| Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSecond Sino-Japanese War and thePacific Theater ofWorld War II | |||||||
 A Japanese soldier with 50 mm heavy grenade discharger during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, 30 May 1942 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 China United States |  Japan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Gu ZhutongShangguan YunxiangTang Shih-TsunWang JingjiuLi JueXue YueOu ZhenShi ZhongchengWang YaowuXia ChuzhongSun DuFeng Sheng-FaDing ZhipanWang Tieh-HanChang Wen-Ching Tao KuangLiu Yu-ChingFan Tse-YingMo Yu-Shuo |  Shunroku HataShigeru SawadaKorechika AnamiSanji ŌkidoTetsuzo IdeTakayuki UchidaToshijiro TakeuchiJohkichi NanbuHaruo YamamuraHachiro TagamiTagaji TakahashiShigeru ŌgaSaburo TakeharaTakejiro ImaiTokutaro IdeGiichi HiranoNaotsugu Sakai † | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Republic of China Army | Imperial Japanese ArmyUnit 731 | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 22,099 officers and 290,209 soldiers[1] | 180,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Chinese claim :[1] 724 officers and 23,637 soldiers killed 914 officers and 24,366 soldiers wounded 600 officers and 18,040 soldiers missing Japanese claim : 41,960 killed and 10,992 captured[2] | Chinese claim : 36,869 killed or wounded[1] Japanese claim : 13th army :[3] 1,284 killed 2,767 wounded 11,812 fallen ill 11th army :[4] 336 killed 949 wounded a Japanese POW captured by Americans in 1944 admitted he saw Japanese documents saying 10,000 Japanese soldiers were infected and over 1,700 died in their own biological attack, but he also said the actual Japanese death toll was far higher and they downplayed any unpleasant figures[5] | ||||||
| 250,000 Chinese killed[6] | |||||||
TheZhejiang-Jiangxi campaign or theChekiang–Kiangsi campaign (Japanese: 浙贛作戦,simplified Chinese:浙赣战役;traditional Chinese:浙赣戰役;pinyin:Zhè-Gàn Zhànyì), also known asOperation Sei-go (Japanese: せ号作戦), was a campaign by theChina Expeditionary Army of theImperial Japanese Army underShunroku Hata andChinese3rd War Area forces underGu Zhutong in Chinese provinces ofZhejiang andJiangxi from mid May to early September 1942.
On April 18, 1942, theUnited States launched theDoolittle Raid, an attack by 16B-25 Mitchellbombers from theaircraft carrierUSS Hornet onTokyo,Nagoya, andYokohama. The original plan was for the aircraft to bombJapan and land at airfields in unoccupied portion of China. Because the raid had to be launched earlier than planned, all but one of the aircraft (which against orders diverted to the Soviet Union) ran out of fuel and crashed in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi or their offshore islands.
Sixty-four American airmen parachuted into the area around Zhejiang. Most were given shelter by Chinese civilians but eight Americans were captured by Japanese troops; three were shot after ashow trial for crimes against humanity.[7]
Imperial General Headquarters was aware of possible air attacks from Chinese territory on Japan. Two days before the Doolittle Raid, Headquarters set up an operational plan with the goal of defeating Chinese forces and destroying air bases. The operation started on May 15, 1942, with 40 infantry battalions and 15–16 artillery battalions of the Imperial Japanese Army.[8]
The main force of the regiment, Commander Anan Weiji of the 11th Army, commanded two divisions and four detachments, advancing from east to west from Hangzhou and Nanchang to attack in the direction of Shangrao, Jiangxi.On May 15, the main force of the Japanese 13th Army invaded westward along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway and both sides from Fenghua, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Xiaoshan and other towns in Zhejiang. On August 15, the Japanese army was ordered to retreat, and the Chinese army followed and pursued them. By the end of September, except for Jinhua, Wuyi and the northeastern region, all along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway had been recovered.[9]
Japanese troops conducted a massive search for American airmen and in the process whole towns and villages that were suspected of harboring the Americans were burned to the ground and many civilians executed.[10] The Japanese also wanted to occupy the area to prevent Americanair force from ever using airfields in China that could put the Japanesemainland within reach.
When Japanese troops moved out of the Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas in mid-August, they left behind a trail of devastation. The Japanese executed 250,000 civilians for helping the American fliers escape.[7][10] The Imperial Japanese Army had also spreadcholera,typhoid,plague-infected fleas anddysentery pathogens.[11] The Japanese biological warfareUnit 731 brought almost 300 pounds ofparatyphoid andanthrax to be left in contaminated food and contaminated wells with the withdrawal of the army from areas around Yushan, Kinhwa and Futsin.[12] This attack took place at Jinhua in Zhejiang and the Japanese soldiers inadvertently advanced in the area they spread with biological weapons and got themselves infected,[13][14][15][16][17] leading to over 1,700 dying and 10,000 getting sick.[18][19][20]
This information about the Japanese killing their own soldiers in the campaign came from a Japanese POW captured by Americans in 1944, who admitted that the actual Japanese death toll was far higher than the 1,700 he saw on the documents at the biological warfare headquarters, and that Japanese regularly downplayed their own casualties:When Japanese troops overran an area in which a [biological weapons] attack had been made during the Chekiang [Zhejiang] campaign in 1942, casualties upward from 10,000 resulted within a very brief period of time. Diseases were particularly cholera, but also dysentery and pest [bubonic plague]. Victims were usually rushed to hospitals in rear. … Statistics which POW saw at Water Supply and Purification Dept Hq at Nanking showed more than 1,700 dead, chiefly from cholera; POW believes that actual deaths were considerably higher, ‘it being a common practice to pare down unpleasant figures.’”[21]