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| Battle of Rehe | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theDefense of the Great Wall in theSecond Sino-Japanese War and theinterwar period | |||||||
 Japanese troops at Battle of Rehe | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 China | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Tang YulinSun Dianying |  Nobuyoshi Muto Zhang Haipeng Li Jizhun | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 100,000–150,000 regular troops | 100,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Battle of Rehe[1]: 161 officers and 5,051 soldiers killed 368 officers and 4,894 soldiers wounded | 171 combat deaths[1] | ||||||
TheBattle of Rehe (simplified Chinese:热河战役;traditional Chinese:熱河戰役;pinyin:Rèhé zhànyì, sometimes called theBattle of Jehol) was the second part ofOperation Nekka, a campaign by which theEmpire of Japan successfully captured theInner Mongolian province ofRehe from theChinesewarlordZhang Xueliang and annexed it to the new state ofManchukuo. The battle was fought from February 21 to March 1, 1933.
Following the establishment ofManchukuo, theKwantung Army launched an operation to secure its southern frontier with China by attacking and capturingShanhaiguan Pass at theGreat Wall on 3 January 1933. The province ofRehe, on the northern side of the Great Wall, was the next target. Declaring the province to be historically a portion ofManchuria, the Japanese Army initially hoped to secure it through the defection of GeneralTang Yulin to the Manchukuo cause. When this failed, the military option was placed into action. Assigned to this operation were the Japanese6th Division and8th Division and14th and33rd Mixed Brigades of infantry,4th Cavalry Brigade withType 92 Heavy Armored Cars, and the 1st Special Tank Company.
The Japanese army'schief of staff requested emperorHirohito's sanction for the "strategic operation" against Chinese forces in Rehe. Hoping that it was the last of the army's operations in the area and that it would bring an end to the Manchurian matter, the Emperor approved, while stating explicitly that the army was not to go beyond China's Great Wall.
The Chinese armies gathered to defend Rehe numbered between 100,000 and 150,000 with 40,000 of the Northeastern army under Wan Fulin, 30,000–50,000 under Tang Yulin and 30,000 former Guominjun under Sun Dianying and Song Zheyuan.
Irregular forces included village militias, Manchurian bandits in exile and 5 volunteer brigades under Zhu Qinglan, though these volunteers rather than aiding the defense hindered it and Zhang Xueliang issued warrants for the arrest of the volunteers.[2]
On February 23, 1933, the offensive was launched. On February 25Chaoyang andKailu were taken. On March 2 the Japanese 4th Cavalry Brigade encountered resistance from the forces ofSun Dianying, and after days of fighting took overChifeng. Sun Dianying mounted a counterattack against the Japanese 6th Division on the same day, and at one time penetrated to near the Japanese headquarters. On March 4 Japanese cavalry and the 1st Special Tank Company withType 89 Tanks[3] tookChengde, the capital of Rehe.
Rehe was subsequently annexed to Manchukuo. Zhang Xueliang was forced by theKuomintang government to relinquish his posts for "medical reasons". Chinese forces fell back in disarray to the Great Wall, where after aseries of battles and skirmishes, the Japanese Army seized a number of strategic points, and then agreed to aceasefire and a negotiated settlement (theTanggu Truce) whereby ademilitarized zone would be established between the Great Wall andBeijing. However, this would prove to be only a temporary respite before the full-scale combat of theSecond Sino-Japanese War erupted in earnest in 1937.
