China does better against Japan

Okay, so I have been working on my Zhonghua Lianbang Minguo TL on and off for a while, but I keep hitting a sticking point that I hope the more WWII oriented folks could help me with.

In this TL China is by the 30's in a much better position to resist Japan. They aren't going to trounce Japan by any stretch, and the fighting will be pitched, but the Japanese are likely to gain much less ground than OTL. How do you think this would effect Japan's war policy? Specifically, would they still go to war with the United States if they were facing much more stiff resistance in China that likely ties up more of their military resources?
 
They'd probably still attack the United States, honestly, the Japanese could never have won China simply because they don't have the population to hold something that large. The attack on the United States was mainly because of their strain on resources.

I don't see how it'll make that much of a difference.
 
I was leaning in that direction, yes. I just wanted to know if anyone more familiar with WWII would have a compelling reason for why they wouldn't.
 
when push turns to shove, i have no doubt the Japanese would resort to chemical or even biological weapons in china.
 
when push turns to shove, i have no doubt the Japanese would resort to chemical or even biological weapons in china.

Then why didn't they use them OTL? I think they didn't have a reliable delivery system for anything other than battlefield gas, and that is of limited use in a mobile war. Not to mention the fear of return fire.

Biological warfare is at this time, really only useful during sieges of limited scope.
 
Japanese Biological Attacks

The Japanese did use biological weapons in the Second Sino-Japanese War. One incident in 1941 saw the Japanese air-dropping plague contaminated fleas on the city of Changde causing epidemics within the city and its environs. There were also rumors concerning the Japanese contaminating Chinese food and water supplies. The estimate for deaths due to such activities was 580,000.

The Japanese conducted numerous experiments concerning biological and chemical weapons at Unit 731. And you are correct. The only thing limiting their use was an efficient delivery system.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
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I don't think chem and bio are magical war winners either

Bio was used, and was not decisive, and chem was not decisive in WWI, and improvements after then were not likely to make it so.

To get Japan to still attack the US, the main variable is not how well the Chinese are doing, but instead whether or not the European war is still similar to OTL enough that Japan thinks Russia, the UK and even the US are all significantly distracted to one degree or another.
 
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