Canton operation

The Canton Operation was an amphibious landing operation by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino -Japanese War with the aim of conquering the strategically important port city of Guangzhou ( Canton ) and parts of Guangdong Province . The landing took place in October 1938. The Japanese armed forces were able to successfully complete the operation by December of the same year.

background

In the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese leadership pursued the strategy of a long war of attrition, despite the loss of large parts of the country to the Japanese war opponents. After the fall of the capital Nanjing , the government of the Chinese Field Marshal Chiang Kai-shek withdrew to Wuhan . After the fall of Beijing and Shanghai to the Japanese, Guangzhou was the most important port still open to the Chinese nationalists. Likewise, due to the long tradition of the Kuomintang in Guangdong Province , Chiang Kai-shek viewed them as an important recruiting area for the formation of future military units.

At the beginning of the war, the Japanese leadership expected to be able to move China to a peace treaty quickly through military successes. In the summer of 1938, the Imperial Headquarters feared the Soviet Union would enter the war after the battle of Lake Khazan on the Soviet-Korean border . As a result, the new Chinese capital Wuhan and the port in Guangzhou were to be conquered in autumn 1938. By cutting off the sea routes and losing the new capital, the Japanese leadership hoped to persuade the Kuomintang to make a peace agreement.

course

The Japanese General Staff provided the 21st Army for the landing operation in Guangdong . The defenses of the province and city were weakened by the fact that many units from Guangdong were deployed to the front to defend Wuhan . The landing took place in Bias Bay on October 12, 1938 without any significant resistance. The Japanese troops were able to take control of the port city by October 21. The Japanese side successfully concluded the operations in December 1938 with troops spreading over parts of Guangdong Province.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rana Mitter: China's War with Japan 1937-1945 - The Struggle for Survival. London, 2014, p. 147, p. 161
2. ^ Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven: An Overview of Major Military Campaigns during the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945 , in: Mark Peattie, Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven (eds.): The Battle for China - Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. Stanford, 2011, pp. 34-35
3. ^ Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven: An Overview of Major Military Campaigns during the Sino-Japanese War, 1937 - 1945 , in: Mark Peattie, Edward Drea, Hans van de Ven (eds.): The Battle for China - Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. Stanford, 2011, pp. 34-35
4. ^ Rana Mitter: China's War with Japan 1937-1945: The Struggle for Survival. London, 2014, pp. 200f