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===The Sino-Japanese War: 1937-1945===

===The Sino-Japanese War: 1937-1945===

A determined campaign of assassination and coup attempts by ultranationalist junior officers left the Japanese leadership cowed by 1936. The budget for fiscal year 1937 proposed a 40 percent increase in spending, and a war was required to justify this increase to the Japanese public. Despite the alliance with Germany, the army leaders had no stomach for war with the Soviets. Instead, they suggested war with China, whose army was not nearly as formidable. The Nationalists and the Communists responded to the threat by forming a "Second United Front" in December 1936. All the same, China was ill-prepared when the Japanese finally launched their offensive in July 1937. Japan quickly overran a vast region and cut off China's access to seaports. The Nationalists retreated to Chongqing in the southwest, the Communists to Yan'an in the northwest. A puppet state led by Wang was set up in Nanjing in 1940.

A determined campaign of assassination and coup attempts by ultranationalist junior officers left the Japanese leadership cowed by 1936. The budget for fiscal year 1937 proposed a 40 percent increase in spending, and a war was required to justify this increase to the Japanese public. Despite the alliance with Germany, the army leaders had no stomach for war with the Soviets. Instead, they suggested war with China, whose army was not nearly as formidable. The Nationalists and the Communists responded to the threat by forming a "Second United Front" in December 1936.

 

Despite the preparation, China was quickly overwhelmed when the Japanese finally launched their offensive in July 1937. Japan overran a vast region and cut off China's access to seaports. The Nationalists retreated to Chongqing in the southwest, the Communists to Yan'an in the northwest. A puppet state led by Wang was set up in Nanjing in 1940.

 

The Chinese cause received much sympathetic attention in the U.S. press, and the [[Flying Tigers]], a volunteer squadron of American aviators led by [[Claire Chennault]], was lionized. First Lady Song Meiling, a U.S.-educated Christian, was even more admired as a resistance leader. The Burma Road was built to allow U.S. "lend-lease" aid to reach the Chinese army. After the Japanese conquered Burma in 1942, supplies were flown over the Himalayas until the Ledo Road was completed in January 1945.

The Chinese cause received much sympathetic attention in the U.S. press, and the [[Flying Tigers]], a volunteer squadron of American aviators led by [[Claire Chennault]], was lionized. First Lady Song Meiling, a U.S.-educated Christian, was even more admired as a resistance leader. The Burma Road was built to allow U.S. "lend-lease" aid to reach the Chinese army. After the Japanese conquered Burma in 1942, supplies were flown over the Himalayas until the Ledo Road was completed in January 1945.

U.S. General [[Joseph Stilwell]] was given nominal command of the Chinese army in 1942. His disagreements with Chiang were many and epic. Like Seeckt and Falkenhausen before him,  Stilwell wanted a smaller force trained to the standard of his own country's soldiers. He also accused Chiang of hording supplies for later use against the Communists. There is little evidence to support such claims. Some 98 percent of the supplies flown over "the Hump" went to U.S. forces in China.<ref name=Taylor>Jay Taylor, ''Stilwell's The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China'', pp. 271.</ref> The U.S. reequipped and retrained two elite Chinese armies, the X Force and the Y Force. The rest of the Nationalist army received a pittance, only a few hundred guns.<ref name="Taylor" /> The Y Force drove back the Japanese in Yunnan during a May–June 1944 offensive. Aside from this modest success, the U.S. had little to show for its extensive involvement in China.

U.S. General [[Joseph Stilwell]] was given nominal command of the Chinese army in 1942. His disagreements with Chiang were many and epic. Like Seeckt and Falkenhausen before him,  Stilwell wanted a smaller force trained to the standard of his own country's soldiers. He also accused Chiang of hording supplies for later use against the ReCommunists. There is little evidence to support such claims. Some 98 percent of the supplies flown over "the Hump" went to U.S. forces in China.<ref name=Taylor>Jay Taylor, ''Stilwell's The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China'', pp. 271.</ref> The U.S. reequipped and retrained two elite Chinese armies, the X Force and the Y Force. The rest of the Nationalist army received a pittance, only a few hundred guns.<ref name="Taylor" /> The Y Force drove back the Japanese in Yunnan during a May–June 1944 offensive. Aside from this modest success, the U.S. had little to show for its extensive involvement in China.

The war ended victoriously all the same. Japan surrendered in August 1945 after a U.S. submarine campaign in the Pacific cut off the country's fuel and other supplies, and atomic bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities. Americans were left with sharply divided views of China. Stilwell's rivalry with Chiang and Chennault was a prelude to years of poisonous political dispute.

The war ended victoriously all the same. Japan surrendered in August 1945 after a U.S. submarine campaign in the Pacific cut off the country's fuel and other supplies, and atomic bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities. Americans were left with sharply divided views of China. Stilwell's rivalry with Chiang and Chennault was a prelude to years of poisonous political dispute.