MANCHURIA

Beginning in the 1930s, Japan aggressively expanded the territories under its influence, taking over parts of China, invading territories claimed by the Soviet Union, and fighting across the Pacific during World War II.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Japanese Empire’s main economic problem was the lack of sufficient raw materials. Japan needed to import raw materials such as iron, rubber, and oil to maintain strong economic growth. The Japanese felt that acquiring resource-rich territories would establish economic self-sufficiency and independence, and they also hoped to jump-start the nation’s economy in the midst of the Great Depression. As a result, Japan set its sights on East Asia, specifically Manchuria, with its many resources.

On September 18, 1931, in what is known as the Mukden Incident, Lt. Suemori Kawamoto detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan’s South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang). The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track and a train passed over it minutes later, but the Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion. A day later, Japan invaded Manchuria. It claimed that the invasion was a liberation of the Manchus from the Chinese, although the majority of the population were Han Chinese as a result of the large-scale settlement of Chinese in Manchuria in the 19th century. A puppet regime called Manchukuo was established with little resistance. Jehol, a Chinese territory bordering Manchuria, was taken in 1933. Japan had withdrawn from the League of Nations earlier that year and the events led to no specific actions from the international community.

In 1936, Japan also created a Mongolian puppet state in Inner Mongolia named Mengjiang, which was also predominantly Chinese as a result of recent Han immigration to the area.

SECOND SINO-NIPPON WAR

In 1937, Japan invaded China, launching the , a conflict between Japan, Mao Zedong ‘s communists, and Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists. The war later merged into the larger World War II conflict. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and it made up more than 50 percent of the casualties in the Pacific War (if the 1937–1941 period is taken into account), lasting from July 7, 1937, to September 2, 1945.

On September 27, 1940, Imperial Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, establishing what would become known as the Axis powers. The pact called for mutual protection and technological and economic cooperation.

Facing the problem of insufficient natural resources and following the ambition to become a major global power, the Japanese Empire began aggressive expansion in the 1930s. In 1931, Japan invaded and conquered Manchuria, and Jehol, a Chinese territory bordering Manchuria, was taken in 1933. In 1936, Japan also created a Mongolian puppet state in Inner Mongolia named Mengjiang. In 1937, Japan invaded China, starting what would become known as the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the war would merge into the greater conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War.

In 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina (now Vietnam) in an effort to control supplies reaching China. Following Japanese expansion into Indochina and the fall of France, in July 1941, the U.S. ceased oil exports to Japan. This caused the Japanese to proceed with plans to take the Dutch East Indies, an oil-rich territory. Following the developments, Japan and the U.S. engaged in negotiations in an effort to improve relations. After exchanging a series of conditions, Japan presented its final proposal. On November 20, 1941, it offered to withdraw forces from southern Indochina and not to launch any attacks in Southeast Asia provided that the U.S., the UK, and the Netherlands ceased aiding China and lifted their sanctions against Japan. The American counterproposal of November 26 required Japan to evacuate all of China without conditions and conclude non-aggression pacts with Pacific powers. However, the day before the proposal was delivered (November 27), the main Japanese attack fleet left port for Pearl Harbor.

WAR ACROSS THE PACIFIC

An attack on Pearl Harbor was conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. It came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day (December 8), the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been traditionally strong and fading since the fall of France in 1940, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain (for example the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Because of the Tripartite Pact, four days later, on December 11, Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy declared war on the United States. This was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day, merging the separate conflicts.

Following Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched offensives against Allied forces in Southeast Asia, with simultaneous attacks on Hong Kong, British Malaya, and the Philippines. Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese on December 25, 1941. The Japanese forced the Allies in Malaya to retreat into Singapore and on February 15, 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese, causing the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. The Japanese military carried out a purge of the Chinese population in Malaya and Singapore and are believed to have killed tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese. In the Philippines, the Japanese pushed the combined Filipino-American force towards the Bataan peninsula and later the island of Corregidor. January 1942 marked one of the worst defeats suffered by the Americans, leaving over 70,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war in the custody of the Japanese.

The Japanese also seized the key oil production zones of Borneo, Central Java, Malang, Cepu, Sumatra, and Dutch New Guinea of the late Dutch East Indies, defeating the Dutch forces. They also consolidated their lines of supply through capturing key islands of the Pacific, including Guadalcanal.

Aerial Supply

On May 29, 1941, the Army Air Corps created the Ferrying Command to fly aircraft from U.S. factories to Canada and to Atlantic ports for delivery to Great Britain. The command was also to establish air transport service between Washington and Britain. On July 1, 1941, Lt. Col. Caleb V. Haynes inaugurated the first flight in a modified B-24 by way of Newfoundland and soon the command was making regular flights to England. By the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the command had delivered approximately 1,350 planes for Britain.

With Maj. Curtis E. LeMay as co-pilot, Haynes began a pioneering 26,000-mile survey trip on Aug. 31, 1941 across the southern Atlantic via Brazil from the U.S. to the Middle East and back. Projects also were begun in 1941 to build airbases along a southern flight corridor from the U.S. to Australia. Regular service along this route began in 1942.

FLYING the HUMP
April 1942 - Jan 1946

Across this treacherous route the AAF undertook and maintained the aerial resupply of China in the greatest sustained aerial transport achievement of the war, carrying cargoes ranging from bombs, gasoline, and medicine to spare parts, trucks, and K-rations.

Ferrying Command aircraft displayed American flag markings to indicate neutrality prior to U.S. entry into WWII in 1941. The CBI had fewer than a dozen such B-24s converted to carrying cargo and passengers, plus 40 to 50 twin-engine transports.

On June 20, 1942, the Ferrying Command became the Air Transport Command (ATC) with world-wide responsibility for ferrying aircraft; transporting personnel, materiel, and mail; and maintaining air route facilities outside of the U.S.

The India-China Ferry came under the control of AAF's Air Transport Command (ATC) on December 1, 1942, redesignated "India-China Wing" of the ATC. Slowly the organization increased its lift over the Hump from 2,800 tons in February 1943 to more than 12,000 tons a month in early 1944 and 71,000 tons in July 1945. Although the Hump operation cost the lives of some 800 flyers, it kept China in the war.

BURMA DEFENSE
8 December 1941 – 26 May 1942

Less than a week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes took off from captured bases in Thailand and opened the invasion of Burma by bombing the Tavoy airdrome, a forward British outpost on the Andaman Sea south of Rangoon. The next day, 12 December 1941, small Japanese units began the ground offensive by infiltrating into Burma. Not having prepared for war, Imperial British forces in Burma lacked even such rudimentary necessities as an adequate military intelligence staff. Although a civil defense commissioner had been appointed in November 1941, the British had not made contingency arrangements, such as military control of the railroads and the inland waterways. The only British forces in Burma were a heterogeneous mixture of Burmese, British, and Indian units known as the Army in Burma. Their air support consisted of some sixteen obsolete Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters.

The primary purpose of the Allied efforts in the CBI was to hold the Japanese in check while achieving victory elsewhere. Until late in the war, operations against the enemy on the Asian mainland in the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI), were hindered by a tangled chain of Allied command, the long distance from sources of resupply, and the very low priority of men and material given to the theater.

The only American combat force even remotely available at the onset of the fighting was the fledgling American Volunteer Group (AVG), which would later be nicknamed the "Flying Tigers." The AVG was preparing to provide air support to the Chinese Army against the Japanese in China. They had begun training during the summer of 1941 in Burma to be out of range of Japanese air raids until ready for combat. Chennault had hoped to employ his three squadrons of fighter aircraft, after thorough training, as a single unit in China, but the subsequent Japanese invasion of Burma quickly changed his priorities. In response to a British request for support on 12 December, one squadron of the AVG moved, near Rangoon, to help protect the capital city and its port facilities. The two remaining squadrons deployed to China to protect Chinese cities and patrol the Burma Road.

During the enemy's rapid advance through Burma, Allied combat airpower consisted of a meager force of British RAF units, the AVG, and fewer than a dozen USAAF B-17s and LB-30s (export version of the B-24) assigned to the newly created Tenth AF. A trickle of reinforcements arrived from the U.S. and AAF bombers succeeded in flying a few bombing missions against the enemy, but they were unable to halt the Japanese advance.

As Allied defenses had crumbled in Burma, AAF transport crews aided in the evacuation of personnel and dropped supplies to the remnants of Lt.Gen. Joseph Stilwel's command as they retreated on foot. By mid-May 1942, the Japanese had driven to the borders of India, taking all of Burma and cutting the Burma Road into China. Only the arrival of the monsoon season prevented an invasion of India.

CHINA DEFENSIVE
4 July 1942 – 4 May 1945

The China Air Task Force activated on July 4th, 1942 at which time Brigadier General Chennault's force had an effective strength of about thirty-five P-40's and seven B-25 medium bombers, part of those planned to join up with the Tokyo Raiders. In China, the American Volunteer Group was to be inducted into the AAF's 23rd Fighter Group. However, for various reasons only a handful the personnel agreed to induction in the USAAF. Small in size even by Pacific standards, the China Air Task Force fought against heavy odds defending the Chinese end of the Hump route and supporting the Chinese ground army.

Less than a year later on 10 March 1943 Chennault's Force gained independent status as the Fourteenth Air Force. The scope of 14th Air Force operations would be limited throughout the war by the tonnage of fuel, munitions, and parts which could be carried over 'the Hump.' Shortages of these essentials would, at times, severely restrict 14th AF fighter and medium bomber operations.