The government remained intact. Tojo was not discouraged. He had the army on his side. The coup could not fail!
Unfortunately for the Japanese General, the unexpected happened. There was considerable Imperial anger at the attempted coup. This heightened tensions within the entire Japanese military, and divisions appeared. The result was overwhelming opposition to the coup, and units of the army and navy quickly moved against the mutineers.
The rebels soon surrendered. Later, after a summary trial, many were executed and the rest imprisoned.
General Tojo never became Prime Minister but he at least escaped the humiliation of a trial by committing ritual suicide.
The radical ‘war’ faction had now lost most of its influence. The peace conference continued.
HONOLULU
15 OCTOBER
Some progress had been made. The Japanese had conceded that the offshore islands they held, including Hainan but excluding Taiwan, could be returned to China. In turn, China agreed they could renounce any claim to Korea. The issues of Manchukuo and Taiwan had not yet been resolved.
Manchukuo, previously known as Manchuria, had been seized by the Japanese ten years earlier, although they had been active in the region for many years previously. Japanese investment and the states rich natural resources resulted in rapid economic growth. It was now a regional industrial powerhouse.
Following their policy of formally detaching Manchukuo from China, Japan had installed Puyi, the last Emperor of China, as their puppet Head of State of Manchukuo. Puyi had still been a child when he was deposed from the Imperial throne of China.
Few other countries had recognised the new state, but among them were the Soviet Union, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Manchukuo was now far too important to the economy of Japan for them to surrender it readily.
The large island of Taiwan, had been ceded by China to Japan in 1895 following China’s defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war. Japanese immigrants accounted for roughly ten percent of the island’s current population.
The talks were now deadlocked over these two territories.
It was combined pressure from the United States and the European powers that finally engineered an acceptable compromise, the main points of which were:
All Japanese forces in China would be withdrawn by no later than the end of November. Scattered units of troops throughout the country meant that the logistics of withdrawal were not straightforward, hence the reason for the delay.
Taiwan would be returned to China by Japan, in return for a treaty limiting the number of Chinese military on the island to twenty thousand defensive personnel. A period of one year would be required for an orderly withdrawal of all Japanese civilians from the island.
China would recognise the state of Manchukuo in return for a non-aggression treaty limiting the Japanese military there, to two hundred thousand, the bulk of which had to be stationed
in the north of the state, i.e. on the border with the Soviet Union. Generalissimo Chiang was not entirely unhappy with the thought of a buffer state between China and the Soviet Union.
Japan and China would enter into a mutual defence pact. No third country was mentioned here, but there was no doubt in anybody’s mind that this was specifically aimed at deterring aggression by their common northern neighbour, the Soviet Union.
Finally, Japan would pay war reparations to China. The amount agreed was not excessive and could be paid in the form of deliveries of raw materials and farm produce. This would help China pay her debts accumulated as a result of the war.
The German Peace Page 16