Battle of Changsha (1944)
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Changsha (also known as the Battle of Hengyang or Campaign of Changsha-Hengyang) was an invasion of the Chinese
province of Hunan
by Japan
ese troops near the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War
. As such, it encompasses three separate conflicts: an invasion of the city of Changsha and two invasions of Hengyang
.
The Japanese military
transferred the bulk of their troops from the Japanese homeland and Manchuria
as part of Operation "Ichi-Go" or "Tairiku Datsu Sakusen" which roughly translates as 'Operation to Break through the Continent'. This was an attempt to establish a land and rail corridor from between the Japanese occupied territories of Manchuria
, Northern and Central China and Korea
and those in South East Asia.
In June 1944 the Japanese deployed 360,000 troops (not including air and naval support), to invade Changsha for the fourth time (the first being in 1939). The Operation involved more Japanese troops than any other campaign in the Second Sino-Japanese war
.
province and the important junction of two railroads in southern China: the tri-province railroad of Hunan
-Kweichow-Guangxi
and the one from Canton to Wuhan
. Hengyang is also on the tri-province railroad and very close to the Canton-Wuhan
Railroad. Furthermore, Lake Dongting and the three cities of Changsha, Hengyang
, and Lingling, are connected by the Hsiang River. It was imperative for both sides to control the suburban areas of Changsha and Hengyang
.
The tactical objective of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army was to secure the Railroad of Hunan
-Kweichow-Guangxi
and the southern area of China. The United States 14th Air Force of United States Army Air Forces
also stationed their fighters and bombers at several air bases along the three-province railroad: Hengyang
, Lingling, Guilin
, Liuzhou
, and Nanning
. From there, the American Flying Tigers
led by Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault
, had inflicted heavy damage on Japanese troops both in China and Formosa and could launch air strikes against the home islands of Japan.
After several ineffective air strikes by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
, the Japanese decided to use ground forces to deny Allied air power using these airbases. By a direct order from Shunroku Hata(:zh:畑俊六), Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army, the Japanese 11th Army stationed at Wuhan
was given the mission to attack Changsha and to move southwest via the tri-province railroad. It was later to make contact with the Japanese 23rd Army of the Japanese Sixth Area Army from Canton.
General Isamu Yokoyama(:zh:橫山 勇), the two-star commander of the Japanese 11th Army, headed five divisions which were reinforced with four more divisions and three independent brigades. Shunroku Hata decided to stay at Wuhan
from 25 May 1944 until the end of the second phase of Operation Ichi-Go.
The Chinese attempted to use the previous tactic of avoiding direct contact by marching in parallel fashion to out-flank the Japanese, but were unable to encircle them like before and had to retreat. This allowed forces of the Imperial Japanese Army
(IJA) to rapidly ransack the city of Changsha, breaking the defenses of the infantry within the city, as well as neutralizing the Chinese artillery on Yuelu Mountain
, Changsha was quickly lost to the Japanese.
A two-star general Zhang De-neng, the commander of the National Revolutionary Army
's (NRA) 4th Corps in charge of defending Changsha, ordered a general retreat against a direct order telegrammed from his immediate superior, Xue Yue
(:zh:薛岳), the Commander of the ninth Military Front. However, Zhang did not provide a feasible plan and fled the city while leaving most of his troops withdrawing in confusion and to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. Zhang was arrested by Xue, stood trial and sentenced by court-martial to five years in prison. He was later ordered to be executed by Chiang Kai-shek
on the charge of "incompetence of command and desertion upon combat engagement" by the power of "Military Discipline upon Combat Engagement."(:zh:戰時軍律)
repelled their advance twice. The predicament in Hengyang helped hasten the crumbling of Tojo Hideki's cabinet. In conjunction with the loss of Saipan
on 9 July 1944, Tojo Hideki and his cabinet handed in their resignation on 18 July 1944.
In August 1944, Japanese troops led by three two-star generals again attacked Hengyang with air support. Chinese troops resisted fiercely aided by local knowledge and constructing effective barricades up to four meters high. The Chinese defenses were intelligently constructed and used crossfire zones to maximize firepower. This caused the Japanese 68th and 116th Divisions to lose morale and it began preparations for retreat. Morale rose, however, when the Japanese 58th Division broke into the northwest perimeter of the city, defended by the Chinese Third Division and the attack resumed. Reinforcements from five Corps: the 37th, 62nd, 74th, 79th, and 100th, attempted many times to reach Hengyang, but were blocked by four Japanese divisions: the 27th, 34th, 40th, and 64th.
The Japanese eventually captured the Chinese Tenth Corps commander Fang Xianjue
, who surrendered Hengyang on 8 August 1944 after his Tenth Corps was decimated, down from seventeen thousand to three thousand (wounded) men. This concluded the Campaign of Changsha-Hengyang.
reactivated the headquarters of the Tenth Corps at Yi-San in Guangxi
after the defeat of Hengyang
. Li Yu-tang was the commanding general of the parent unit of the Tenth Corps.
Some of the surviving Tenth Corps soldiers slipped through the Japanese lines and returned to the new corps headquarters on foot. Of the imprisoned three thousand wounded Chinese soldiers, one thousand died of starvation, injury, sickness or mistreatment by the Japanese.
Most of the captured Chinese general officers at Hengyang managed to break through the Japanese lines separately. On 19 September 1944, Fang Xianjue
was rescued by a clandestine team from the Changsha Station of the "Military-Statistics Bureau
" of the National Military Council
and was personally received by Chiang Kai-shek
at Chiang's Chungking residence on 14 December 1944. Against the unofficial military traditions in east Asia, "Fang and his five tiger-like generals," surrendered the Chinese Tenth Corps in Chungking, they were also awarded the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. Fang and two other generals were given command of new full-strength divisions. At the same time, Fang was also assigned to the two-star deputy commander of the 37th Army Group. All six general officers remained on active military duty until after the end of the war.
with a high price in casualties over the city of Hengyang - many lives were lost, including 390 Japanese commissioned officers dead and another 520 wounded. The 68th and 116th Divisions lost their combat strength and were reassigned to garrison duties. Thus, the Chinese troops to the north were able to expand their influence despite the loss of Hengyang city.
On the side of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, Xue
's Ninth Military Front in this campaign lost two effective corps loyal to Chiang Kai-Shek: the 4th and the 10th corps. This rendered "Tiger Xue" a toothless tiger until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War
.
Sequentially, the Japanese 11th Army moved toward Lingling, seizing it on 4 September 1944, and controlled Guilin
on 10 November 1944. The Japanese China Expeditionary Army ostensibly had completed the strategic objective of the Imperial Japanese General Staff: linking up by occupation their territories in east Asia, (although they did not have enough manpower to maintain actual control over it due to their heavy losses).
Moreover, the United States Army Air Forces
transferred all their bomber groups in the above Chinese air bases to newly captured Saipan in July 1944, during the battle of Hengyang. From Saipan, United States aerial fleets began their bombing campaign against the home islands of Japan. One of the Japanese tactical achievements in this bloody campaign, (Operation Ichi-Go), had been easily neutralized by a simple American military maneuver in the Pacific.
After the battle of Hengyang, the Japanese could not continue to fight effectively. During this period Japan discovered that government privileges from Wang Jingwei
's puppet regime were useless, consequently they rejected plans to take more Chinese territory. At the same time their negotiating position with China became significantly less powerful—to the point where they agreed to set aside the "Tang Ju" treaty.
The Chinese government continued to pressure the Japanese to completely withdraw from the northeast. The Japanese, in a desperate measure, collected as many troops as possible in April 1945 to invade a heavy settlement (Zhijiang
) in the west of Hunan
, hoping to open a path to Sichuan
. The troops were intercepted in an ambush by the Chinese National Guard and almost completely wiped out. China regained some of its territory. At this point, the course of the war had turned. The Japanese subsequently surrendered at the Zijiang River
.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
province of Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese troops near the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
. As such, it encompasses three separate conflicts: an invasion of the city of Changsha and two invasions of Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
.
The Japanese military
Military history of Japan
The military history of Japan is characterised by a long period of feudal wars, followed by domestic stability, and then rampant imperialism. It culminates with Japan's defeat by the Allies in World War II...
transferred the bulk of their troops from the Japanese homeland and Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
as part of Operation "Ichi-Go" or "Tairiku Datsu Sakusen" which roughly translates as 'Operation to Break through the Continent'. This was an attempt to establish a land and rail corridor from between the Japanese occupied territories of Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, Northern and Central China and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and those in South East Asia.
In June 1944 the Japanese deployed 360,000 troops (not including air and naval support), to invade Changsha for the fourth time (the first being in 1939). The Operation involved more Japanese troops than any other campaign in the Second Sino-Japanese war
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
.
Japanese Objectives
Changsha is the capital city of HunanHunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
province and the important junction of two railroads in southern China: the tri-province railroad of Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
-Kweichow-Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
and the one from Canton to Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
. Hengyang is also on the tri-province railroad and very close to the Canton-Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
Railroad. Furthermore, Lake Dongting and the three cities of Changsha, Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
, and Lingling, are connected by the Hsiang River. It was imperative for both sides to control the suburban areas of Changsha and Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
.
The tactical objective of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army was to secure the Railroad of Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
-Kweichow-Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
and the southern area of China. The United States 14th Air Force of United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
also stationed their fighters and bombers at several air bases along the three-province railroad: Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
, Lingling, Guilin
Guilin
Guilin is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of far southern China, sitting on the west bank of the Li River. Its name means "forest of Sweet Osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant Sweet Osmanthus trees located in the city...
, Liuzhou
Liuzhou
-History:thumb|Liuchow in 1945.Liuzhou has a history of more than 2,100 years. The city was founded in 111 B.C. when it was known as Tanzhong....
, and Nanning
Nanning
Nanning is the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.-History:...
. From there, the American Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
led by Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault
Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault , was an American military aviator. A contentious officer, he was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fight-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the U.S. Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment...
, had inflicted heavy damage on Japanese troops both in China and Formosa and could launch air strikes against the home islands of Japan.
After several ineffective air strikes by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
The , was the land-based aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army. As with the IJA itself, the IJAAF was developed along the lines of Imperial German Army Aviation so its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground troops while maintaining a limited air interdiction...
, the Japanese decided to use ground forces to deny Allied air power using these airbases. By a direct order from Shunroku Hata(:zh:畑俊六), Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army, the Japanese 11th Army stationed at Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
was given the mission to attack Changsha and to move southwest via the tri-province railroad. It was later to make contact with the Japanese 23rd Army of the Japanese Sixth Area Army from Canton.
General Isamu Yokoyama(:zh:橫山 勇), the two-star commander of the Japanese 11th Army, headed five divisions which were reinforced with four more divisions and three independent brigades. Shunroku Hata decided to stay at Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
from 25 May 1944 until the end of the second phase of Operation Ichi-Go.
Battle of Changsha
On 27 May 1944, the Japanese 11th Army launched a general offensive toward Changsha as scheduled. The Japanese modified the tactics they had used in their previous three attempts by using the crack 3rd and 13th Divisions to attack Wanyang mountain toward Liuyang, effectively out-flanking the Chinese troops defending Changsha and cutting off their possible retreat routes, they also placed some secondary divisions in charge of attacking Changsha.The Chinese attempted to use the previous tactic of avoiding direct contact by marching in parallel fashion to out-flank the Japanese, but were unable to encircle them like before and had to retreat. This allowed forces of the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
(IJA) to rapidly ransack the city of Changsha, breaking the defenses of the infantry within the city, as well as neutralizing the Chinese artillery on Yuelu Mountain
Yuelu Mountain
Mount Yuelu is located on the west bank of Xiang River in Changsha, Hunan, China. Its main peak and the highest point, Yunlu Peak, is about 300 meters above the sea level....
, Changsha was quickly lost to the Japanese.
A two-star general Zhang De-neng, the commander of the National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
's (NRA) 4th Corps in charge of defending Changsha, ordered a general retreat against a direct order telegrammed from his immediate superior, Xue Yue
Xue Yue
Xue Yue was a Chinese Nationalist military general, nicknamed by Claire Lee Chennault of the Flying Tigers as the Patton of Asia.-Early Life and Career:...
(:zh:薛岳), the Commander of the ninth Military Front. However, Zhang did not provide a feasible plan and fled the city while leaving most of his troops withdrawing in confusion and to be taken prisoner by the Japanese. Zhang was arrested by Xue, stood trial and sentenced by court-martial to five years in prison. He was later ordered to be executed by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
on the charge of "incompetence of command and desertion upon combat engagement" by the power of "Military Discipline upon Combat Engagement."(:zh:戰時軍律)
Battle of Hengyang
Two Japanese military detachments moved on to besiege Hengyang, but the NRA's understrength Tenth Corps under the command of Fang XianjueFang Xianjue
Fang Xianjue was born in a small Jiangsu village gentry family in 1903...
repelled their advance twice. The predicament in Hengyang helped hasten the crumbling of Tojo Hideki's cabinet. In conjunction with the loss of Saipan
Battle of Saipan
The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June-9 July 1944. The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was...
on 9 July 1944, Tojo Hideki and his cabinet handed in their resignation on 18 July 1944.
In August 1944, Japanese troops led by three two-star generals again attacked Hengyang with air support. Chinese troops resisted fiercely aided by local knowledge and constructing effective barricades up to four meters high. The Chinese defenses were intelligently constructed and used crossfire zones to maximize firepower. This caused the Japanese 68th and 116th Divisions to lose morale and it began preparations for retreat. Morale rose, however, when the Japanese 58th Division broke into the northwest perimeter of the city, defended by the Chinese Third Division and the attack resumed. Reinforcements from five Corps: the 37th, 62nd, 74th, 79th, and 100th, attempted many times to reach Hengyang, but were blocked by four Japanese divisions: the 27th, 34th, 40th, and 64th.
The Japanese eventually captured the Chinese Tenth Corps commander Fang Xianjue
Fang Xianjue
Fang Xianjue was born in a small Jiangsu village gentry family in 1903...
, who surrendered Hengyang on 8 August 1944 after his Tenth Corps was decimated, down from seventeen thousand to three thousand (wounded) men. This concluded the Campaign of Changsha-Hengyang.
The defeated Tenth Corps
The Chinese National Military CouncilNational Military Council
The command of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army was directed by the National Military Council , chaired by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II...
reactivated the headquarters of the Tenth Corps at Yi-San in Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
after the defeat of Hengyang
Hengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
. Li Yu-tang was the commanding general of the parent unit of the Tenth Corps.
Some of the surviving Tenth Corps soldiers slipped through the Japanese lines and returned to the new corps headquarters on foot. Of the imprisoned three thousand wounded Chinese soldiers, one thousand died of starvation, injury, sickness or mistreatment by the Japanese.
Most of the captured Chinese general officers at Hengyang managed to break through the Japanese lines separately. On 19 September 1944, Fang Xianjue
Fang Xianjue
Fang Xianjue was born in a small Jiangsu village gentry family in 1903...
was rescued by a clandestine team from the Changsha Station of the "Military-Statistics Bureau
The Investigation and Statistics Bureau
The Bureau of Investigation and Statistics was the intelligence agency of the Republic of China . It was devoted to intelligence gathering for purposes of national security and defense...
" of the National Military Council
National Military Council
The command of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army was directed by the National Military Council , chaired by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II...
and was personally received by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
at Chiang's Chungking residence on 14 December 1944. Against the unofficial military traditions in east Asia, "Fang and his five tiger-like generals," surrendered the Chinese Tenth Corps in Chungking, they were also awarded the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. Fang and two other generals were given command of new full-strength divisions. At the same time, Fang was also assigned to the two-star deputy commander of the 37th Army Group. All six general officers remained on active military duty until after the end of the war.
Aftermath
After 47 days of bitter fighting, Japanese troops managed to occupy HengyangHengyang
Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
with a high price in casualties over the city of Hengyang - many lives were lost, including 390 Japanese commissioned officers dead and another 520 wounded. The 68th and 116th Divisions lost their combat strength and were reassigned to garrison duties. Thus, the Chinese troops to the north were able to expand their influence despite the loss of Hengyang city.
On the side of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, Xue
Xue Yue
Xue Yue was a Chinese Nationalist military general, nicknamed by Claire Lee Chennault of the Flying Tigers as the Patton of Asia.-Early Life and Career:...
's Ninth Military Front in this campaign lost two effective corps loyal to Chiang Kai-Shek: the 4th and the 10th corps. This rendered "Tiger Xue" a toothless tiger until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
.
Sequentially, the Japanese 11th Army moved toward Lingling, seizing it on 4 September 1944, and controlled Guilin
Guilin
Guilin is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of far southern China, sitting on the west bank of the Li River. Its name means "forest of Sweet Osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant Sweet Osmanthus trees located in the city...
on 10 November 1944. The Japanese China Expeditionary Army ostensibly had completed the strategic objective of the Imperial Japanese General Staff: linking up by occupation their territories in east Asia, (although they did not have enough manpower to maintain actual control over it due to their heavy losses).
Moreover, the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
transferred all their bomber groups in the above Chinese air bases to newly captured Saipan in July 1944, during the battle of Hengyang. From Saipan, United States aerial fleets began their bombing campaign against the home islands of Japan. One of the Japanese tactical achievements in this bloody campaign, (Operation Ichi-Go), had been easily neutralized by a simple American military maneuver in the Pacific.
After the battle of Hengyang, the Japanese could not continue to fight effectively. During this period Japan discovered that government privileges from Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei , alternate name Wang Zhaoming, was a Chinese politician. He was initially known as a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang , but later became increasingly anti-Communist after his efforts to collaborate with the CCP ended in political failure...
's puppet regime were useless, consequently they rejected plans to take more Chinese territory. At the same time their negotiating position with China became significantly less powerful—to the point where they agreed to set aside the "Tang Ju" treaty.
The Chinese government continued to pressure the Japanese to completely withdraw from the northeast. The Japanese, in a desperate measure, collected as many troops as possible in April 1945 to invade a heavy settlement (Zhijiang
Zhijiang
Zhijiang may refer to:* Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, in Hunan, China* Zhijiang, Hubei, county-level city in Hubei, China...
) in the west of Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
, hoping to open a path to Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
. The troops were intercepted in an ambush by the Chinese National Guard and almost completely wiped out. China regained some of its territory. At this point, the course of the war had turned. The Japanese subsequently surrendered at the Zijiang River
Zijiang River
The Zi Jiang is one of the four largest rivers in Hunan province of China, also one of the main tributaries of the Yangtze River. It is 653 km long and covers 28,2142 km² .The Zijiang has two sources, the South and the West...
.