WI - Pacific War begins in 1937?

"America's ambassador in Moscow reported to Washington that Litvinov had told Léon Blum that 'he and the Soviet Union were perfectly delighted that Japan had attacked China,' and that 'the Soviet Union hoped that war between China and Japan would conrinue just as long as possible.'" https://books.google.com/books?id=xTA7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 This has the ring of truth. It was certainly in Stalin's interest to encourage China not to surrender; after all, as long as Japan was tied down in China, it would find it hard to attack the USSR. Hence Stalin's aid to Chiang--the point was not to get the USSR into a war with Japan but precisely to prevent such a war from breaking out before the USSR was ready for it. Sending the Red Army would make no sense, even leaving aside the fact that 1937 was not a good year to test the fighting strength of the Red Army anywhere! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge#Purge_of_the_army

(Stalin did use the Red Army in China--but only in Xinjiang, where it helped put down a Muslim rebellion against Sheng Shicai's' pro-Soviet government. Xinjiang was a bit weird because there was a large White Russian community there which cooperated with Sheng and the Soviets, allowing Soviet personnnel there to disguise themselves as "White Russians.")
 
"America's ambassador in Moscow reported to Washington that Litvinov had told Léon Blum that 'he and the Soviet Union were perfectly delighted that Japan had attacked China,' and that 'the Soviet Union hoped that war between China and Japan would conrinue just as long as possible.'" https://books.google.com/books?id=xTA7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 This has the ring of truth. It was certainly in Stalin's interest to encourage China not to surrender; after all, as long as Japan was tied down in China, it would find it hard to attack the USSR. Hence Stalin's aid to Chiang--the point was not to get the USSR into a war with Japan but precisely to prevent such a war from breaking out before the USSR was ready for it. Sending the Red Army would make no sense, even leaving aside the fact that 1937 was not a good year to test the fighting strength of the Red Army anywhere! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge#Purge_of_the_army

(Stalin did use the Red Army in China--but only in Xinjiang, where it helped put down a Muslim rebellion against Sheng Shicai's' pro-Soviet government. Xinjiang was a bit weird because there was a large White Russian community there which cooperated with Sheng and the Soviets, allowing Soviet personnnel there to disguise themselves as "White Russians.")
The player for Russia in the campaign game (that we'd like to get going), thanks you for your info. He did note that your remark: "Stalin did use the Red Army in China--but only in Xinjiang, where it helped put down a Muslim rebellion against Sheng Shicai's' pro-Soviet government." isn't technically true (in the sense that is all that happened): "In August 1937, a month after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Soviet Union established a non-aggression pact with the Republic of China. The Republic of China received credits for $250 million for the purchase of Soviet weapons. There followed big arms deliveries, including guns, artillery pieces, more than 900 aircraft and 82 tanks.[3] More than 1,500 Soviet military advisers and about 2,000 members of the air force were sent to China.[3]" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_relations#Second_Sino-Japanese_War_and_World_War_II; For hard data, see also: https://www.quora.com/Did-the-USSR-support-China-during-WWII -- (Elsewhere, I read that several hundred officers from Russia died.) Reference to Xinjiang is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_rebellion_in_Xinjiang_(1937)

See also, "Extremely uncertain of its position in Europe and before long gravely weakened economically and militarily by Stalin’s terror, the Soviet Union was not about to take any uncalculated risks in relation to Japan in 1937. Yet the maintenance of the status quo in the Far East — with Manchuria securely in the hands of the Japanese and with the Western Powers loath to intervene — was not to Soviet advantage either. Moscow therefore did its best to revive Chinese resistance to Japanese occupation, and in the spring of 1937 renewed its offer of arms to the KMT as a means to that end.1" from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-05679-8_4
 
The player for Russia in the campaign game (that we'd like to get going), thanks you for your info. He did note that your remark: "Stalin did use the Red Army in China--but only in Xinjiang, where it helped put down a Muslim rebellion against Sheng Shicai's' pro-Soviet government." isn't technically true (in the sense that is all that happened): "In August 1937, a month after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Soviet Union established a non-aggression pact with the Republic of China. The Republic of China received credits for $250 million for the purchase of Soviet weapons. There followed big arms deliveries, including guns, artillery pieces, more than 900 aircraft and 82 tanks.[3] More than 1,500 Soviet military advisers and about 2,000 members of the air force were sent to China.[3]" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_relations#Second_Sino-Japanese_War_and_World_War_II; For hard data, see also: https://www.quora.com/Did-the-USSR-support-China-during-WWII -- (Elsewhere, I read that several hundred officers from Russia died.) Reference to Xinjiang is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_rebellion_in_Xinjiang_(1937)

See also, "Extremely uncertain of its position in Europe and before long gravely weakened economically and militarily by Stalin’s terror, the Soviet Union was not about to take any uncalculated risks in relation to Japan in 1937. Yet the maintenance of the status quo in the Far East — with Manchuria securely in the hands of the Japanese and with the Western Powers loath to intervene — was not to Soviet advantage either. Moscow therefore did its best to revive Chinese resistance to Japanese occupation, and in the spring of 1937 renewed its offer of arms to the KMT as a means to that end.1" from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-05679-8_4

By sending the Red Army, I meant more than sending military advisors. Also, note that the Soviet pilots were required to maintain plausible deniability: "In October 1937, some 450 Soviet pilots and technicians assembled in Moscow, subsequently traveling to Alma Ata to bring 155 fighter aircraft, 62 bombers, and 8 trainers into China. The Soviets arrived as private citizens and initially wore civilian clothing, the mission remaining a secret even from their closest relatives. They were instructed to avoid using the term comrade, and in the event of their capture they were to claim that they were former members of the White movement permanently residing in China. Prior to each mission, the pilots changed into Chinese uniforms, whilst their planes were marked with Chinese Air Force insignia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Volunteer_Group The point is that while Stalin did want to help China resist the Japanese, he wanted to do so in such a way as to avoid an outright Soviet-Japanese war.
 
By sending the Red Army, I meant more than sending military advisors. ... The point is that while Stalin did want to help China resist the Japanese, he wanted to do so in such a way as to avoid an outright Soviet-Japanese war.
The Russian player in my campaign game wants to go to war.
 
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