The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II, and often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It is known in China as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Qiqihar is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total population of the prefecture-level city was shrinking to 4,067,489 as of the 2020 census. These are mainly Han Chinese, though the city is also home to thirty-four minorities including Manchus, Daur, and Mongols.
The Resistance at Nenjiang Bridge was a small battle fought between forces of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army against the Imperial Japanese Army and collaborationist forces, after the Mukden Incident during the Invasion of Manchuria in 1931, prior to the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. It marked the start of the Jiangqiao Campaign.
The Jiangqiao campaign was a series of battles and skirmishes occurring after the Mukden Incident, during the invasion of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army, prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Ma Zhanshan was a Chinese general famous for resisting the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Ma was placed in charge of the Northeastern Army in Heilongjiang Province during the invasion and ignored orders from the central government not to resist the Japanese. He became a national hero in China by fighting the unsuccessful but highly symbolic Jiangqiao campaign against the Kwantung Army's advance into Heilongjiang. After his defeat, he feigned defection to the Japanese and was appointed Minister of War in the new Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. He then joined and took command of the guerrilla campaign against Japanese occupation, taking with him large amounts of supplies, funds, and military intelligence. Ma Zhanshan rejoined the Northeastern Army after the guerilla movement was largely defeated. He continued to oppose Chiang Kai-shek's policy of non-resistance and supported the Xi'an Incident that forced Chiang to form the Second United Front with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He commanded several units in the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War while covertly cooperating with the CCP. Ma avoided direct participation in the postwar Chinese Civil War and eventually defected to the Communists, dying a year later in 1950.
The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded the Manchuria region of the Republic of China on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden incident, a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext to invade. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. The occupation lasted until mid-August 1945, towards the end of the Second World War, in the face of an onslaught by the Soviet Union and Mongolia during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.
The Defense of Harbin occurred at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, as part of the campaign of the Invasion of Manchuria by forces of the Empire of Japan from 25 January to 4 February 1932. The Japanese took the city only after a long battle in the freezing weather against the Chinese.
The Jinzhou Operation or Chinchow Operation was an operation in 1931 during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which was a preliminary, contributing factor to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.
The Pacification of Manchukuo was a Japanese counterinsurgency campaign to suppress any armed resistance to the newly established puppet state of Manchukuo from various anti-Japanese volunteer armies in occupied Manchuria and later the Communist Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. The operations were carried out by the Imperial Japanese Kwantung Army and the collaborationist forces of the Manchukuo government from March 1932 until 1942, and resulted in a Japanese victory.
Su Bingwen, was a Chinese military leader. Graduating from officers school in 1914 he joined the Model Regiment as a platoon leader in 1916, became a company commander, and then battalion commander. He served in the Fujian Army in 1920 as the first Army Brigade Chief of Staff, then the Chief of Staff 13th brigade of the Northeast Army. In 1921 he commanded the 6th Army brigade in the north east, then the 17th Division office in 1927. In 1928, Su became Jiang's chief of staff and deputy commander of the northeastern border National Defense Office Directory. First in 1930 as the military commander of the Eastern Railway garrison then, the Hulunbuir garrison commander in 1931 in charge of the Heilongjiang garrisons of the "Barga District" at the extreme west of Heilongjiang on the Soviet frontier.
After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and until 1933, large volunteer armies waged war against Japanese and Manchukuo forces over much of Northeast China.
Feng Zhanhai, or Feng Chan-hai, was one of the leaders of the volunteer armies resisting the Japanese and the puppet state of Manchukuo in northeast China. Feng was born on November 6, 1899. At eighteen he joined the Dongbei Army, and later entered a military school graduating in 1921. After he graduated, he was successively a platoon leader, company commander, and battalion commander. At the time of the Mukden Incident and Japanese invasion of northeast China he was a colonel commanding a regiment of the Jilin Guards Division.
Li Du (Chinese: 李杜; pinyin: Lǐ Dù; Wade–Giles: Li3 Tu4; 1880–1956) was a leading general in the Jilin Self-Defence Army (JSDA). The JSDA was one of the Anti-Japanese volunteer armies led by general Ma Zhanshan which resisted the Empire of Japan's invasion of northeast China in 1932.
Wang Delin was a bandit, soldier, and leader of the Chinese People's National Salvation Army resisting the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo.
Wang Fengge was born in Tonghua, Jilin, China. In 1914 Wang Fengge graduated from the Donghua Normal School, and had studied traditional martial arts as a young man. In 1922 he was made a company commander in a brigade of the Northeast Army. In 1926 he retired from the army, going into business, and became involved in the Big Swords Society.
The Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army, also known as the NAJUA or Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, was the main Counter-Japanese guerrilla army in Northeast China (Manchuria) after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Its predecessors were various Counter-Japanese volunteer armies organized by locals and the Manchuria branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In February 1936, the CCP, in accordance with the instructions of the Communist International, issued The Declaration of the Unified Organization of Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army and marked the official formation of the organization.
The Jilin Self-Defence Army was an anti-Japanese volunteer army formed in 1931 to defend local Chinese residents against the Japanese invasion of northeast China. General Ding Chao, Li Du, Feng Zhanhai, Xing Zhanqing, and Zhao Yi organised the Jilin Self-Defence Army in order to prevent the fall and occupation of Harbin city, Jilin province. This brought all their forces under a unified command. Calling for civilians to form volunteer units and join in the defense of the city, the army reached a strength of 30,000 men in six brigades of Zhang Xueliangs Northeastern army.
One of the most successful volunteer armies was the Chinese People's National Salvation Army or NSA, led by a former bandit turned soldier, Wang Delin. At the time of the invasion, Wang Delin's 200 man battalion was stationed near Yanji, a small town in the east of Jilin province. After Wang's troops fired on a party of Japanese surveyors, and Wang refused to submit to the Manchukuo regime, his defiance attracted other resisters to his side. Wang established the NSA on February 8, 1932, numbering over 1,000 men. Within a few months this army became one of the most successful of the volunteer armies. Following news of his victories over Japanese and Manchukuoan forces between February and April, troops who had been reluctant members of the new puppet state's forces deserted and joined the NSA boosting its strength from 4,600 on March 1, to above 10,000 men, possibly as many as 15,000 men, organised in five brigades in April. It is estimated that the NSA had 30,000 volunteers by July 1932.
Zhang Haipeng, was a Chinese Northeastern Army general, who went over to the Japanese during the Invasion of Manchuria and became a general in the Manchukuo Imperial Army of the State of Manchuria.
Li Yanlu, soldier, communist, and leader of anti-Japanese forces in Manchuria. Li was born in Yenchi, Kirin Province, in April 1895. He became involved in the opposition to Yuan Shikai's attempt to restore the monarchy. He joined the Fengtian Army in 1917, as a private soldier and rose to platoon leader, then captain over the next sixteen years. Politically, he moved to the left and in July 1931, he joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Three months later, the Japanese began the Mukden Incident and invasion of Manchuria. Avoiding capture and internment by the Japanese, he joined the volunteer army of Wang Delin. There, Communists were welcomed and Li and Zhou Baozhong were made high-ranking officers. Li became the chief of staff of Wang's Chinese People's National Salvation Army, one of the most successful of the volunteer armies resisting the Japanese and its puppet state of Manchukuo. He was also said to have been secretly organizing communists within the army. Yet CCP policy at the time opposed the volunteer armies and the participation of members in them and had their own Northeastern People's Revolutionary Army. At first, the CCP severely criticised their conduct yet the stance of the party prevented the growth of their own forces and did not help the anti-Japanese cause.