Chapter 11: The carrot and the stick
First lady Ladybird Johnson planting a Cherry Blossom tree in 1968, the Japanese gave the first Cherry Blossoms to the Americans long before relations soured but the Cherry Blossom ceremonies continue to this day.
The Japanese had always had a complicated relationship with the Americans. The Americans opened their ports and forced a foreign culture and style of life upon them. But on the other hand, if the Americans had not done so, Japan would not be in the position it is today. Without Admiral Perry, Japan would be a backwater just like China. Kita knew this and was disappointed by it. The idea that the white Americans had jump started Japan ran afoul with his ideas regarding race. Regardless of anyone's views on America, the Japanese government in 1937 was very well aware of how important America's compliance in the Pacific was. Not only were they a large and diplomatically powerful nation, but they also supplied Japan with almost 90% of its oil, steel, and iron. If America decided to cease trading with Japan, it could hamper the war effort significantly.
Therefore, two things were decided in the wake of the second Sino-Japanese war.
The first was that steps had to be made to lessen the need for American iron, steel and oil. This could be done rather easily in regards to iron and steel. Iron and steel could be obtained rather easily once the situation in China had died down. It was estimated that by 1940, iron and steel production could match national military production if military production does not change. This of course is not possible, so trade will always be needed, but it will make expansion and maintenance of the Japanese Navy and Army much less expensive.
Oil, however, was a tad more difficult. The Japanese knew that most of the oil in Asia was in Indonesia which was under control of the Dutch for the most part, although the British and the Portuguese both had land there as well. The Japanese pondered war with both the Brits and the Dutch. The British were already a planned enemy in the future which required a more comprehensive strategy and the British would likely bring in most of the world against Japan in the current geopolitical climate. War was not ripe with the Brits, and it didn't seem good anytime soon. As for the Dutch, they could bring in the Brits so war was avoided, but it was decided that as soon as the Dutch presented an opening, they would take it.
The second, was that things needed to be smoothed over with the US. While the Japanese both expected and planned for war with America, they came to understand that their plan needed logical steps. The war with the United States was to take place many years in the future, and America's oil was needed for the war in China. A Japanese diplomat was send to Washington DC with the goal of improving relations between Japan and America.
April 6th, 1937: Washington DC
A Japanese diplomat met with a number of America government officials. They discussed primarily the future of Japanese-American relations, the new war in China, and opposing the Soviet Union. The Americans were very concerned of both Japan's growing power in East Asia and their newly invigorated foreign policy. The Japanese diplomat was able to clam the nerves between the two parties by pointing out that the new Chinese government was following in the footsteps of Fascists and was very dangerously linked militarily to the Germans. Both of these things worried the Americans by themselves, but when brought together, it made the Americans very concerned for China.
The diplomat also explained that the Japanese had no interest in conquering China, and were planning on reforming the Republic of China under Wang Jingwei. This was both true and false. Yes, the Japanese had no plans to directly administer China as an annexed territory, but they most certainly were going to conquer the territory. Furthermore, Wang's regime was planned to be little more then a puppet state to assist in the war effort in future conflicts in Asia.
As a result, the Japanese were able to calm the fury of the Americans to a palatable degree and attempted the same with other nations of the world. This had limited success elsewhere due to Chiang Kai-shek's almost martyr status as an anti-communist on a global scale. The Japanese were, however, able to turn many of the threats into condemnations and the condemnations into new bulletins.
This would not work again however, and the Japanese were very aware of that, they could not risk another venture such as the one in China anytime soon. If the Japanese were to bring war to the Dutch, the Brits, the Portuguese, or any other nation, they would need be far more prepared first.
The Germans received a wholly separate style of meeting though. The diplomat that was sent to them requested that they remove support for the Republic of China. The Germans had provided the Chinese with both materials and foreign advisers. The result was obvious, a longer and more drawn out war, and more dead Japanese. Neither of these things were desired by the Japanese government. The Germans would ultimately refuse to abandon their new found ally in the east and so the Japanese government decided to avoid working with the Germans in the future. This event would hurt Araki's prestige immensely and he was removed as the Minister of War with General Shunroku Hata. The state of martial law was also upturned several weeks later at the request of General Hata.
Araki's powerblock in the diet was not broken up however. The only post he was removed from was the Minister of War.
Japanese troops atop Zhongshan Gate in Nanjing, late June 12th
June 5th - June 12th, 1937: Shanghai, Changzhou, and Nanjing
The battle of Shanghai ended and the
March on Nanjing began on June 4th after General Feng Yuxiang betrayed the Nationalist forces in Shanghai. His forces pulled away from the fighting and captured then nearby city of Suzhou. He held the city and the Southern front of Shanghai for the Japanese for during the
March on Nanjing. The rest of the Chinese army was caught with their pants down. They lost a major portion of their forces and also lost their defensive line set up on the outskirts on Shanghai. Their defensive positions were quickly overrun by the ecstatic Japanese forces and a majority surrendered. Kita had given the order to take as many prisoners as possible and to be as humane as possible. He had realized the need for Wang's government to have legitimacy very early on in the war. Those who surrendered at Shanghai would form the basis of the National Chinese Army.
Those who were not killed or captured, routed. The commander of the remaining forces, General Tang Shengzhi, attempted to set up a defensive line at the city of Changzhou. The line held in an honorable defense until the 9th of June. The strong defense angered the Japanese military under the command of General Iwane Matsui and upon the defensive lines' collapse Matsui gave orders to loot and pillage the area during the remaining daylight hours of the 9th. He went against Kita's express orders (backed up by Araki's guns) and would later earn a court martial for his actions. The resulting massacre and looting gained the title of
The defiling of Changzhou. During the massacre, the Japanese committed acts of, but certainly not limited to:
Rape, Murder, Arson, Cannibalism, Looting, Banditry, and other manners of depravity. The exact methods of execution range from lighting the individual on fire to death via insertion of a sword into one's anal cavity. There was also a contest to see who could be the quickest to 100 kills with a sword.
Prince Yasuhiko Asaka arrived on the following day and encouraged the massacre to continue, and it did, until the night of June 11th when General Matsui received a communique inquiring as to why his troops ceased movement towards Nanjing. The defiling of Changzhou was nearly unheard of outside of China until the end of the second world war. Many historians pinpoint this down to the lack of international citizens in Changzhou, if the massacre had taken place in Shanghai, or in Nanjing, then the response would have been much more critical of the Japanese government. Another cause is potentially the relatively low death toll, compared to later massacres that were government sponsored (especially the massacre in Wuhan after a defeat against General Bai Chongxi), the atrocity in Changzhou was much smaller in number. After the end of the defiling of Changzhou, Prince Yasuhiko and General Matsui were forced into retirement at the behest at an angered Kita.
On the early hours of the 12th of June, the Japanese forces in Changzhou departed towards Nanjing and would reach the city within the day. The remaining forces in Nanjing put up a paltry resistance before routing out of the city. In the chaos, a number of important documents and government officials were captured. The Republic of China under Chiang Ching-kuo then moved the capital of the Republic to Chongqing and set up a new base of operations there. The capture of Nanjing signaled the end of the first wave in Araki's plan. The second wave of the plan would be enacted several weeks later as the 1937 Autumn Offensive that would cripple the Republic of China and lead to its downfall.
Wang Jingwei announces the newly formed National Republic of China
July 2nd, 1937: Beijing
In Beijing, far away from the frontlines, Wang Jingwei announced the formation of the National Republic of China. In his speech his spoke of his plans for the country which included national reconstruction, the destruction of banditry, and finally a final conflict against the Communist Chinese. He also thanked the Japanese multiple times throughout the speech, perhaps truly believing they put him in charge of the country out of the kindness of their hearts rather than because of political circumstances. Wang also took the title of both Generalissimo and President. He also proudly announced the National Chinese Army which was the military arm of the National Republic of China. The army mostly preformed anti-partisan activities but a number of elite soldiers would form an expeditionary army and would fight in both Burma and in India.
Interestingly enough, on the same day a rather strange event occurred. Amelia Earhart went missing while flying her plane on a world flight. She and her navigator Fred Noonan got lost near Howland Island and ended up being forced to make a crash landing on Saipan. The garrison commander executed them, thinking they were American spies due to the advanced nature of the plane and the fact they flew over Japanese airspace but never requested to land. The news got back to the Japanese higher-ups and the plane was shipped back to Japan for study while the bodies were dug up and burned. The whole event was swept under the rug due to the Japanese not wanting to anger the Americans. The Americans would discover strange documents referencing Earhart and Noonan after the end of the war but no definitive proof would ever be found by them.
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Next time will either be a timeline tidbit about Wang's National Republic of China, or a post covering the Autumn Offensive. Whichever I feel like writing about at the moment, of course.
Oh, and I don't plan on totally negating the Japanese doing bad things via Kita, he simply has his own views on things and is more friendly to the Chinese but is totally against anything he views as foreign to Asia (East Asia, specifically). He won't take well to the Hui Muslims, for example.