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The Consolidation and Aftermath
The Consolidation and Aftermath
"The President Chiang Kai-Shek is dead! A treacherous clique of reactionary generals and bureaucrats has attempted to exploit the situation by attacking our embattled soldiers from the rear in order to seize power for themselves and continue the war which President Chiang was about to withdraw from. Therefore the new Government has declared martial law to maintain law and order!"
- Prime Minister Wang Jingwei's first address to the nation.
In the aftermath of the Xian Incident, Prime Minister Wang consolidated power and moved to open peace negotiations. The Bureau of Information and Statistics was placed under the supervision of the National Office of Civil Protection and chief Dai Li was ordered to be taken in for 'questioning.' Like any self-respecting head of a secret police, Dai Li did the sensible thing and disappeared himself before he could be made to disappear. Efforts to track him down proved elusive and it is believed that he was hiding somewhere in Tibet in one of the numerous 'black sites' that the BIS or alternatively he had fled to Germany.
But in the drama of the Xian Incident, the Republic of Manchuria declared itself as the "People's Republic of Manchuria" under Soviet tutelage. The whily Zhang had apparently decided that the Soviets would make for kinder masters than the Japanese. Officially allied with each other - or at the very least - 'co-belligerents' - Tokyo could do nothing. While the Soviet Union kept a million strong 'volunteers' in Manchuria - it rapidly began to withdraw troops and into the Polish-Soviet border where the final reckoning was near. The revolution was coming.
Secret Negotiations begin
Recently declassified archives reveal that during this time Prime Minister Wang had opened secret negotiations with the Soviet Union. In return for Soviet support for the Chinese position in the Entente peace talks, China would not interfere with the Soviet invasion of Europe. The status of the new Manchurian People's Republic was also under negotiation with a request from Wang to have Manchuria placed under the 'de jure' authority of the Republic of China but under the de facto authority of the Soviet Union with numerous concessions. These secret negotiations dragged on the official peace talks being held in Bangkok.
The Japanese lash out.
Frustrated by Soviet betrayal and the slow pace of the talks and a fear that she would be shut out by the Entente powers, Japanese troops continued their advance, launching an offensive on the 15th of December which would take Nanning by the 20th of December. While the Entente officially condemned the action, there was tacit approval for the action in order to force the hand of the new government to speed up the peace talks. Commonwealth, British and French troops followed the Japanese to Nanning where they divided the city under different occupation zones as they had in previously seized cities.
An uprising precipitated Japanese reprisals and mass-executions like this one which spread and grew out of control.
The Rape of Nanning
At first the occupation was calm, but zealous civil protection units and civilion patriots continued a guerilla resistance in the city, launching an uprising on the 23rd which pushed the Entente out of some sectors of the city. Although quickly retaken in the next two days, Japanese reinforcements entering the city would engage in a brutal 'suppression campaign' which would culminate in what is now referred to as the "Rape of Nanning." Frustrated Japanese troops engaged in brutal attrocities across the city, burning down suspected resistance spots en masse, bayonetting civilians and looting. The shocked Entente troops were powerless to stop the massacres and the world was shocked as American correspondents recorded Japanese troops spreading out to the Entente occupation zones where civilians had fled and dragging civilians out who had escaped. Although there were notable moments of resistance, particularly with the sectors held by the Indian troops and the famous "Stand of the Maori Battalion" - Entente complicity in Japanese atrocities featured strongly in Axis propaganda.
China Re-Enters the War
The Rape of Nanning forced President Wang's hand. The Yuan demanded immediate action and the ceasefire agreements broke down immediately as the blood-lusted NRA demanded and launched several local 'revenge offensives.' The Soviet coup in Manchuria had also freed up the Northern front and troops and materiel immediately began to stream down South. By January 15 1943, China was definitely back at War with the Entente, but the question was whether she would re-enter the war to support her German ally when the long-awaited Soviet Invasion arrived, they wouldn't have to wait long to find out...
"The President Chiang Kai-Shek is dead! A treacherous clique of reactionary generals and bureaucrats has attempted to exploit the situation by attacking our embattled soldiers from the rear in order to seize power for themselves and continue the war which President Chiang was about to withdraw from. Therefore the new Government has declared martial law to maintain law and order!"
- Prime Minister Wang Jingwei's first address to the nation.
In the aftermath of the Xian Incident, Prime Minister Wang consolidated power and moved to open peace negotiations. The Bureau of Information and Statistics was placed under the supervision of the National Office of Civil Protection and chief Dai Li was ordered to be taken in for 'questioning.' Like any self-respecting head of a secret police, Dai Li did the sensible thing and disappeared himself before he could be made to disappear. Efforts to track him down proved elusive and it is believed that he was hiding somewhere in Tibet in one of the numerous 'black sites' that the BIS or alternatively he had fled to Germany.
But in the drama of the Xian Incident, the Republic of Manchuria declared itself as the "People's Republic of Manchuria" under Soviet tutelage. The whily Zhang had apparently decided that the Soviets would make for kinder masters than the Japanese. Officially allied with each other - or at the very least - 'co-belligerents' - Tokyo could do nothing. While the Soviet Union kept a million strong 'volunteers' in Manchuria - it rapidly began to withdraw troops and into the Polish-Soviet border where the final reckoning was near. The revolution was coming.
Secret Negotiations begin
Recently declassified archives reveal that during this time Prime Minister Wang had opened secret negotiations with the Soviet Union. In return for Soviet support for the Chinese position in the Entente peace talks, China would not interfere with the Soviet invasion of Europe. The status of the new Manchurian People's Republic was also under negotiation with a request from Wang to have Manchuria placed under the 'de jure' authority of the Republic of China but under the de facto authority of the Soviet Union with numerous concessions. These secret negotiations dragged on the official peace talks being held in Bangkok.
The Japanese lash out.
Frustrated by Soviet betrayal and the slow pace of the talks and a fear that she would be shut out by the Entente powers, Japanese troops continued their advance, launching an offensive on the 15th of December which would take Nanning by the 20th of December. While the Entente officially condemned the action, there was tacit approval for the action in order to force the hand of the new government to speed up the peace talks. Commonwealth, British and French troops followed the Japanese to Nanning where they divided the city under different occupation zones as they had in previously seized cities.
An uprising precipitated Japanese reprisals and mass-executions like this one which spread and grew out of control.
The Rape of Nanning
At first the occupation was calm, but zealous civil protection units and civilion patriots continued a guerilla resistance in the city, launching an uprising on the 23rd which pushed the Entente out of some sectors of the city. Although quickly retaken in the next two days, Japanese reinforcements entering the city would engage in a brutal 'suppression campaign' which would culminate in what is now referred to as the "Rape of Nanning." Frustrated Japanese troops engaged in brutal attrocities across the city, burning down suspected resistance spots en masse, bayonetting civilians and looting. The shocked Entente troops were powerless to stop the massacres and the world was shocked as American correspondents recorded Japanese troops spreading out to the Entente occupation zones where civilians had fled and dragging civilians out who had escaped. Although there were notable moments of resistance, particularly with the sectors held by the Indian troops and the famous "Stand of the Maori Battalion" - Entente complicity in Japanese atrocities featured strongly in Axis propaganda.
China Re-Enters the War
The Rape of Nanning forced President Wang's hand. The Yuan demanded immediate action and the ceasefire agreements broke down immediately as the blood-lusted NRA demanded and launched several local 'revenge offensives.' The Soviet coup in Manchuria had also freed up the Northern front and troops and materiel immediately began to stream down South. By January 15 1943, China was definitely back at War with the Entente, but the question was whether she would re-enter the war to support her German ally when the long-awaited Soviet Invasion arrived, they wouldn't have to wait long to find out...
- CCA
- Word Count: 780