Chinese Army in WWII

American trainer explains a tactical situation to Chinese soldiers. (U.S. Army Military History Institute)

 

Rays of the Rising Sun 1: by Philip Jowett

http://www.amazon.com/Rays-Rising-Sun-1931-45-Manchukuo/dp/1874622213/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237596370&sr=1-1

These Chinese collaborationist troops ranged from poor to average in quality. With most of them being of poor quality, the "elite" units were average at best.

These Chinese collaborationist units ranged from:

Manchukuoan Army: who were probably the best quality and best equiped of the Chinese collaborationist armies, they guarded Manchuria and some units fought at Nomonhan in 1939. Its troops were a little better than your average KMT troops(the Manchukouan army was staffed with Japanese officers) and a little better equiped. They had a few old Japanese tankettes and armored cars and used second hand Japanese small arms.These guys were only good at hunting down Chinese communist guerillas and nothing else. They performed poorly vs. the Soviets at Nomonhan and were garbage(deserted en masse) duirng the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. They performed OK in fighting vs. the KMT in North China(in a supporting role to the Japanese). The army also employed some White Russian emigres as scouts vs. the Soviets(Asano X) and Mongolian cavalry units as well.

The Nanking army: In 1938 the Japanese formed Provisional Government army(run from Peking, overseeing North China) and the Reformed Government army(run from Nanking, overseeing Central China) mostly from KMT defectors and local recruits to garrison their conquests. In 1940, the Japanese combined these two armies into the Nanking army under the KMT defector Wang Jing Wei. This army is probably comprised most of the Chinese collaborationist units. Its quality was quite poor, poorly equiped, they were equiped and had the same uniforms and equipment as the KMT/NRA. The reasons for defecting are myriad from fallout from KMT internal political struggles to simply just wanting to feed themselves and their families or forced recruitment. KMT/NRA was not a united force during the war, in fact, its warlord allies while paying lip service to Chang Kai Shek regularly flip flopped between the KMT and the Japanese(depending on their self interests) and a few times even to the CCP.

It is quite hilarious that their quality is so poor that they actually "lent" their weapons to local guerillas who were attacking their Japanese masters(along with relaying info on Japanese troop movements). The Japanese also did not trust the Nanking army units and relegated them to garrison and anti partisan duty and many were armed with melee weapons and a few bullets(just in case they defected back to the KMT or the CCP). These guys sometimes participated in campaigns vs. the KMT as support units(and they did not perform well in this role either). They performed a little better vs. the CCP guerillas.

After the war, these collaborationist units were absorbed into the KMT/NRA. Its leaders were all executed(Wang Jing Wei's tomb was blown up). Until now, research of them in China is hard to come by since it is considered an embarassing chapter in their history.

Mongoose Publishing :: View topic - BEVO Pacific and Chinese army lists

 

Chinese PZ I light tank captured by Japanese

 

JCFalkenbergIII!

I went through the entire thread and I really appreciated the time you must have spent putting into it.

What really struck me were the German uniforms some of the KMT soldiers. Also going through this thread has reminded me that the human suffering in China in the 20th century must have been tremendous. We always hear about Mao's "Great Leap Forward" in the 50s and 60s, but we rarely hear about what happened in the earlier part of the 20th century.

 

Hey catsandcradles, JCF hasn't posted here since March of this year. He had some run-in's with some of the mods, got p1ssed off and quit. Haven't heard from him since.

 

If you are referring to the clothing items, no, the Chinese never wore German uniforms.

 

Not questioning that..but id always had pics in back of my mind from somewhere of 1920_1930s nationalists in german type attire. Maybe not then.

 

Perhaps he was referring to the German helmets? I know they used those as well as German style boots and Sam Brown belts.

 

There were a couple of nationalist divisions that were Wehrmacht trained. A friend of mine who specializes in that era said Hitler was interested in Chinese tungsten deposits while Chiang figured he could use German military skill and political organization. Those German trained divisions were considered elites within the Chinese army and fought to the last man in Shanghai.

 

I was referring to post 1937 Central Army uniforms. Yes the Germans helped train those units (some of the most notables: 36th, 87th, 88th) and the CA wore the M35 helmets and different units wore them throughout the war. Even some Communists wore the M35 helmets as I have some pictures but I do not know the dates on them.

I do not know what types of uniforms were wore in the 1910s-20s during the warlord era... they could have imported and copied or used local different types of uniforms.

 

Sorry, I didn't clarify enough clothing as helmets would be part of it... I meant to say all except helmets

 

Fair enough...as said i only thought id seen em..thanks for clarification.